what do you do....

[jazz_11 5]

right i may be asking alot but i want to compare what i do to what everyone else does...

i have a 3 year old english springer and hes doing alright and coming along good...

just tell me everything about your dog what its fed when its fed, where it sleeps what its allowed to do ? is it allowed toys and of what sort etc etc......

just everything to do with your dog so i can compare what im doing to what others are doing..

thanks

[jazz_11 5]

anyone going to reply......

[North Country Boy 0]

Feed my dog WAGG for working dogs, dry mix, one bowl a day. She gets walked twice a day, with the 1st walk i introduce 10-15mins of refresher training using the whistle and various commands, her 2nd walk she is free to run around although i do not let her run too far in front, the rest of the time she is allowed to be in ther garden when i am at home. She currently lives in the garage but am building a run for her at the back of my double garage which she will live in when its complete, she does not have access to toys and is generaly a good working dog. Her retrieving is second to none but she tends to take the easy route when out beating ie: keeping to paths. I dont let the kids overly fuss her but she does like to be around people, she does not bother with other dogs. I am planning on letting her have a litter at the begging of next year which will be her 2nd, the 1st being unplanned and with a terrier (a long story).

[rickyspringer 15]

I have got my dog on BARF and this complemented with skinners on the odd occasion, she has 2 to 3 walks a day, never allowing free reign, "you give a spaniel an inch they will take a mile"

 

we are constantly enjoying our walks and excercise but at the same time she is being refreshed constantly, not a massive retriever, so don't practice to much,don't want to spoil her.

 

She is a pet as well as a working dog, children love her and she loves them,doesn't have any toys,they are used for excercises and so on.

[Dan Newcombe 58]

My cocker is 17 months now and i feed him anything i have about ranging from venison bones and meat, tripe, dry food and tinned food. He currently has a bag of 'winner' working dog maintenance for the off season but when we get going he will be on some better stuff because its hard to keep the weight on him.

 

I am very relaxed with the training and whenever people ask 'do you train him?' i find it hard to answer because i dont go out to train. we go for walks where i will find plenty of cover to hunt him through and throw a couple of retrieves at the start and as i walk i keep him close into the bushes and drop him every so often.

 

This is harder now im not working on a shoot (he was out dogging in at about 3 months just to get experince) but he is coming on very nicely, maybe not a tight regulated pattern but the ground i work doesnt suit that so well with patches of cover rather than constant.

 

He has always had toys since he was a pup, teddies mainly and the odd shoe that was 'surrendered' when he took a liking to it. These are invaluable in my opinion because he is constantly carrying them around and 'retrieving' them to you even in the house.

 

He lives in the house presently becasue i have just moved and havent got other arrangements but throught the day he is in the back of my pickup.

 

He gets as much fuss and attention in the house as he wants but outside he is a very focused hunter (very different to being focused on his handler!). The only thing to watch is kids chasing them which they will see as a very fun game and you will loose the recall and also this obsession people have with playing tug of war with dogs ............. gets right on my nerves because that is exactly what you dont want.

 

Basically i tend to alow situations to develop and then use them to my advantage HOWEVER you have to be on the ball and watching constanly as has been said before, give then an inch ...... give commands sparingly because nagging will lead to them not listening. but when you give a command it should be followed!

 

You know your dog best and their personality but thats how i go about it.

 

Very useful also to try and get two dogs working together but independantly as they would have to on a shoot day as well, nothing more annoying than a dog that chases other dogs!

 

Dan

[jazz_11 5]

thanks guys just what i wanted to hear were having a problem in the house with toya and people ionsisting the dog MUST have toys but thanks guys its my dog so im going to tell them to go and stock there noses else where..