Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Poor dog, on the lead in the woods...

47 replies

SoupDragon · 05/07/2011 17:47

If one more person says that within my hearing I think I may cry.

Yes, as it happens, walking your dog in the woods on a lead is bloody soul destroying but I have yet to find a treat he is the slightest bit interested in. Squeaky toy? Nope. Tennis ball? No. Owner looking like an over excited child? No. Chorizo? No. Cheese? No. Chicken? No. Stupid fecking spaniel. I know he can do it but not if there is something else he would rather be doing.

Nothing tastes as good as freedom feels.

OP posts:

fruitshootsandheaves · 05/07/2011 19:57

The point is you have a spaniel and they are the Best (pats collie sympathetically)

You could try here it's probably a long way to go, but he trains and breed gundogs and has them for residential training and also rehabilitates gundogs who have been mistreated etc.
He may be able to give you some tips. It's where I got my spaniel from.

OracleInaCoracle · 05/07/2011 19:57

Maelstrom, mine will pick fights with the biggest dog he sees too. But is scared of flies

TarquinGyrfalcon · 05/07/2011 20:26

SoupDragon - I can totally empathise with you.
Our JRT has perfect recall when he wants to - otherwise he won't come back for anything - liver,sausage etc mean nothing to him when he is in the mood to do a runner.

Original poster

SoupDragon · 05/07/2011 20:37

God - that spaniel place would be heaven! " This includes time in our two acre Rabbit Pen stocked with both rabbits and pheasants for training steadiness and desensitisation of any chasing behaviour." Two secure acres in which to chase rabbits! LOL! Way too far away but the thought of sending Dill to boarding school appeals immensely :)

OP posts:

Thehusbandsatcricketagain · 05/07/2011 21:06

I feel your pain on this one,our sprollie has to now stay on lead even in the fields as her springer instincts come out,she sees rabbits/pheasants & is off totally ingoring my commands,so for her own safety she stays firmly attached to a long lead & there are others here that do the same.I would rather her being walked under my control than the farmer take his shotgun to her when she mauls one of his stock.

emptyshell · 05/07/2011 21:25

I've got one I can't let off the lead in woods because of his appalling squirrel-induced teenagerdom, and the fact something in the undergrowth is setting his hayfever off so he comes back itching holding one eye closed like a flea bitten one-eyed pirate.

Had a fucking stuck up bint gobshite showboat to all her friends about how I was spoiling all his fun. Few days later, he was offlead in a different bit of the wood/parkland and her dog was being the usual utter fucking pain in the arse it normally is... recalled mine, he came back happily and wandered into a perfect sit.... her dog, 6 months on is still an utter fucking pain in the arse (and so's its owner).

Original poster

SoupDragon · 31/07/2011 19:13

Having dredged the long line out of the garage, it has improved the general feeling on a walk.n

I'd still love to be able to let him off as he would be magnificent - he is a natural at vaulting over fallen trees and other obstacles. However, recall is still a major issue and I am now too scared to let him off. he escaped on a walk in some local woods recntly as I had to let him off the lead to untangle it. He bolted at about 500mph in one direction, came sprinting back and past at a similar speed, back again and then vanished. He eventually utterly exhausted and panting heavily and spent the afternoon throwing up in the kitchen (drinking from pools in trees and over exertion) and sleeping

OP posts:

limitlessclutter · 31/07/2011 19:25

SoupDragon, I feel your pain. I too have an idiot spaniel and suffer many such stupid comments from people in the woods walking their boring well trained dogs. He is obsessed with birds (Obviously! He's a bird dog! Doh! What was I thinking?!)

There might be hope though. How old is he? Our dog is almost 5 now. With a lot of time (2 years!) and intensive recall training we are able to let him off leash, but only at quiet middle of the day, mid-week times. I would never let him off at weekends with lots of other people around, mainly because people think he's lost and try to catch him. He knows exactly where he's going though! In the week there is a nice woman who also walks stupid spaniels in the woods and we frequently retrieve each others dogs without judgment. He is much better with my dog walker as he is running with other dogs who come back nicely on command, every time.

It's all worth it though because they have those sad spaniel eyes and put their head on your lap when you're working at your desk and lurve you ...

Original poster

SoupDragon · 31/07/2011 19:32

Spaniel eyes but also spaniel ears, encrusted at the bottom with something unsavoury and slightly whiffy!

He's 2. he'll get there I guess, I'm simply struggling because he appears to be choosing not to come back rather than not grasping the idea or forgetting. I just need to find whatever it is he deems good enough to come back for.

An example: During the day, I can call him in from the garden and he will come, more often than not.
At night, I am on the sofa and he is on the windowsill behind. I wait til he is apparently asleep or clearly not paying attention and flip the cover of my iPad over and closed. At the sound he is off the sill in a shot and legs it to the very end of the garden. He will not come in for love nor money because he knows it is bedtime.

OP posts:

Original poster

SoupDragon · 31/07/2011 19:33

The long line has made walks more rewarding for both of us though.

OP posts:

Elibean · 31/07/2011 20:31

Soupy, he sounds very similar to my 4.5 yr old dd. Perfect recall as long as there is no whiff of bedtime

I do love spaniels...

limitlessclutter · 31/07/2011 21:24

Long lines are great. I am very glad that mine is not the kind with long ears!

Mine does something similar at bedtime, although not always now. He understands that turning off the TV means that it's time to leg it. I have taken to sneakily shutting the back door earlier in the evening.

Your dog is young, SoupDragon, and will still be very teenage (spaniels seem to grow up slowly!). I was so frustrated at times that I would stand in the garden in the dark yelling that he was going back to the breeder (and that's 3500 miles away!) I'm sure it will get better with time and practice :)

emptyshell · 31/07/2011 21:28

I've had to start putting Layton on the lead in the woods... my reply would be along the lines of "poor bunnies and squirrels if he's NOT on the lead in the woods."

MotherJack · 31/07/2011 23:11

Ahh, Soupy... your dog sounds a little young for perfect recall in the absence of 18 hours a day training. Some can do it and in remembrance of my previous dog, I can categorically state that not all can. He was a good boy... but not so fond of other dogs appearing unexpectedly so we ended up not getting much off lead practice after the age between 2 and 3 where I lived at the time.

I'm lucky with my current dog. She was an absolute sod for her prey drive once she found her feet around here though (rescue dog) but I was able to switch prey for a tennis ball... but I honestly think I have her age in my favour.

Elibean... both of my dogs have loved/do love spaniels too. No reason. Just thought I would mention it

fruitshootsandheaves · 31/07/2011 23:23

My last spaniel would have had to be on his lead too as he chased anything with legs or feathers.
However my current spaniel is so ball obsessed he rarely chases, or runs off, I am very lucky as i have not trained him it is just his nature (although he did once take ages to come back and then returned with a pheasant; pic on profile).

I have come to the conclusion that all these people you see with 'exceptionally' trained dogs are to some degree just lucky that their dogs aren't inclined to chase.

emptyshell · 01/08/2011 07:02

I'm currently working on whistle training ASBOdog - he does seem to come back much much faster if I use it (trying not to until it's solid) as there's such a strong association with foodage in there for him. Don't half feel like a wally blowing it before feeding time though - but vooooooosh he flies in from the garden to it then!

mercades1999 · 01/08/2011 08:48

i could not let my dog off the lead when she was a puppy but after she was on heat. she started coming back?! :) its good because i have twins and it is hard keeping track of them!!

LeonardNimoy · 02/08/2011 18:54

FWIW none of our springers have been interested in treats whilst out of the house (except when they were small puppies).They are far more subtle thanthat :-) Is he interested in retreiving?

Original poster

SoupDragon · 02/08/2011 19:06

only in the garden. And only if by "retrieving" you mean "fetch the ball and completely refuse to give it back" :o

OP posts:

LeonardNimoy · 02/08/2011 20:38

Is he a springer? They are normally desperate to please you, hence not being interested in food treats. Have you looked at some of the online forums aimed specifically at gundogs?

Empusa · 02/08/2011 23:31

I think I'd yell at anyone I heard saying that.

We don't dare let our boy off lead in woods, it wouldn't end well. It's guaranteed that he'll spot another dog and then there'll be big trouble. People discover this quickly enough though when they decide we are being mean for not letting him go and play with their dog.

OneHundredPercentFucked · 02/08/2011 23:34

In a rush so have not read the whole thread yet, but have you tried very strong garlic chicken?

A friend uses this when she is trying to get hold of 'runaways' or strays and really works.

Flip

1 2