Spaniel demanding constant walks!

[cheeseandbiscuitsplease]

I have a beautiful one year old springer. He is adored and lives with our family plus an older lab and 2 cats. He has two long walks a day and also short walks in between, school run, shops etc. He also has access to our large garden (pretty much all the time - back door is always open) kids also play with him a lot.
Just lately he's almost started nagging me! Eg he had a lovely walk with dh down the beach earlier but immediately came to me with a toy wanting me to play. I was making tea.
If I move he jumps up thinking we are going out, he sits and stares at me or lies on my feet (even when I'm standing at the kitchen counter) he also sighs loudly as if he's bored!
I tell him "no! You've just come in" but I don't want to get cross with him.
He's being neutered next week.
He's a beautiful boy but I'm feeling quite pressured by him lately and just wish he would settle. He gets lots of exercise and attention.
He can settle - from 8pm
Onwards he is great but all day he almost makes me feel guilty!
Any ideas what I can do?

How much mental stimulation does he get? Lots of physical exercise is great but if you're not working his brain as well you can end up with a super fit, hyped up dog who can't settle and also can't be tired out just with walks.

I'd replace some of the physical exercise with activities to get his brain working. There's endless stuff you can do; trick training, scentwork, body awareness exercises, impulse control games, etc. Meal times are a great opportunity to get him thinking, rather than just feeding him from a bowl you could use food dispensing toys (the Kong Wobbler and Nina Ottosson Dog Pyramid are great for dry food) or even just chuck his food around in the garden for him to find.

Settling in the house doesn't always come naturally to some dogs and needs to be taught. Kikopup has some great videos on the subject on YouTube called "Capturing Calmness" which are well worth a watch.

Firstly I wouldn't be getting him done. He's too young. Personally I wouldn't get him done at all but if you do, you should wait until he's at least 18 months which is when he's finished growing and developing. Not just physically but emotionally and mentally too.

Ignore him when he comes to you to play if you don't want to. Don't even tell him no. The second you react or acknowledge him, he thinks you're game. You decide when you play, not him.

His sighing doesn't mean he's bored. It could be just him exhaling or a sigh of content. My pup does this - once she's been walked, played with and fed etc she just chills out but usually lets out a sigh.

Him coming to you with a toy after he'd been out doesn't necessarily mean he wants to play. Perhaps he's just happy to see you and wants to bring you something? My partners dog does this.

Sometimes we over exercise or over stimulate which makes it hard for them to switch off. A routine helps so try to keep him in as much of a routine as possible, that way he'll learn to know when he's going out for walks, when he's allowed to play and when he has to chill out.

Personally I wouldn't get him done at all but if you do, you should wait until he's at least 18 months which is when he's finished growing and developing. Not just physically but emotionally and mentally too.

Would you apply this to all breeds? I have a terrier breed. He's a year old and was just starting to think it might be time...

Oh and OP I walk a cocker spaniel and he brings me something every time I visit, usually an umbrella or a shoe. I think it's just something working breeds do.

Get used to it . My 10 year old spaniel still jumps about for walks constantly and brings me toys/teddies/her lead. All my spaniels have loved 'giving' me stuff, as do labs. That's why both breeds are known to love balls, maybe try and get him in to 'retrieving' those? A big rawhide treat also keeps them quiet and lasts weeks, or a filled Kong. Try extra training to tire him out and walk him in different places for a change

Oh I have every sympathy! My lab is nearly 4 and a gorgeous rescue of 9 months, but I think I've made a rod for my own back. I've given in when she's stared at me for long enough - I can't bear the feeling guilty or imagining that she's bored (she definitely sulks!).

She's currently getting 3 to 4 walks a day, all of them different locations, all off-lead and one swimming in the river. She does need frequent walks because I've had to cut down on the length as she has hip dysplasia, but it's taking up sooo much of my time! I have to drive to all the walks as we're semi-rural and surrounded by fields of sheep on all sides, so it all takes time.

I wish I could harden up and ignore her, but she comes for cuddles when she wants something, so it pulls on my heart strings. I'm an idiot.

Thank you for all your replies.
We were advised by our vet to have him neutered if we were not breeding from him and it was their suggestion that 12 months was ideal? I'll have to ask about this one.
I have trained him to do several tricks ( jumping through a hoop, freeze! Hide and seek with treats etc).
I have thought about agility classes and I will look into the whole mental stimulation thing. We have a kong which I fill with primula cheese.
I never even thought that he may bring me things as a way of saying hello and giving me a pleased to see you present - I feel awful now!
I'm completely besotted by him - I guess it's part of parcel of having a lovely spaniel! Thank you everyone,

Am loving the idea of just wanging his food in the garden....
May do this for the whole family.
Thank you all.

OP there are a lot of opinions on neutering. Here is (mine) what I have found out having looked online, spoken to vets and prople who train gun dogs. The current research suggests waiting until the dog has finished growing and shows no fear type behaviour. For larger breeds that grow longer then you should wait for them to be an older age. I have been advised for my breed of cocker spaniel anytime after 1 year of age is fine so your vets advice is certainly inline with the advice I have received. I am actually getting mine done 1month before the ideal but that is for personal scheduling reasons otherwise I would have waited until he was 1.

Oh a spaniel trait is to bring you a present when they see you. Mine actually panics if he can't find something to put in his mouth if I have briefly left him

I should say those that train gun dogs don't
tend to neuter them but they gave advice on growth etc based on mine being a pet

Alongside the above i'd suggest you make less eye contact. Also when you move toward a door do it calmly and slowly and don't go straight to it, and if he gets excited then do something else so he starts to break the notion that sighing and giving you the eye or getting excited means you'll engage.

I taught my springer to settle in the house using the kikopup methods mentioned above. He's 7 now and totally calm (indoors!). I also used to feed him his kibble outside as a pup, often in a plastic milk bottle so he had to work to get it out.

He doesn't have set walk times, or even a particular number of walks (although always enough), so doesn't seem to expect them. However, I accept that he might just be a particularly easy dog and this has nothing to do with my training!

I'm a bit mean and don't make eye contact if I don't want to see the guilty look! I don't do excited greetings either (they make him wee on the floor).

Thank you again for your brilliant advice and comments. I bought him a maze bowl this morning and he also has had a Parma ham bone this afternoon (vets suggestion this morning when I called to discuss neutering) also some new things called Buster mats - activity mats for dogs which im looking at. He's walked and swum all morning and chewed his bone all afternoon

Our springer girl is our 3rd and every single one of them has always delighted in bringing you some treasure when they see you, usually a shoe or sock but anything will do if it can be carried. It's a gundog thing, they've retrieved their prize and are are sharing it with you.