Teenage dog - Helppppp

[Beanzandcheeze]

Hey :) I am a huge lurker on these threads, and have just about finished the teenage dog threads from 2025 lol they really have helped me a ton, and also feel like i know all your lovely pups haha. I have a 13 month old cockapoo (pls dont come for me) hes great indoors, settles easily and is super loving. However he is still on a lead/long line outdoors, he got his first sniff of a pheasant off lead about two months ago and buggered off for 10 mins which was the most awful10 mins of my bloody life lol. He was swiftly enrolled in gundog training classes weekly and we are really working on his steadiness etc, but he is just so obsessed with anything that moves, hence being back on a long line. I also struggle to drop the line, as when he wants to chase he is bloody lightening fast and i dont trust i could step on it on time. Does anyone have any tips for me or hope that this will improve? i have an 11 year old Cavachon too, who is and always has been an angel off lead, so the chase drive is quite new to me. We train daily and i really want to succeed at cracking this so he can go back to enjoying off lead walks, hes an explorer for sure and thrives having his head stuck in bushes and exploring the world and i feel so mean keeping him on lead but that's safer for everyone currently lol, i have been hiding balls for him to find, and he is super engaged with a ball, that's his highest value reward for sure, but then takes himself to lie down and chew the ball, so its not ideal to just lob a ball constantly on every walk. Any advise would be most welcome haha xx

No hate on the Cockerpoo from Doghouse (most people love them as dogs, just worry about the breeding practices that go into producing them)! Promise no one will 'come for you' for owning one! 😊

The problem is bad recall is a bit of a vicious cycle and a bit of a pickle to get out of!

Dog runs - human uses lead - human worries dog might run - dog doesn't go off lead - human thinks 'this isn't fair. I should drop the lead' - dog senses freedom - dog runs - human uses lead. Rinse and repeat.

Is there anywhere you can walk him that doesn't have small things running about so you can install some good behaviour? I always take my young dogs to the beach early in the morning as there are no small animals to distract them, no other dogs, no humans etc, so it's the perfect place to work on recall and usually really good visability.

Have you also considered a Tractive collar? It might give you that bit of confidence to build up to dropping the lead in that even if he runs you'll always be able to find him?

And, of course, all of this is age related. Adolescent dogs are awful. Everyone always yacks on about puppyhood being rough, but honestly adolescent dogs are wayyy worse in pushing boundaries and generally being dickheads.

And you are more than welcome to join us on the Adolescent/Beyond Adolescent thread - there's a few posters there who have just gone through the trenches of bad recall and might be able to give longer-term support

Hi Landsharks, thanks so much for your reply.

Ahh i will deffo join, still working my way through the rest of the adolescent threads. Have you name changed by any chance and are you the one who had the goldie pups? ive been reading through all these daily trying to make myself feel better haha, and was wishing i was in the trenches at the time those threads were moving everyone seems so nice.

Sadly im over a hour from the closest beach, honestly consider moving closer to the coast almost daily. Im in the countryside and everywhere i turn there are moving creatures, even spotted a few pheasants the other day at the playing fields in the middle of a new build estate.

My older guy was so chilled even as a pup, but i guess hes more of a 'grandma' breed haha i had no idea adolescence even existed but i sure do now. They are wilddddd and theres something new each day lol.
Ill come over and join the thread.
Thanks so much

Welcome to Adolescence. 😁

Sounds like you've got a cockerpoo with the spaniel work drive. I'm 20 years in and mine still chase pheasants. And rabbits. And hares. And deer.
I actually took my 2 year old to the vet recently and said, "There's something wrong with her. She flushed a hare and didn't chase it." 😂

Do you use a whistle for recall? If not, I'd get one. The noise often cuts through to their brain when their ears are deaf to your voice.

I found changing direction a lot and shouting "This way" kept mine more on their toes and focused on me at that age. It was especially useful when they hit that stage of being willing to keep close, but stay slightly out of reach.

None of mine will ever retrieve on a walk. Would your dog be more willing to do so if you used a gundog dummy instead of a ball?

Do you do any training on your walks to calm him and get him focused on you? Mine has a lot of free running time. But I'll intersperse it with doing some walking to heel and some sit and waits. I'll send her out in different directions and practise recall and stop whistles.

Are there any freedom fields locally you could hire occasionally, so you can let him off and practise recall without the worry of him absconding?

(Yes. Landsharks is the one with all the goldies. She changed from Anonymous to Hungry.)

Ten month cockapoo here with bad recall too - his issue is other dogs, he loves them all and is so eager to make friends. So I have to keep him on the lead or else he will run up to every dog he sees and bother them. He also loves people, he's a massively extroverted attention seeker who wants a fuss everywhere he goes and is keen to lick as many faces as he can because he is yet to learn the concept of personal space and boundaries. He never gets off-lead except in a local fenced field when it's empty. I used to use a 10m long line to practice recall with him and it was great but now he chews it and leaps around wrapping himself up in it. So I have no suggestions!

Ha ha thats exactly what i have i think.
Ha ha ha i bet it is very concerning just for the flush without the chase, if i could get snoop to stop at the flush id be overjoyed.

Hes nuts 😵Yep do alot of training on walks and it does help keep his engagement but as soon as that nose hits the floor hes off.
Unless i have the ball in my hand.. but then when he has the ball hes laying down in the bushes chewing it arghhhh
we tend to do the secure fields at least once a week, and his recall is impeccable ( because there is nothing to chase ).

I will deffo order a dummy and give that a try for sure, last Sundays gundog training did start to touch on retrieving so hopefully they'll have some other useful tips over the coming weeks too.
I think i need to be braver and just let the long line trail so i can see what im working with, the previous pheasant chase scarred me and im terrified of him doing a runner again.

Whats the best way to teach the stop whistle? Ive watched a couple of videos but everyone seems to do it in different ways
His recall is fab on lead and in the secure field with the whistle... deffo better than me screeching his name.

ahhh amazing, its funny how reading about people and their pets for so long actually gets ingrained in your memory haha, ive loved reading all your stories about your dogs over the last few weeks.

Hahaha I feel your pain, mine is the same - super super social. I honestly think id prefer it if he paid them zero attention at all. Hopefully yours does not find the pheasants and other flying/moving creatures.
Other dogs were my biggest recall issue prior to this, so firmly back in lead jail. I practice recall 1000x per day, and i cant tell you how much of a nut i must look every day acting the fool with him and hiding balls in grass and trying to be the most exciting thing to ever exist... really hoping one day it clicks lol

I've been to two trainers and they taught the stop whistle totally differently.

General Trainer Method

Hold a treat in the palm of your hand with your thumb.

Recall the dog.
As the dog comes towards you, put your arm straight up in the air and throw the treat towards the dog.
Dog should stop to eat the treat.
Keep repeating until dog stops at the sight of the raised arm, in anticipation of the treat.
Then do recall, arm in air but wait for dog to stop before throwing the treat.
Once that is mastered, add in blowing a long whistle sound as you raise your arm. Keep repeating and dog should learn long whistle means stop.

Gundog Trainer Method

Have the dog walking at heel. Stop and say sit. Repeat.
Once verbal cue is mastered, add in visual cue.
Walk with dog at heel. Stop, say sit and hold your hand up showing a flat palm. So if dog is on your right side, use your left hand with your arm across your body.
Once that is embedded, drop the word cue.
Walk with dog at heel. Stop and show palm of hand. Dog should sit.
Then add long whistle sound to the hand signal.
Walk to heel. Stop. Show hand and blow long whistle sound. Dog should sit.
Once the dog knows the whistle command, you can work on the distance.

For distance, we did put the dog in a sit stay/wait not too far away. Recall them, but almost as soon as they start moving towards you, blow the stop whistle. The trainer said it is much easier for the dog to stop before it's built up any speed.

If the dog doesn't stop, you're supposed to start moving towards them, whilst telling them off. Then make them go back to the spot they were in when you first blew the whistle. That's where me and gundog trainers part ways, as I'm too soft. Allegedly.

Then it's just a case of increasing the distance over time. Mine can do a stop at about 30 yards away as long as there is no prey involved.

Hope you can understand those methods. It's quite difficult to describe something that would only take 30 seconds to demonstrate physically.

@Beanzandcheeze yes same person! As Spaniels says, I went from being Anonymous to being Hungry 😂Most of the time, I'm just Hangry though.

It is just sadly one of those things; teenager dogs are just idiots. A bit like teenage children don't tell mine I said that. But, as with children (not that I have got there yet...but I am constantly assured it is the case)...dogs get better after a while and go back to being their dream selves. Just perseverance, whisky and lots of cake to cheer yourself up in the meantime.

@SpanielsGalore That is super helpful thankyou so much, ill give those a try. Hes amazing at stopping when i stop when walking to heel, looks so cool, but also kind of has no purpose currently so ill give both a try and see which works.
Hes such a quick learner, but proofing them in different environments is the challenging part ha
He can walk like an angel on a bog standard boring pavement walk around my area... as soon as there is grass, woods and wildlife he's a man possessed.
I think im just so used to my older boy who doesn't leave my side, when this feral beast is off lead hes off up ahead diving into bushes.
Most spaniel owners i see, theirs are darting off into the trees and generally just having a jolly old time, so maybe i need to lower my expectations of having a dog who is right by my side and accept he is going to veer a little further off.
Is there anything specific you tend to do on walks with yours, to keep their engagement on you? xx

@TheHungryHungryLandsharks Ha ha i thought you must have had a name change!
I used to want human children, but this pup has completely changed my mind hahaha least he can be left home alone if hes being irritating.. i do wonder what people do with human children in challenging times 😆I convinced myself that when he was one he would be an angel... he got worse haha now I'm thinking maybe 2 years... but also could be wishful thinking lol. No idea how you reared all those little pups haha one bitey shark was enough for me - bet your arms were in bits haha x

@Beanzandcheeze To be honest, mine are probably like the feral spaniels you see out on walks. I let mine range quite widely (Is that a word?) because I get pleasure out of seeing them having fun. But I have had spaniels for 20 years, so am used to their wild ways.

I do the things I have already mentioned.

Occasionally I'll play hide and seek. I'll step behind a tree and wait for them to find me. But I don't do it often as I feel guilty seeing their panicked little faces.

Do you use treats? I reward recalls and I also reward voluntary returns, as I think it encourages them to choose to come back.
Now they're older, they'll sometimes take the piss and come back every 2 minutes. In which case I make them earn it by doing a sit and wait whilst I walk on ahead, and then call them to heel. Although I'm pretty sure the 2 year old thought we were playing Grandmother's Footsteps the other day instead.

The only other tip I can think of at the minute is I was always told don't recall them if you know they won't come, because all you are teaching them is to ignore you. You have to get in quick before their nose hits the ground, because once their nose is activated their ears switch off. And if mine are in full flight after a pheasant, I wait for the chase to end before blowing the whistle.

I took my youngest to gundog classes when she was about 20 months old. She flushed a pheasant and took off after it, along with another spaniel. He recalled instantly to the whistle. Mine did a Forrest Gump and it took me at least 5 minutes to get her back. Little sod. The other dog was 4 and a half years old, so I live in hope. 😂
We'll ignore the fact my 5 year old would have buggered off too.