Springer Spaniel

[BATTLEBORN]

Hello, We are getting a Springer Spaniel Puppy next week. This will be our first Springer, I have been doing a lot of research on the breed and from what I have read I feel like this breed will be a good family/hunting breed. We have had plenty of family pets in the past but this will be the first dog that I will be hunting with as well. He will be AKC registered and the breeder has both parents on site but this is the breeder first litter and she does not have much info about the blood lines other than the names of the grandparents on the AKC papers. Does anyone here have experience owning/hunting with a Springer? If so any advice regarding training, feeding, crate training, socialization, Etc. would be appreciated.

I'm liking the name SCOUT....... but also open to suggestions

Good day.

 

[beardedboar]

I had a spring from high school to college, was my favorite dog to this day. Great family dogs and good upland hunters. Look at Tom Dokkens stud for training it's pretty good. Just make sure to spend a lot of time with them, they do better with lots of attention.

 

[2ski]

I haven't had one or hunted behind one. I did attend a AKC hunt test about 5 years ago that was for spaniels. Most were springers. It was really pretty cool to see the ones that were finished all the way to the point where they would sit upon flush. I really enjoyed watching them work. I would look into joining a spaniel organization that can give advice to all of the stuff you asked about, especially help and a group in which to train with. I think here in MT the brittany club and the spaniel club do stuff together.

 

[jmez]

I had one growing up. Great bird dogs.

No real tricks for basic obedience. Just time and patience. They are very smart dogs, depending on the line can be hard headed. There are several books on spaniel training. I used to have a few of them but honestly can't remember which ones or who wrote them. Very active dog, they need a lot of attention.

One thing you need to make sure is that the dog will come when you call it. Running pheasants are hard on them, you need to be able to keep them close when the birds are running.

 

[Muledeerfanatic]

I had one for 13 yrs and he was a great dog! I miss him to this day and he has been gone for over 3 years. They make great family pets and have great personalities. Like jmez said you need to train them to heal and stay close cuz they will chase birds for sure. Lots of energy and need a ton of exercise. Mine was one of the most athletic dogs I have ever seen. He could jump 8' fences and load up in the truck without the tailgate down and hardly touch the side. He was a great guard dog too. Nobody could come within spitting distance of my truck

 

[SLDMTN]

Here's my one year old bundle of energy, Carly. She'll be lucky to live past the chewing stage but other than that, she's a great dog and very smart. Instinctually drawn to birds like no dog I've ever seen. She's an awesome hiking buddy. Very very good with my kids (5 & 7).

I cannot stress enough how much energy she has. Unless you have room and plan to work them, I would look elsewhere at breeds. Don't know if you're heavy handed but I would recommend a shock collar over anything else. It'll keep them from being scared of you and maybe its the breed but in my experience, Springers DO NOT like being shocked.

 

[BATTLEBORN]

Thanks guys. We are pretty excited to get the new pup. We have a good size yard and I plan to work with him ass much as possible. I am not against a shock collar but I want to start doing things right from the second I pick him up. I know this is a pipe dream and we will learn together. What is everyone feeding, I want to start with good nutrition and then work fro there.

How much does Carly weigh ? Is she full grown?

 

[BATTLEBORN]

I've read a lot that said they will retrieve and can make a decent duck dog. Does anyone waterfowl with their Springer? I mostly waterfowl so I'm hoping he takes to water well.

 

[Muledeerfanatic]

Mine was a friggin swimming machine. Couldn't keep him away from the water

 

[BroodBuster]

Awesome dogs and spectacular athletes. My buddies swam across the Columbia river one time to retrieve a pheasant. Another buddies two Springers are duck retrieving machines. And yes you don't have to lower the tailgate to get them in the bed of a truck.

I'd stay away from the shock collar though unless you are planning on field trials, or plan on having him professionally trained. Great tools for those who know exactly what they are doing but for the first time trainer they can do way more damage then they are worth. For instance say your pup chases a chipmunk out of sight and you are giving the "return to me command (most often "here")." And your pup heard you and is obeying that command and is running full bore to your side. But you can't see that from your angle so you shock him. Well you just shocked your dog for obeying a command. Do you think that really will make him to want to obey or chase chipmunks? I have seen this way too often in the field. I once witnessed a worse case scenario of this with a pointer. They guys dog was sniffing and marking coyote pisses all day long. My buddy got tired of this so the next time he starting sniffing around to mark a coyote pee he yelled "NO" and shocked his pup. Just as a ringneck flushed. The poor guy actually shocked his dog for pinning down a pheasant. Yikes! I got my first Britt professionally trained and used a shock collar. He was a great hunter but for my second Britt I didn't bother with it. Spaniels want to please and I decided I didn't need the perfect dog just a happy one (and happy owner). All dogs have quirks and I am happy to live with them. Which brings me to my second point.......

All dogs have quirks. We can focus on correcting those quirks which requires force training, most often with a shock collar. Or we can live with them, deal with it and carry on. For instance my dog is a barker. She loves to bark. She loves to hear herself bark. Well at least before she went deaf. Now I think she just barks out of habit. My pup's "on button" is any of my backpacks. If she sees me dinking around with a backpack she loses her mind, sometimes barking with such enthusiasm all four feet will come off the ground. Well I could spend my time yelling at her to stop barking or thwacking her on the ass to stop barking or I can simply dink around with the backpack in the garage where she can't see me. Problem solved for both of us! Now there are exceptions to this. For me "Whoa" is an unbreakable command. Running thru "Whoa" will never be worked around or ignored. So you need to choose what quirks you can live with and what needs to be hardwired into their little puppy brain!

So have fun. Spend tons of time in the field. Learn what makes your pup tick and teach your pup what makes you tick. They are smart and will figure it out as long as you are consistent and predictable. I'm a bachelor and my pup can sleep where ever she wants which includes couches and beds. One of my best friends has a cabin in the San Juan Islands. We spend a lot of time there fishing. He's married and his wife has an unbreakable "no dogs allowed on the furniture" rule. My pup never, ever gets on the furniture in that cabin. Getting yelled at by his wife once was enough for her to figure out that one .

Congrats on the puppy! Please post a pic when he gets settled in.

 

[BroodBuster]

Here's my one year old bundle of energy, Carly. She'll be lucky to live past the chewing stage but other than that, she's a great dog and very smart. Instinctually drawn to birds like no dog I've ever seen. She's an awesome hiking buddy. Very very good with my kids (5 & 7).

I cannot stress enough how much energy she has. Unless you have room and plan to work them, I would look elsewhere at breeds. Don't know if you're heavy handed but I would recommend a shock collar over anything else. It'll keep them from being scared of you and maybe its the breed but in my experience, Springers DO NOT like being shocked.

Great picks. That second one brilliantly shows one of the unique traits of the Springer breed. They are amazingly light on their feet. I'm sometimes surprised they leave any footprints in the snow at all

 

[BroodBuster]

Fun fact!

In England any spaniel under a certain weight is called a Cocker and over that weight is called a Springer. So a litter of Cockers can have a litter of Springers and vice-versa.

My next pup may very well be an English Cocker as flushers are better suited for the terrain I hunt and I love the smaller dogs. But we'll see. I do really like the Brittany's personality even though they occasionally go on point in cattails where nobody can see they are on point . And bark at backpacks for no good reason

 

[1hoda]

Congratulations on the puppy!

"Best Way to Train Your Bird Dog" by Delmar Smith is a must read. Get a subscription to the Pointing Dog Journal (PDJ). Buy the set of Puppy Development and Dog Trainging DVD's from the Smith's. This will get you off to a tremendous start and your dog will be the beneficiary. I grew up in a family of bird hunters and I still learned a ton from this list.

If time and money allow, go to one of the Huntsmith seminars. Best of all, do all this for a year then send your dog to Ronnie Smith in Big Cabin, OK for a summer if you want to maximize his potential. Both my current dogs were trained by Ronnie and I can't speak highly enough of him, his methods, and his results.


Aside from that, a one or two syllable name is better than longer ones and you are on top of that.
Socializing - exposing to lots of places and exposed to lots of noises, crowds at your kid's soccer games, etc, will make for a much bolder dog. Let him hang around in the garage with you. Your pup will view himself as part of the pack and you are the pack leader. This will help immensely when you are in the field.

Keep training sessions short. Be consistent when you start training. Let the dog learn at his pace.

A lot of people use bird wings for training - I never did. A bird dog can tell the difference between a live and dead bird. A wing just teaches him to sight hunt and is why those dogs generally can't sort out a cold trail. Get him on birds right away, even if they are pen raised birds. Let him bump the birds, it's ok as a puppy. You just are just developing prey drive and let him realize what his nose is for. If he begins to point right away, that's even better. Little puppies should just spend time afield. Let him chase butterfiles, rabbits, anything. As he gets older you can work on the other stuff. At this stage you just want him to gain experience in the outdoors.

I like Gun Dog Supply in Starkville, MS. They have great service (the old fasioned kind), and are cheaper than the competition like Lion Country Supply, etc.

Buy 2 Acme Thunderer whistles - I like the large.

When the time comes for a blank pistol, spend the $ and get the good one.

E-collars have their place, but only once your dog knows what's expected and you know how to use it. The whole point of an ecollar is just to get his attention - if he ever yelps, you gave him way too much juice. Buy the Tritronics/Garmin line.

You are a ways out from this yet, but I'd be thinking about if you want him to be steady to wing and release on the shot, or steady to wing and shot.

Put together or buy a first aid kit and always take it with you. I've got a good skunk rinse recipe too, I'll dig it out of the box and post it.

Get a collapsible bowl.

Find a vet that is a bird hunter, or at least has experience with sporting and working dogs. ( I once had to have a dog's canine pulled, the vet told me if it had been an upper, I'd just have a housepet after that because the opening into the sinus about ruins their sense of smell. The vet who did the extraction had no idea, so get the right vet.) Put his cell number in your phone. And when you travel, look up vets where you will be and put their numbers in your phone too.

Since you are in NV, you'll want to get him a rattlesnake vaccine and yearly booster.

Start him on a premium (not necessarily most expensive) feed. We use the Purina Pro Plan.

Sorry for the rambling, these are just thoughts off the top of my head. Let me know if you have other questions.

And enjoy the dog!!

 

[1hoda]

Forgot to mention the rattlesnake vaccine should be $20 or less, and about $10 or less for the annual booster. If you go to the wrong vet, they don't stock it and will happily get it for you, but also charge you for the whole bottle because they know their clientelle wont' be buying it. You'd expect to get soaked for between $200-$250 in that case.

 

[SLDMTN]

Thanks guys. We are pretty excited to get the new pup. We have a good size yard and I plan to work with him ass much as possible. I am not against a shock collar but I want to start doing things right from the second I pick him up. I know this is a pipe dream and we will learn together. What is everyone feeding, I want to start with good nutrition and then work fro there.

How much does Carly weigh ? Is she full grown?

Carly is pushing 40 lbs. That's an 80 lb Rhodesian for a size reference in the one pic.

I think she may be as tall as she's going to get but she's filling out a bit.

 

[1hoda]

Oh, another thought. Around 6 months old, he'll start getting new teeth. His gums will hurt. He'll chew everything he can get in his mouth, especially your favorite hunting boots and your wife's coffee table legs, dining chair legs, and anything that he can get in his mouth. Make sure you get something for him to chew on and hope for the best.

Another thought on feeding. We feed once a day, and in the evening, and year round. I don't feed my dogs in the morning before a hunt - it increases the chance of a twisted gut which is likely the end of the line for Rover. So I feed when we are done at the end of the day. Even in the offseason it's just good to stay in the habit.

 

[1hoda]

Last thought... if this is your first bird dog, one lesson is critically important -- ***Always trust your dog!*** When he gets birdy or goes on point, he knows there's a bird there or was not too long ago. His job is to find the birds, yours is to shoot them. Let him do his job and don't second guess him!

 

[SLDMTN]

Oh, another thought. Around 6 months old, he'll start getting new teeth. His gums will hurt. He'll chew everything he can get in his mouth, especially your favorite hunting boots and your wife's coffee table legs, dining chair legs, and anything that he can get in his mouth. Make sure you get something for him to chew on and hope for the best.

We have tried everything with Carly. Nothing kept her from chewing stuff except being kenneled. Even then she shredded her bed. She seems to be growing out of that finally however.

 

[BATTLEBORN]

Guys, all this is information is outstanding!!! Thank you for taking the time to write down so much info.

I was going to do the rattle snake avoidance training. What is everyone's thought on that? I had not hear of the vaccine I will look into that as well.

My buddy is feeding his Lab Fromm Family puppy kibble. at this point I am going to try it as I cant find a bad review anywhere.

 

[BATTLEBORN]

Last thought... if this is your first bird dog, one lesson is critically important -- ***Always trust your dog!*** When he gets birdy or goes on point, he knows there's a bird there or was not too long ago. His job is to find the birds, yours is to shoot them. Let him do his job and don't second guess him!

Will a Springer Point?