My First Springer

No6

Help needed here lads, I am going to look at some springer pups tomorrow, supposedly from hunting stock, any reccomendations about what to look for at this stage or important questions to ask. I have a little terrier already should I keep them apart? I did have a lab but he died last week of lukemia but as he wasnt a hunting dog any hints and tips websites or good books on training a springer would be appreciated as I dont know the first thing about training a gun dog!!

I'll post some pictures tomorrow assuming I buy one!!!:D

greenpeter

Have a look here no6
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055789955&highlight=pick+litter

There are lots of good books and DVDs to be got on ebay they all cover the same thing but in different ways. I used broad sheets by Eric begdie, very easy to follow, takes you trough every steep.

http://www.premier-pages.co.uk/gundog/easy.htm

I would introduce the pup to the terrier out in a field or park see how they get one, don't just drop the pup in the terriers territory it mite upset him.

Sorry to hear about your lab.

No6

Thnaks for that greenpeter, it will be interesting to see how the pup gets on with the terrier, he was best buddies with the lab and I think is missing him as much as I do!! I have ordered that book and will go have a look tomorrow. I will have my 5 year old daughter with me so I think we'll get the pinkest looking puppy!!!:eek:

SpringerF

After doing all the research on the sire and dam I have always trusted to my daughters to pick the pups from the litter.

Works for me and I'm doing it for 35 years.

deeksofdoom

There are lots of websites out there that you can have a look at, but its finding the right information. There are a lot of hysterical amateurs posting a lot of crap on stuff they know nothing about on the web, its just that they can make a more convincing argument then the people that do know….. just like on here!
Now if I were choosing a pup I would go for the most lively pup in the litter, coloring or markings aren’t as important as seeing a pup that is bowling the others out of the way. As for training if your not sure of what training your doing then take the dog to training classes, they’re not so much to train the dog as they are top train you how to train your dog. It doesn’t matter that most of the dogs there are house pets being trained by house wifes, the basic obedience is what your there to get right. If the hunting instinct is in the dog then the rest will come naturally, good luck with your pup!

doyle61

as deek said look for the brightest/sharpest. ild stay away from any nervious dogs......personally i dont trust a timid/nervious dog.
bring the pup to obediance class when its young and save yourself a lot of time and energy later on. an obediant dog is so much easier to work with.
when you introduce it to the terrier make more of a fuss of the terrier. what your doing there is letting the terrier know is that it their terratory and that their the alpha dog (behind you at least:D)
sorry to hear about the lab and best of luck with the pup

EPointer=Birdss

Lads lads lads, if you are unsure about training a dog do hours & hours of research before even considering it. You only need a handful of commands & it's not rocket science. Sit, here, Kennel, stay,heel & stop, fetch at a later date.
If you train that much your dog will be fine from an obedience point of view. (prob better than half the gun dogs in the country & 90% of the mutts wondering the roads)

When you are ready then get a pup. Don't mind classes (no dis-respect guys just my opinion) as you have to learn also. You are best to read, obsorb & try commands as opposed to mimicing a trainer. If you can get someone 1 on 1 that will explain the thought process behind the command instead of just showing you it then great.

I actually don't know 1 person locally that has gone to a class & they all train their own dogs.
Classes might be full of other dogs & you don't want distractions in the early days. (do however socialize the pup with dogs at a young age)

Look for a good book that comes highly rated & go from there.
You need to learn also remember. The sense of satisfaction you get from doing it yourself will be worth the effort.

Remember 1 command for every thing the dog does. Single silables help.
I.e. Sit means sit - not sit boy please pretty please etc

Consisency is everything. Same commands all the time & allow em to get away with nothing.
In the early days be forgiving but firm.
Once you feel the dog knows the command & then disobeys you have to nip it in the bud straight away. No grey areas.

I train 2 things in tandom to begin with for any dog.
Kennel - as I will not run around the yard like a clown to get him to go in!
Here (recall) - I use the whistle straight away.
Do these from the minute I get a pup. this gives control.

Then sit, when sitting I add stay.
Then when staying I train the stop (for springers)

All the time you could be doing fetch with rolled up socks, balls etc

Only my humble opinions on the subject & works consistently for me.
I am still learning with every dog new ways, improvements etc but that's part off the hobbie...

Best of luck with it... :cool:

No6

Thanks for all that Lads keep it coming and springerF I don't mind so much my daughter picking its the name she will come up with I am terrified of, princess pinky hanna montanna flower petal lipstick or something like that!!! A nice simple name for a dog and it could be a boy too!!!:D

I will manage the sit and stay stuff no problem, I use bed rather than kennel with my dogs, do you think I should keep it seperate from the terrier at first, he's only the alpha dog for a week or so so I hope he will enjoy the comapny of a new dog rather than get territorial.

EPointer=Birdss

No6 wrote: »

Thanks for all that Lads keep it coming and springerF I don't mind so much my daughter picking its the name she will come up with I am terrified of, princess pinky hanna montanna flower petal lipstick or something like that!!! A nice simple name for a dog and it could be a boy too!!!:D

I will manage the sit and stay stuff no problem, I use bed rather than kennel with my dogs, do you think I should keep it seperate from the terrier at first, he's only the alpha dog for a week or so so I hope he will enjoy the comapny of a new dog rather than get territorial.

I use "in" instead of kennel as the command inself (again single silable). Use it for putting dogs into cover & into the trailer/box. Basically it means go where I point.

I kept mine seperate for 6 months but in side by side runs. When i trusted the older guy & pup was big enough to fight back to some degree if needed I moved em in together. I brought in both boxes side by side & they sometimes share & sometimes like their own space...
If they start fighting I'll move em out again... I feed em in either box to avoid fighting & have 2 water containers at either side of the run. So far so good.

Donalmit

Hi No6,

If I may, I will throw in a couple of others. If this is your first springer, and you are selecting from hunting stock, I would avoid picking either the boldest (could be a handfull?) or the mildest (could have other issues down the road eg health or temterment;runt-of-the-litter). In all likelyhood your daughter will go for the "lonely" looking pup in the corner as she feels sorry for him...Before she gets to see them, you might ask the breeder to remove any that "you" dont think will be suitable or have been picked allready; after that its down to pot luck. Pick the one that you like best...you will have him for over a decade so pick one that suits your eye.
There are multiple books and videos on the market and web to select from and they all have their own little twist on how to train your dog, but two things most of them agree with is to "let the pup enjoy his puppyhood" and "all dogs have a different training timeline and can only be trained at their pace, not yours". For the first few months just enjoy the new addition to the family and just stop him from doing the things you dont want him to do...Best of luck to you both...

Mitch

doyle61

defenetally agree with letting the pup enjoy its "pupphood", afterall its the exact same as not letting a child enjoy childhood and sending them out to work when their 5:eek:. i do think its a fine line though about getting them trained. as i said i bring them to obediance classes when their about 4 months old, but the way i see it is that im being trained on how to handle the dog aswell. that said i dont start them in any field work till their bit older and even then i bring them on slowely.
i dont necessarely agree about avoiding the "runt". if hes sharp and attentive then theres no problem, he'll come on in his own good time, but if hes shy and withdrawn ild leave him well alone. again as i said i dont like or trust withdrawn dogs

ps. i usually have a phesent wing around the place and play with the pup with it. i find it gets them used to the feathers in their mouth and the smell of the bird. great crack when they start retreving it

dicky82

just on picking the name, got my mots nice a rabbit last summer, she called 'swiper' (the fox from dora the explorer) was ironic that the fox got it for dinner when she let it out to play without telling anyone. . . :rolleyes::rolleyes:

No6

I am not sure how this picture thing works but hopefully theres a picture attached of my new puppy!! We are having a family meeting tonight to think of her name, my daughter has decided to wait untill her mum gets home (Thank God!!) The terrier had a sniff and lost interest in about 5 minutes he's used to lots of animals around the house the pup is very frightened of him so I am keeping them seperate, hes out shes in!!! the cat and the puppy are geting on fine and she hasnt met the pig yet!!!:D

shakencat

No6 wrote: »

I am not sure how this picture thing works but hopefully theres a picture attached of my new puppy!! We are having a family meeting tonight to think of her name, my daughter has decided to wait untill her mum gets home (Thank God!!) The terrier had a sniff and lost interest in about 5 minutes he's used to lots of animals around the house the pup is very frightened of him so I am keeping them seperate, hes out shes in!!! the cat and the puppy are geting on fine and she hasnt met the pig yet!!!:D

awww her hair is all kept tight.

shes gorgeous!

let us know her name!!:)

greenpeter

Congrats no6,
Lovely springer,
very best of luck with her hope she brings lots of birds and happy hour hunting.;)

cavan shooter

last Feb I picked up my newest springer and for the first six months all i did was play with him, got to know him and at 6 mths had him sitting and coming back to the whistle. There is a very good e book by Eric Begbie.

Take your time, my fella is out all the time locked up only at night and still works fine.

No6

We have white smoke we are going to call her Belle, shes an absolute dote!!!:D:D

ronn

the brother brought his dog to a trainer the dog is about 1year and a bit old, he wants the dog jumping through hoops, but in my opinion the dog is fu*ked already the trainer has him blowing whistles any time the dog moves, i need ear plugs even when we go for a walk,
i trained my bitch myself with the help of a book,shes 3 not the best in the world but does most things right,
the father in law has a sprocker, never even thought the dog how to sit or stay or anything like that and the dog is briiliant,
different strokes n all,

ill get the name of the book for you,nice easy read and its step by step

smallfry

Hi No.6, If you have a video player I have a video for you...?
Spaniel Training with Harry Hardwicke.

If I can dig it out of the attic your more than welcome to it...

smallfry

ronn

that book is called Training Spaniels by Joe irving, amazon have them not sure if you can get it over here, its well worth a read,

No6

smallfry wrote: »

Hi No.6, If you have a video player I have a video for you...?
Spaniel Training with Harry Hardwicke.

If I can dig it out of the attic your more than welcome to it...

smallfry

Cheers smallfry I think we gave away our video player a few months ago, hadn't used it in years!!! Typical!!

I'll have a look for that ron thanks.

Shes settling in very well, she met the magpie and the pig today no problems!! The terrier is great with her and the cat just ignores her!!

tikkamark

Lovely pup she looks very like mine when mine was that age shes 7 months now,just noticed her tail looks like it wasnt docked though or maybe it just looks that way in the pic,it could lead to a few nasty cuts in cover.
Best of luck with her though

No6

No her tail isn't docked should I get it done Mark?

EPointer=Birdss

No6 wrote: »

No her tail isn't docked should I get it done Mark?

First thing I noticed in the snap. Prob a bit late now I would think...

doyle61

more than likely too late now. vets wont dock them anymore unless it needs to be with say a hunting accident etc. funny thing is that a lot of vets are in favour of docking tails, at least docking tails on hunting dogs

shakencat

i dont like docked tails

EPointer=Birdss

Don't think it's a case of whats easy on the eye but more of what's best for the dog & been proven over & over that for cover dogs docked are best...

No6

TBH i know nothing about docking tails when is it normally done, she only 11 weeks old at the moment?

I would also assume that most of you would reccomend getting her chipped?

doyle61

my vet is a shooting man and he was telling me he thinks its crazy not docking working breeds and having to do a patch up job on injured dogs tails when they come in. 11 weeks old is too old alright.......hell 11 days old is too old in my opinion, but thats just me.
as regards chipping, i would defenetally get it done. if shes regestered shes suppose to have it done already if she not it shouldnt cost much more than €25

No6

ok too late for docking, I'll look into geting her chipped asap!!.