New Crazy cocker spanial owner

[crazycockerowner]

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Hi I'm Tracy,along with my daughter Hollie we are the owners of a five month old working cocker spanial, called pip, we have had her since 12 weeks old, hoping to learn a lot about this breed and how to the best out in her, we are currently at the destructive behaviour not listening to us after a great start with walking by my side and sitting and lying down we have gone to complete disobedience on everything. Toys can be hit and miss apart from tennis balls which have been great exercise until recently where she now refuses to come back and have her lead put back on to go home she just sits and stares at us, if we approach she runs.used to having less energetic dogs over the years and cats. Recently lost our last dog of 13 after 13 years then our last 2 cats.

 

[JudyN]

Welcome to you and Pip! I used to regularly call my dog back during walks, reward him, pop him on lead and off again, and then let him go again, so he didn't associate coming back to me with the end of the walk. I also put his lead on for the final time away from the end of the walk so again, he didn't realise it meant 'fun over'.

I'm sorry to hear you've lost your older dog and 2 cats - it's never easy.

 

[JoanneF]

Hello and welcome.

Your puppy sounds like she is a normal, typical adolescent - lots of them turn selectively deaf at around that age.

Just go back to basics with training, and self medicate with chocolate!

A couple of things though - tennis balls are pretty harmful to teeth. The abrasive fibre can do a lot of damage over time so maybe invest in a Chuck-it or other type of ball.

And if she isn't coming back, practise recall using a long line to keep her safe (only attached to a harness, not a collar, to prevent injury). But importantly, coming back shouldn't be the end of fun. Recall her, do a collar touch then play and release, so she doesn't associate the recall with lead on and end of the freedom.

Edited to add - cross posted with @JudyN

 

[crazycockerowner]

Thank you, just looked at the chucking balls and will order some, we get tennis balls as we already had one in the house and she made it clear she loves them, we tried rubber balls but she either chews them or left them, even got her a giggle ball for in the house and she is petrified of it. She loses soo many balls or other dogs run of with them.

 

[crazycockerowner]

Welcome to you and Pip! I used to regularly call my dog back during walks, reward him, pop him on lead and off again, and then let him go again, so he didn't associate coming back to me with the end of the walk. I also put his lead on for the final time away from the end of the walk so again, he didn't realise it meant 'fun over'.

I'm sorry to hear you've lost your older dog and 2 cats - it's never easy.

Thank you been trying the recall training again but she gets so far then stops and sits or runs headlong into runs off again,

 

[JoanneF]

Have you thought of going (back) to classes? There are some that run classes for ”terrible teens” and similar - if you have a Dogs Trust in your area, they get a great reputation.

 

[crazycockerowner]

I haven't no, never needed to use them with my previous dogs, I have seen classes happening in a park near me but then they disappeared. She knows her commands and has done them but rebels now. Also once she gets going that's it nothing will work.currently been tearing round the house with a plastic plant pot she likes to chew up or a sieve is also a favourite, I noticed she responds to her name so I'm trying to use that as distraction and fussing her when she comes to me. My added trouble is our parrot picks things up pretty quickly whistle trying went out the window when she copied it, now says pip good girl

 

[JudyN]

I'm sorry, your parrot copying your cues must be so frustating for you, but it didn't half make me laugh

I'm not sure relying on her name to get her attention is a good idea right now if she's likely to ignore you - she might just learn to ignore her name. It may not be a standard method, but I had a few different recall commands, ranging in meaning from 'I'm going this way now, maybe you'd like to accompany me?' or 'I really would like to go home now' to 'Get here now, because I have the most amazing treat EVER!!!' ('sausage' or the whistle). The trick is to train and use these 'high-level commands' only in situations where you are 99.9% sure your dog will respond - so starting in the house, with no distractions, at point-blank range and rewarding really highly. Actually, you might want to only train them outside the house where the parrot is out of earshot!

 

[Mad Murphy]

When we got Remy he was about a year old he didnt know his name, not surprising because we gave it to him. So to get him used to recall and his name I put him on a light but very long line and used very high value sausage treats letting him sniff and play then calling him and when he resonded rewarding with the sausage and he only got sausage when he came so he very quickly learned that coming back to me was a positive.

Too often I see dogs let off the moment they get out the car, they are running abut having a whale of a time and the only time they are recalled is when its time to leave, no wonder they dont respond, ending playtime isnt fun so make recall fun, make it worth while, and see how that goes.

 

[Hemlock]

The parrot mimicking you could make training extra difficult because it teaches the dog either to deaf you out i.e. ignore the voice commands, or else become a neurotic wreck. I trained my dogs to hand signals, so you might consider that. Of course the dog has to be facing you. If you want to go this way, start out of range of the parrot, use voice and hand signal together, then gradually phase out the voice command. Out on walks you can mix hand signals with voice so dog understands both. I agree if you can go to a training class for your age of dog, it will not only give you some moral support but also show you some tips and wrinkles to help you through this tricky time. We all go through it, though it varies from dog to dog, and a working-bred spaniel is near the top of the list for being challenging!