I am getting a bit worried about my 4 month old springer, he spends alot of time chasing shadows and is constantly charging about, he can see his ears dangling when he looks down and tries to get them by scratching at the floor.
Should I be worried about this or is it normal behaviour. I dont recall my other dogs doing this

Hi Sandie,
It could be nothing as it only 4 months old. Have you encouraged your dog to stop by distraction and giving it something else to do. It may just grow out of this if distraction does show some improvement.
It could be some obsessive compulsive disorder based on visual disturbance. I would try distraction and make a note of what is happening and then visit your vet. It is important to understand why your dog does this and this may be cured by your vet. It would be unwise to got through a list of things to try as they may make matters worse. Tell your vet if there has been any stress for your dog recently and how and when this began. Have you changed your dogs diet recently as somethimes this can have some effect.

I have a 6 month old Springer, and she too chases shadows, it was a real problem when she was smaller taking her out for a walk at night, once the street light was behind us, it would cast our shadows in front of us, and she would try and catch up with her shadow, dragging us behind her. We worked hard on her heel, so now she just needs reminding now and again to slow things down a bit. It can be frustrating too when we let her out to do the business during the TV break, she does her bit straight away, and then we spend 10 minutes trying to get her back in with her chasing the shadow cast by the door.
Since I started training her as a gundog, she doesn't seem to be bothered so much by shadows, I don't know if this is because she is too tired, we've taken her mind of shadows or she's just growing out of it.
I think you also have to remember that your dog is still very young, and since he's a Springer he was born to chase and retrieve things, so is he just honing his skills, and doing what he's supposed to do. Every thing is so new to him, and he has loads of energy to expend some way, and this is his way of doing it. You wouldn't want a 40 or 50lb Springer crashing around your house chasing shadows though, so maybe it would be good idea to do as Alan suggests and try and distract him with something else.
Unless it looks like becoming an obsession, I would just let him enjoy him self, as long as he's not doing any damage, Just my humble opinion of course, I'm no expert by any means, but just enjoy him being a puppy, they grow up all to quickly any way.
Just as a footnote, I have friends who have two Springers, which are 2 and 3 years old, I took Heidi along to meet the girls, and my friends said they missed their girls being puppies running around chasing shadows and their own tails.

Robert :)