Hi again - having found the advice useful before, thought I try again with the latest 'little problem' with our 7 month old cocker!!

We nearly lost him the other day when he was let off his lead and had a whale of a time chasing every bird all around the racecourse!! He has always shown interest in birds (and squirrels) by pulling on his lead when he sees them so I guess it was only to be expected - needless to say he didn't come back when called and it was quite scarey. Eventually we got him back but only cos he went to investigate some other dogs and one of them saw him off back to us!! Obviously, now he's not let off the lead unless completely enclosed (tennis courts are very useful!) but he has so much energy, being a worker cocker, that it won't be fair to carry on like this indefinitely. Any advice on what to do would be appreciated as now he has had such a good time running free he'll probably go again given the first opportunity.

Also, wondering if he's in that difficult adolescent stage - he's also recently started playing up at night, i.e. chewed his bed to ribbons and scratching and making a noice - he used to be good as gold once he was in his bed???

Thanks everso for any tips.
Goink

Sounds just like my other half.
Maybe he was crossed with a cocker.

I know of 3 seperate cases of dogs falling to their deaths over cliff edges, chasing seagulls in the sky!!!

OMG Sam, that's awful! My 2 BSD's would chase birds in the sky but luckily it was on a field and not over a cliff!

Goink, our Terv is really adolescent at the moment (she's 8 mnths) and doing similar stuff, chewing much more etc. The pups have trouble when their teeth come through, but there is another stage when the teeth are settling into the jaw which can last for quite some time! We are also finding that, whatever we give Banya, to chew, she will demolish and then try to eat the wallpaper, her bed, anything! Just try not to worry too much :)

With the recall, it is mainly lots and lots of practice and training that will help, IMHO, but it is a stage and if you persevere you should end up with a lovley adult well-behaved dog.

Being a working cocker, why not try directing all that bursting energy when the dog is a bit older? We have several working cockers at our dog club we attend, (the instructor has one) and they love agility. Just a thought!

Best wishes
Lindsay

You have a working cocker Goink :D He is chewing and playing up because he is bored. If you want to have a well balanced happy dog then you are going to have to channel that energy into something constructive. What he needs is mental stimulation as well as exercise. He is doing what he was bred to do :-) Have you tried retrieving with him yet? Will he fetch a ball or something?

Leigh

Hi thanks for your posts! He does chase a ball and runs around with it (not brill on the bring back) but soon loses interest - in fact that's what happened the other day - he went after the ball a couple of times but the birds were far more interesting!!! We were thinking of trying a frisbee as at least that stays in the air a bit longer?

The whistle training seems to be favourite at the moment - unless any other suggestions. I have read a lot of John Fishers books and he uses the disks as a deterrant - has anyone had much experience of them???

thanks.

Have you tried doing different things with the ball rather than just throwing it in a straight line all the time? You could try making him wait before you send him to fetch it.Let him see you drop it and making him leave it...walk on.....then send him back for it. How about hiding it in long grass or in cover and then encouraging him to find it? Anything that makes him use his nose (and his brain) will help.Personally, I think that if you have a bird chasing problem, then a frisbee might not be the way to go at the moment. It will encourage him not only to chase but to leap into the air to catch it. Whistle training is a very good idea too :-) have you thought about gundog training classes? Jane might know if the breed club organise anything.

Leigh

Thanks Leigh - good tips about the ball work but it is a bit of a Catch 22 situation!! As we cannot trust him to come back we don't play ball any more in open land - just in the tennis courts at the park - there we do try and do different things with it, like football between us, but obviously it's getting a bit boring for him. I think I will have to start building up the whistle training and try some very special recall rewards.
Goink

YOu could try him on a long line, then he would be abel to join in the games but not run off until you can trust him a bit more!! :)

lindsay

TH showed a more than healthy interest in birds. Living on a sporting estate pheasants are a hazard everywhere - even under the bird table.

Despite it not being the greatest thing for a rough shooting dog to do, we have trained her to sit to the whistle everytime she sees a bird go up and then she sits and watches it. She used to chase birds in the garden when we weren't looking, but she did grow out of it.

(No comments about bad gundog training thank you. :p)

We rough shoot over pointers but we still teach them to sit to flush ;-) Leigh

Thank you. I don't really know what I'm doing by the way - gundog training by the seat of my pants and Martin Deeley's book. But with the help of a local gamekeeper it seems to be working.

Except that Al keeps telling me that I'm not doing it right - which is a cheek coz he hasn't even read the book. ;)

Have you seen Feb's "The Field"? Debbie Z and her clumbers are in it and on the front page. It seems I don't have the only stubborn clumber!

He writes a good book :-) I was working one of my GSP's on marshland a few years back and Martin was judging him. The dog went on staunch point in a very swampy area and having had a good look at the muddy water that Merlin was pointing, we couldn't see ANYthing. He told me to work my dog on but I had to drag the dog off point and every time I cast him again he returned to the same spot! I was soooo embarrassed ....lol In the end I clicked my fingers at the water and told the dog to get in ... he instantly dived forward, submerged his muzzle under the water and pulled out a very sodden and very dirty alive wabbit !! I was really chuffed,especially as later he signed my book and complimented my dogs tenacity... Martin that is .. not the wabbit :D

I will get a copy of The Field

Leigh

I own a PBGV X JR who firmly believes that anything with wings does not belong on the ground and will just disappear at first sight or sound of a bird, can clear a field or woodland in minutes. Sadly when this happens the hound in him comes out and he suddenly becomes deaf to all commands, both parents are working stock so the instinct is high in him.
He's now 3 and despite all efforts I have never been able to break him of it, I have learnt to read his body language and if I can stop him at just the right moment it will distract him but you only have a split second. Ingrid

Wow, what a mix!!!!!!!!! Is he from Nick Valentine by any chance?

What a mix indeed, you mean you actually know someone else with them !!!!!!!
He was given to me by a friend who breeds working JRs, only pup as a result of an accident when someone was looking after his bitch, (or should that be ex-friend), he is a typical ignorant hound/willful JR, rules the roost over the bigger dogs, knows all the commands just decides when he's going to obey.