I have an English Springer Spaniel, who is one year old.  We rescued her from a couple who had no idea about taking on a working ESS, she had no socialisation skills, had never been walked on a lead(when she got at walk), and had been kept in a yard.  I have been training her to a whistle, to go out beating and possibly if I get her good enough on to trials.  She can be as good as gold one minute, walking to heel off the lead, responding to her whistle to sit, quarter etc.  But sometimes she just goes wild and runs off, totally ignoring everything, she will not respond to her whistle, and comes back when she feels like it.  When she does come back she knows she is going to get wrong, and her ears go down and the big brown puppy dog eyes come out, as if to say "Mum dont shout at me".  She is the heart of our family, even my partner who swore he would never have a dog when we first met, loves her to bits.  But I need to make her listen to her whistle all the time.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, as I am frightened she will hurt herself when she is running wild.

She's still very much an adolescent, so this behaviour is to be expected (commonly referred to as the 'Kevin' stage)..  BUT telling her off when she comes back is NOT helping - she needs to feel that coming back to you will supply her with lots of lovely things, not a telling off (this is teaching her not to come back to put it bluntly - there is no reward for her, so why should she do it?)  She doesn't know she's done wrong, only that it isn't having any reward for her (dogs have no understanding of 'right or wrong' only of 'good to do' and 'not good to do')  It may help to use a 'long line' (a horse lunge line or length of washing line) in the short term, so you can reinforce the recall if she decides to ignore you, don't keep calling/whistling repeatedly, as this only teaches her that you will go on giving her attention as long as she stays away - which teaches her to ignore you :(  When she's recalling relaibly you can start to let the line go, and be ready to step on it to haul her in if she ignores you.  Make sure most of the recalls are followed by a release to continue what she was doing (other wise she'll learn to not come back as it means the end of all her fun) and don't always recall in the same place at the end of the walk (for the same reason)

Good luck with your girl, I have 1 1/2 springers myself, and we have lots of fun training :)

I have a 9 month old springer who was an angel two weeks ago and has now turned into the springer from hell ;-)  We are going right back to basics and working on her recalls, sitting, whistle work etc before she is being allowed any freedom.  They are a fantastic breed and well done for rescuing one - I'm sure she will be out there beating next season.

Helen