I have a 18 month old springer (male) who is a dream to have live with me and my family, he is very good when in the garden or indoors, he goes to work everyday with my husband where he is very friendly and loves the company of humans. Now for the problem, up until 9 months ago we used to walk Pickle (his name) off the lead and he would be very happy playing with his ball and socialising with other dogs, then we moved house and when we took him for his first walk in a new area he ran immediatly towards the rabbit burrows and we spent 2 hours trying to get him back. Since then we have tryed to let him off the lead with no success, we have had food in our pockets, we have punished him and so on. He has no interest in other dogs and seems to be tunnel visioned when it comes to running towards any smells that seem interesting. We now have to keep him on a very long lead and we are increasing worried that he is not getting enough excercise, and as we all know they need lots and lots. PLease please can anyone give me any ideas as to how we can train him to come back when we call

Hi Guest,
It sounds as if your dog is nearing the end of the adolescent phase - which usually lasts from when the dog is about 10 months to about 18 months. They can be a complete nightmare at this time! What generally happens is that, if they were reasonably well-behaved before this time, they will get back to being reasonably well-behaved afterwards, especially if you just carry on with the training practice. My boys were just the same, but now will make a bee-line for the rabbitholes they know, and then come back to me when they have finished checking them out!

In the meantime, to give him extra exercise, are the roads quiet enough in your area for you to take him out with a bike? Don't go for too long or too fast - keeping him beside you at a trot will be fine to use up some of his energy.

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Hope this helps. :)