Training a 'rescue' working dog breed

Our lovely Working Cocker spaniel, Jamie, has reached the grand old age of three!  He's really doing nicely now, after a LOT of hard work!

The young family who originally owned him loved him to bits, and looked after him beautifully, but weren't able to give him the time and attention he needed, so he was developing some problems. We have lots of experience in dog training, but this one has been a particularly big challenge! Consequently we had been scouring the internet for advice, and came across the excellent Pippa Mattinson .  No we did NOT want to train our dog to be a gundog, but the initial methods recommended for training this breed seemed ideal!

Some months later, certainly Pippa's methods have been enormously helpful - I can't recommend this trainer's methods more highly - and Jamie has made great strides, but this extremely experienced trainer stresses the need for 'proofing' stages in training a dog, and the Working Cocker, specially bred to hunt, has such strong instincts to find his fun 'across the next field', that 'proofing' is a tough nut to crack!
We were finding that although encouraged by lots of progress, we still didn't have 100% confidence tbat we were 'there'  - an absolutely essential requirement before we could really enjoy allowing Jamie to enjoy free running - we devised many alternative means of providing exercise, such as bike running  (OFF ROAD, of course, or on very quiet roads at non-busy times of day) or swimming.

But then I remembered some methods we had used extremely successfully with a previous dog, and decided that Jamie had reached a level where we could try them! In Sylvia Bishop 's book we found a training method which was COMPLETELY different from any other we had tried or even heard of, and  it isn't easy, as her instructions are exacting! But with my husband and I working together to the n'th degree to even make a start, we at last seem to be  moving forward again!  Very hard work, but my goodness it's worth it! What could be more rewarding than to find that on the command "Watch", your dog whips his head around and fixes his eyes on you?

Pippa Mattinson's methods involve food rewards, and indeed these were helpful (we ALWAYS now carry a little sealed pack of cat food with us, as this is invaluable in an emergency!) but for Sylvia's objectives we needed to find a REALLY TOP HOLE game that would reward Jamie for correct responses. So with his 3rd birthday coming up off we went to the ever helpful Direct Pets   in Berwick, who have a good range to choose from!  Sylvia' s methods are based on training what she calls "THE WANT", so we needed to find something that we felt that our dog would really love!  Took ages to find, but this is a WINNER
! Jamie absolutely loves his training, and we're getting there!
Hurrah!

My 'InkTober' blog needs polishing a bit!

This morning's attempt at some kind of online entry is really showing up how 'green' I am at this blogging lark...!

Wishing to place this InkTober contribution online in some way, having omitted it from my last post, I tried putting it on my Facebook page .  Managed to make a bit of a hash of that, so I'll try doing something else here! I think that I'll put the drawing on my new Pinterest page for this aspect of my artwork, as this is an area which I want to work on!

Training the young dog in question is another area which requires lots of attention! We have a Working Cocker Spaniel who is now a really delightful family companion, and we have worked hard for over a year training him to be generally obedient...just this morning I've been reinforcing the lesson that he should be staying on his bed where he was asked to go (as we are in the middle of a massive 'downsizing' exercise then floorspace is at a premium, and this ensures that we know where he is!).  BUT we have found ourselves with a dog that is 'hard-wired to chase' so we have to take precautions to make sure that he doesn't end up on a busy road or railway line while still getting sufficient excercise.  Just now he's been out off-road with my husband and the bike gadget , while other times our big securely fenced back garden and 'Chuckit' gadget
are just the job!

One website I've seen recommends training our dog to 'quarter' from side to side when exercising, and this looks really helpful! We've been using Pippa Mattinson's ideas and methods for a while now for various aspects of training, so can be reasonably confident with this one, perhaps!  Fingers crossed...!

Training a Working Breed Dog

This picture of Jamie, our lovely Working Breed Cocker Spaniel, was taken just days after we adopted him, at the age of about eight months.

Working dog breeds make wonderful pets and companions, and the young family who owned him loved him to bits and he was beautifully cared for. Unfortunately they were now realising that they just couldn’t manage to give him the time he now needed to keep him happy and occupied.  These breeds are highly intelligent and bred to WORK, so they need to be carefully trained to do this, or they can become mischievous.

Regretfully, but very wisely, they started to look for a new home for their puppy, and we were willing to have a go!  After carefully ‘vetting’ us they agreed to a trial, and two years later here he is!

Yes, he’s now much bigger and still extremely ‘bouncy’, but a joy!

In this section of my blog I plan to tell the story of our progress as we endeavoured to train him to become a polite member of society!

When we have owned (and successfully trained) dogs before, we have usually found books a good source of useful information and advice.  Jamie proved to be a special case, and the internet has come up with a wonderful dog trainer called Pippa Mattinson. Her site  would be an invaluable resource for all dog owners, but is particularly helpful for owners of working breeds.