Does your dog kill stuff - Spaniel owners
Discussion
I've got a working cocker spaniel who seems to be a mission to destroy as much wildlife as possible. I won't go through what she has killed this week alone but suffice to say the list is extensive. It can't be just my dog that does this?
She is a mad keen hunter though. Luckily she hunts in the proper quartering pattern close by so I can sometimes intercept any murderous feelings she has towards stuff that she finds.
She is a mad keen hunter though. Luckily she hunts in the proper quartering pattern close by so I can sometimes intercept any murderous feelings she has towards stuff that she finds.
Edited by Never you mind on Friday 26th June 10:23
We had a rescue springer spaniel that was a bit handy with its chops. It once jumped up and grabbed a bird out of the air that was flying low over our garden. We occasionally got rats in the garden and if she smelt one she would go ape-s
t trying to catch it.
Not sure that dog was all there. There was no discernible cross breed but it was quite muscly and had a massive noggin for a springer.
t trying to catch it.Not sure that dog was all there. There was no discernible cross breed but it was quite muscly and had a massive noggin for a springer.
She killed a cock pheasant at 4 months old. Guess I should have realised then what I had on my hands.
The moral of the story is that Spaniels do spaniely stuff.
I usally hunt her up when we are out walking and do blind/directed retrieves with her so it I do try to keep her out of trouble. Think I need to work on her stop whistle when she flushes stuff.
Best dog ever though. Such a big character in such a small dog. I need more spaniels in my life. Lots of them!
The Killer dog!
The moral of the story is that Spaniels do spaniely stuff.
I usally hunt her up when we are out walking and do blind/directed retrieves with her so it I do try to keep her out of trouble. Think I need to work on her stop whistle when she flushes stuff.
Best dog ever though. Such a big character in such a small dog. I need more spaniels in my life. Lots of them!
The Killer dog!
we have a working cocker and weimaraner.They only tend to flush and chase prey as a game and usually give up after we recall them, if they catch whatever it is their after, nine times out of ten they will just pin it down, sniff it a bit then let it go, a few times the weim has caught a pheasant or pigeon by the neck and broke it which we were a bit horrified about but we couldn't really get mad at her as its in her genes.
They are bred to hunt.
Training is a way of channelling hunting instinct to get them to flush birds and rabbits for shooting.
The trick is to stop them at the point of flushing so you get to kill the bird or rabbit
If you can't stop them they'll kill things
If you don't train them at all they'll chase about and occasionally get lucky. Even trained dogs will occasionally 'peg' birds i.e.. catch bring them back alive
Mine has never killed anything. I keep him close (<20 yards unless retrieving) and (whistle) stop him before he can get out of sight; before every blind corner; when I spot a bird, squirrel or rabbit; when he looks like he's spotted something. etc. If you work a dog you can't allow it to 'get away'.
Another good idea if you're not 100% on stop and recall is take the dog where there aren't too many birds or rabbits - If mine is fizzing I put it on the lead.
Training is a way of channelling hunting instinct to get them to flush birds and rabbits for shooting.
The trick is to stop them at the point of flushing so you get to kill the bird or rabbit
If you can't stop them they'll kill things
If you don't train them at all they'll chase about and occasionally get lucky. Even trained dogs will occasionally 'peg' birds i.e.. catch bring them back alive
Mine has never killed anything. I keep him close (<20 yards unless retrieving) and (whistle) stop him before he can get out of sight; before every blind corner; when I spot a bird, squirrel or rabbit; when he looks like he's spotted something. etc. If you work a dog you can't allow it to 'get away'.
Another good idea if you're not 100% on stop and recall is take the dog where there aren't too many birds or rabbits - If mine is fizzing I put it on the lead.
Edited by oddman on Friday 26th June 21:49
The house I'm working on at the moment, the family have a Golden Retriever. I know the man of the house does shoot but I don't think the dog is really trained, more of a family pet. If I didn't know otherwise I'd say it was the softest, laziest, daftest thing I've ever seen. Spends most of the day sleeping and padding round the grounds like a stoned womble.
It is of course totally lethal. Nothing gets through the large garden alive - pheasant, rabbit, rodent, cat, whatever. The most impressive thing is the speed and silence, no noise or fuss just a proper instinct killer. My Ridgeback can barely find his dinner some days, she makes him look like a total pudding. The other funny thing is it doesn't even look at the free range chickens.
It is of course totally lethal. Nothing gets through the large garden alive - pheasant, rabbit, rodent, cat, whatever. The most impressive thing is the speed and silence, no noise or fuss just a proper instinct killer. My Ridgeback can barely find his dinner some days, she makes him look like a total pudding. The other funny thing is it doesn't even look at the free range chickens.
bazza white said:
We had a springer off farm at 4 years old, the killing isn't so bad when we lived in the country side but when you move to a city and in a public area it got a bit embarrassing when he came back pleased as punch with his fresh kill hanging out his mouth.
My uncle use to say the same when his little Patterdale Terrier would return from the bushes in Hampstead Heath with a rabbit in her mouth and drop it in front of him next to a family eating their picnic. Our gsd scout will walk passed cows, sheep, ponies etc on dartmoor without giving them a second glance, a pheasant came about 6ft away from us when out fishing last week and he didnt flinch, but if he sees a rabbit he is gone! Only time I see him sprint flat out! We went to perranporth last month for the weekend and it was living with them at the campsite, in the dunes the poor sod didnt know which way to sniff! Rabbit holes everywhere!
I've had a springer in the past and a lurcher now, you will never get the instinct to hunt out of them.
However the more mentally active you keep them the better so we did a lot of training (if they think it's fun they love it) especially around leaving things alone.
Whilst you may not stop them 100% of the time it can help for instance both my dogs lived with cats. My lurcher visits my grandparents who also has a cat ( a little nervous as he wasn't brought up with this one) and we have had no issues.
So it can be done if you spend a lot of time working on it.
However the more mentally active you keep them the better so we did a lot of training (if they think it's fun they love it) especially around leaving things alone.
Whilst you may not stop them 100% of the time it can help for instance both my dogs lived with cats. My lurcher visits my grandparents who also has a cat ( a little nervous as he wasn't brought up with this one) and we have had no issues.
So it can be done if you spend a lot of time working on it.
We have a Working (never done a day's work in his life, mind) Cocker and a Springer who love chasing birds, rabbits etc and have occasionally caught things. It's obviously an instinct which is very much part of the breed. We had mice in our garage last Winter and tried to persuade them to do something about it but they just looked daftly at us as though to say "We're not Jack Russells, catch 'em yourselves!" Anyway, Alfie prefers his birds to be cuddly
One of our springers works. She is pretty good but has pegged a bird before.
As she's firstly a pet, we also took her to my wife's company's family fun day out at a local rugby club. She shot into the hedge and came back out with a mixy rabbit in her mouth. That was dispatched out of view of the kids who were pretty curious. She doesn't usually catch rabbits but has been known to chase (and lose out in a drag race to) a hare. These rabbits must have been weak, or perhaps she was showing off to the other dogs.....
We have a 16 month old cocker but not sure if he will start working this season as the idea of actually being allowed to hunt for stuff and picking it up and bringing it back might blow his tiny little mind. He's quite excitable.
As she's firstly a pet, we also took her to my wife's company's family fun day out at a local rugby club. She shot into the hedge and came back out with a mixy rabbit in her mouth. That was dispatched out of view of the kids who were pretty curious. She doesn't usually catch rabbits but has been known to chase (and lose out in a drag race to) a hare. These rabbits must have been weak, or perhaps she was showing off to the other dogs.....
We have a 16 month old cocker but not sure if he will start working this season as the idea of actually being allowed to hunt for stuff and picking it up and bringing it back might blow his tiny little mind. He's quite excitable.
My working cocker is 12 now so slowing down a bit, he was worked in his younger years but was always primarily a pet.
He has caught a few rabbits in his time, only ever if he startled one in cover & reacted to it, he has returned them to me & released them on command. Sadly because cockers have small mouths he has damaged the larger rabbits & I've had to put them out of their misery, smaller ones have hopped off unharmed.
He was trained from day 1 NOT to chase them & will stand & almost point if he sees one at any distance.
My old springer (working breed but not gun trained), caught a few duck, he retrieved them & left me to despatch them!
He has caught a few rabbits in his time, only ever if he startled one in cover & reacted to it, he has returned them to me & released them on command. Sadly because cockers have small mouths he has damaged the larger rabbits & I've had to put them out of their misery, smaller ones have hopped off unharmed.
He was trained from day 1 NOT to chase them & will stand & almost point if he sees one at any distance.
My old springer (working breed but not gun trained), caught a few duck, he retrieved them & left me to despatch them!
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