How do you exercise your dogs? And why?

[Patp]

Jinley is a 7 year old show cocker.  I dont take treats out with me for our morning walk in the woods as she becomes unbearable if another dog comes up to say hello.

The morning walk is a sociable walk (both for humans and dogs) although the dogs just walk with us off lead with not much interaction with each other unless a squirrel is seen at which point its who can run the fastest (or stalked patiently until another dog ruins it).

Recall is good, and she always remains in view, unless on a chase then the cloth ears affliction kicks in.

She is very good at finding "Pete the Treat" in the woods as he always gives her fresh cooked chicken.

Generally she is a lazy dog, sleeps all day in the house if there is nothing going on.

We have tried agility (she couldnt see the point) and have even tried beating, which if she had been the only dog and there was only one drive that day, she could do it all on her own, but could never get her to come back between drives under control.

[Darwin]

Darwin will be 10yr in Feb.  He’s got serve IVDD.  Having had at least 5 ruptured disc.  We’ve just achieved 1000 days post paralysis and spinal surgery.

He has 3 walks ( max 10 mins each, he’s starting to drag his weakest rear leg by the time he gets home)  on pavement using harness and lead, avoiding any dogs or human friends ( to reduce excitement and potential for injury). Walks are at 7am, 3pm and 10pm (which enables us to try and manage his bowels) All off lead time is in the back garden.

Yes, it a limited life, but he’s tail doesn’t stop wagging

[PennyB]

I think  that is a really good point. I was discussing this with another member just the other day about cockers being cockers and managing your expectations. If you have the control that you need then you will carry on as normal. Some folks don't realise they have the control they need and strive for more. This is where the trade off comes in. If
You want more control. Then change your habits, make a plan, stick to it. Before you do, do you actually need that control or have you got something half decent in front of you already ? I was watching a cocker hunt sand dunes last week. There was nothing really to hunt for. The behaviour is hard wired and was always gonna happen. Do you reign the dog in? Well I think a balance between control and letting a cocker be a cocker somehow needs to be found

Am wondering though re sand dunes if there is a scent of sorts though as all manner of wildlife use dunes when we're not rampaging through them but I agree with you re the balance.

I have just adopted a cocker - he's show type but acts more like a worker when he's offlead. Initially he was obsessed with scenting around the woodland on the park to the point he blanked me as if his life depended on it. Now he's more aware of his surroundings and me so while he will hunt squirrels he now responds to me so we're getting there but early days. We do play 'find it' games when out and I will often interact with mine anyway as its more than just a walk (sometimes an adventure)

[Ben's mum]

Really interesting reading these replies and lovely hearing how different our cockers are. Harry is quite a complicated little chap but has actually blossomed since Ben died. He will be 10 in March, but a month or so after we lost Ben in spring 2017 he started to initiate play with us out walking, doing zoomies, picking up whatever he could find and bringing it to us for a game. His walks are off lead mostly so we use them as an opportunity for him to play and let off steam. His attention is on us most of the time and he doesn't wander to far away. He looks back and checks to see where we are and i do lots of recalls using whistle or hand gestures. When Ben went deaf he quickly learnt hand gestures, so I have carried them on for Harry as although his hearing is fine now it might be helpful in the future.

When Harry came to us he had a really strong chase instinct and had been allowed to chase everything with previous owners.  It took us about 3 years on the long line and going back to basics to stop him disappearing, which he did a few times when we were caught out!

I know some will disaprove but i will let  him chase birds when we walk sometimes. Where we walk sometimes you get massive crows on the ground and he is so good he never runs off after them but he looks so longingly so every now and them i will tell him ok and he runs and runs and has a great time  . He will always come back to the whistle when I want him to. I know its shocking behaviour from me  but if i felt it was impacting on his recall i would stop it.

[Top Barks]

Not shocking at all. If you letting your dog go doesn't impact on the recall you need then why not. 

[its.sme]

Bea is a great sniffer, her walks are usually off lead and she is allowed to potter about.

I will recall her several times during the walk, mostly for treats but this is broken up by the occasional back or belly rub  so she doesn't always know what she is getting.

As her nose is usually down she is totally oblivious to what is happening around her, she would often be startled by dogs rushing in so we have tought her "in coming" if a dog is approaching then we shout "in coming" and Bea pops her head up to have a look, no more startled Bea

She also knows the word Coffee and Car, this usually results in her finding the shortest route to the Cafe or Car so has to be used wisely  , this skill (?) was taught to her by my Mum who with my dad take her out during the day while I'm at work.

Sharon.

[Ben's mum]

Not shocking at all. If you letting your dog go doesn't impact on the recall you need then why not. 

phew I expected a telling off  ! 
I always think the adrenalin rush he gets must be a bit like us doing an extreme sport, so Harry's bird chase is the doggy equivalent to an abseil, he comes back eyes shining with that jaunty trot and all giddy!

[Top Barks]

But does he come back when you call him Ben's mum?

[Ben's mum]

But does he come back when you call him Ben's mum?

Yes he comes back to the whistle when I want him, it makes me smile he is such a good boy 

Its also different to the head down hunting he used to do when he had the smell of something to chase in the early days - then he used to just lose his head completely and he just couldn't hear or see me at all he was so focused on hunting.  I would still never risk letting him off in an area with pheasants as I am not 100% sure he would come back and don't want to undo the hard work it took to get where we are.  I am curious as to whether his recall is strong enough not going to put it to the test   

[Digger]

Hi.
My 18 month old wcs has a pretty nice life. We live in a great place for dogs so every morning we just go out of our back gate, along a footpath on lead for 5 minutes (still pulling despite my best efforts-she'll do 'close' but then just steams off again  )
Then at the end of the path, lead is unclipped and she waits until I say she can go.
There are various ways we can go around the surrounding acres of open fields and woodlands. The first half of the walk I do a few recalls with treats and she invariably will bump into some other dogs and have a play. Then we'll go into the woods and do some tennis ball finding which is what she absolutely loves. If I have tennis balls, her attention is completely on me. During this she will drop on the whistle, come close, wait etc. However, our walks have closed in a bit since the last time we ranged out over the fields a long way she went pheasant crazy and was ignoring everything. I am now a bit nervous about taking out there again as she was spotted by a game keeper who had a go at me. She was only gone a few minutes but it's not a nice feeling to realise your animal has gone completely deaf. It's very frustrating because she is otherwise pretty good when she's out and about and I've never lost her but now I feel a bit nervous that she might do it again and I don't want her to practise!!. She does like to be with me but that was like a different dog.  Her chase instinct is very intense and she is so fast you could never catch her if she'd decided not to come back.
At the end of a normal walk she knows it's the end and I call her in, she'll let me have her ball and lead on and gets treats. When the waters not too cold, she loves it if we throw a ball into the river-she will run full tilt and take off with a huge leap through the air into the river-landing in a spectacular belly flop, completely submerging and rising triumphant with her ball! It's fantastic to watch and always draws a crowd of smilng passers by!
On balance, some walks have been sometimes a bit stressful for us, but I love to see the joy of a spaniel being a spaniel. She still has some behaviours that are inappropriate but she does love people and is good with other dogs and she has a wonderful time when she is having her walks so I hope that all the niggles will come good in the end.