My Cocker Gillie

[lucyjordan]

Hi, im Lucy and i am the owner of a 7 month old cocker spaniel.  He is from a working cocker line, and is a chocolate brown with creamy bits, theres a name for it but it slips my memory at the mo.

Hes a lovely dog, very clever, but he does cause me a few problems.  The first one is that he is constantly chewing something.  He had his own toys, but anything he can rip to pieces he will, yet at the same time, he can pinch a tea towel or a sock and lick it for hours.  Im so afraid that one day he is going to eat something and cause himself harm, i cant take my eyes off him.  Hes had two tug ropes, which he has decimated, and a soft furry long tailed creature which he did eat and make himself sick with.  When i catch him with something he shouldnt have i take it off him, and scold him, then give him something that is his, but i really would prefer if he didnt chew anything because of the danger of swallowing the stuff.

Another problem is walking on the lead.  He just wont do it.  He pulls like a steam train, nearly making himself sick or choke, i bought a halti collar and he just flicked it off his nose after less than two minutes of objecting. 

I know he needs lots of exercise, and i take him to a few places where he can run till his hearts content, but i need him to at least walk around my home and not be a one dog demolition squad.

Ive joined here hoping for a few tips and advice, so i would be very grateful for some feed back.

thanks

[MIN]

hello lucy and to Gillie

you will get plenty of help and advice here. but i am afraid to say, you own a very normal working cocker  welcome to the club

[8 Hairy Feet]

Oh hello Lucy and Gillie
Welcome to COl
Ok I see you have questions.You 
need to post your problems in
a different board;either "puppies"
or "behavior and training"
Have you done a search on here
for your questions?
steffxxx

[lucyjordan]

Hi thanks for posting on my thread

After reading through some of the other threads im beginning to realise that Gillie isnt unusual.

I dont seem able to see the names of those who have posted, so i apologise for seeming a bit impersonal.

I did realise that this wasnt the room for posting problems so i have posted in a forum for behaviour problems, hoping somebody might come up with something, but as i said from reading other threads i really wonder if there is any answers.

i still love him and if it was just me and him in the world, i wouldnt care what he did, but i just feel he needs to lessons in good manners.

[Joules]

Have merged your 2 threads so all advice will be in one place 

And yes, your pup sounds pretty typical - sorry 

[Sarah.H]

Perhaps a no pull harness would be a better option and then have set aside time for training to walk to heel with a collar? Working cockers need just as much mental stimulation as well as physical exercise so you should spend more time training to work his brain. Unfortunately there are no quick fixes and consistency is the key to producing a well rounded adult dog.

[BobnDot]

Hi Lucy

As others have said, Gillie sounds like a perfectly normal working cocker but, at 7 months, he's a "Teenager" and prone to getting up to all kinds of mischief  .
All that you've taught him will be forgotten and it'll seem that he's taken it upon himself to cause you as much misery and heartache as possible  . The reality is that he can't help himself, imagine a human teenager with real attitude problems and rampaging hormones and you'll get some idea of the forces driving this behaviour .
Stick with the training, be consistent and repeat it as often as needed, he'll get there eventually. Try to make him use his brain whenever possible, hide treats around the house and make a game of finding them, get a Kong and fill it with his food so he has to work to get it, make a game of giving him a treat in exchange for anything he's stolen but try not to scold him, reward him for bringing it to you. Try whenever possible to turn bad behaviour to your advantage and use it to get him to do something that is acceptable.
My Chaz is just a few weeks older than Gillie and at the moment he's an absolute  but there are glimmers of the light at the end of the tunnel  , he'll come and cosy up to me and I talk gently to him and explain what he's doing wrong, I don't for one minute think he understands the words but he's responding well to a gentle voice and touch and I use this as reinforcement of his good behaviour.
We used a Halti on Chaz at first with some success but he really responded well to a Mekuti harness.
If it's any consolation you're not alone as you'll have seen from other posts, it's one of the joys of cocker puppy ownership, but the end result is really well worth all the effort  .

Bob.

[PennyB]

I use a no pull harness on Stella (sprocker) as she can pull me flying over if she's on a normal flat collar and lead but with this harness she walks like an angel (I even walked her yesterday without any problems while hobbling with 1 crutch after my knee op and she'd only just come out of kennels).

[lucyjordan]

Hi Bobndot your post has been really encouraging.  I got him a kong last week, and up to now he appears to like it, and hasnt as yet destroyed it.  This is a black extra strong one, so im hoping it does what it says on the label.

Gillie loves lying beside me, while im on my computer, with his head on my shoulder, but it doesnt last for more than 10 minutes at a time, and then hes off and exploring somewhere else. 

I know exactly what you mean about the teenager stroppiness and your right, when he is in the garden, he used to come as soon as i called, but now he comes right up to the door, then runs away again.  Which in this freezing weather isnt exactly an endearing trait, i dont know if im doing right or wrong, but im not going out to chase him in, so i just shut the door, and let him in when im ready to.  He loves the garden and enjoys fleeing around it, (my shrubs are decimaated lol) and in this snow we have recently had, he thinks its great fun, to roll in it and then dive straight on the sofa whilst still dripping wet. 

Im going to return the halti collar i bought and hopefully the shop may allow me to exchange it for a harness, although the last harness i bought for him for the car, he chewed off in about 5 minutes of me putting him on the back seat.

Ive had to reinforce the extending lead with chain, because he just chewed threw the nylon bit at the beginning, of it, although i am not at the moment using it at all, because i am trying to get him used to the short lead.

Thanks everybody for your input its most helpful

[lucyjordan]

Hi

I have been today and exchanged the halti collar for a non pull harness.  Wow!!! Instant success.  I did have something similar years ago for my staffie who pulled like a train, and it did help him enormously, and this is a more sophisticated version of that.

Im well impressed.  Even had the cofidence to take out side where it is really icy, and he walked like an angel.

thank you so much all you who suggested this type of harness.

Im overwhelmed with gratitude.