Working cocker spaniels need a lot of training. Every day, every “walk”, every doorway, meal time, every visitor, the list goes on....
The reason why he has such a low attention span is because he’s far more interested in everything around him than in you (or whoever he is walking with). At 5 months you should still be working on the basics with him: sit, presenting retrieves, recall and patience. If you don’t get these right when he hits the teenage phase at 7-9 months you will have a real problem on your hands. Don’t be fooled by the cute puppy routine and rolling on his back or tail down - these pups know how to work their humans and at 5 months he’s likely to have you exactly where he wants you.
I saw a demo of a 14 month old cocker a couple of weeks ago (local trainer and across a field...) that was awesome, the control was amazing and she was such a happy dog. It made mine look like an unruly toddler having a tantrum and she’s Field Trial standard! So it is possible.....
Have a look at Beggarbush Foundations. He is about to launch an online application for training. I’ll have a look for a link for you. There will be a cost (not sure how much) but he is a very successful gundog trainer and those that I know follow the Foundations have happy, well trained and obedient dogs.
As soon as you can, get to a local gundog trainer and get your boy assessed. They will help with teaching you to read his body language, anticipate his behaviour and how to stop issues before they start. If you start with the Foundations ASAP (from the very beginning - it mostly gets you to use his dinner for training) you will have a head start to when you can see a trainer after 29 March.
I would also ditch the harness. They teach the dog to pull, even the front lead type, after all, it’s what they put on Huskies to pull sleighs! Get a 6mm good quality slip lead (Muntjac Trading have nice, smooth, leads) and learn how to use it correctly. The lead should be vertical when you are walking and just long enough that his head is by your knee and held/controlled in your left hand, with the loop over your right hand. The lead should be high up the dogs neck, again vertically and directly behind the ears, with the thread-through loop under the lead on the left of the dog. This makes it impossible for the dog to pull. As soon as you feel the lead go slack it will have dropped down the neck and your dog is likely to lunge forward and pull again. 10 days of short walks with the lead in the correct position is all it should take to get your boy to walk to heel. Reinforce the heel command using your voice. Heel should only be said when your boy is in the correct position - tell him he’s a good boy when he is so he understands what you expect of him, the more he’s right the more exciting you make your voice and tell him every few seconds....this can tail off as he starts to nail heel and you can focus on walking. The correct position is to your left with his head off the ground (no choice because the lead is short, right?) and level with your knee. If he moves forward, use his name and your “no command” I.e. ah, ah! no! or growling at him, whichever you use and he recognises as being norty! No need to yank on the lead, that’s just mean/cruel - sit him up, put the lead into the correct position and say heel before setting off. Think about your feet also, you should be stepping off on the left foot first so he moves forward with your knee.
Remember at this age whilst you may think he understands, he doesn’t really and is only doing what he thinks you want him to - that will quickly morph into doing what he thinks is right but not necessarily what you need him to!
When you’ve cracked heel you can introduce stop on the move. This is often referred to as a set of brakes. You will need this once he realises what ground scent means.
Whether you intend to work your boy or not, please do continue with is training as not only is it really rewarding to see him progress but having a well trained dog is a wonderful experience and one to be very proud of.
Good luck with your boy.
Jayne