There are currently 12 recognised spaniel breeds on the Kennel Club Register in the UK, with the Cocker Spaniel being the 6th most popular breed, many families consider welcoming a spaniel to their fold. Whilst not all spaniels were bred to be working gun dogs, used in the field to flush and retrieve birds, the vast majority are from working lines, therefore, the hunting/retrieving instinct can come quite naturally to them.
So, whether you have a spaniel, are getting one or considering choosing a spaniel – here are our top ten things every spaniel owner knows!
1. You’ll never know where your other sock or slipper is!
Whether it’s your favourite pair or the oldest pair in the drawer your spaniel won’t mind – they will simply LOVE carrying it around with them! Whilst this may seem annoying it is a natural desire and can be used as part of your training and for having fun with your dog.
We can use this to our advantage by playing fun hide and seek games with our dogs to encourage hunting and retrieving. In turn this will encourage them to bring things back to us which is incredibly useful on a walk or at home if they have picked up something they shouldn’t!
2. The excitable poos
If you don’t fancy reading the poo related content close your eyes until the next point…..
A spaniel will never just go for one poo – my spaniel on very excited occasions may do up to 5 or 6 on one walk! In my experience it is common for our spaniels to start with a ‘good solid poo’ at the beginning of the walk and often ends up in a runny mess! No one really knows why this happens but given their excitement and adrenaline levels it makes sense!
3. Your dog will not walk in a straight line
We walk directly from A to B – our spaniels certainly do not! They go from A to R to G to C to Z – well maybe not exactly like this but my point is sometimes it can feel like there is no logic to their walking pattern. It may seem challenging, especially when working on leadwork, however they are simply following their nose, discovering new smells and following trails.
4. They don’t need to constantly be playing ‘fetch’
Contrary to popular belief you can wear a spaniel out and it doesn’t need to involve playing hours upon hours of fetch. In fact, for my spaniel, fetch is banned!
Yep – you heard me right. I don’t ban fetch because I’m mean (although Murphy may disagree), it is simply too over arousing for him. A ball is simply the BEST thing in the entire universe, therefore having free access to tennis balls and engaging in a high energy fetch makes him over excited to the point he can’t think straight.
Now just because I don’t play fetch doesn’t mean I don’t use balls. I use them wisely, as a reward or as part of a game. We play fun games where I hide the ball and he sniffs it out: his ‘treasure’ is the reward.
5. They need more mental stimulation than you think
This touches a little bit on the point above – as dog owners we are guilt tripped into believing that we need to walk our dogs for 3 hours a day until they can’t walk any further. I disagree – you may have heard us say that 10 minutes of mental stimulation is the equivalent of roughly an hour’s physical exercise.
This can be scent detection, tracking, searching games (finding balls, socks), fun food games, trick training or learning a new skill. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as our dog is using their dog and finds the task rewarding.
6. Spaniels can be prone to resource guarding
Whilst our spaniels can look all cute and cuddly it is not un-common for them to display resource guarding tendencies. From my encounters, it seems to be a more common trend in Cockers and in turn our Cockapoos.
We may wonder why this is and one of my thoughts is, being a retrieving breed, they like to pick things up and carry them around, in puppy years, people tend to get over cautious and try to take things away from them which in turn creates a negative association with people approaching when they have something they deem to be valuable.
With young puppies, encourage lots of toy-play with you and swapping toys for food or another to promote ‘bringing things to human is fun’ and embrace their natural retrieving instinct.
7. A spaniel isn’t JUST a spaniel – there are lots of different breeds and lines
If I could urge people to do one thing before they get a spaniel it would be RESEARCH! Research what your breed was bred to do.
Knowledge is power - if you know what job your dog was bred for then you can understand why they may demonstrate certain behaviours, better understand what motivates them and in turn take part in activities your dogs find enjoyable.
8. You’ll forever be picking and combing things out of their ears/coat
Burrs, leaves, twigs…you name it you’ll be brushing it out of your spaniel’s ears after most walks.
Whilst our spaniels may not need to go to the groomers as regularly as a cockapoo might, they still need regular ‘at home’ maintenance and ears will be an important thing to groom and maintain to ensure they don’t get matted and tangled.
9. They LOVE life!
One of the things I love most about spaniels is their energy and their zest for life.
10. You’ll NEVER look back
No matter how much energy they may have, or no matter how often you may wish for that moment of peace, quiet and stillness you’ll never regret having a spaniel.