Poor behaviour.....Is it my fault???

Sadly untrained dogs tend to be owned by untrained humans.

So, train the human and it leads to an easy uncomplicated life!

Unfortunately humans are incredibly difficult to train

I'm sure no one will disagree with you, EJB, but it seems to me that only 'trained' humans are posting here and are helping each other achieve the right result. It's good to read.

Most seem to get along very well thank goodness

>>>do you have a release command that you use to tell him to go play if not get one, the dog must know he is only off lead playing because you let him.<<<

Spk, forgot to say thank you for the above tip.

I've used this with Alfie for the past week since you mentioned it, not having used one before, my word it does make a difference. Alfie now sits and stays after getting his treat, I smply say to him "go play" and he is off like a shot. He reminds me of the sheepdogs on one man and his dog going out for the Fetch, ' though obviously not as well trained (Alfie that is).....He also responds well to my comand of "this way", I used to point the direction I wanted him  to go at the same time, but now I just nod my head left or right and he goes that way, even from a distance, he never fails to impress me, but as I've said before, I'm biased Another strange thing is his release of his tennis ball when he brings it back, I don't have to say "leave" or "drop", I just say "sit" and he sits and sort of throws his ball at me, I have to laugh at him

Could I just say a big thank you to all who contributed and showed me encouragement.

I hope that by me highlighting this problem, then others may have gained a little knowledge and confidence from  the abundance of good advice offered, if in the same situation....

Sadly untrained dogs tend to be owned by untrained humans.

So, train the human and it leads to an easy uncomplicated life!

Unfortunately humans are incredibly difficult to train

EJ, not if you start them early enough. Human Pups respond just as good to early consistent training

>>>do you have a release command that you use to tell him to go play if not get one, the dog must know he is only off lead playing because you let him.<<<

Spk, forgot to say thank you for the above tip.

I've used this with Alfie for the past week since you mentioned it, not having used one before, my word it does make a difference. Alfie now sits and stays after getting his treat, I smply say to him "go play" and he is off like a shot. He reminds me of the sheepdogs on one man and his dog going out for the Fetch, ' though obviously not as well trained (Alfie that is).....He also responds well to my comand of "this way", I used to point the direction I wanted him  to go at the same time, but now I just nod my head left or right and he goes that way, even from a distance, he never fails to impress me, but as I've said before, I'm biased Another strange thing is his release of his tennis ball when he brings it back, I don't have to say "leave" or "drop", I just say "sit" and he sits and sort of throws his ball at me, I have to laugh at him

Could I just say a big thank you to all who contributed and showed me encouragement.

I hope that by me highlighting this problem, then others may

 

have gained a little knowledge and confidence from  the abundance of good advice offered, if in the same situation....

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Brian, absolutely made up for you, its great when things cone together. If you want to save your back ling term and as you now have a sat present (bloody well done on that) you may wish to consider the dog holding the item until you take it, instead of bending down. When dog sits with ball don't tke it straight awaytell dog "hold" and stroke his head with left hand then gently take the ball with a "give"

Be wary BT, spk will have you beating soon. So, Canine Pups, Human Pups & BT's can all be trained. . . .Excellent fun

Sadly our dear Lucy, our Springer spaniel, is long gone. And to the people who say no dog is ever perfect in their behaviour they are wrong, she was. Maybe we were lucky, maybe it was the breed, possibly both. However, I did train her almost every day for 18 months and no she wasn't over trained, she was full of fun, even down to playing hide and seek with our kids, she would tuck herself away and sit very patiently until they found her. My best tip would be keep using the very long extendable lead. Even when the dog returns well and you haven't used it for a while, put it on again for a bit and call the dog back a lot, with treats every  time. This 're-enforces that they must always come straight back when called. Dear Lucy went very deaf in her old age but then she always watched me almost all the time and responded straight away to hand signals. Never once did she not come back and I always trusted that she would. We have a cat now, can't train her,she always does just as she likes!

I have trained my bitch daily for nearly two years and she is not perfect by any stretch but these things are comparable and as the saying goes you get the dog you trained for. Out of interest DEB did you ever work Lucy ??

working environment is a whole new ball game

on a first season for the dog at a shoot much whistling and obscenities can be heard and the usual "I cant understand it she is perfect at home" remarks. I believe the biggest test for any working dog is on the beating line this is were the faults really show

No we never worked her spk. She was terrified of loud bangs. That is one of the reasons that I trained her so much to return to me, I always wanted her to know I was her safe refuge, lthough if I ever though this could be a problem I wouldn't let her off the lead. We took her to Bisley once as I used to target shoot there, after 30 mins we had to leave, one petrified dog. Would never take her for a walk or leave her for a second on firework night.