Tell me about your springers! General Chat

Usual stuff.... Temperament, exercise, health concerns etc etc...

Any information/experience is good!
A neighbour of mine has one who they rescued at 2-3 years old, so I already know him

Pics too would be nice!
It's the working/field line english springer I'm interested in

thy vary tremendously i have fostered ones that really do need a job to do and would be a nightmare in a pet home, and equally i have fostered working lines that would never make a working dog.

Temperament wise, they are generally happy go lucky dogs , exercise, you will never truly wear one out by just walking brain games are better, health concerns obviously ears if not kept on top of, tendency to pick up grass seeds, and can be prone to Auto immune diseases

loads of pics of mine here if you click on the photo it should take you to my flickr


20130512-_MG_5974 by jalizcazan, on Flickr

Ooh - I'll be back to reply later

Loads of pics of my Springers on here.

I'm going to be a little controversial here and say I really don't like them.

Maybe they were frustrated through not getting enough exercise or training or maybe poorly bred or socialised i dont know but almost every one I've met has been aggressive, completely off the wall and very neurotic.
For example,
When my son was a baby, I took him for a walk with my mum and aunt and two sprinters ran out of their front garden, across the road and directly in front of us, then, they stared really intently at us while snarling and barking, their 'owner' called them and one returned and the other one walked very slowly towards us absolutely transfixed on my baby. Even his owner shat himself and had to run down and grab the dog, then he screamed at them both and belted them

My old next door neighbour bought one for her kids, probably fine with them but that dog is why I had such a hard time trying to get my son over a fear of dogs as it would bark, growl and lunge at us. We couldn't use our garden anymore because the dog would charge out barking and growling and throw himself against the fence.

A school friend had one also, I believe it got put down, it was very aggressive towards children.

I've fostered over 60 and will spend this weekend with 100's of them at NESSR fun weekend, out of them I've only had 2 truly aggressive ones seems like you may have just met some bad ones

I will be back later too

I love them!. They might be my 2nd or 3rd favourite breed, of course the 1st is a BC, then 2nd place is between ESS and Labs.

I am going to own one some day. But it would have to live with a BC, as I will always have a BC.

The brown and white ones are my favourite though.

A couple of pics for now of Beau, Fingal & Mij - all male Liver & White 'working type' ESS.......

I love my springer Benji but he is very hard work. He must be the hardest dog ever to teach walking to heel , 18 months old and still in progress. He is very intelligent but uses it to his advantage. He is so full of energy when i take him out for a walk and springs around all over the place, yet at home he is very lazy and doesnt really seem to like playing that much unless it involves training and treats.

He has reactive issues in that if he sees a dog he will bark like mad, mostly brought on i think by poor socialisation. My other dog is severely reactive so i tend to go out very early 5am in the mornings so unfortunately he hasnt really mixed much with other dogs. I am working on this as well.

He loves his food anything apart from veg and fruit. He eats raw for one meal and nature diet trays for the other.

He has bandy front legs but they dont seem to bother him so far. As a puppy the vet was concerned and i had to have a cat scan performed on him. The results were yes he has bandy legs but to operate could make him have problems, so i dont really to this day understand the point of putting him threw the scan but never mind.

He gives so much love and cuddles, he must be the most affectionate dog i have ever known. He presses his face and body into you trying to get as close as possible.

To OP i don't know where in Scotland you are, but we have our Funweekend at Druridge Bay country park in Northumberland this weekend and springer rescue for Scotland have theirs on the 11th August at Vogrie countrypark in Midlothian, all of us are quiet happy to talk Springer for hours

oh and just for info some more photos


Meg

20130512-_MG_5977 by jalizcazan, on Flickr

Millie


20130512-_MG_5884 by jalizcazan, on Flickr

Molly and Fudge (he's a springer x)


20130512-_MG_5896 by jalizcazan, on Flickr

and a better one of Neam


20130512-_MG_6077 by jalizcazan, on Flickr

I have a male Springer. He's 2 1/2 years old and his parents are working dogs. He is the first dog I have personally owned although I grew up having family dogs. He is soooo clever and an absolute joy. He is the happiest dog I have come across his tail never stops wagging. He loves everyone and everything but his favourite thing in the world is tennis balls. That said I don't suppose he would fit into every home. He gets loads of exercise, during the week he gets an hours walk/run in the morning. I work from home so he isn't left alone very often. He gets another walk in the afternoon which is usually between 1 to 2 hours. On Saturdays he either goes to flyball or we do a long walk (10 miles +) on Sundays he goes to agility. He goes to the pub with us and basically joins in with nearly everything we do. So I can't praise them enough, but its no good getting one and expecting them to be happy with a 10 minute walk and nothing else. I would imagine that that is what happened to the unruly ones mentioned in a previous post.

this is a greatthread!! we have just passed our home visit with springer rescue scotland and are looking to rescue either a springer or a cocker but iam starting to sway more towards springers as the assesser brought theirs in and he was amazing!! We are going to an open day on saturday which is a joint venture between SRS and GSD rescue. Its up cupar direction i think. Looking forwar to meeting springers there and also being able to get a bit of advice on them. We have already registered our interest in 2 of tehir dogs and are hoping they may be at the event.

Holy thread revival - any more ESS owners / pics on here of late ?

An. I spy a Mij, and a Skye!