Caveman requested some tips on managing the craziness of Springer Spaniels so I'm writing this in response. You other guys with Springers please chime in ...

I fully understand the crazies with this breed. Charlie is 2 1/2 years old now and he has been a challenge. A very worthwhile challenge though ... He gets those red eyes that you look into and see nothing but pure craziness and when that happens there is absolutely nothing I can do to help him but work him. Exercise is the whole key here and it doesn't take a whole lot.

Here's my Charliegoing ape-chit crazy in the living room :




Springers have got to have exercise just about every day. We usually exercise Charlie 6 days a week and make him rest one day. It's getting better now and he is settling down a little bit but while your's is a puppy you're gonna need to work him/her pretty good each day. Going on a mile long walk is also a great way to exercise him, hiking in the woods even better. Again, making sure he gets to expend some energy doing something physical is the whole key to managing a Springer ... You just have to spend the time and make sure it gets done.

Here are some of the things I did that helped a lot ...

I bought some bumpers from Bird Dog Supply.

They are pretty cheap but I ran through a couple every 3 months or so.Anyway, I'd throw with Charlie in the front yard 10 minutes or so in the morning and another 10 or 15 when I got home at night. I don't know your dog and it's history of running off but Springers like to hang close to their owners. That's just something I don't worry about. He ran around the corner once but came back in a minute or so wondering where I was

I also bought some of those cheap $0.95 Frisbees at PetSmart and threw those with him too. I was amazed, I really didn't have to train him to catch them, just floated them and he chased them down, caught the first one I threw him in mid air.

One mistake we made was penning him up every day. Recently we started putting his pen in the bathroom doorway and letting him have the whole room while we were at work. That made a great bit of difference in his anxiety level when we got home. I suppose that being able to play with a little more room was what he needed.

Springers love to chase lasers. Get a laser pen and let him chase it in an open area of your home. He'll love that and 10 minutes of that will help him mentally and physically a huge bit ...


Every other weekend or so I take him to a pond or some type of water reservoir that he can swim in safely. We do retrieves with the bumper there too. If you aren't confident he will bring it back to you, tie a para-cord to it and drag it back in to steer him. This works good with a fishing kayak also. If you have waders, go to a flooded park after a good rain and find some large puddles, they work great also. Here's a few videos of things I do with Charlie that might give you some good ideas :