How to Train a Cocker Spaniel Puppy

This week on Mordor Gundogs, Charlie continues to train Waffle to be the perfect gun dog. .
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[@emilyforde5117]

Really enjoying these. Reminders and hearing new tips every time. Helping to give some balance on the 'this isn't going quite as planned' days 😁

[@MordorGundogs22]

Thank you Emily! Glad your enjoying them

[@zachary5845]

One of the best methods I've found when it comes to training dogs not to chase everything they see is to practice throwing a ball or toy and commanding them to stay. Great video!

[@jboback5322]

Watching Waffle eat leaves, the grass and sniffing and just distracted made me feel better because my 16 week old spaniel is the same way. All normal spaniel behavior from what I see here. Thanks for the video.

[@matthilsdon9710]

Really refreshing to hear you talk about trained and training dogs!

[@masonrodriguez3240]

This dudes hilarious. Great trainer too

[@OnlyOneName]

Brilliant advice. I never considered it before to get an already trained dog. Thank you!

[@aranka4372]

Really like your videos, they are pretty much what our current gun dog trainer is telling us too and, since we started training with him, we made such big steps! There is so much info out there and so many people are telling you what to do and how to do it that it's hard to find the right information out there. I too was influenced by the 100% positive training and ignoring the things that were going wrong because correcting your dog is not ok but i've totally come back from that because like you said, in life we just don't ignore the wrong stuff and only praise the good stuff. We praise the good stuff and correct the wrong stuff and there's nothing wrong with correcting your dog, it doesn't mean you treat him badly if you do, it just means you're being strict with him and telling him what not to do and showing what to do instead. Keep up the good work with your videos!

[@pim1234]

I bought a Springer that was half trained, ther rest of the training is a hobby and I love it !

[@robertbrightwell3799]

Great to see a skilled dog trainer explaining how to control a cocker spaniel. I’m sure this works well with other hunting breeds. But having trained several working labs to a good standard, and now owning a young working cocker, they are a completely different kettle of fish to train. For a novice trainer, cockers should come with a warning tag on them. Lots of patience required, and then lots more. And time. Keep up the good videos , love your work.

[@MordorGundogs22]

Thank you Robert for the kind words, hope you enjoy the videos to follow

[@gemini6620]

I've been looking at getting a Cocker Spaniel as my first dog a few years from now (purely as a pet/companion dog, not a gun dog), and I keep getting very mixed messages regarding their trainability. I've heard from some that training a Cocker Spaniel takes a lot of time and patience, but I've heard from many others that Cocker Spaniels, though occasionally stubborn, are generally quite easy to train because they're people dogs and are very eager to please. Of course, I should point out that most of my research on the dogs seems to be focusing on American Cocker Spaniels, which are bred to be companion dogs. I do know that their English counterparts are typically bred with their roles as hunting dogs in mind, and they tend to be more independent thinkers. Perhaps this means they're also harder to train than American Cocker Spaniels? Can you weigh in on this?

[@matthewrodwell3959]

Couldn’t agree more. I took a Cocker on at six years old, even had to change his name cause we already had a Ben in the house. I’ll never forget him he was one of the nicest dogs I’ve ever known. We bonded lovely

[@user-yt7qr6bt1l]

Just found you to help with our One year old sprocker, Huckleberry Finn, he’s addicted! What would Waffle do? is our training catchphrase! 😂Brilliant, helping us so much! wish i could attach a pic of him glued to waffle’s lesson on tele! 👍🥊Thank you!

[@MordorGundogs22]

Thank you! That’s great to hear

[@lisasternenkind6467]

When I was breeding American Bulldogs (Bully Type), I always had the future owners visit "their" puppy after they had chosen it. I wanted them to experience the puppy, and I wanted to experience the future owners. This way I could help them get things right later, because I of course wanted the puppies of my White Devils Kennel to fair well, so to behave good, be nice family dogs and superb working dogs, and do good in the show ring and at sport competitions. I also had them come visit me with their puppy regularly until the puppies had their first birthday and I wanted updates on the puppy situation as well. So in the beginning, it was every week with all puppies until they were aged 16 to 20 weeks, depending on their behavior and training. Some people did well with their homework, some were pretty much lazy. Then, for about two months, they came every fortnight, and after that monthly. Those puppies who were to be trained as working dogs, came every week for a full year for basic training as family companion. And after that, the official working dog training began. But of course some of the games to be played with the young puppies already were the basic of later to learn working dog teachings. During puberty, which starts between 6 and 9 months with breeds like Rottweilers, American Bulldogs, or most of the big shepherd dogs, I recommend to do two things: 1. Repeat everything over and over again. 2. Play pedagogical worthy games like hide and seek humans and different things, search a teabag, etc. This keeps your youngster a little focussed for a while and his mind off all the crazy stuff teens usually do as if they had their brains removed. And in addition, it also keeps reminding the dogs of the wanted behaviour in certain situations and with certain commands. By assisting the new owners, the puppies had a more or less chilled transfer to their new home, also contact to my older dogs when they came to me for a visit, and I could make sure that my White Devils would grow up to become wonderful ambassadors for their breed. You see, in Germany we have these idiotic "Fighting Dog Lists", thankfully nowadays not in all regions anymore, but when I was breeding until about 20 years ago, these lists were totally hyped by main media. I of course also sold puppies to people outside of Germany, so I had to hand over the puppies differently. Some countries, such as Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, UK, would want the puppies to be segregated for a certain amount of weeks or months, and they therefore also were only allowed to enter the countries with a certain minimum age. In these cases I trained the dogs myself while they were with me, and the new owners sent me weekly updates until my dogs were 2 years old. I also required all new owners have the dogs tested for ED and HD, and get a general report from the vet about the dog's current health situation. Training the puppies all by myself was indeed easier than training them while also training their new owners. 😂 I sometimes thought about only selling dogs with one year of age, but then I had to quit breeding anyways, due to my house burning out and my own following health issues. I really wanted to make a difference as dog breeder, just as you obviously. I did not want to be a breeder of livestock that happen to be dogs, and someday end up in animal rescue centers. 😢

[@miginty]

Our springer had worn teeth and the vet said it was likely caused by tennis balls getting wet and gritty and the dog chewing on them. Vet recommended balls without the tennis ball material like rubber balls

[@qlr-cs]

I love your videos, everything you do seems so geniune. Thank you and keep on doing same, I think everyone can learn from you. I have one question cause we are getting a cocker puppy next week, and this is our first dog. I try to learn as much as I can, but right now I have one question that I would love to get answer to. What are the methods do discipline a cocker? I know that yelling or any kind of physical punishment is not even a thought, but what do you do if he does something bad? Thank you for the answer in advance. Greetings from Croatia.

[@rossrritchie1400]

@mordorgundogs great videos every day is a school day looking forward to podcasts too will you do a video of lab pup to grown up talking us through dos and donts

[@chloebird7067]

Really great video thank you. With regards to chasing and catching ducks in this video, would you discipline them even if your aim is to train them as a gun dog? I’d be worried that I would be muting her drive to chase birds! I have a 7 month old working cocker which we plan to train but don’t know much at the moment!

[@keithalldis]

Great Video, thanks. Like the idea of training without a bag full of treats, or using cruel methods shutting the dog down. Waffles is a happy fellow, and we can see it takes a long time and a lot of patience, there is no magic, or easy tricks involved, as you say, you have to put the work in. Cheers

[@MordorGundogs22]

Thank You! Glad it was helpful!

[@Opuscus]

Oh my! You like to talk a lot with no end is sight!

[@andycorbett207]

Can we use the same techniques with an older dog, Golden Retriever, 18 months?

[@Westley2007]

Hi I have just bought a chocolate cocker spaniel girl 12 weeks old and when I put her on a leash she just lays down and won’t move how can I train her to walk on it

[@KitsFishing]

Hi I'm getting a working cocker pup that I'm going to train to retrieve. My friend has gun dogs and he says I need to train from 8 weeks, my other friends are trained to retrieve and he says 10 mins a day training from 6 months old. Which is best

[@marciazimmermann8886]

Thank you for your videos. Please show retrieving correction tips... Puppy was retrieving wonderfully for 3 weeks now goes to the ball but will not bring it back. I added the lead and a pull cue. Now dog will not return retrieve without the lead. Just keep the lead? or what... Thanks

[@MordorGundogs22]

We’ll put it on the list! Thank you for commenting

[@jangoslin8258]

I have just got my 14 wk old cocker spaniel puppy , when I throw a ball he just runs back his his bed with it he puts everything in his bed , is this something these pups do and why .

[@staffannorell7325]

Great video! I’ll take with me not to do all the things every time. Bad day (happens often) = I will go easy

[@MordorGundogs22]

Thank you!! thats great to hear thank you for posting

[@karlpovey481]

Great video I'm on the gundog puppy training journey it's a challenge for first time owners.

[@emmakimble8946]

Hi I’m getting a red setter pup in 8 weeks she was born today to a female 12 fch background what age do get her trained for gun dog and how much do u change to training

[@MordorGundogs22]

Hi, we would recommend you come see us with her when she is 14-16 weeks. We can do a one to one lesson to get you on the right track and discuss options for further training then

[@CsCarlton1973]

What type of lead are you using?

[@MordorGundogs22]

Its a slip lead being used in this video