Springer Spaniel

A nice looking 4 yr old in the Des Moines Craigslist, general section. Neutered and house trained. Wish I had room for another.

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Wish I had room for another.

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Why!?!?!?!!? Lucy drives me absolutely nuts. They are a wound up breed (spaz).

I agree, lovely dogs. I had one when I was a youth. She was trained to hand signals for hunting and would stay within a certain area around me hunting. She also loved to ride in the boat. She was a great dog.

I guess they are calm once in a while.

What are you talking about, She’s just a sweetie!

Lucy? My sister in law has a springer named Lucy….weird.

To be honest I’m not the biggest fan of the breed. Lucy is Nicole’s dog and they came to the relationship together.

My Grandfather had Springers all his life and he trained them to be working/hunting machines. Not house pets. They had a terrible personality and were just plain nasty. Jake was the worst. He weighed in at 110# and was a rock. He would go into bear dens and fight the bear in there. As a child, that dog just plain scared me.

When Jake got old and almost blind dad had to put him down cause when you would walk buy the kennel Jake didn’t know who you were so he’d freak and do everything in his power to get out and kill you. I’ve never seen a dog bend chain link trying to chew their way out.

The power and fighting spirit in Springers is amazing.

That’s too bad.
My family has never owned another breed and probably won’t. All of our dogs have had that “on and off switch” so they’ve been extremely good hunters and wonderful family and house dogs. Super gentle with kids. Both my kids have been able to hang all over all our dogs.
Your experience is not the norm, at least from my point of view.

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That’s too bad.

My family has never owned another breed and probably won’t. All of our dogs have had that “on and off switch” so they’ve been extremely good hunters and wonderful family and house dogs. Super gentle with kids. Both my kids have been able to hang all over all our dogs.

Your experience is not the norm, at least from my point of view.

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My childhood experience isn’t the norm, I know that. Grandpa demanded excellence in his dogs and when he didn’t get that excellence, he made sure the dogs “learned”. He trained them with an iron fist mentality.

Don’t get me wrong, he was a great man and his dogs were top shelf as far as obedience and skill.

Lucy is an excellent family dog. She’s just so wound up. But that’s a springer thing. Especially when there is a ball in hand and water within sight.

I have never seen a springer that was nasty. I had one for 14 years that was the best dog I ever had. He was protective of my kids who were little at the time, but away from them, he liked everyone. Kids could do anything to him and he would just tolerate anything. Very sweet animal. My Giant Schnauzer, not so much. He hates anyone he doesn’t know, at least in the house.

Again…”Wound Up” isn’t how I would describe any of my dogs. “Driven” is more like it. But all have been very mellow when not in the field.
Some day when you’d like a pleasant Springer experience, look me up.

A lot of how a dog acts is breeding, a 110# Springer sounds like there may have been a bit of mixed breed in it maybe?, also training is important in how a dog reacts.

Springers had something called “Springer Rage” years back, most of that could be traced back to poor breeding.

We’ve had three English Springers and they have all been wonderful dogs, we put obedience degree’s on all of them, Field degree’s on one of them and shown him in the breed ring, the last we just trained for basic obedience.

All three were pretty active, but none were aggressive.

Unless someone came to the door or up the driveway, then they went into protect mode until the wife or I said it was OK.

A pure bred Springer coming from good lines makes a wonderful pet, imho

Al

If anyone is interested I know a gal at my work place that has a Springer Spaniel with papers that had a litter of pups, she has two left and will give them away to someone who will give them a good home. If interested shoot me a PM.

we are on our second springer and imho they are perfect blend of family / hunting dog, ready to tear it up when you grab the shotgun, and yet still great with the kids and family. I have hunted both of them and they have both been house dogs, definitly a breed that requires a lot of attention though, the more you play with and run them outside the better behaved they will be inside. our current female is year and a half old and I’m thinking of having a litter with her, would be looking for a stud in the future if anyone knows of a male.