How to get 2 English Springer Spaniels to get along?

[QChickieMama]

Wow, brings back old times.
I had 5 ESS from 1974-1988. Usually more than 1 at a time.
We bred some, showed some, loved 'em all.
They really need exercise daily and together. I lived near a large park and then here in the country.
EXERCISE. TOGETHER.
Hope you have as much love back from them as I got all those years.
I really miss them now, but thanks for bringing them back to me for just a minute.
Good Luck.

Love? Yes!! Constantly! The one is nosing me while I'm at the computer. She wants ALL the attention.

Thanks for the encouraging tip. Exercising them together is something I can do! I don't work at training them, since they're not primarily mine. I just have to keep them somewhat listening to me since I'm watching them all the day long. But golf cart runs--easy. I'll ramp that up to a daily item.

 

[ellie32526]

Sounds great. I'm so glad you found a solution.

 

[LissyB]

How are they doing? I have a golden doodle he's fixed, and 7, but still acts like a puppy and a 6month intact Catahoula girl. They play rough-house most of the morning, but the rest of the day they are sleeping, or patroling the property (both are trained for the invisible fence)
There is the occasional whelp, but that just means "hey that hurts!" and they back away for about 2sec. then wrestle again. The thing that I have the most problem is that my fixed dog humps the little girl, and she let's him! It ticks me off, but it's nature's way, whenever I see it though I stop it.

 

[QChickieMama]

How are they doing? I have a golden doodle he's fixed, and 7, but still acts like a puppy and a 6month intact Catahoula girl. They play rough-house most of the morning, but the rest of the day they are sleeping, or patroling the property (both are trained for the invisible fence)
There is the occasional whelp, but that just means "hey that hurts!" and they back away for about 2sec. then wrestle again. The thing that I have the most problem is that my fixed dog humps the little girl, and she let's him! It ticks me off, but it's nature's way, whenever I see it though I stop it.

You're kind to ask how they're doing. We were on a great track: I started running both dogs together morning and night. They'd fight at first and then get better as they'd get winded. Dh even worked with them together in the house for the Thanksgiving weekend. He heard that you're supposed to correct the dog that gets too rough, not the one who starts the tussle. Things were going well.

Until...

The female went into heat. Had to separate them, 1 kennel upstairs, 1 downstairs. Separate running, etc.

THEN, the female cut her footpad. We were supposed to restrict her activity for a whole week--that's nigh to impossible. So I couldn't run them together, and even playing them together seemed too active for the female. She's still limping a bit, and the wound looks like it's healing open...at least it's not gotten infected.

So, all that to say, they're not doing well together now. The female seems even more mean with the male now. She immediately goes in to bite his forelegs and snarl. Back to square one.

I would love to get to the point of coexisting like your dogs.

 

[LissyB]

It makes life easier. I'm sorry to hear about that, I hope that her paw heals quickly. Have you considered fixing the girl or boy? That might help with some of the tension.

 

[QChickieMama]

I agree. They're both valuable as breeding dogs b/c their 4 parents all have ribbons & medals, etc. The female's sire just won the National Field Dog title recently. I would especially like to see her have puppies.

The male belongs to our son. Don't know what he wants to do. Would be so much easier if we only had 1 dog.

 

[sourland]

Tying the dogs up only builds frustration and boundary rage at not being able to interact normally. It is very unusual for an opposite sex pair of this breed to not get along. Loud boistrous play with a lot of grabbing and tumbling is normal for dogs. IMO each time you STOP their interaction, this builds more frustration and energy that must be worked out in their next meeting.
If they were mine, I would have 2 people present, let them drag 2 leashes, and I would not interfere unless I saw blood.

Excellent advice!

 

[LissyB]

I hear that it's good for any female animal to have at least 1 litter/baby in their lifetime and that it calms them down a bit. If you wanted the girl to have puppies why don't you talk to your son about fixing the boy, most of the time it takes away their male hormones, and they become more docile. (when I mean most of the time there are exceptions... like my dog)

 

[20736]

Glad they got to exercise before her cycle.
Just wait until it passes and start over with the joint exercise time. As they get used to it, the will calm down (until the next cycle). I had a breeder female and it was a chore, but you can do it.
Run and play together. It works.

 

[badkittyamy]

I agree. They're both valuable as breeding dogs b/c their 4 parents all have ribbons & medals, etc. The female's sire just won the National Field Dog title recently. I would especially like to see her have puppies.

The male belongs to our son. Don't know what he wants to do. Would be so much easier if we only had 1 dog.

Honestly what the grandparents are doing have no holding whatsoever on wether you should breed or not. Unless they themselves have the ribbons and the trial titles etc they aren't breeding stock. Good genes help in making that leap easier, but breeding quality is dependent on they themselves getting these achievements.