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YOUR RESCUE SPRINGER - WHAT TO EXPECT Here are some stories from people who have taken on rescue Springer's to give you an idea of some of the things you might experience. There is a wide range of experiences, I am trying to give you as many opinions as possible so that you do not walk into a rescue expecting a perfect dog, but you also realise that with some of the more difficult cases, a little time and patience, and tons of love can make all the difference |
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Me and Paddy Paddy was not meant to come to me, but sometimes things just work out like this. I had been helping out a few rescues here and there when a young couple asked me if I knew of any spaniels needing a home. I asked about and there wasn't anything suitable. It was then that I spotted Springer Spaniel Rescue Ireland posting on a rescue forum, they seemed to be overflowing with young Springer's at the time so I sent an e-mail. I received a reply asking for references on my ability to check the home etc, then got a call saying that they had a 7 month old Springer boy who could be on the ferry to Troon the following week if I would collect him and then be their back up in the UK - easy peasy I thought, collected this angel of a dog and took him to his new home, however the resident bitch hated him with a passion and refused to let him settle, so he came back to me. Springer Rescue gave me permission to look for another home for him, but he didn't get far, he was such an angel we fell in love as did the rest of the spaniels in our home, so we e-mailed Springer Rescue to tell them that Paddy was going nowhere - for some reason they weren't surprised. He did need a lot of work on his recall but he loves learning and food so we are having great fun with him, he is always happy and apart from running around the house with my slippers, he is no bother at all.
Ollie and Julie 5 year old Springer cross Ollie, came from DBARC in Berkshire although he originally came over from a foster home in Ireland. His elderly owner had died and he was in foster in Ireland for a couple of weeks before he could come over "He's settled in pretty well so far, his
confidence is growing day by day and he's getting more cheeky as the days pass.
Training wise he doesn't seem to have had any and we are starting from the
basics with lead work and sit and are doing some one to one sessions with a
local trainer to help build up his confidence. He's a bit unsure of toys and
what he should be doing with them and definately won't bring them back at the
moment!!! He is also understandably very worried about being left alone at the
moment and follows us from room to room but we are working on that with some
crate training and dog gates around the house to get him used to being away from
us. Ollie Update - "Well Ollie has been with us nearly 4 months now and reading back what I had written about him originally makes it seem like a lifetime ago!! Ollie is doing fantastically well and has really come on in leaps and bounds. He LOVES his toys and will play with absolutely anything and everything – he loves his frisbee and pulling to pieces all the cuddly toys I can supply! We have been taking him to training classes once a week and he has made amazing progress, he really has been the ‘star’ of our training class and in fact we are now moving up to the more advanced class next week which is very exciting!! He’s such a fast learner and he just seems to take everything in his stride!! We’ve taken him to some local fun dog shows recently and not only have we had great fun but he’s also won rosettes at both in the ‘Best Crossbreed’ categories which was lovely to see. We couldn’t have asked for a more fantastic dog than Ollie and he really does repay all the love and effort we’ve put into him a hundred fold. It just goes to show you how a dog who had previously been through a bit of a rough time can come on in leaps and bounds with love, patience and stability in his life" (Julie)
AMAZING OLLIE UPDATE - Well done
to Ollie for winning the Kennel Club Discover Dogs X-Factor competition 2005,
everyone at Spring Thing is proud of you for being a star.
Fran and Missy "We first met Missy the day after I'd had to have my 14 year old Lab x BC
Harriet PTS with a Haemangiosarcoma on her spleen which had spread to her lungs.
Poo as she was known was a 'perfect' dog - you could leave her alone, take her
anywhere, she loved everybody, but was happy to sit at your feet while you
talked.......... She was going to be a hard act to follow. My existing dog, Bonnie, a 10 year old BC x ESS (a 'Sprollie') has always spoken very good 'dog' and they got on well initially. Until my eldest son came to stay for the weekend a couple of weeks later - Bonnie has always been 'his' dog - and when he went to fuss her, Missy flew at her, and a fierce fight erupted. A little blood was spilt, but nobody needed vet treatment, and it was all over very quickly. For the rest of the day Bonnie crept around Missy This happened a few times over the next couple of days - the trigger always seemed to be Bonnie getting attention, and not moving out of Missy's way if she wanted some too. So we made a pact - if anyone was fussing Bonnie, and Missy tried to muscle in, we should stop petting EITHER dog - she was not going to get rewarded for that sort of behaviour. We also had a few problems with my youngest son - he's a very 'in your face'
kind of boy - and Missy found this very worrying as he'd surprised her several
times, and in her surprise, she'd snap at him Slowly he's learnt how to act
around her, and she loves him almost as much as she loves his older brother now
- they all curl up on the settee together She never *really* meant to hurt him,
I believe she was simply using the tool she'd found worked when she felt
threatened, and has now learnt she can move away from the source, and she won't
be chased or scared, or, very importantly - punished! She is so keen to please, that training her is a pleasure, and to watch her try to work out what the extra little bit is that I'm asking for when clicker/shaping a behaviour is such fun for me, and mentally challenging for her, it makes for a contented dog In the early days another BIG problem was submissive weeing. This is now very much a thing of the past. It was mostly a problem for my partner, so I encouraged him firstly, to meet and greet her in the garden (so it didn't matter 'where' she sprinkled), then to ask her to 'sit' and give a 'paw' as to do this a dog has to sit 'square' and can't lift their back ends up to wee............ We then started to make the meetings indoors, but we got her on the stairs, so she could do it face to face, rather than be leaned over (which triggers it all off), and to this day, when she wants a 'chat' she climbs up the stairs and waits for somebody to pass by........ To build her confidence, hubby also trained her himself, to jump into his arms on command - this is a great confidence and relationship builder too To see her sprawled out on the settee now, you wouldn't think she was the same wee dog who curled herself up on a scrap of vet bed in the corner of the room nearly 3 years ago" (Fran) Kate, Ian and William "We lost our Beardie in March from HIA , and as Ian had only lost his mum 5 weeks before he was slipping into a depression, so I decided to look for a rescue dog for him, I joined Dogpages (see links) and looked at the various breeds and x-breeds that the rescues had, but none of the rescue centres seemed to be in the North East, we went the The Dogs Trust in Darlington which is about 35 miles away and had a look, we saw a Beardie and a ESS but when we asked we were told they were both food aggressive and we would be better of with a puppy (they were over-run with staffie-x) I was annoyed as we were not even allowed to even look at the 2 dogs. Ian said he was too raw for another Beardie but fell in love with the ESS. We came home downhearted and I went back on the net to Dogpages and I think it was you Freya who told us about the Springer Rescues sites. I spotted a young lady on the on the Springer Spaniel North West. it's run by Glyn and Wendy Griffiths, I had to send him a letter all about Ian and myself, about our lifestyle, our garden ,vet reference, then about a week later on Sunday 28.3.2004 12.30 the phone went Glyn had a little boy in that he didn't want to keep in kennels for too long, by 2.30 we were on the road to Parbold in Lancashire, by 6 o'clock we were on the way home to Newcastle 366miles later William (alias Blue silly name) was curled up fast asleep. No real problems in him settling in except the issues of chain of command he tries to be top dog occasionally, but always loses that argument because I will not give in to him I have had other breeds but he has been the funniest and I think Ian is totally blown away with him and wants another one soon as he thinks he shouldn't be an only dog (I nearly said child) I think that about covers the 11 weeks we have had William the Terrible, who after being locked up for the first six months of his life now does more miles in a week than Paula Radcliffe and Ian has lost seven bellies and three chins in the process." (Kate)
June, Cassie and Maisie
"We previously had two ESS dogs, Saul and then a
year later Cider. Both were from a working strain. They grew up with
my children and were absolutely fantastic! Both dogs lived to good ages (16 &
14) and of course, we were absolutely devastated when they went to the Rainbow
Bridge. We were lost without our Springers. It is only when they are gone,
do you really appreciate how much they have enriched your life. My OH
especially did not know what to do with himself, no more long walks, visits to
the woods etc. It only took 3 months before we decided to get another
dog. We decided to try and give a rescue dog a good home rather than get a
pup. A decision we have never regretted.
We were fortunate enough to get Cassie at the age
of 13 mos through our local ESS Welfare. She was given up by her owners as
she had bit one of their children. She settled in really well and quickly
learnt that, when sharing her home with 4 cats, there is no contest as to who
rules the roost!! The only problem we encountered was that after the initial
settling in period, her recall became non existent. She would just disappear
leaving us going mad calling her and looking for her. Luckily being such a
clever young lady, she always found her way home and was usually waiting on
the doorstep when we returned! She was kept on an extended lead for several
months when on her walks whilst we worked on her recall. Now she is the very
model of obedience, has excellent recall and thoroughly enjoys her walks/runs.
We regularly updated our contact at ESS Welfare
as to how Cassie was doing and helped him whenever we could with home vetting
etc. About a year after we got Cassie, he rang to ask whether we would be
interested in fostering a young 4 mos bitch, Maisie, whose owner was suffering
from poor health and decided she could not 'cope' any longer. Of course, we
took her in. She settled well and Cassie and the cats accepted her. I think
she must have been mistreated in the short time with her previous owner as she
was very submissive, would cower away from being touched and urinate. She is
gradually improving, learning to trust us and is a very loving dog. Being so
young we had to cope with the destructive stage, the toilet training - in fact
all the normally puppy things.
For anyone who has owned a Springer before,
please consider offering a home to a Rescue Dog. Of course, you will probably
take on a dog with a few problems but with love, patience and perseverance
these can be overcome and you will have a loyal and faithful friend" (June)
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Laid back, cuddle monster, Paddy
Ollie having fun in his new home
One very
happy, spoilt rotten, William
Cassie and Maisie