As all dog owners know, having a well-behaved dog is not a guarantee. Having an even-tempered dog can often depend on several factors, such as the breed, genetics, age and background of the dog. So, what training is vital for the Cocker Spaniel breed?
However, most dogs can be trained in good behaviour, which is massively beneficial for both the dog and the owner.
The Cocker Spaniel’s intelligence and eagerness to please make it a great candidate for all types of dog training, and in this guide, we’ve given you an insight into the best ways to go about it.
As with all dogs, if you want your Cocker Spaniel to be well-behaved and well-adjusted, you’ll need to train it. This is the only way that your dog will learn how it is supposed to behave inside the home and around other people, so training is absolutely vital.
Due to their intelligence and eagerness to please their owners, Cocker Spaniels are usually fairly easy to train. They respond well to most types of training, such as obedience training and house training, and they’re quick to learn new things.
Cockers Spaniels benefit from most forms of training ranging from the simple to the more complex. Things like learning basic commands and sit-teaching will be some of the first things you teach your Cocker Spaniel pup as well as teaching them how to go to the toilet and socializing them from a young age.
Every dog needs to start somewhere with training, and toilet training should be at the top of the list alongside obedience commands.
A new puppy parent should start training your Cocker Spaniel on how to go to the toilet as early as possible. Ideally, this will be as soon as you bring your puppy home, as the earlier you begin, the easier it will be. However, you can still toilet train an adult dog; it will just be more difficult.
Toilet training requires a lot of patience, and you need to understand that there will be a few accidents in the beginning. Now, with that in mind, here are some steps to toilet-train your Cocker Spaniel puppy.
When training Cocker Spaniel puppies to go to the toilet, the first thing you’ll need to do is to find a spot in the garden that you want them to use. The first training session will simply be taking your puppy to this area on a lead and allowing them to sniff around.
Now that your puppy is familiar with the potty spot, you should start taking them there on lead several times a day or whenever they indicate that they need to go to the toilet.
You should stay with your puppy to make sure they don’t get distracted and leave the area.
Whilst your puppy is going to the toilet, you should use an encouraging phrase so that it learns to associate positivity with going in the right spot, and you should give them a small treat afterwards. If they don’t go to the toilet, you should take them back inside and try again in ten minutes.
Crate training is your friend when it comes to owning a dog. Although some might view it as cruel to keep your dog in a confined space, but this type of training actually encourages your dog’s natural instinct to find a small, quiet and comfortable place of their own.
Like all other dogs, Cocker Spaniels need to learn that going to the toilet inside your home is not acceptable. Crate training is vital as it’s the best way to teach your Cocker this and means you should be able to avoid having to clean up lots of messes inside the house.
It can also train your Cocker to be more comfortable inside transport cages and confined spaces such as cars.
You should start crate training sessions with your Cocker Spaniel as early as possible. Puppy training is much easier than trying to teach an adult Cocker Spaniel new habits, so the sooner you get them used to a crate, the easier it will be.
Choose the right size. Firstly, you’ll need a crate that’s just about big enough for your dog to stand up and move around.
Make it inviting. You should then make the inside of the crate comfortable using towels, cushions and blankets.
Slowly introduce the crate. You’ll need to gradually introduce your Cocker to the crate. You can do this by moving its food bowl inside or perhaps leaving its favourite toy inside.
Start with small sessions. Once your dog is comfortable being inside the crate, you can start closing the door for short periods and gradually increase this until your dog is comfortable being left alone inside.
As dogs tend to be instinctively clean, your Cocker will not want to go to the bathroom inside the cage and will alert you when it needs to go. As soon as this happens, you should let your dog outside, and it will begin to learn that this is where it needs to go to the toilet.
To understand if crate training your Cocker spaniel is right for you, you need to know the benefits as well as the drawbacks.
As a Cocker Spaniel owner, you may want to teach your dog how to perform various tricks. Due to their intelligence, Cockers are good at this and are able to learn a variety of tricks such as dancing, rolling over, retrieving, shaking hands, catching and bowing.
Consistency is vital in Cocker Spaniel training, and you should establish a training schedule with them that you stick to as this will make them more responsive to the sessions. Regular training will also provide your Cocker with a good amount of physical and mental stimulation.
Rather than using punishment, you should always give your Cocker positive feedback when training them as well as rewards. This will mean that your dog will come to associate progress in their training with positivity and won’t have the negative associations that come from punishment.
It’s good to reward your Cocker with treats during training, but you should avoid giving them too many. This could have negative effects on their health and also mean that they refuse to obey commands unless they are given a treat.
You could try using clicker training with your Cocker, as this is a good way to train them in obedience without having to use too many treats.
In this type of training, the dog is taught to associate the sound of a clicker with a reward and is given a treat each time that they hear it. Gradually, the treat is withdrawn, and the clicker itself becomes the reward.
When compared to many other breeds, Cocker Spaniels are fairly easy to train, and the experience should be mainly positive for you and your pooch.
You should always start training as early as possible as it is much easier to train a puppy than it is to train an older dog. So, now that you have all the information you need, it’s time to teach your furry friend!
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