The Spaniel Trust

aCharity registered in Scotland SC038987

Devoted to the rehabilitation, retraining and rehoming of rescue spaniels and education of their owners

Spaniels, be they English Springer, Cocker, Clumber, Sussex, Field, Welsh, Cavalier or King Charles are all originally working breeds.  They may not all look it, but each dog was originally chosen because he displayed aptitudes which made him ideal to fulfil a function man required a dog to do, then adapted and bred by man for those qualities.

Like all working dogs, spaniels are extremely active and have a very busy mindset, which can cause problems, as that doesn’t often fit in well with modern lifestyles!  We now live in a throwaway society where money is easy come by; sadly dogs like any other purchase have become disposable commodities.  Most of the dogs we receive for rehab at the Spaniel Trust have been rejected by their human family for behavioural issues, but in my opinion it is the dog that should have rejected its owners, for boring the animal senseless through lack of stimulation, treating it like an ornament or human rather than a dog, or for wanting a status symbol which they then failed to maintain either by care or training!   The dogs arriving here at ST for rehabilitation and re-homing are almost always extremely stressed, often very confused, many are under threat of destruction for aggression, and some are traumatised by beatings.  Some have been through the rescue process before, some take weeks to relax, understand, enjoy life and then become much more confident dogs.  They are all individuals, each treatment and assessment will be different from the next.

You might wonder how this situation comes about; in most cases it starts when people buy a puppy as a family pet.  Families rarely research the breed properly before buying, often a pup is bought on a whim and that’s the first problem, some breeds like spaniels need lots of things to do, he will not sit happily in his basket for hours.  Young puppies, like young children, are always very inquisitive and can be extremely destructive.  Why people would think a puppy should arrive “ready trained for the home” like an oven ready turkey, never fails to amaze me.  You wouldn’t expect a baby to be potty or toilet trained from birth, so why shout at a puppy if it soils or wets the floor?  You wouldn’t expect a baby or young child to be safe around electrical cables or goods, nor would you leave the “best” stuff out in their vicinity, or the paperwork you brought home from the office.  So why would you expect a puppy to leave the electric cables, your paperwork or best china intact?

Like all young animals they have to be taught, as we do or should do with our children.  In the wild, the pack who are all members of the dog’s extended family, would teach the youngster what was expected of him.

as we have taken him away from his family it is our responsibility to take on that role.

Most of the early problems with youngsters we see up for re-homing are down to owners being downright lazy and not training the puppy or taking him to training classes!  If you want the best out you have to put the effort in, there are no short cuts.  If you can’t commit the time to train your pup, can’t be bothered or expect it to be as easy to train as a robot, then put simply - please don’t get a dog at all, spaniel or any other breed!