Training Your First Working Dog: Iris at 17 Weeks

Iris the Springer Spaniel puppy is continuing her journey towards becoming a working dog. It was good to catch up with her and her owner this weekend. Charlie has done a great job at building a strong bond with his puppy using The Tessleymoor Way techniques. At almost 17 weeks, she is a confident and fun loving little dog. She has good manners and is eager to please.

What he needs to work on now is translating that bond into a working relationship. She is happy to be around him but needs more focus on her retrieves and her heel work. I demonstrated with my young Springer Spaniel, Tali, how we can to get the place where Iris is completed focused on her owner.

I have suggested a number of training exercises that can be done on the farm where Charlie lives. He is lucky to have access to a variety of training environments, including open fields, woodland and farm tracks. Making the most of this variety, while keeping Iris focused on basic commands, should lead to some good progress before our next lesson.

Posted: April 13, 2021