<Another problem is field trial competition for hunting dogs. They breed the field trial dogs to be as hyper as possible, because that’s the kind of dog that wins field trials. That’s not the kind of dog you want to hunt with, and definitely don’t want as a pet. >
Thank you for explaining this!
My diabetic double-amputee friend, Dave, owned an English cocker spaniel, Millie, from his healthy days. She was a wonderful service dog who would retrieve objects from across the house.
When Millie was about 12, Dave bought a black purebred English cocker spaniel puppy, Jazzy, whose pedigree contained field trial winners. Jazzy was a nightmare, totally hyper. Dave thought that Millie would train Jazzy as a service dog replacement but instead Jazzy ran all over poor old Millie. Jazzy would never fetch anything, not even a tossed ball. She was a dud as a service dog.
By this time, Dave was in a wheel chair full time. He couldn’t discipline Jazzy. I asked him why he didn’t return Jazzy to the breeder but he answered, “You don’t return your children.” Jazzy would jump into Dave’s lap. She was his social ambassador on walks. He loved her despite her flaws.
When Dave was in the hospital for long periods, DH and I would keep Millie and Jazzy along with our dogs, Tyree (age 13) and Cliff (age 2). Millie was a perfect house guest. Jazzy was a problem since she would inhale her own food then duck under the other dogs’ noses to steal their food. I put a stop to this to prevent my dogs from becoming aggressive. I trained Jazzy to sit still about 3 feet away from her food bowl until I said, “OK” and released her to eat. Training Jazzy was not easy! An English cocker spaniel is not as easy to train as a border collie, that’s for sure!!
It was Cliff who disciplined Jazzy. Jazzy was 1 year old and weighed about 20 pounds - she was fast! At that point, Cliff weighed about 60 pounds. They would chase each other through our yard. Cliff would gently grab Jazzy’s neck, then let her go. Then they would chase again. Jazzy would grab Cliff’s hind leg on the run and flip him @$$ over teakettle. If Jazzy did anything wrong, Cliff would grab her but never hurt her.
Dave died alone, with Jazzy in the house. They were discovered by neighbors a day or so later. DH drove over to pick up Jazzy, who was traumatized. As soon as DH brought her home, she jumped into her favorite chair as if finding security after terror. At feeding time, she pointedly sat 3 feet away from where I usually placed her bowl to show she still remembered her training.
Jazzy is not intelligent, wouldn’t retrieve or play. I had to teach her how to behave. I didn’t want to keep her. But DH and Cliff loved her so I was outvoted.
Jazzy still wants to sit in her favorite chair. It happens to be MY recliner where I watch TV. So we spend a lot of time sharing the chair.
Yes, Jazzy is still with us. I don’t need a bird dog, but the guys still love her.
Wendy