Bailey is an English Springer Spaniel we adopted on 14th September 2013. Poor lad has had a pretty awful start to his life, he was born on a horrible puppy farm and separated from his mother at just 4 weeks. His new owners took him to Spain (in a crate) where he "fell" into a swimming pool, so has no confidence around water, then they crated him home to the UK when that didn't work out. Once back
in England Bailey was just to much effort for his family, he wasn't walked for more than 30 minutes a day and was kept in a crate for hours on end, with no toys or human interaction to keep him occupied. He has not been socialized around other animals and is very curious, but totally submissive. As a result of his hours on end without company he is a shadow chaser too. He was donated to a Springer Rescue charity who we were fortunate enough to be registered with, all he had with him was a tatty lead and a harness that was far to big for him. We met Bailey on 14th September and fell in love with him instantly. After an hour with his foster mum we agreed that he was coming home (I don't think the girls would have left without him)
First night we went to Hall Place and let him run for an hour and he was in his element. Next day he went to Pets at home in Crayford, the kids chose some toys for him, at forst he was petrified of a squeaky duck, demonstrating that he has never had toys or anyone to play with before, but he got over it and played for hours with the girls. Bailey has a wonderful temperament, he just wants to please and be loved, his basic obedience is good, his recall is challenging, especially when there are bird, squirrels or other dogs about and he pulls like a train on his lead. BUT he is improving in all these areas and his shadow obsession is being reduced the more time we spend with him. Proof that puppy farms dont give a s**t who they sell to and that some people are ignorant as to the time and effort that you need to spend on a dog. Contrary to some peoples belief...Springer Spaniels are not born trained !
