A lovely dog

★★★★★
4.7
92.0% of users recommend this
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Sam271's review of Springador (Springer Spaniel & Labrador cross breed)

“A lovely dog”

★★★★★

written by Sam271 on 16/03/2016

Our springador, Titus, and his litter mates were accidents. Mom was a AKC registered tricolor springer and dad was a AKC registered black labrador retriever. The owner of mom didn't charge for the puppies, since she didn't feel comfortable profiting from not fixing her dog. I've seen people charge $500 plus for "oops" dogs. Titus is the best thing to happen to my husband and I. Titus is 5.5 months old now, and just a love. Very smart! He was house trained in 5 days after we picked him up when he was 8 weeks. He only had 3 small accidents, and after we started letting him out every 30 minutes, or after he played/drank/ate. He has been walking 1-mile plus since 12 weeks, and we bump it up to 3 miles a day on the weekends. He doesn't bark much, and is very loving. We are working on training him to hunt up deer/elk antler sheds, and I am wanting to start him training for bird hunting. He is gentle with infants and children alike. He actually came to school with me for the first 2.5 months we had him, and stayed in my office. He never barked or howled, and never had any accidents. He learned how to use his dog door to the backyard in 2 days. He learns very quickly, and his coat has been easy maintenance. We have 5 different toys that are puzzle toys, so he has to turn them a certain way to get treats out of them. He loves those, and goes nuts when we bring them out. We actually let him choose which one he wants to play with. We usually give him a bath on the weekend, especially after going to the dog park, where he runs with all the "big dogs" and gets covered in mud. He cleans up very easy, and is very good about being in the tub for a bath. Since he was 4 months, he has been able to sit, stay, shake, lay down, high five, drop, come, and leave it. He walks well with a harness. I saw someone comment earlier in the thread about using a harness, instead of putting the lead on a collar. I highly recommend this mix. There are many purebred dogs who prove to not be good gun dogs or retrievers. You will find the same true for many working or hunting dogs. Don't rule out a mix or hybrid because they are mixed. Depending on the mix, you will get the traits that mom and dad pass down. The dad of our pup, the lab, was a good retriever for his owner, who duck hunts. The mother was a good family dog, and wasn't trained to be a gun dog. We ended up getting both traits strongly in our pup. He has a soft mouth, strong nose, keen eye, is very willing to please, and listens well.

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