Springer refuses his kennel

Tikka391

Odd one here but......

My springer had a lovely warm kennel in his pen. He has about 8 inches of wood shavings and there's a flap on his door so its warm and cosy and he loves it. He loves rolling in the shavings and he normally makes a cosy nest for himself.

But I have noticed the days when were out shooting when we get home he refuses to go into the kennel. No matter how wet he is or no matter how bad the weather is ( he's standing out there now in the middle of a fecking storm)

I've tried lifting him in, and feeding him in the kennel, he just comes straight out.

I have to lock him in the garage to make sure he's out of the weather.

Maybe it's just something with him, or maybe someone has noticed this with their dogs before.

Any any ideas would be great thanks all.

JP22

Springers are great dogs, I had two for years and miss them, there’re complete mad hatters at best (honda 50 on steroids comes to mind) but loyal and great working dogs.

Just a suggestion but maybe he’s still overly excited and mad keen to hunt more and just refusing for that reason.

Only other thing I can think of is he doesn’t want to go into the box wet, are you thoroughly drying him off before putting him in his kennel/box????

Last suggestion I have is after a hunt/day out, let him run around the garden for some time to settle down and then try kennelling/boxing him.

garrettod

Hopefully not Seperation Anxiety kicking in.

You could try putting an unwashed sweaty t-shirt in the bed, with your scent on it, introducing it to him, first and then showing it going into the bed.

I'd be inclined to agree with JP, most likely wants more and more action, particularly if he's a younger dog ... Its not easy, but you've gotta send them to bed tired 😉

Al391

My springer does the exact same. I think he doesn’t want to make his bed wet when he is wet and muddy from hunting.