Activities

Sharing your life with a Clumber Spaniel is a wonderful experience. They are intelligent dogs and not difficult to train so adult dogs can take part in a variety of different activities with you. Like all dogs they benefit from mental stimulation as well as physical exercise and there is no doubt that getting involved in any activity with your dog will enhance your relationship and you will build a stronger bond with your dog.

There are lots of activities that you can enjoy with your Clumber. Working and Showing are the most well known and there are specific pages devoted to each of these on this website, but there are other things that you can do together.

All dogs will be better ‘citizens’ if they have received basic training and the KC Good Citizen Dog Scheme is a good place to start for all dogs. The scheme has different levels from puppy socialisation followed by further training for bronze award, silver award and then gold award levels. If you are a new dog owner, have not had a puppy for some years, or have an older child who would like to do some training then this programme would be a ideal place to start.

 

Training in Obedience and Rally O are suitable activities for Clumber Spaniels. Obedience is described by the Kennel Club as “competitions testing how obedient and well trained your dog is. Training is essential at a KC registered dog training club or listed status club”. Their description of Rally is involving “you and your dog working as a team to navigate a course with numbered signs indicating different exercises to perform”. There are competitions for both but some clubs offer opportunities to join in the training on a more informal basis without the need to compete.

There are a few Clumber Spaniels taking part in Agility. Although it should be remembered that Clumbers were bred to be a heavier and more slow-moving Spaniel and so extra care must be taken when encouraging Clumbers to jump.

To get started in any one of these activities, the best way is to join a local club and there are more details on the Kennel Club website with links to local clubs.

Kennel Club Activities Page

 Scent-work is ideal for Clumbers as they have a strong sense of smell. There are many dog training clubs which offer scent training but as it is not one of the more common activities you may have to search or ask around to find one.

More mature Clumbers who have fully developed their laid-back nature along with their love of people have also become PAT Dogs, and some have been taken into schools so that children can read to them. Taking part can be very rewarding and details of these schemes can be found on the Pets as Therapy website here

If you, the owner, like talking to people and you have a Clumber who also likes meeting people then you might like to join our Breed Promotion team. We attend variousMeet the Breed’ events such as Discover Dogs, Game Fairs and Pet Shows where we meet people who want to know more about  Clumbers.