Blog

Dog Aggression in a 8 month old Cocker Spaniel.

dog training with behavioural problems of cocker aggression

Who’d have thought this 8 month old male Cocker Spaniel could be viciously attacking his owners.

Towards the end of February I visited Nikki and Don to discuss behavioural problems they were experiencing with Dylan in the home (Read my previous post here)  On initial assessment it was evident that there was a lack of structure and commands.  Nikki was also becoming fearful of the incidents, which wasn’t helping as Dylan is a very dominant male.  Dylan was seeing her body language and emotions as a trigger.  Initially with changes in the home and positive thinking they started to see changes, but unfortunately due to a few unpredicted incidents Nikki’s confidence was knocked.  After further discussions I decided it was best for the family that Dylan attend my residential training programme. Whilst in residence it will allow me to assess what his triggers are, as at present he isn’t showing consistency with them.

Unfortunately over the years I’ve seen an increase in aggression with Cocker Spaniel’s.  Not all outcomes are good and last year we had to make the decision to put a young Cocker to sleep as it was diagnosed with idiopathic behaviour (Cocker Rage).  It’s never easy to admit that your dog is out of control but avoiding the problem will only add to the aggression.

Dylan has now been with me for 3 days and hopefully I will be able to help as he’s a loving dog.

I wil post updates throughput the week.