sophy

Thanks for the advice guys. I have spoken with the breeder and we had a good chat - she was really helpful and basically said what you guys said about being consistent... I have decided to see a behaviourist just so that the problem is sorted while he's still young. Will let you know how I get on...... :-)

Thanks for your advice, I will let you know my progress!

This pup does NOT have cocker rage! He is merely doing his job, that is, protecting what he considers himself to be in charge of. He is just taking it a little further than needed is my guess He needs a firm hand and he needs to be told that his behaviour is not acceptable. A little ignoring and a decently growled NO probably would not go astray. He looks a beautifully bred chap. Have you spoken to his breeder about his behaviour? I wish my cocker would guard my towel and belongings at the beach. Mine would be swimming out to sea chasing seagulls in that situation One of his self appointed jobs is to keep our local parklands free from those pesky swallows that circle around. He stations himself in swallow territory and will sit there, alert as you would not believe, and just waits. His current wait is about three months as there haven't been any turn up, but he still goes straight to his spot and waits, on full alert. Good luck with your boy. Have a read of the other thread here about the over protective cocker, there is some advice there that may help. Thanks for your reply

Thanks for your reply! - Yes, we had him desexed in Jan 06. - I say 'no' firmly, I try to intervien, or distract him to something esle, or I get up or walk in the opp direction so he turns to leave the dog and follow me - he was very shy as a puppy - the singleton in the litter (his sister died) and not very good at playing with other dogs. This has got much better now since we've been making so much effort to socialise him with friends dogs or dogs at the park. His behaviour with people is very friendly, lots of wags and wants pats and stratches...with me he's a little more needy - sometimes using his paws for attention - I dont know what his parents were like. I did contact the breeder for advice..she told me his grandad was territorial...but not cocker rage. Thanks for the advice :-)

I was wondering if you could offer me some advice please? I have a 1 year old male cocker spaniel (gold). He's an absolute sweetie and has given us so much laughter and fun since we got him!! Over the last few months I think I have seen some resource guarding behaviour from him though - I am new to this term but have been doing some reading and he seems to fit the description..... Recently at the beach I put my towel down and sat there before going for a swim... he ran out and snapped at every dog that come to say hello, and remained guarding my things (sat on my towel as proud as punch!) when I went into the water! It's like he's protecting a perimeter around me. He's fine with other dogs when we're walking up the shore, only when we've stopped in one spot for a while/sat down????.. He has shown a few funny signs like this episode - at the park he snapped at a retriever puppy that came to say hello to me....I dont think he'd ever bite, he just makes a horrid grizzling noise, and lurching forward behaviour It's very out of character to be like this and I want to stop the problem before it gets out of hand. He's been to puppy classes and intermediate dog training and has no faults when it comes to sit, stay, drop etc.... Can anyone help me please?

Thanks for the post - you're pals are gorgeous too, just love Cockers! My little mans name is Buddy - and he's exactly that.. We've been to puppy class and intermediate dog training - he's fabulous at sits, stays and drops and comes when he's called...no faults. I made sure I put plenty of hard yards in the early days.... Just need to try and get over this problem of snapping and protecting our areas - so we can both have fun at the beach! :-)

I am new to this forum, and can I just say it's great to read that others might be having the same issues as me (I dont feel so alone now!) I was wondering if you could offer me some advice please? I have a 1 year old male cocker spaniel (gold). He's an absolute sweetie and has given us so much laughter and fun since we got him!! Over the last few months I think I have seen some resource guarding behaviour from him though - I am new to this term but have been doing some reading and he seems to fit the description..... Recently at the beach I put my towel down and sat there before going for a swim... he ran out and snapped at every dog that come and say hello, and remained guarding my things (sat on my towel as proud as punch!) when went into the water! It's like he's protecting a perimeter around me. He's fine when we're walking around the shore, and friendly with other dogs then.... He has shown a few funny signs like this since - at the park he snapped at a retriever puppy that came to say hello....I dont think he'd ever bite, he just makes a horrid grizzling noise, and lurching forward behaviour It's very out of his (which is so sweet and loving) to be like this and I want to stop the problem before it gets out of hand. Can anyone help me please?