Badly Bitten By My Dog

[zarina]

Just don't know what to do for the best.My golden boy is 70% good and 30% unpredictable.Last weekend out walking with the cocker on a lead.I was using my short walking stick to cut some brambles down on my left that were in our way.The dog was slightly behind me on my right.Suddenly I felt a terrible pain in my right arm,the dog had severely bitten me.Too shocked to do anything I just hit the grass mound on the side,and let the dog go free.I sat for an hour crying with pain an shock.After I realised that my arm was badly bruised but not bleeding I made my way down. The incident made me ill for 24 hours.Now after a few days I am better in myself but the severe bruising reaches from my shoulder to my elbow.
The dog has bitten me previously when excited out walking,but nothing I could not handle as I could see him,and I always wear gloves,but this attack came from behind.He is halti trained.
I have tried to be rational and the only conclusion I can come to  is the fact that the dog may have somehow thought that I was attacking him with the stick, even though the stick was in front. He is a lovely looking dog, and he is clean in the house and does nothing destructive, and he is a very good boy in the car.He sleeps on his own and is excellent in the nights.
In the home he seems more manageable for me than out walking.He is quite amicable about me helping him feed,he actually seems to like me to do this for some reason.He gives up all his toys freely.The only time he gets nasty is if he REALLY wants something badly,like a cigarette end or scrap of paper outside,then he WOULD take my hand off no problems.
Sorry for the length in posting,I just do not know what to do.I did show the bruise this evening to a friend who has German Shepherd dogs and she was flabbergasted to think that he would do this.She immediately said he should go.She asked me if I could ever trust him,and the truth is no I could not.Is this what others have called Cocker madness?
Thankyou.

[crazyspaniels]

Your friend is referring to cocker rage, it is very rare but if you are worried there is a helpline and information centre which are very good. What provoked the incident? and any info about your cocker?? I will get the info and pop back

[PennyB]

Here it is:

www.cockerspanielrage.org.uk

[s baxter]

sorry no professional advice here but wondered if you should seek professional  help with your doggie also had you thought to take a photo of the would/bruise to show a behaviourist as i read somewhere that dogs have bite inhibition at you can tell alot by how deep and what damage was done to the skins surface,just a thought sorry to hear of your problems,thinking of you and your doggie and i truly believe there is a reason for everything,but where you go to from there i don`t know.sue baxter

[crazyspaniels]

thanks Penny

[zarina]

Your friend is referring to cocker rage, it is very rare but if you are worried there is a helpline and information centre which are very good. What provoked the incident? and any info about your cocker?? I will get the info and pop back

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Hello,there was no provocation as we were completely on our own on this countryside path. Up until he became "grown up" he never showed any nastiness at all.After he bcame a young man he had a "funny" week where he acted a bit wierd,going under chairs and into corners but he stopped all that nonsense.However the aggression started if I tried to stop him from doing things he shouldn't,eg biting shoes,eating nasty things like ciggy ends. Now I am more wary of taking things away so I do a swap with him,eg a pice of cheese or a biscuit and he normally gives them up.
My friend's reaction has worried me this evening,she was very critical of Cocker spaniels,I have never seen her being so critical before of any breed.She has a kennel full of German Shepherds,and is quite knowledgeable on dogs.She never mentioned this Cocker madness before,we always thought that Cockers were very kind and gentle.

[zarina]

Here it is:

www.cockerspanielrage.org.uk

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Thankyou,I just checked the site you suggest but I do not think the symptoms are the same.Importantly mine does not  attack in the home and he is kind to children and other dogs..

[Annette]

I, too, think you should see a behaviourist. Try to find one which is recommended by other dog owners.

Sadly, it seems to me that a lot of "experts" are very quick to "diagnose" Cocker rage when, in fact they are dealing with a behavioural problem which just happens to be in a cocker. It's a serious diagnosis, with very serious implications, so really all other possible problems should be considered and worked through first. IMO

It must be a very worrying time for you. Have you had this dog since he was a pup? Is there any chance he could have been badly treated (with a stick perhaps) in the past? i.e. before you got him.

Has he had a recent health check to rule out any physical cause?

Let us know how you get on.

[PennyB]

How old is he

I agree with Annete as there are too many out there quick to judge and don't look beyond the breed and become blinkered by that fact.

[zarina]

I, too, think you should see a behaviourist. Try to find one which is recommended by other dog owners.

Sadly, it seems to me that a lot of "experts" are very quick to "diagnose" Cocker rage when, in fact they are dealing with a behavioural problem which just happens to be in a cocker. It's a serious diagnosis, with very serious implications, so really all other possible problems should be considered and worked through first. IMO

It must be a very worrying time for you. Have you had this dog since he was a pup? Is there any chance he could have been badly treated (with a stick perhaps) in the past? i.e. before you got him.

Has he had a recent health check to rule out any physical cause?

Let us know how you get on.

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Yes, I have had this little golden man since he was a tiny pup and he is now 10months.I agree with both you and Penny that something unusual triggered the attack off.I think it may have been the fact that because he was on a halti,ie., the lead feels light to the touch, I did not realise that the handle of the lead was swinging as I hit the brambles with the stick, and as he is highly strung he may have been attacking the handle of the lead, as he often does this when he is on the halti.I cannot think that he did this on purpose as he is so loving most of the time.
I have decided to give him a chance as he is an admirable little dog.I just took him out this afternoon and he was so nice to other people who petted him, and he submitted instantly to a dog that was out walking the same stretch.He is fine in the home,showing no nastiness,only when he gets very excited which we try not to allow to happen.I wish he could talk and then I could get his side of the story! I read again about Cocker rage but this does not really fit his character,I would say just high strung nerves are the culprit.

[Pammy]

An observation from your first post, you never mention this boy by name simply referring to him as "the dog". Is he a loved family pet that lives with you in your home as part of your family, or one of maybe a few dogs you have? I'm trying to get a feel for the environment this boy lives in to see if that along with the points you mention could in part explain his actions.

I agree you probably need to have someone come and look at your specific situation here to see what the interaction is between you and your boy.

At ten months old he's entering adolescence when they can become very confused and behave rather erratically, although viscious behaviour is never excusable nor should it be tolerated, but it's the whole picture you might need to look at here.

[PennyB]

At ten months old he's entering adolescence when they can become very confused and behave rather erratically, although viscious behaviour is never excusable nor should it be tolerated, but it's the whole picture you might need to look at here.

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This was the reason why I asked about his age. I have just been fostering a whippet cross (a year old) who had a wonderful temperament but was going through adolescence and was behaving badly. I say badly as she was basically naughty and really did have a bad bone in her body. However, she was very 'mouthy' and would begin attempting to play with me as she would another whippet which if you've ever seen it can look awful as she would launch herself at me with her mouth and either pull my hair or grab whatever part for my body she could with her mouth (sometimes my face) which to some would be quite scary (she was twice the size of my cockers). It wasn't acceptable as she needed to learn and she will in time as she has a beautiful nature and will in time settle down but with some training (she now has a lovely home across the road from me).

I've found with friends male cockers that they can be a bit of a handful at this stage (not all, as mine, Wilf, was always gentler than them) and really behaved like lager louts and became a bit 'thuggish' at this age.

[Penel]

My rescue lurcher launches himself - to your head height - and quite often grabs my husbands arms - he doesn't do it to me because I am far far lower key with my greetings.  Lurchers are very mouthy dogs - far far more than spaniels, they play completely differently, grabbing necks and legs !  He is also very wary of people with walking sticks - is there any chance that your dog has been hit with a stick ?
I agree with the others - ASAP you need to see a behaviourist - ask your vet for a referral.

[correna]

My Mum rescued a cocker last yyr, who is very possesive about anything he picks up off the floor.... she was badly bitten not long after getting him as she tried to take a chocolate wrapper that he had picked up off the floor, she needed stitches in her thumb and nearly a yr later her nail is just grown back...

she saw a behaviourist, and he is better now, they used a reward system for getin things, swap a toy for whatever he had in his mouth or a biscuit as a swap.

while they are out, to take the stress out of walking as my mum walks her dogs miles everyday, she mussels him... now he cant eat anything that is on the floor, and mum can relax.

At home everyone is still wary of him, but with the help of the behaviourist and the love and patience of my mum and the family's co operation he is much improved

Maybe a  mussel while you are out is the answer as he is so good at home,

Hope you sort something out

Correna, Bailey and Harvey

[zarina]

After I posted about my severe Cocker bite on your forum I realised how little I actually knew about Cocker Spaniels,so I tried to correct this. By the way this  is the only one I have had,he lives with me and a cat.
Anyway,first off I re looked at the Rage site and other sites about Cockers being aggressive , and I must say there does seem to be a lot of evidence stacked against the plain coloured cockers,and the word Gold or Red colour seemed to crop up the most.
This wasn't enough for me so I telephoned 4 breeders who have bred for many years, and this is what they said. One of them told me that she does not breed golds or blacks as they are not worth all the problems.The 2nd and 3rd said more or less the same,that they used to breed them but stopped because of the aggression.One also said that if she had a litter of speckled(? my word) blue or black and white pups then she could be confident that there would only be a rare chance of aggression,but she emphasised the fact that if they bred a gold/black litter then they would expect problems in a few, and they did not want this to happen so they avoided breeding them. I asked them all if they thought that this aggression was Rare,but they all said it was not rare in their experience.One of the breeders was not available/or would not discuss this.
Then I went to the library and had a book purely on Cocker Spaniels.This book again reiterated what the breeders said to me.Now I AM worried but still puzzled as to why it affects the plain colours so much and not the other types.If this is a genetic problem do you experienced Cocker owners think that the temperment has been put in  2nd place behind good looks? In other words many years of selective "colour" breeding has been so intense that any good temperments may have been left behind.Of course I realise that by the law of averages there are bound to be lots of nice tempered Gold cockers being bred.