Aggressive Dog

[correna]

As i posted a couple of months ago my mum was getting a rescue cocker spaniel, He is a 3yo blue roan male. He is an extremely loving dog, but has an aggression problem... to the point I was at work one night and my dad turned up on my ward to say that as my mum had gone to get a piece if foil paper out of his mouth he had bitten her and had ripped her thumb nail off, she was in casualty.
She has spoken to behaviourists and the vets and is following instructions for the domunence, but he has since gone for my dad and my sister who he really does adore.
My mum really doesn't want to give up on the little man but I can see it is really starting to upset her. I have suggested maybe a residential assessment but she is concerned that it may not be productive in seeing why and what triggers the problem.
Any suggestions would be welcome, obviously there is no real background on this dog, but Mum feels by giving him back to the rescue centre is just passing the problem on.
I really feel for her as she is the ultimate dog lover and feels maybe she is failing him in some way.
My dog Bailey is frightened because he has turned on him a couple of times, so he isn't too keen
Correna & Bailey

[Luvly]

 

[PennyB]

Has the behaviourist actually been to your mums house to assess the dog or just spoken to your mum.

When your mum was trying to get the foil paper out of the dogs mouth did she just go get it or 'trade' for something else (which is the way I was always taught to do things—well as per the Perfect Puppy book by Gwen Bailey). Some dogs are possessive over small things (cockers especially for some reason).

I don't think residential assessments are really the answer as the other element in the equation is really the owner and how they react to certain situations whereby they may incidentally trigger off/contribute to certain behaviours. So I guess your mum is right here.

I'm also a great fan of TTouch as its great for dogs with aggression problems and may be another route to go down (its also great for bonding with your dog):

TTouch website

Am pleased your mum isn't giving up on him.

[correna]

Hi, yes my Mum has been to see a behaviourist at the vets and is carrying out things as recommended. There seems to be no reason for him to do these things, and yes she is trading treats  for whatever he has in his mouth, but now it is a game and will pick things up expecting the treat, so it is almost reinforcing the behaviour.

I personally don't think he has ever been properly socialised, as he doesn't know how to play with other dogs. He is also very nervous when he sees a dog coming towards him although he is BARK BARK when he sees them.

I will send details of that website to them and keep you posted    

[PennyB]

Hi, yes my Mum has been to see a behaviourist at the vets and is carrying out things as recommended. There seems to be no reason for him to do these things, and yes she is trading treats  for whatever he has in his mouth, but now it is a game and will pick things up expecting the treat, so it is almost reinforcing the behaviour.

I personally don't think he has ever been properly socialised, as he doesn't know how to play with other dogs. He is also very nervous when he sees a dog coming towards him although he is BARK BARK when he sees them.

I will send details of that website to them and keep you posted   

He obviously sees the value of picking things up. What about letting him have some of the things he picks up (hard I know LOL).

Has your mum taken him to training classes or is that next on her agenda. A good class may be able to help socialize him in a safe environment.

I've a friend who's a TTouch practitioner in training and while this isn't a quick fix its wonderful how well it works especially if you can learn some of the basic techniques. There was a thread on dogpages earlier this year which was just chat but got the message re TTouch across (hope it works):

TTouch thread on dogpages

I'd also post this on dogpages training & behaviour forum if you haven't already (someone there may also be able to enlighten you about some other techniques that may be useful):

http://www.dogpages.org.uk

or maybe try animal rescuers (another rescue website):

http://www.animal-rescuers.com/bbv2 (a bit slow on my PC)

[taniac]

I know it's a bit obvious but if he's clever enough to work out he gets treats for exchanging things he picked up, has your mum tried just ignoring him if he does something, rather than give him the attention.  They usually just lose interest and start doing something else.  Also rather than a treat, try a much loved toy?!

I know this doesn't explain his aggression but if he's not been treated well or just badly socialised he'll probably being over-reacting to many situations.  I recommend reading Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson, as it covers this kind of thing in a really good way and may help.