Behaviour issues with cockers

[Cazzie]

As I am pretty new to the cocker breed, I have been reading alot of topics regarding cockers with behaviour and aggression issues 

I have never come across this with working cockers, but find some of my day care show type cockers can be aggressive. Is this common in the breed and any info would be appreciated. 

Thanks

[Cob-Web]

Any dog can show aggressive tendencies (guarding, fear or other motives) if they are not appropriately raised and reared - and what works for one breed/dog may not work for another 

Cockers are a lot more challenging to train than many breeds of dog - and this comes a shock to people who have bought a cocker because they think they look cute and cuddly - giving in to the spaniel eyes doesn't do them any favours  Someone who may have successfully raised a whole houseful of GSD's, for instance, may find that a cocker doesn't respond to the same training......and needs a totally different approach 

Another issue to consider is the fact that cockers are very popular, and so there are a lot of cockers that are bred with no consideration for temperament......and this can lead to more challenging behaviour in the offspring  Show strains have traditionally been popular, but working strains are increasingly being bred by puppies farmers and commercial breeder, too 

[Nicola]

As Rachel says, any dog can have behavioural issues and breeding does have a lot to do with it. It is true that show cockers have been bred a lot more than workers and poor breeding combined with poor training and socialisation can lead to behavioural issues in any breed, think of some toy breeds having reputations for being yappy and nippy etc. It is sometimes difficult to know how much of it is nature and how much nurture but I wouldn't say that show cockers have any more temperament issues than most other breeds.

As far as workers are concerned, I have yet to meet a bad tempered or snappy worker (not to say that there aren't any...) and I hope that we do not see problems emerging as they become more popular - this kind of 'popularity' is one of the worst things that can happen to any breed or type of dog imo 

[Gilly]

Mod hat off for this one!

I seriously hand on heart think a lot of people on this forum must have a different breed of dog to me  I don't find mind challenging, bossy, manipulative or aggressive in ANY way shape or form. Yes they are DOGS! they do what dogs do....sometimes they even bark AND sometimes they are naughty...shock horror  BUT tell me one breed of dog that is 100% perfect!
Any new person visiting this forum must have a rather bleak opinion of this wonderful breed and I find that really sad  Visit ANY dog forum and any of the topics of discussion I am sure will be very similar if not the SAME as the ones talked about on here, please let's not make any of these discussions EXCLUSIVE to Cocker's because they are NOT!
I really cannot bear the constant psychoanalysis of our dogs. A dogs, a dog, a dog, you either get it or you don't  It will chew, it will dig, sometimes it might even wee on your living room floor...sometimes it might even cry at night and it might even pull on the lead. Sometimes I really wonder how any of you actually find the time to enjoy them  They are not human please don't treat them as such 

[silkstocking]

Mod hat off for this one!

I seriously hand on heart think a lot of people on this forum must have a different breed of dog to me  I don't find mind challenging, bossy, manipulative or aggressive in ANY way shape or form. Yes they are DOGS! they do what dogs do....sometimes they even bark AND sometimes they are naughty...shock horror  BUT tell me one breed of dog that is 100% perfect!
Any new person visiting this forum must have a rather bleak opinion of this wonderful breed and I find that really sad  Visit ANY dog forum and any of the topics of discussion I am sure will be very similar if not the SAME as the ones talked about on here, please let's not make any of these discussions EXCLUSIVE to Cockers because they are NOT!

Wot she said!!! Ditto all the above

Apart from the hat bit

[suzysu]

Mod hat off for this one!

I seriously hand on heart think a lot of people on this forum must have a different breed of dog to me  I don't find mind challenging, bossy, manipulative or aggressive in ANY way shape or form. Yes they are DOGS! they do what dogs do....sometimes they even bark AND sometimes they are naughty...shock horror  BUT tell me one breed of dog that is 100% perfect!
Any new person visiting this forum must have a rather bleak opinion of this wonderful breed and I find that really sad  Visit ANY dog forum and any of the topics of discussion I am sure will be very similar if not the SAME as the ones talked about on here, please let's not make any of these discussions EXCLUSIVE to Cocker's because they are NOT!
I really cannot bear the constant psychoanalysis of our dogs. A dogs, a dog, a dog, you either get it or you don't  It will chew, it will dig, sometimes it might even wee on your living room floor...sometimes it might even cry at night and it might even pull on the lead. Sometimes I really wonder how any of you actually get find the time to enjoy them  They are not human please don't treat them as such 

...agree too 

[Jane S]

I quite agree with you too Gilly It is easy to get a skewed picture of what a breed is like if you just go by what's said on a forum where people normally only post when they have a problem. Nobody is going to bother to post to say they're having no problems with their Cockers but perhaps we should do more often to balance things up a bit I've had show-type Cockers for well over twenty years and have never experienced any problems with aggressive or challenging behaviour - of course they're not perfectly behaved little angels all of the time but I wouldn't expect them to be because they're dogs, not humans in fur coats

I also don't think this is a show v working issue - we have seen several recent threads involving Working Cockers "behaving badly" (for want of a better phrase) because the potential for behaviour problems exists in any dog, pedigree or mongrel - it's not confined to any particular breed or any type within a breed.

[Magic Star]

I seriously hand on heart think a lot of people on this forum must have a different breed of dog to me  I don't find mind challenging, bossy, manipulative or aggressive in ANY way shape or form. Yes they are DOGS! they do what dogs do....sometimes they even bark AND sometimes they are naughty...shock horror  BUT tell me one breed of dog that is 100% perfect!
Any new person visiting this forum must have a rather bleak opinion of this wonderful breed and I find that really sad  Visit ANY dog forum and any of the topics of discussion I am sure will be very similar if not the SAME as the ones talked about on here, please let's not make any of these discussions EXCLUSIVE to Cocker's because they are NOT!
I really cannot bear the constant psychoanalysis of our dogs. A dogs, a dog, a dog, you either get it or you don't  It will chew, it will dig, sometimes it might even wee on your living room floor...sometimes it might even cry at night and it might even pull on the lead. Sometimes I really wonder how any of you actually find the time to enjoy them  They are not human please don't treat them as such 

I agree with Gilly too

[maximus]

Mod hat off for this one!

I seriously hand on heart think a lot of people on this forum must have a different breed of dog to me  I don't find mind challenging, bossy, manipulative or aggressive in ANY way shape or form. Yes they are DOGS! they do what dogs do....sometimes they even bark AND sometimes they are naughty...shock horror  BUT tell me one breed of dog that is 100% perfect!
Any new person visiting this forum must have a rather bleak opinion of this wonderful breed and I find that really sad  Visit ANY dog forum and any of the topics of discussion I am sure will be very similar if not the SAME as the ones talked about on here, please let's not make any of these discussions EXCLUSIVE to Cocker's because they are NOT!
I really cannot bear the constant psychoanalysis of our dogs. A dogs, a dog, a dog, you either get it or you don't  It will chew, it will dig, sometimes it might even wee on your living room floor...sometimes it might even cry at night and it might even pull on the lead. Sometimes I really wonder how any of you actually find the time to enjoy them  They are not human please don't treat them as such 

Well said  

I've had many of the problems the subjects in behavior bring up pop up at sometimes, mine fight sometimes over food   but are never aggressive to a point which worries me, they also wee (and poo   ) sometimes in the house and dig and walk mud through the house but i love them anyway  

[ruth_2_hot]

  i agree too , this is a subject ive come up against quite a few times , since hunny joined our family   firstly because shes a red cocker [ gawd the arguments ive had with peeps mostly  ones who know nothing about the breed ] yes they are adorable , those  eyes melt you but they are little monkeys , like kids give them an inch they take a mile , i love every minute i spend with hun shes a fab little girl , regardless of weeing on the floor or howling at 9 everynight because she can hear her would be boyfriend in the back street love ruth n hun

[Cob-Web]

Mod hat off for this one!

I seriously hand on heart think a lot of people on this forum must have a different breed of dog to me  I don't find mind challenging, bossy, manipulative or aggressive in ANY way shape or form. Yes they are DOGS! they do what dogs do....sometimes they even bark AND sometimes they are naughty...shock horror  BUT tell me one breed of dog that is 100% perfect!
Any new person visiting this forum must have a rather bleak opinion of this wonderful breed and I find that really sad  Visit ANY dog forum and any of the topics of discussion I am sure will be very similar if not the SAME as the ones talked about on here, please let's not make any of these discussions EXCLUSIVE to Cocker's because they are NOT!
I really cannot bear the constant psychoanalysis of our dogs. A dogs, a dog, a dog, you either get it or you don't  It will chew, it will dig, sometimes it might even wee on your living room floor...sometimes it might even cry at night and it might even pull on the lead. Sometimes I really wonder how any of you actually find the time to enjoy them  They are not human please don't treat them as such 

I do agree - BUT, there are a lot of people who DON'T have realistic expectations of their dog, and don't treat them like a dog but like a member of the family, and my experience is that some breeds of dog seem to take advantage of this more than others 

There will be variations between dogs of all breeds - but I think that there is no doubt that some breeds of dog respond to certain training techniques and others don't...........even working cockers have a reputation of being a more difficult gundog to train than other gundog breeds within the working world, because they need a different approach 

[*Adele*]

I am so glad you posted that Gilly as I too was getting very upset by some posts that are being posted by experienced members! I did not go into cocker ownership with closed eyes and after reading this forum I have been so relieved to have such a fantastic dog! I do try and post about how good Chloe is but these posts don't get as much attention as the naughty cockers! There seems to be far too many posts being made which are off putting  

[Helen]

definitely not a worker vs show cocker behaviour problem.

agree with all that's been said.

we have DOG's - why do we expect them to have the behavioural and emotional traits of humans.

now, i have to go and clean my dog's back cos he's rolled in something awful...it's what dogs do (and gilly, have you been spying on me...how do you know Jarvis pulls on the lead  )

[Cob-Web]

Nobody is going to bother to post to say they're having no problems with their Cockers but perhaps we should do more often to balance things up a bit

I admit, I have avoided saying how "good" Molo is, even though I have never been disappointed with his behaviour - but a lot of theproblem behaviour that is posted about here I consider to be "normal" behaviour for Molo, so I sometimes feel I am tolerating behavior that others would consider unacceptable 

[Gilly]

No Rachel, you are just letting him be a Dog and also an individual