Is guarding behaviour prevalent in cockers and if so, why?

[Lovely]

After recent posts i've been giving this alot of thought. I'm happy for people to set me straight as i'm definitely not a cocker expert, my previous experience is of working springers, labs and to a lesser extent, border terriers. I now have a 15 wk show type cocker so only have a few weeks experience of this breed. What worries me is the number of people describing aggression centred around guarding. I am puzzled that this should be such an issue in a breed that was originally bred to flush and then retrieve. One of the primary facets of such dogs is that they should willingly hand over whatever they have retrieved to their owner. So surely the instinct to guard should have been selectively bred out. Having a tug of war over retrieved items is just no good! Is this behaviour more prevalent in show strains? Guarding behaviour between dogs is natural but i have always been taught that you should be able to take any item from a dog without fear. Am i totally out of touch? I'm really interested to know what others think.

[tritonx]

FWIW, Fraser (show type)  has no hesitation about handing over anything I ask him to retrieve for me. (I did post recently about him showing perhaps guarding/possessive behaviour toward me from greeting attempts by another dog.) He does it in frisbee/ball play and as I've got a bad back, I've been teaching him to pick up and give me things I drop like gloves, mail, cane etc. No problems whatsoever in getting him to hand over.

ETA: mind you, if it's a dead fish spine or some other tasty treat, different story.

[Pearly]

Pearls behaviour changed during her season but I guess that is only to be expected. 

Other than the occasional bit of guarding [me] and the cans of cola after a walk she doesn't guard anything, not food, toys or possessions - just cans of cola [and they were Patp's not mine ]

[Holly2009]

Holly 3yrs has never guarded anything, our 2 pups currently 6 months are fab also, good at retrieving & handing over everything - toys, chews....socks, even all 3 together no squabbles they just move & swap when it comes to chew/ treat time.

[MaggieR]

Only have experience of Maggie and she's only shown aggressive guarding once, and that was the first time I gave her a lamb bone... so I backed off, and went in little steps to gain her trust when she had her most prized possession... now she'll let me take it away without a problem.  Does she guard me?  Maybe, but only in that she thinks she should always be closest to me, but never aggressively - even with the cat she just gently pushes him out of the way grumbling at the same time  

[Helen]

OK being brutally honest here from what I've seen on the boards in the last 7 years.

I think *generally* they are a breed with guarding tendencies - I have no idea why but it seems to be one of the biggest reasons why cockers are re-homed, and one of the most posted about topics on the behaviour board. 

[jaybee]

By its a nature, an advice and discussion forum is going to attract requests for advice on behavioural issues. People aren't going to come and start posts about how their dog does not guard anything. I cant say there are more Cockers with guarding issues than any other breed, just this forum gives a sounding board for people with dogs with guarding issues.

Hope that makes sense. The only thing I can think that it's akin to is when people say 'there are not more violent crimes committed than 50 years ago, it is just reported about more'. I hope that makes sense? I don't think there's a disproportionate amount of Cockers with guarding issues than any other breed, but that on a cocker forum dogs with such issues are more often discussed.

[Lovely]

Maybe i'm getting the wrong impression then, i guess maybe most people don't experience problems and you don't write a post about non-behavioural problems! I've certainly not had any problems with my pup she is very sweet natured and i need her to be that way as i have a 4 year old daughter. I guess i find it curious behaviour in a gun dog breed. It's more of an issue in terriers as not many people were worried if their terrier wouldn't hand over a dead rat, but i've never had an issue with my border guarding anything.

[Neon]

It came as a big shock to me when Toby displayed "guarding" tendencies on a few occasions, which I am now able to manage using the "give" command and a treat.

My previous two cockers never once displayed the same behaviour.  I have wondered, recently, if this behaviour is manifesting itself in more recently bred cockers, for some reason.

(In the past, I've also owned Irish and English Setters and could take anything out of their mouths easily, not that I needed to very often).

[Toni-UK]

I would agree reading through this forum that cockers seem to be a breed prone to guarding but are any of us members on any other breed specific forums (not just general dog forums) that could compare as i feel many dogs may guard what they deem as "theirs".  

[Karma]

OK being brutally honest here from what I've seen on the boards in the last 7 years.

I think *generally* they are a breed with guarding tendencies - I have no idea why but it seems to be one of the biggest reasons why cockers are re-homed, and one of the most posted about topics on the behaviour board. 

I have a tendency to agree - I think part of it comes down to the Cocker's tendency to pick up things.... where this is misunderstood by new owners it can contribute to guarding behaviour.  I also think the Cocker is a very sensitive breed, and possibly struggles more than some other breeds with the pressures of modern life (ie longer working hours, more restrictions on dogs etc etc).  I suspect poor breeding to meet high demands is also a factor.  

I do, however, think that COL sees a greater level of guarding issues than the wider population, as owners of dogs with issues tend to seek further advice.  I also think that other breeds suffer the affects of modern life in different ways - whether that is dog-dog aggression, recall issues, or other behaviour issues...

[Archie bean]

OK being brutally honest here from what I've seen on the boards in the last 7 years.

I think *generally* they are a breed with guarding tendencies - I have no idea why but it seems to be one of the biggest reasons why cockers are re-homed, and one of the most posted about topics on the behaviour board. 

That's really interesting. My previous two cockers were absolutely no trouble. Archie is my first with any issues and it came as a real shock. I wonder if this is a more recent development. It's worrying if it is on the increase. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

[Nicola]

OK being brutally honest here from what I've seen on the boards in the last 7 years.

I think *generally* they are a breed with guarding tendencies - I have no idea why but it seems to be one of the biggest reasons why cockers are re-homed, and one of the most posted about topics on the behaviour board.  

I agree with this. Cockers are definitely considered to have a tendency towards issues with possession/guarding at Hearing Dogs (and there have been hundreds of Cockers among the thousands of dogs bred, bought in, socialised and trained here over the last 30 years). We tend to see more of it in the Cockers than in the other breeds we have.

[bluegirl]

OK being brutally honest here from what I've seen on the boards in the last 7 years.

I think *generally* they are a breed with guarding tendencies - I have no idea why but it seems to be one of the biggest reasons why cockers are re-homed, and one of the most posted about topics on the behaviour board. 

I also agree.

[KellyT]

I have a tendency to agree - I think part of it comes down to the Cocker's tendency to pick up things.... where this is misunderstood by new owners it can contribute to guarding behaviour.

I wonder if there's some generic pointers / starter for 10 or something our behaviour 'experts' could write up as ways of discouraging guarding behaviour particularly around what Karma mentions about a cocker tendency to picking things up? Or is it purely teaching a good 'leave' / 'drop' from an early age the best way to discourage it?

(by experts I mean simply those with the higher understanding of behaviour amongst us not that they are actual experts, though we do have a couple)