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

[praia]

It could be a combination of many factors.  Their inherent greedy natures, the fact that cockers always want to have something in their mouths, little to no proper training from early on, unstable temperament due to poor breeding, etc.

We started training our show Cocker to leave and give from the day she came home.  We constantly asked her to give up items in exchange for something else and continue to do this now with her and all our other dogs.  Guarding anything from a human is unacceptable in our home.  We've never had any issue with her guarding even with the most high value of food items.  I credit early consistent training and her rock solid temperament.

[Lovely]

Certainly with our springers and labs we used to take things from them right from day one as pups and say THANK YOU with loads of praise. If they ran off we wouldn't chase them but waited til they had sat down with it and no matter if they were happily chewing it we would take it from them by placing our hand over their muzzle to open their mouth. This is easy with a pup but not with an adult that is already aggressive! Our dogs were trials dogs with ftch pedigrees so could be quite feisty but were always fine in handing things over. Lovely, our cocker pup, has always been fine so far and i've been taking things from her from day one. She hasn't got a particular attachment to any of her toys but if i thought she had, i would take it away permanently. This might sound cruel but i think kinder than allowing problems to develop.

[tritonx]

I'm finding myself unclear as to what guarding means, what specific situation would be considered guarding. If I took Fraser's dish away while he was eating, I don't think he'd react aggressively. I haven't ever tried and wouldn't try it unless I said something to him first to warn him. Make him sit or say leave it. I might try tomorrow at breakfast to see if I could stop him mid meal. Small window of opportunity though as he inhales it in less than 30 seconds. If he's eating a chew and I want to take it away, I usually offer him a treat and take the chew with no problem. He'll give it up quite readily. He's not possessive about toys either. A dog that used to visit always made off with his toys.  But if it's found food outside, not a chance of getting him to hand it over. He just tries to eat more quickly. At the same time, before I decided I was not digging anything disgusting out of his mouth any more, I used to open his mouth to removed dead star fish and crab shells without any danger to my fingers.

[montydavies]

The only time Monty guards anything is if the cat tries to steal it from his bowl! As far as he's concerned if it falls on the floor it's his not the cats. If I tried to take anthing off him, or the children do, we have never had any hint of a problem. The only other time we have an issue is when his sister and him are given a bone, always ends up with handbags, so just don't do it now. Even then not sure if he or his sister initiates the snapping.

[Helen]

Resource Guarding encompasses more than food or toys - it includes guarding people & guarding sofa's or beds for a start 

[penguins87]

This thread is really interesting as I have always had thoughts on this

most gun dog breed seem to naturally know how to perform some of its inherent behaviours. Zig zagging for scent , bringing back dead rabbits, birds and pointing. As we don't all use gun dogs for these tasks what happens to these behaviours do they become muddled and frustrating for a dog?

With guarding , does its inherent trait to retrieve an object then get muddled as it does not know what to do with it and then protects it ?

Do some gun dogs chase bikes and jiggers because they confuse the chase of game ?


I don't know the answer but it is interesting to read all your comments.

[Jonnydog]

Does this include guarding from other dogs? I frequently have a pack at my house when my sons' dogs come to visit and Penny will certainly guard her food bowl, chews or any toy she's playing with from them. She's quite happy to give up anything to humans, however.

[Lovely]

I think competing for food etc with other dogs is natural part of behaviour. Gun dogs like to hold things and should also learn to enjoy retrieving to hand, whether as a game if it's a pet or part of their work. Gun dog breeds don't get confused as pets but do need something to occupy their brains particularly if from a working back ground. Chasing game or joggers is a no no, they should stop once the game is flushed but this is difficult to teach as it requires great self control from the dog, normally taught either with a long line or you need to wear a decent pair of running shoes to catch the dog! Like has been previously said, guarding can involve pretty much anything that the dog doesn't want you to obtain whether that be a seat on the sofa or access to an area or a favourite toy.

[PennyB]

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've often thought this as well with a tendency for some owners to grab stuff back off them thus the dog equally wants 'their' stuff back even more!

[Helen]

It would be interesting to see if the problem is greater with show cockers or working bred working cockers.  I know from the conversations I've had with Nicola about Hearing dogs that it appears more prevalent with the show cockers at Hearing dogs but this could be different here.

I think along with being a gundog, cockers are a feisty, intelligent and in the case of food, greedy, breed.  Historically biddability in working cockers was the prime trait to breed for in the breed but this is changing with preferences for size/colour etc with the massive pet breeding going on and this could also be a factor in their behaviour.

Lovely, the principles of training your labs are the same if you want your cocker to work.  I also think if you have a pup in the house that you are going to be training to work you deal with it slightly differently then with purely a pet and as you've said previously, you don't chase them if they have something they shouldn't, you don't play tug games, you don't allow them to chase game/people/bikes etc, they're not allowed miles away from you off lead,  you praise them to the hilt when they have something in their mouths and they bring it to you - and even more so when they willingly give it to you.   You're always thinking of what your adult dog should be doing in the field so the behaviour you want as an adult dog is instilled very gently very early.  This doesn't mean the puppy is deprived, far from it 

Perhaps we should be paying more attention to the gundog element of their being even if they're not working dogs?

[twiceover2]

Pippa doesn't guard things from us at all.  We can take anything from her without her batting an eyelid.  However, she often guards things from my other dog Barney.  The strange thing about her guarding from him though is she usually guards things that she doesn't really like/want such as chews she has no intention of eating and the stag bar she never chews.  She either stands over it or has it in her mouth glaring at Barney and growling.  He is usually completely oblivious, having had no intention to take it from her in the first place.  Sometimes he has even been asleep.  When I take the object she is guarding off her,  She seems relieved to have had the responsibility removed.

Barney doesn't guard things for no reason.  If he is actually eating something and Pippa tries to steal it, he will let out the roar of doom and she backs off.  A couple of times when he has had a really high value treat he has growled at me or OH if we have gone to take it off him but it is just a growl with nothing behind it; we tell him to "leave it" and he gives it up.

So Pippa (cocker spaniel) seems to guard for the sake of it, whereas Barney (fauve) guards with a purpose.  I guess we are lucky that Pippa only guards from dogs and not people.

[PennyB]

It would be interesting to see if the problem is greater with show cockers or working bred working cockers.  I know from the conversations I've had with Nicola about Hearing dogs that it appears more prevalent with the show cockers at Hearing dogs but this could be different here.

I think along with being a gundog, cockers are a feisty, intelligent and in the case of food, greedy, breed.  Historically biddability in working cockers was the prime trait to breed for in the breed but this is changing with preferences for size/colour etc with the massive pet breeding going on and this could also be a factor in their behaviour.

Lovely, the principles of training your labs are the same if you want your cocker to work.  I also think if you have a pup in the house that you are going to be training to work you deal with it slightly differently then with purely a pet and as you've said previously, you don't chase them if they have something they shouldn't, you don't play tug games, you don't allow them to chase game/people/bikes etc, they're not allowed miles away from you off lead,  you praise them to the hilt when they have something in their mouths and they bring it to you - and even more so when they willingly give it to you.   You're always thinking of what your adult dog should be doing in the field so the behaviour you want as an adult dog is instilled very gently very early.  This doesn't mean the puppy is deprived, far from it  

Perhaps we should be paying more attention to the gundog element of their being even if they're not working dogs?

Couldn't agree more

Some owners I've spoken to who have given their dogs up and heard how the problem escalates until they growl at owner then owner hits the dog for growling then dog bites owner

Sadly I also hear from some that this picking up is something they hate about their dogs - I don't think some realsie that is what cockers love to do (they assume retrieving is somethig from another world away from them or somethign they play as a game - not something a cocker loves to do as part of their day).

One thing I have noticed about cockers I've seen with very bad guarding behaviours (extreme end) is that they guard and/or acquire stuff the more stressed they become and stress to them can just come from being in a busy household whether that's just busy with humans and/or pets. These are my own observations. One cocker at the extreme end I fostered would go to lengths of guarding scraps of paper or anything she could as if this fixation would alleviate something in her (there was a horrid history of her never being listened to when she had started any of this behaviour with owners hitting her for just retrieving so by the time she came to me she was a very stressed confused dog). Funnily enough she was rehomed to a quiet household on her own where she had plenty of space to go stress on her own (advice from a friend who was a dog trainer after seeing her in action one day and could see how confused she was - her reaction to seeing my friend was to welcome her briefly along with my 2 then she would go off and find something to obsess about and guard - I do know at this point in her earlier days she would go and retrieve something may be to give to person coming in house, but was chastised for it, hey how's that for confusing decades of genetic makeup!)

[JeffD]

Very interesting thread, I at first thought it was the fact that folks tend to post about problems that they have so you get a false impression of the numbers of cockers with this problem. I think I will spend some time looking at other breed forums to see if this is the case.

[bluegirl]

It could be a combination of many factors.  Their inherent greedy natures, the fact that cockers always want to have something in their mouths, little to no proper training from early on, unstable temperament due to poor breeding, etc.

We started training our show Cocker to leave and give from the day she came home.  We constantly asked her to give up items in exchange for something else and continue to do this now with her and all our other dogs.  Guarding anything from a human is unacceptable in our home.  We've never had any issue with her guarding even with the most high value of food items.  I credit early consistent training and her rock solid temperament.

Now I'm the opposite, I don't exchange or ask them to give things up, but I do train them to allow me to touch anything they have from day one but once that's done I don't carry on with exchanges. Mine are all show cockers but I never played too many retrieve games when they were young, we just went for walks and they were stimulated in other ways, I also don't as a rule offer treats as rewards, its always been praise, so I suppose I never encouraged them to want things. The only one who does like to carry teddies is Bronte but as none of the others are bothered she doesn't feel threatened so doesn't guard.

[Jane S]

To some extent resource guarding is a completely normal canine trait and is not particular to any particular breed but we're obviously talking about problem resource guarding here which is severe enough to affect daily life and an owner's relationship with the affected dog. I've owned multiple Cockers for nearly 30 years now and haven't ever had a problem "guarder" - I've seen the behaviour in a couple of foster dogs but never with my own dogs. I don't believe problem resource guarding is a breed specific trait ie it's there in every Cocker Spaniel waiting to come out but think that some Cockers (particular breeding lines perhaps) have a tendency to more pronounced guarding behaviour than is normal and that a mixture of genetics and possibly environmental factors (such as owner handling) can result in the kind of problem resource guarding we see posted about on COL.

I also think because of the nature of forums, people post when they have problems with guarding but they don't post when they don't have problems so you tend to get a skewed picture and think all Cockers guard when they don't. I'm a Mod on another general canine forum and the sort of problem behaviour we see described on this forum also crops up reguarly on the Behaviour board of that forum - we've got to be careful not to generalise too much which is easy to do when we are in our little COL bubble