Cocker 'rage'

[Goldie]

Hi KB... thanks for asking!!

We had a bit of a set back at the beginning of last week... my poor pup became sick.. vomiting etc and we took him to the vet... after looking at Xrays they decided they would need to operate to ensure there was nothing serious.... luckily there wasn't ... just seemed to be a bad infection, probably from all the things he manages to eat when out walking, but both my husband and i were very upset that our pup had to go through this.

Anyway, he is now well on the road to recovery and a couple of nights ago another bahavourist visited the house... this time he worked with both the pup and my husband and I, and I have to say I have high hopes his suggestions will help. we hope to overcome the problem of growling if passing him whilst eating from his bowl, the problem of handling his collar and also his love of eating tissues, as we are presently unable to remove anything from his mouth without a whole snarling and biting session.

We were told the do's and don'ts when he does growl/snarl and it would appear that we have been walking him a bit too much and so he may have been too tired in the evenings as someone had suggested.


We have noticed a considerable improvement in the last few weeks or so anyway ( not sure if this is as a result of his being neutered )and he has become much more sociable in the evenings, wanting attention whereas before, we could not have approached him.

Just want to answer a few questions that were recently asked by 'solid worker'. We got our pup from a reputable breeder in Southern Ireland and he has not been mistreated. We have had him since he was 8 weeks old and he has not been spoilt.... both my husband and I grew up with dogs that got away with a lot more! He does not always get his own way unless it comes down to safety ( ie biting etc ) and is no longer allowed on the furniture. If he wants to sit on knees we sit on the floor with him. He generally loves human contact, but as i've mentioned he just doesn't generally like his collar fiddled with... this is something we are now concentrating on.

For a while I had lost confidence to handle the pup, which I know he could sense, but over the last few weeks this is strengthening again and I feel that both myself and the pup are happier for this.... lets just hope it continues.

[kb]

It's great to hear that things are settling. I hope you don't mind - I have pm'd you.

Let us know how things go!

[no time for this]

Good to hear things are sorting themselves out, if he is eating everything then it might be worth putting a muzzle on him until he is trained out of it?

[Annette]

I'm not sure that a muzzle really helps all that much. From what I've heard, when you start leaving the muzzle off they go back to eating everything again.

Probably better to really go for the "leave it" command. (Touch of irony here, we are a long way from sorting this out with Buddy!!!)

[kb]

I agree with Annette - we have taught a "give" command for when she has something in her mouth - we quickly exchange it for something more interesting - a favourite treat. Do this everytime at first and then mix it up a bit keeping the expectation going. Iam sure your behaviourist will help you find the best to deal with it anyway.

I think pinching and eating things is something that cockers tend to do. If we were to try to stop Honey by muzzling her she would have to be muzzled all the time! A bit extreme in my opinion - but each to their own.

[no time for this]

Only suggessted muzzling as a temporary option whilst training for a dog that has already had to undergo surgery for eating something he shouldn't have. Given the choice between muzzling and putting a dog through a surgical procedure then I would opt for the muzzle, and work on the leave command.

Then when getting a response from the leave command, use of the muzzle could be phased out, but re-applied if he ignores the leave command. Obviously if wearing a muzzle causes the dog distress then it should be avoided. However its important to put the owner or handlers emotional concerns to one side and ask "what is best for the dog", "is the dog distressed by the muzzle", "is the distress of wearing a muzzle for a temporary period greater than that which the dog would endure through illness and surgical procedures"?

Sooty has had a soft (fabric) muzzle for a while now, but you could still put it back on the shelf and sell it as new as it has been that little used, I like him to be "free" as much as possible, but practically accept there are times for his safety and the safety of others when he should be muzzled. When I first went to muzzle him I was apprehensive of what his reaction would be, however there was no reaction at all!

[kb]

I think she was being a bit "TONGUE IN CHEEK" when she said it was probably something he had eaten. The surgery was from my reading of the post, probably exploratory, as the xrays maybe didn't show anything conclusive. The dog was then diagnosed as having an infection after the surgery - any animal can pick up something unpleasant on a walk and eat it . I don't see anything to suggest it was this that necessarily caused the infection and there was obviously no obstruction caused by anything the dog had eaten.

I have read many threads about the weird and wonderful things cockers eat. I do not see any evidence to suggest that anything the dog ate made him sick, apart from an off the cuff remark made probably in jest.