sudden rage syndrome

[ziggy]

i feel really ashamed,,i thought jasper was displaying aggressive behaviour for no reason,,turns out that when i took him to the vets,he said jasper had a dislocated back leg,so that was why he possibly had a bit of anger,i,m really embarrassed,because of what i have heard about solids,,i assumed he had the problem,,glad i took him to the doctors,and educated myself on the problem,,,eeek,i know this will make me look bad,,but at least i have tried to sort it,,i feel really stupid and ignorant,, :oops:                    

[padfoot]

You weren't to know, you were just concerned about your dog. Don't feel bad about it.                    

[valerie]

hi ziggy, i hope everything works out with your cocker,. my solid black cocker max who is 10mths old has these aggresive attacks he seems fine one minute and the next he goes off on one!. to give you an example he barked at the postman and when i grabbed his collar to put him into his crate speaking to him in a firm voice he turned somehow and nipped me in the hand!  [little sod] i'm not going to stand for any of his bad behaviour so he gets sent to his crate if he dosent do as he is told! with a smack. val                    

[Colin]

Hi Valerie

I'm not sure that smacking Max is a good way to solve the problems you are having with him. The danger with dogs is they will only respond to "violence" by being worse. For example he will recall what happenened last time the postman called and just associate it with being grabbed by the collar, smacked and put in his crate.... it's not going to make him behave any better at all. It could even lead to a breakdown in trust and just make him fearful of you and possibly even more aggressive as a result.

Do you take him to training classes ? If not ,I'd try and book him into one. It is probably a good idea to maybe seek out a good behaviourist too to give you some guidance as to how to deal with his "moments" in a more posistive manner that he might respond to.                    

[PennyB]

I think grabbing a dog and putting them in a crate just makes a problem worse. A crate should never be used as punishment which your dog may associate this with as his collar was grabbed and then he was smacked. Dogs can then go on to be aggressive every time someone goes near their collar/head. Training in the main should be positive for the dog..

Is barking at the postman aggressive? My two do this and I find it annoying more than anything else.

I've found a 1-2-1 trainer here who helps me out with all sorts of problems and general training. Much better than training using a book.                    

[TOPAZ BILLY]

Billy barks at the postman, newspapers anything that he sees as coming onto his territory without permission, but if I open the door to the postman (dog lover) Billy rushes out to have his belly tickled  no aggression just doggy behaviour.

Michelle                    

[Gilly]

Buttons barks at anything and everything that walks past my house  :roll:  and if anyone comes to the door she goes mental....but as soon as I open the door she just wants petted, it's all excitement  :wink:
I don't really try to curb her barking behaviour as I've got used to it                      

[valerie]

thanks all of you for responding i will try some of you solutions too see if they work, thanks. val                    

[Hel]

I've never come across a dog that doesn't bark at a postie!

I saw a programme on the telly which attempted to explain this behaviour.  The postie comes to the door, puts things through the letterbox, the dog barks to warn the pack of danger and the postie goes away.  Therefore, the dog is rewarded everytime for the bark and warning of 'danger', because the postie always goes away and does not enter the house.  

My old dog Jamie, who didn't bark at anyone else, would bark at the postie if we met him in the street, well away from my house.                    

[Shirley]

  Think I saw that programme too.  Was that the one where they were trying to discover if man had domesticated the dog through his/her choice, or if dogs are actually much cleverer than to be trapped into something like and they are actually 'using' us for their own gain?  It was very interesting.  Think it's probably a bit of both!  

Morgan barks at the postie, and in the absence of the postie he attacks the mail!!!                      

[Hel]

Hi Shirley

It sounds like the same programme.  Most of it was done through the dog's eyes?  There was a cat one as well.

The dog/postie bit was so true.  Most posties have a terrible time with dogs unless they meet the dog properly.

Hel                    

[devondumpling]

This postie problem. When I get my new puppy, how to you advise me to deal with it. My old springer was a terror with the postman and had to be kept in untill he had called.
I am going to try and not repeat any of my past mistakes when I train this pup. Is there any book in particular you would advise?
The best thing I ever did with Tango was to teach him to love the hoover! Then I could use the nozzle on his coat to remove any dirt and loose hairs.
I would appreciate any advice on early puupy training.

Chris                    

[Luvlylady]

Bella barks at the postie like shes going to kill him , once i came home to find blood on the post  :shock:  thought shed bitten him , then my sis  said she was in the garden with me     i take it he got biten by someone elses dog , we opend the door to the postie the other day she was barking like mad then licked the fella to death   good guard dog                      

[padfoot]

Toby does bark at the doorbell but not at the postman. Millie, on the other hand, barks like mad if the doorbell goes, the door knocks, the postman turns up, yet she never barks at anything else.  She has a low and loud bark so she probably sounds quite scary...little do they know that if I opened the door she would lick them to death.                    

[ziggy]

hi all,very interesting comments,jasper was great after the diffuser buying thing,,alas he has started again,,he went charging for a woman today for no reason,she just poked her head round the door and he went beserki didn,t shout at him,he just resumed his normal position on the chair,but i have to be honest i just don,t trust him,,i run my own business and he is with me all day,customers come in ll day too,most of the time he is great and then,all of a sudden he just goes for them,i know the vet said he has a slipping patella,but i am getting very worried now,we have limited the excercise as not to hurt his leg,but now i am at aloss,,what should i do,i love him dearly,,but i think we all know when there is a problem and i am so scared that there is something wrong