Highly strung cocker

[mark4974]

Hi folks,
We have a 5 year old cocker spaniel who is and always has been a bit highly strung. Any little noise, door banging, coughing, sneezing, etc and he starts running around barking. At all other times he is a loving and generally well behaved dog.
In the past we have been able to manage this (somewhat) with beeping collars, calming drops or diffusers. Unfortunately, these seemed to have stopped working and he has turned a couple of times biting us (not badly).
Clearly, this is not acceptable and any advice or help would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks, Mark

Ps- He is a golden cocker and I have heard they can be subject to 'rage' syndrome? Could this be anything to do with this.

[Murphys Law]

I'm sure somebody will be along with advice but I can say one thing for certain, it is not Rage Syndrome. That is a completely different thing all together (and very rare these days)

[EmmaRose]

It sounds as if your cocker is sound sensitive, causing him to react to unexpected sounds.  When I first took on Pippa (now 3) she would bark all the time at noises she heard, I used a CD of sounds called "sounds for life" and played it quietly at first and then gradually upped the volume over time to desensitise her to different noises.  You can get a YouTube video of them now as well if you search "dog socialisation sounds."  Whilst the sounds were on I'd give her a Kong, chew or play a game so she began to associate the noises with good things happening and then I introduced a "settle" cue (where I would encourage her to lie down quietly on a mat/bed)and eventually she would sleep straight through them.  In fact the CD is on at the moment to help my mums new puppy get used to the different sounds...

It could be he got too worked up and the barking/running around has tipped over into aggression but as he has bitten it may be worth getting professional advice from a behaviourist or experienced trainer who will be able to visit your home and better judge what the triggers are and how you can manage them.  You can find a local trainer by searching the APDT http://www.apdt.co.uk/ or APBC http://www.apbc.org.uk/

I'm sure other will be along with more advice, hope that helps

[sodpot2000]

The good news is that what you are describing is definitely not Rage Syndrome.

Dogs are all individuals and some get more 'cross' about sudden noises than others. No different to people in that respect. In this I speak as the owner of an extremely 'gobby' spaniel who enjoys nothing better than regular arguments with pheasants, sirens, horses and some things that I can neither see nor hear!

It is difficult to offer detailed advice but you may want to consider working to calm him rather than being tempted to use any sort of aversive response, which is only going to heighten his arousal and fear. If not hunting, dogs most often bite out of fear and so you will need to try and help him come down out of panic mode. These things take time (sometimes lots) but if you can slowly and gently de-sensitise him to things that should make him happier.

I quite agree with EmmaRose however, that some advice from a good trainer who can actually see him at home is worth far more than our well meaning guesses

[tenaille]

Hi,
sorry to hear you are having problems, and I agree with the advice to seek some help from a properly qualified trainer sooner rather than later.
Rage syndrome is a (poorly understood) condition that it is characterised by a sudden full on attack without warning, and once seen is never forgotten.  This shouldn't be confused with other 'aggressive' behaviours that have definite causes and can be modified.

[phoenix]

Sorry you've had this happen. It's not because you've got a golden cocker . All breeds have problems, it's just that we get a bad name because it is one of the most numerous breeds.  A lot of Cockers are extremely sensive in general. They can appear nervous or reactive. As the others say,  see a trainer who should suggest a suitable protocol, for the whole household to stick to.   Throw out the beeping collar,  it would freak me out !     Stick to positive methods. Biting is  scary, but to a dog, it's their only resort if they can't run away.   Adrenalin is raised by the excitement, resulting in fight or flight. In small dogs,  I was told  that same amount of adrenalin is released whatever size of dog, so in smaller breeds it takes longer to disperse. So it's stressed out small dogs.
I knew nothing about dog psychology till I had a cocker. In the end, it's very rewarding, believe me,

[mark4974]

Thanks for all your help and advice.
We've had him to the vet who has checked his is not poorly. The next step, as you have advised is a behaviourist.
Cheers, Mark

[AlanT]

Here is my method. I trained my dog to bark using the command "speak". It's easy to get them to DO something.
It's harder to get them to NOT DO something because they don't do it all the time.

So first I ask for barking then I ask for no barking using "calm".
Dogs are quite quick to pick things up in pairs like this.

Start - get a reward then Stop and get another reward. It's an easy game for them.

Then you find that "calm" just works. Well most of the time anyway.

I control several of unwanted behaviours like this.

[sodpot2000]

AlanT - that is a fiendishly clever trick. I shall have a play with it. Thank you

[AlanT]

My problem started with "zoomies".  I didn't mind them but I wanted to be able to call a halt if it got too frantic.

But they weren't all that frequent and training opportunities were too sparse.
So I decided we would have "zoomies" but when I asked and they would stop when I had enough.

I still do this every day. One or twice, when we are out on a walk and come to a nice big open area, we will have a session of crazy behaviour. It's fun and gets it out of his system.  You convert a problem to a game that you are controlling.

Once I'd formed the idea of "do" and "dont do" as a pair it helped when I did "left" "right" and "away" "back".
This allows me to send the dog back towards a hidden object if he can't pick-up a scent trail.

I've tried to video me doing this. But it's really hard on your own. The camera is always pointing the wrong way.

I think a lot of training is slow because they get a reward but don't quite know why.

The clicker is supposed to solve this. But the problem is me, not the dog. I forget to click. I click at the wrong time. I can't find the clicker.