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

[debbiedaywalker]

Definitely from the posts on here the high end guarding seems to be more common in males which is a big surprise to me. I find this whole issue puzzling, interesting, and also really sad in terms of its effects on dogs and their families. Wouldn't it be great if there was a simple answer but it seems it's a combination of things. Need  someone to do a PhD in it i reckon!

It is very sad when guarding becomes so extreme that the dog and his family are living in complete misery. It does seem to be more common now. Is it because we now see it as a behavioural problem that needs to stopped? It is after all a natural behaviour  I'm playing devil's advocate here, I know that you need to be able to get anything off him that may be dangerous/valuable, but I have found that walking away makes the 'prize' a lot less 'valuable.' Even 'swapsie' wouldn't work with Dexter, if he got an inkling that you wanted his possession. Luckily he is only a mild guarder and and it hasn't escalated to high end guarding. He does have his own 'den' behind the couch, which is his private space. Which is important for him. I know in a high end guarder it is a lot more complicated to peel back the layers, as several COL'ers will testify. 
What I'm trying to say is, you have to do what works for you and your dog, we are constantly putting more and more stress and pressure on ourselves in this modern way of living and therefore onto our dogs lives too.

[mlynnf50]

I find it very sad, selby only guards me and we have leant how to deal with him so don't find it a problem now, taking things he shouldn't have is a game to him so much so that he goes around now looking for things he can snaffle bringing it to me for a treat

I have found a lot of his ways difficult o cope with, and like most on here have had dogs all my life and treated him exactly the same, but, with a very different outcome and we have questioned ourselves over a d over again on where we went wrong, and have only after 3 years stoped blaming ourselves and accepted that this is just selby and even in humans e eryone is different which beggars the question is it nature or nurture? 

[Karma]

Certainly "swapsie" only made Honey more possessive of balls - it's a great tactic for anything else she picks up, but as debbiedaywalker said, attempting to swap tennis balls, or even praise when she eventually gives them, reinforces the idea that it is something of value to Honey, and intensifies her possessiveness - we only really made decent progress when we stopped asking for the ball, and started pestering her to get it herself...

[black taz]

I must admit it is something i havent come across much with Taz, other than if he has "stolen" something he shouldnt have, and he soon gets bored of that if we completely ignore him. 

[Jenz]

Well... as per my previous posts on COL my Jenson is a guarder, mostly of high end food and his bed.  But sadly we had a nasty incident when he guarded the couch the other night, ending up in my other half very nearly being bitten and me in tears.  We have been aware of his tendencies for some time, but in the past week they seem to have become far worse, he is now nearly a month post op after his neutering and Im wondering if the hormone levels dropping in his system has anything to do with it.  He has also snapped at my son a few times, I am stressed and worried and am going to be getting in touch with a behaviourist next week to help us.  I haven even had him at the vet to do a thorough check up to rule out an obvious physical reason for the change in behaviour, but they found nothing. 

Reading through this thread worries me, it seems to be a tough area with cockers, especially so when small children are involved.  Has anyone had really good improvements in this over time? 

Apologies for slight thread hijack 

[Lovely]

Jenz try not to get too anxious as reading this thread all at once could give an unbalanced view as it's only concentrating on negative behaviour. Hopefully the behaviourist will be a big help. I don't know about people's levels of success with cockers as i'm new to this breed but i know it's behaviour that can be changed in dogs in general. It does sound like it's a tricky one in cockers though. One thing i have noticed with our pup Lovely is that she has a far higher tendency to hide things than other dogs i've had. My terrier Spud then waits til she's asleep and removes them! But i wondered if the couch either has or has had a toy hidden under the cushions? Dunno, seems like these little dogs are a bit of an enigma! Good luck and i hope the shock of jenson's outburst has worn off a bit x

[debbiedaywalker]

Well... as per my previous posts on COL my Jenson is a guarder, mostly of high end food and his bed.  But sadly we had a nasty incident when he guarded the couch the other night, ending up in my other half very nearly being bitten and me in tears.  We have been aware of his tendencies for some time, but in the past week they seem to have become far worse, he is now nearly a month post op after his neutering and Im wondering if the hormone levels dropping in his system has anything to do with it.  He has also snapped at my son a few times, I am stressed and worried and am going to be getting in touch with a behaviourist next week to help us.  I haven even had him at the vet to do a thorough check up to rule out an obvious physical reason for the change in behaviour, but they found nothing. 

Reading through this thread worries me, it seems to be a tough area with cockers, especially so when small children are involved.  Has anyone had really good improvements in this over time? 

Apologies for slight thread hijack 

Yes, we have had huge improvements with our four year old, Dexter. It does get better  once we learned (he taught us) what his triggers are. We have both been bitten by him, but it was a defensive bite rather than aggression. We now try and avoid those situations.
We have found what works for us, I'm not saying this would work for everyone, if, for instance he is on the couch we leave him alone, we can now sit next to him, as he knows that he isn't going to be ousted. Previously if we tried telling him 'off' that would set him off into a very defensive mood. Any kind of confrontation or firm tone will send him into defensive mode.
But he is the most gorgeous, intelligent boy and absolutely loves learning and training  Jenson sounds very similar to Dexter and I'm sure that your trainer will be able to work out a programme that will work for you all and before you know it you will be enjoying your boy again. 

[Jenz]

Thanks for the replies Debbie and Lovely, sorry for the thread hijack.