Cocker spaniel behaviour problems
Discussion
I wonder if anyone can help.
A relative has a cocker spaniel and is experiencing problems.
She has a 5 year old son who plays quite roughly with the dog who gets over excited and has nipped the child to the point of drawing blood.
The dog was taken to puppy training classes but is not very obedient at all. I don't think the training has ever been really enforced.
The cocker is really hyper and races around the place barking and jumping on furniture. She is about 2 years old.
The relative is blaming the dog but I think it is a combination of not having kept up the training and also not telling her her son not to wind the dog up to the point where she bites. It has got to the point where she feels she may have to give the dog up, but in my opinion it is not the dog's fault.
What do you guys and gals think?
A relative has a cocker spaniel and is experiencing problems.
She has a 5 year old son who plays quite roughly with the dog who gets over excited and has nipped the child to the point of drawing blood.
The dog was taken to puppy training classes but is not very obedient at all. I don't think the training has ever been really enforced.
The cocker is really hyper and races around the place barking and jumping on furniture. She is about 2 years old.
The relative is blaming the dog but I think it is a combination of not having kept up the training and also not telling her her son not to wind the dog up to the point where she bites. It has got to the point where she feels she may have to give the dog up, but in my opinion it is not the dog's fault.
What do you guys and gals think?
Thanks David.
I can see that it may be that we could be in a position to take the dog on if she feels she can't cope with it.
I have no experience with the breed (we have a collie cross) but I would have thought that a cocker would be relatively easy to train being a gundog - are they?
I can see that it may be that we could be in a position to take the dog on if she feels she can't cope with it.
I have no experience with the breed (we have a collie cross) but I would have thought that a cocker would be relatively easy to train being a gundog - are they?
That is what I thought would be the case.
Although the owner took the dog to puppy training classes, she didn't then enforce the boundaries.
The dog is lovely but doesn't take a blind bit of notice of any commands. When the dog does not obey the owner just gives up.
They went camping over the summer holidays and the cocker will steal food from anywhere it can find it.
The poor thing gets blamed for being a 'bad dog' but the owner can't see that they are at fault.
Although the owner took the dog to puppy training classes, she didn't then enforce the boundaries.
The dog is lovely but doesn't take a blind bit of notice of any commands. When the dog does not obey the owner just gives up.
They went camping over the summer holidays and the cocker will steal food from anywhere it can find it.
The poor thing gets blamed for being a 'bad dog' but the owner can't see that they are at fault.
It seems to me that this is a classic case of someone who got a dog because is was cute without doing any homework to find out what the breed characteristics are.
She won't train the dog - too much like hard work. She would rather label the dog as the problem than put the work in to train it properly, or tell her son not to wind the dog up.
She won't train the dog - too much like hard work. She would rather label the dog as the problem than put the work in to train it properly, or tell her son not to wind the dog up.
I don't think the dog is actually aggressive. The little boy plays rough and gets right in the dog's face. Dog gets overexcited and nips him.
I am pretty sure that the dog could be trained if she bothered to put a bit of time into it.
When they visit us the dog goes tearing round the house jumping on the furniture and barking - totally overexcited but takes no notice of what the owner is saying because she knows that commands will not be enforced.
Shame really.
I am quite keen to see if we could take her on but my wife is put off because of the current behaviour.
I am pretty sure that the dog could be trained if she bothered to put a bit of time into it.
When they visit us the dog goes tearing round the house jumping on the furniture and barking - totally overexcited but takes no notice of what the owner is saying because she knows that commands will not be enforced.
Shame really.
I am quite keen to see if we could take her on but my wife is put off because of the current behaviour.
You are right Mobile Chicane, it's not the dog's fault - it doesn't know any better.
To reiterate my earlier point, some people get a dog because it looks nice, but don't bother to find out breed characteristics. Then it is assumed that it will somehow be automatically obedient with minimal or no training.
A good illustration of this is when we were looking to get a dog from a rescue home. They had a litter of husky/labrador puppies. Of course they were absolutely gorgeous. When I spoke to a member of staff they told us that the dogs could be hard work if the husky part was a dominant character trait. Very hard to teach recall, and of course they pull furiously when on the lead. We were told that we would not be able to train this behavior out of the dog - it's the way they are hard wired. We decided that this was not for us.
That is why we chose a collie cross, and she is absolutely brilliant.
To reiterate my earlier point, some people get a dog because it looks nice, but don't bother to find out breed characteristics. Then it is assumed that it will somehow be automatically obedient with minimal or no training.
A good illustration of this is when we were looking to get a dog from a rescue home. They had a litter of husky/labrador puppies. Of course they were absolutely gorgeous. When I spoke to a member of staff they told us that the dogs could be hard work if the husky part was a dominant character trait. Very hard to teach recall, and of course they pull furiously when on the lead. We were told that we would not be able to train this behavior out of the dog - it's the way they are hard wired. We decided that this was not for us.
That is why we chose a collie cross, and she is absolutely brilliant.
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