I have a 20 week old male cocker who has been a bit of growly pup since we got him at nine weeks. He has been possessive about both his food and his toys. We had a behaviourist who was recommeded by our vet out to see us a few weeks ago. She seemed to think that we could get this sorted out in a couple of months at the most. This was three weeks ago.

He used to growl if you approached him while he was eating - this has now stopped and when we approach he sits back from his bowl (as he is expecting some lovely treat to be dropped in) and is happy for us to come near. Regarding his possessiveness of his toys I'm not sure that there has been any improvement. We were told to only allow him one low-value toy eg a nylabone and to get his other toys out only when we were training. The exercise that we do to overcome the possessiveness is lure him away from the toy with a treat, take the toy away and then give it back immediately. The only improvement I have seen is that he is more likely to come away from the toy than he was before.

Both the behaviourist and our puppy class teacher have said that he is not a particularly dominant pup, but more of an anxious one. There are other little things about him that worry me: he doesn't like to be picked up or sit on my knee on the sofa - in fact when I went to pick him up the other day he growled at me. He is not a particularly affectionate puppy - when I have been out he is delighted to see me upon my return and he is my shadow following me around the house. I suppose that my main concern is that he doesn't seem to be a particularly happy puppy - not like the other cocker pups I have known.

Sorry to have rambled on for so long - my question is whether any of you have experienced anything similar and how your dog turned out later on. It is such a worry as I have an eight year old daughter who loves him to bits and I am just worried that we may not be able to keep him if we can't overcome these problems.

Any replies would be greatly apprecieated.

Helen

Welcome to the forum Helen :-) Leigh

Helen

I don't feel I know enough to be able to help you out but all I can say is don't worry too much, there are loads of people on this board with valuable experience and who are only too willing to help. Watch out for their replies. :-)

Hi Helen,

I have an English Springer, and we have different problems to you, however I can imagine how you are feeling! ;)
I can well remember thinking that I was never going to get Gem walking to heel, but you should see her now! :)
If you are anything like me, 3 weeks seems like a lifetime!

We restrict and rotate the toys she has access to. She is never sure what she will have or where it's hidden!!

Gem learnt a new meaning to a long whistle command in about 10 minutes, but it has taken months to get her walking nicely to heel. And that happened over night!!

I have no doubt that the others here, who are far more expert and experienced than I, will soon respond with a choice of methods. However I bet they will all say it will come in time!

We did a similar exercise to you for taking things off Gem. Sometimes she got a treat, always got a little fuss and sometimes got the toy/food/treat back. But not always.
I now regularly take things out of her mouth, both food and 'things' she finds!!
She is getting very good at returning toys and dummies to me.

Keep the faith, enjoy and I'm sure you will get there.

Alan 'n' Gem

HI Helen

Just to say that IMHO the advice given appears to be very sound, and it may just be a case of plugging away.

If at any time you have done things such as taking away the food bowl to show the dog you can, that sort of thing, or perhpas chasing the pup for things he has nicked, (I did this once without thinking and my pup soon cottoned on - she doens't growl though, just wants you to chase her) it can take a long time for the dog to beleive that the new way is how it really is, if you see what i mean.

You should be able to speak to the behaviourist and get more advice or back-up if you are worried.

Opinions vary greatly on the "dominance " question, and they are all very interesting, but basically a dominant animal in the biologicla sense is that way inclined because of reproducing, and dogs do know that we don't want to mate with them. (Well most of them do <BG>.)

That is why some people are now stoppoing the rank or dominance reduction programmes ..... although they do sometimes work because they can help to give structure to the dog/human relationship.

So I would suggest that you don't worry too much about whether your pup is dominant or not, but concentrate more on the "relationship" for want of a better word.
Have you told the behaviourist he growled when you wanted to pick him up?

As you may be aware, resource guarding (which seems to be what he is up to) is rarely seen outisde the gundog group, so in a way he is "hard wired" for it, but there is absolutey no reason why it can't be overcome. It doesn't mean you have a nasty dog, so take heart!!

By the sound of it there have been defininite improvements too.

Just my 2 pence worth!

LIndsay

As far as the “Doesn't like to be picked up or sit on my knee on the sofa. . . ). Is there a chance you may have hurt him at sometime when picking him up? Maybe he struggled and slipped? This could just be the reason he doesn’t like being picked up. By the same token, he might just not like that kind of thing! I well remember one of my Labradors hated being picked up! The fact that he welcomes you home when you’ve been out and the fact that he’s your shadow around the house means he has bonded with you so in that respect you don’t appear to have a problem. I almost never get a kiss from “The Flower”; she seems to feel that it’s not hygienic!

Regards, John

John wrote: I almost never get a kiss from “The Flower”; she seems to feel that it’s not hygienic!

John, if it's doggy kisses you're missing, I'm sure Monty would share some with you. Kissing is his favourite pastime. And his flatcoat tongue could probably reach you from here! :p

Regards, Monty's Mum

Hi Helen

Like the others, I think you have been given sound advice & are doing all the right things to overcome your pup's behavioural problems - it is very early days yet & I'm sure you will get there in the end :-) I'm wondering whether your pup may not be comfortable being picked up & cuddled because of how he was reared by the breeder - if he was reared in a kennel environment without too much human contact, then this could explain some of his behaviour now. Of course I could be barking up the wrong tree completely, but having Cockers myself I know how much they usually crave affection & it is most unusual to come across a puppy that doesn't want to take over your lap at every opportunity :-)

Best Wishes

Jane

Thank you so much for all of your advise. I suppose that we are making progress - even though it may not seem like it at some times :) I have faith in our behaviourist - she insists that I call her twice weekly for the first four weeks and when I forgot the other day, she rang me instead to see how we were getting along.

What Jane said especially seems to make sense, as I got him from an old school friend who sometimes breeds from her cockers. She was taken ill into hospital for 6 weeks just after the pups were born, so maybe they weren't given as much contact when they were little as they should have been. At the moment I'm not pushing the picking him up, I just sit on the floor and he comes and cuddles me like that. He is gradually 'kissing' my face a bit more, which I'm told is a good sign.

We will continue to persevere with him and I will update you on our progress.

Thank you once again for all of your words of wisdom - it is genuinely appreciated.

If you want him to sit on your lap etc and dont mind him being on the furntiure how about making some sort of steps on to the settee so he can hop up and give you a cuddle on the sofa. He'll soon learn to progress to the lap!

hi you have had really good advise so far & their is nont much more i can add but one thought occured to me & that is i wondered if your puppies mum was missing her mistress & because she was fretting herself she might have neglected her litter a bit and not taught them their early manners so you could try and regress with him a bit so if he growls when you take things from him or any other unacceptable behaviour stand above him at your full height and growl you do this by saying BAAAHA with a deep gutteral growl its very hard on the throat but it works, only use this word when he's bad all other commands should be given in a normal tone & praise in a high happy tone & for the time being only pet him on the top of the head as this shows your dominance over him, also never allow him to go through doors before you he needs a pack leader & that has to be you & the rest of the family then he will be a happy well adjusted dog you have to be tough on him for a bit just like his mum would, all the best Pawla.

I think Pawlas advice is very sound. Once had a collie bitch of 7 months which I was asked to put to sleep because of her agression. But she was so gorgeous I couldn't bring myself to do it so I took her home. I did exactly what Pawla has said I played the part of mum. People did look at me strangely in the Vets when she went to go for another dog and I growled at her, but the reaction was instant .. she immediately submitted and was an adoring and well behaved girl. If you can cope with the strange looks it might pay off in the end. Often in cases like this owners need to learn to be hard before they can be kind... and while that seems difficult the rewards are there in the end.

Good luck
Caitlin

HI Caitln

I know this can work in some cases, but in others it can turn a bit nasty as the dog will simply growl back and get defensive, and then it can turn into a power struggle :(.