One of the ladies from training class very  recently got a cocker( black)  who is 8 months old.within the last 2 weeks he has the most peculiar mood swings,he has apparently the most amazing affectionate nature in between what she calls the attacks.she says he has what she calls the look and she knows that he is going to snap.During this time he will sho his teeth,snap and lunge at her or anyone else who is near then out of nowhere he will go back to being affectionate and cuddly and seems unaware of what he has done.she says its very scary and cant have him at class because of this nor can he be around family and friends due to his unpredicatable behaviour.She has an appointment at the vets today to have him assessed but ifanyone here has any personal experience of what looks like cocker rage then i can pass on the info.His previous home said he would very occasionally grumble at small kids but never anything further than this but what this lady is experiencing is far far worse and very upsetting,any info appreciated thanks

I'll be very interested in the replies to this one.  Especially as I understood that there is no "cocker rage."

it may be worth looking at his food as some dogs can have a reaction (I had a GSD pup who did) if she's still feeding puppy food it would be worth switching to adult food.  I also have heard that Cocker 'rage' was sorted if it existed some time ago.  Grumbling at small kids doesn't sound like anything other than the dog has had a bad experience with a young child / children.  'Rage' wouldn't distinguish between age!

http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/board/topic/135194.html

This thread started a little while back, may be a help

Does cocker rage not exist?The previous owner said that he only grumbled but this is certainly not the case,this dog cannot be trusted around anyone,his episodes come out of nohere and are quite severe so i cannot see this being food related.Cocker rage or not any advice on this aggressive behaviour appreciated as his owner is frantic with worry thanks

Another link in which I relate what happened with my Mum's black cocker spaniel.

http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/board/topic_show.pl?pid=1282292;hl=cocker%20rage#pid1282292

At 8 months a puppy is an adolescent and many can play in an unacceptably vigorous manner if not dissuaded when younger.

This play will often take the form of fierce looking ambushes etc, and they cna be ratehr pushy about it if not made to realise it isn't appreciated.

Also it is easy to get them over tired as they look to be adult but their energy levels can deplete suddenly.

This is what the Cocker Spaniel Club says about Cocker rage:
http://www.thecockerspanielclub.co.uk/rage_syndrome.htm

I do know someone who had a rescue Cocker from the RSPCA. They were warned that he had bitten but took him anyway because he seemed an affectionate boy (these were very novice owners).
He seemed fine until he'd settled in, then started snapping unpredicably. His behaviour got worse until one Christmas day when he attacked her so badly that they felt they had no option but to have him put to sleep.
They later bought a puppy from a very reputable breeder and, thankfully, had no problems.

Does cocker rage not exist?The previous owner said that he only grumbled but this is certainly not the case,this dog cannot be trusted around anyone,his episodes come out of nohere and are quite severe so i cannot see this being food related.Cocker rage or not any advice on this aggressive behaviour appreciated as his owner is frantic with worry thanks

this sounds exactly like my GSD puppy which was most definitely food related!  She appeared to totally lose self control and was very aggressive (but only 12 weeks old so couldn't do much damage).  She changed instantly with a change of food.

I went to see this little lad for myself this afternoon,just got back.At first i wondered what on earth she was speaking about,he was affectionate towards me rolling over for a tummy rub then 15 mins in to the visit he changed completly,had a sort of weird blank expression and he lunged at me then at his owner baring his teeth and snarling,brainless this certainly wasnt any form of play,this was aggression,nothing else and  totally unproked,im glad i went to see it for myself.ive never seen anything like it.I asked what he as fed on and its royal canin puppy.I would not trust this dog around anyone adult or child but do not know ho to help his owners either.The vet is now saying its not bad  behaviour because he doesnt seem to know hats he has done after he has done it and they think it may be something in his brain but whatever it is its certainly not normal.

My friend's young Golden Cocker attacked me back in the 80's.   They'd said he seemed aggressive at times and weren't sure if it was their fault so I spent an afternoon with them.   He was sitting by my side, leaning into my leg with his eyes half closed enjoying a cuddle when suddenly he started screaming and lunging up at my face and biting really fast.   Weird look in his eyes and very high pitched scream.   The only way I could stop him was to put my fist in his mouth as he was in an absolute fury trying to get to my face and biting my hands and arms.   We managed to get a lead around him as a muzzle and put him in another room with the door closed until he stopped screaming and biting.  Been around dogs all my life and seen some aggressive ones too but this was totally different.   Afterwards he was as if nothing had happened .    After a full examination, Vet recommended PTS as did I but they kept him until he was 16    They were VERY careful not to allow him near visitors and always under control when out, but 14 years of walking on egg shells!   The were very lucky IMO, he never bit anyone else, apart from the owners, and never as badly as that.

They have another Cocker now and he's so different, we found a really good breeder who does all tests etc. and he's a total sweetheart.

After seeing this Golden in action I've always wondered if it was a form of epilepsy.

That sounds just like him,i too wondered if it has something to do with epilepsy,its so sad because he is so young!

it does sound very like my pup - she was fed on a high quality puppy food.  I changed it to tinned tripe and a veg/cereal mixer and no other problems, so worth a try - the only other time it happened was after she scoffed cat biscuits.... changing to an adult food of low protein level may help

Can they go like that with the toxins produced when the kidneys are not functioning properly/failing as Familial Nethropathy is an isisue in the breed that they DNA test for?

Never heard of agression with kidney failure, but it is known to happen in Liver Failure.   Brain function can be very altered with it.

Found this which is very comprehensive

http://www.ecsca.org/famneph.html

We had a dog (TibetanT) with 'bladder sand' and he used to get blocked up and unable to pass urine.  He had the 'Bitch Op' in the end to try and extend his life (vet was seeing pound signs, he'd only heard of the op but never performed it) it didn't really work and poor dog dripped urine constantly and still got blocked as the ureters were also blocking, keeping him clean and dry was a nightmare in the days before disposable nappies.   I never want to ever see another dog in a uremic fit (vets description)  :(  

The dog inevitably had kidney failure after a year or two.   

During the time this poor dog had the trouble his good nature never once faltered.  He was a delight and a real special little chap, which was the reason my parents were talked into the op.

Kenzi,

'Cocker rage' is such a loaded term and there is still debate as to what it is. Many are of the view that it is some kind of brain malfunction. I'd ask the people involved to see if they can try to video an episode -not a very nice thing to do I know, but useful to have as often the dog does not have a reaction when you are consulting with an expert. Ask them to keep a diary too, the context of the episode, exactly what happens before and after, are there elements in common like people, food etc..? All of this is valuable information that can be shown to your vet. If he passes the dog medically then I do think it is worth having one consultation with a reputable behaviourist where the 'evidence' can be shown to them too.

If the vet thinks it is related to seizure activity he might try the dog on medication to see if it helps.

I would urge the people to get help because if they start to be frightened of the dog this could interfere with his learning and socialization, if as Brainless suggests, he is going through a pushy developmental phase.

please dont shoot me down for saying this as i dont know how true it is ,it was told to me by a breeder....she said she would never breed 2 full colors together because it can cause cocker rage.

It is very unusual for solids not to be bred to solids.

yes thats what i thought to stooge.

Makes you wonder what sort of breeder it was as I don't know of any show breeders routinely breeding solids to partis.

I have a golden cocker spaniel which some might consider having cocker rage. I also have an American cocker which some might have considered to have cocker rage.

My American cocker used to attack my other dogs out of the blue or became excessively aggressive in resource guarding or "playing gone over the top" type of situations. In his case, he was diagnosed with autoimmune thyroiditis (hypothyroidsm) and he hasn't had any unexplainable excessive aggressive episodes since being on medication (and that's 3.5 years now).

My English cocker is only 13 months old, but she lost her first home due to her aggression at 4 months old. She can suddenly flip... in most cases, it is resource related (food, toys and sometimes space), in some cases she can flip for no obvious reason. She can also be absolutely fine in one particular situation, and then be in the exact same situation again a few minutes later and react!
I find that she gets much worse when she is tired or stressed, in fact, it's pretty much the only times she reacts now sometimes (she is overall 200 times better than when I got her with training and behaviour work)!
She will be tested for thyroid in a couple of months just to make sure that's not what the cause is. 

I would test this particular black cocker too once over a year old as hypothyroidism can cause quite severe aggression issues. I would also check him over for anything else to make sure there isn't a conformation issue anywhere that causes him pain etc.

I would also in addition look at the diet as I have known some dogs that were more aggressive on some diets than on others.