Possessive behaviour

Roxie

Roxie

New Member
My 7 month old working cocker spaniel is showing signs of obsessive aggression with anything she nicks socks, gloves etc she has even went for me on a few occasions , once she had the item she will not leave, we have to persuade her with a treat , can any one advise ?
 

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I'm sorry you are having trouble, have you talked to her breeder? In your shoes I would enroll in a puppy class or get an animal behaviorist to evaluate her.
 
Roxie said:
My 7 month old working cocker spaniel is showing signs of obsessive aggression with anything she nicks socks, gloves etc she has even went for me on a few occasions , once she had the item she will not leave, we have to persuade her with a treat , can any one advise ?
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Formal training may help: My 7 month old ECS is extremely possessive of her person, her toys, her snacks, her food, her bully stick, etc. I guess it can be a problem with spaniels. Fiona has zero problem with her people taking food, socks, the kitchen scrubby, wash cloth or anything else that catches her fancy. She will give them up without aggressiveness-- albeit reluctantly and she is a little thief of the first water. However, let another dog nose around a pile of my dirty laundry or another puppy in obedience class comes around for a pet, she will growl, (I ignore it or tell her No!). She did this for the first time when she was only 3 months old. If my older beagle tries to sit next to me she will try to growl and I respond with a matter of fact "No!" and Fiona has to get off of the couch. People think that she is this soft sweet spaniel but she really has kind of a pushy, rather dominant personality with other dogs. I believe that the problem would have been much worse if I didn't spend time training her. She is very active, engaged and energetic(when asked to pick one word to describe my puppy when she was 9 weeks old, the breeder used the word "busy,") --so I funnel all of that into obedience training. Teaching her to release on command is one of my current goals. It will allow me to replace food with a toy for obedience training. It is a challenge, to say the least. The game of tug has specific rules, if they don't release the tug then you simply hold it still and the game doesn't continue until they release it and sit. Then you release the dog into another round of tugger. The idea is that the dog will figure out that they have to release the toy in order to play the game again. You probably need someone who knows just how to do this to show you and explain it better than I can. I bet it could help you.
 
That's strange...But i agree with Polly, i think that you must talk to her breeder first and then, if nothing changes, get an animal behaviorist to evaluate her
 
Mel Blacke said:
Formal training may help: My 7 month old ECS is extremely possessive of her person, her toys, her snacks, her food, her bully stick, etc. I guess it can be a problem with spaniels. Fiona has zero problem with her people taking food, socks, the kitchen scrubby, wash cloth or anything else that catches her fancy. She will give them up without aggressiveness-- albeit reluctantly and she is a little thief of the first water. However, let another dog nose around a pile of my dirty laundry or another puppy in obedience class comes around for a pet, she will growl, (I ignore it or tell her No!). She did this for the first time when she was only 3 months old. If my older beagle tries to sit next to me she will try to growl and I respond with a matter of fact "No!" and Fiona has to get off of the couch. People think that she is this soft sweet spaniel but she really has kind of a pushy, rather dominant personality with other dogs. I believe that the problem would have been much worse if I didn't spend time training her. She is very active, engaged and energetic(when asked to pick one word to describe my puppy when she was 9 weeks old, the breeder used the word "busy,") --so I funnel all of that into obedience training. Teaching her to release on command is one of my current goals. It will allow me to replace food with a toy for obedience training. It is a challenge, to say the least. The game of tug has specific rules, if they don't release the tug then you simply hold it still and the game doesn't continue until they release it and sit. Then you release the dog into another round of tugger. The idea is that the dog will figure out that they have to release the toy in order to play the game again. You probably need someone who knows just how to do this to show you and explain it better than I can. I bet it could help you.
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No.. it's not really a spaniel thing at all, although it could very well be the breeding.
 
I am not sure that she would ever act on the growl but it bears keeping an eye on, for sure. She does not display this behavior with people at all--only dogs. The first time we noticed it was when she was only 3 months old. My beagle ignores her when she does it and it would be a real miscalculation if she ever tried to enforce that growl with the terrier (she would be put in her place in about 2 seconds flat, I am sure). I am going to be very careful when we go to our classes to keep her away from situations where she could display this behavior to other dogs (because it could cause a real problem). If she meets strange dogs on neutral turf, she is normally friendly and playful. When I took her out to my sister's farm during the winter, there are normally 3-5 really large dogs there and she had a grand time playing with the bulldog. I watched carefully and noticed that she did not try to "possess" any of the toys that belonged to the other dogs. (We walk all the dogs, en masse, on the back 40 acres to give them a break from being housebound so much because of the cold. It is something that they really look forward to.) I socialized her at every opportunity. I probably won't be able to change this personality trait but I hope to minimize it.
 
Talk to your trainer, I do believe that at this young age you can change this behavior. It takes a watchful eye and knowing what triggers her to work it out.

Best of luck.
 
She was the one who suggested the tugger game training and also to not give it any accidental reinforcement---by watching the triggers. So far, she only growls at dogs and not at people and has yet to act on that growl. It is really a quiet kind of growl, if you weren't paying attention, you would miss it entirely. I did do some reading and it is not at all uncommon in English Cockers and they seem to think that it is genetics as it tends to run in certain lines of these spaniels. Swapping out stuff tends to make her less reluctant to release her toys. She did this behavior as young as 11 weeks of age. She carries things around in her mouth in the house---(favorite toys, a ball) and will play with them all by herself if she cannot coax one of us into playing with her, It certainly bears keeping an eye on, that's for sure. She loves balls and fetch more than she likes the "tugger" game however and she always brings it back to me.
 
I agree to trade her for one of her toys instead of a treat. Make it a positive action with high praise and play time. Your puppy may think you are rewarding her for her aggressive behavior.
 
An update on the possessive behavior: Fiona has not growled at the other dogs over toys or treats for awhile now. The problems seems to be, dare I say it, going away. We try to not let her rehearse the unwanted behavior and she gets kicked off of the couch or bed if she acts possessive over me. I have my fingers crossed.
 
More possessive behavior issues: So we were watching Jackson, a little Shi Tzu mix for Pat's daughter for a couple of days. He likes to come to grandma's house because there is always stuff to do and it is set up to be a dog's paradise mostly. He fits right in with the rest of the crew...until now. He walked by Fiona who was "guarding" my work bag that was sitting on a kitchen chair next to a wall in the corner. Pat was in the kitchen with her back to them. She turned around and saw them and went to shoo them out of the kitchen. Jackson turned around to leave and Fi went underneath the kitchen table, moving with purpose and followed him into the living room and let him have it. The previous week at the kennel club, Fiona was sitting next to me on a bench when a lovely curly coated retriever came over to say hello. The training bag was there with her snacks and toys in it (it was sitting between us)and she jumped at the curly coated retriever's face, because she was at eye level with the dog. I have contacted two professionals to have this problem evaluated and see what can be done about it. My thoughts are that it would be wise to get a couple of takes on this situation. I am also going to have a deep discussion with three of the women at the training club and get their input as well. She does not resource guard with people but she is terrible with other dogs, especially with dogs she doesn't know. Moreover, it is not always obvious what she sees as a resource---it could be my keys, my shoes, my clothing, her leash, her training collar or leash, even my cell phone. Sometimes she is less reactive and sometimes she acts like an alien. We are going to listen to all of the advice and observations and then come up with a plan.
 
Mel Blacke said:
More possessive behavior issues: So we were watching Jackson, a little Shi Tzu mix for Pat's daughter for a couple of days. He likes to come to grandma's house because there is always stuff to do and it is set up to be a dog's paradise mostly. He fits right in with the rest of the crew...until now. He walked by Fiona who was "guarding" my work bag that was sitting on a kitchen chair next to a wall in the corner. Pat was in the kitchen with her back to them. She turned around and saw them and went to shoo them out of the kitchen. Jackson turned around to leave and Fi went underneath the kitchen table, moving with purpose and followed him into the living room and let him have it. The previous week at the kennel club, Fiona was sitting next to me on a bench when a lovely curly coated retriever came over to say hello. The training bag was there with her snacks and toys in it (it was sitting between us)and she jumped at the curly coated retriever's face, because she was at eye level with the dog. I have contacted two professionals to have this problem evaluated and see what can be done about it. My thoughts are that it would be wise to get a couple of takes on this situation. I am also going to have a deep discussion with three of the women at the training club and get their input as well. She does not resource guard with people but she is terrible with other dogs, especially with dogs she doesn't know. Moreover, it is not always obvious what she sees as a resource---it could be my keys, my shoes, my clothing, her leash, her training collar or leash, even my cell phone. Sometimes she is less reactive and sometimes she acts like an alien. We are going to listen to all of the advice and observations and then come up with a plan.
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Don't get discouraged. She hasn't bitten anyone and seems to be doing well in training. I'm glad you consulted professionals. You might try starting your own post next time so it doesn't get buried in another.
 
Mel Blacke said:
An update on the possessive behavior: Fiona has not growled at the other dogs over toys or treats for awhile now. The problems seems to be, dare I say it, going away. We try to not let her rehearse the unwanted behavior and she gets kicked off of the couch or bed if she acts possessive over me. I have my fingers crossed.
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Mel I'm so glad she is calming down.
 
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