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My family has a black cocker spaniel. My mother picked him out on a whim, and he was perfect at first.
He was kicked by his previous owners as a puppy, so he's got a bad leg. We also knew they claimed he'd tried to bite their child, which is why they abandoned him. She brushed it off as abuse by a bad family.
The problem is, a year later, he's definitely child aggressive. He's growled and snapped at a child crawling on the floor, and has bit at the face of a child in his home and now in the park. The former he leapt at her with no touch or warning, the latter was petting him. He's also snapped at my mother's face once when she tried to get him to spit out what he was eating, and snarled at the cleaning ladies when defending a bone he left by the door.
This aggression was nonexistent in the first year, as well as his new habit of marking indoors. It's rare, but he will spray - he goes off and hides away to do it, never in front of us.
How do I handle this? I'm not sure what changed and has made him act like this. He will sit, stay, and come; Cocker Spaniel boards seem to give conflicting information about being the Alpha versus being kind to nervous cockers. Even more baffling, he will roll onto his belly and go up to strangers to ask for pets. The aggression comes with no warning (I work with dogs, I know the signs).
What do? How do I train him?
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>>2478864
Behavioral changes can mean a myriad of things. Most often it's changes in environment that they react most to. Has there been any new things like a move, new pets, or people introduced recently? Behavioral training is also available to correct these problems. I would look into trainers in your area and see what they have to offer and which ones have positive reviews.
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Hire a behavioral trainer, some aren't super expensive.
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>>2478870
No moves or pets. I suppose the only change would be the family's attempts to establish an Alpha - the marking came before the aggression at children. But there was nothing stressful for him before that as far as I can recall.
Gosh, maybe it's me? I'm his favorite, but I moved back in to go to college nearby. He's never, ever been aggressive towards me though. He's tried to bite at my mother and my sister's hands when they try to grab his collar and pull him away when he's aggressive, but never myself. But I'm also the one who regularly feeds him, and the only one who walks him and issues commands.
>>2478871
Would Petsmart work? Or do you mean more specialized
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>>2478874
>I suppose the only change would be the family's attempts to establish an Alpha
Alpha theory is bullshit. you say you work with dogs, but you don't know this?
>aggression comes with no warning
if it's not your family's misguided "attempts to establish an alpha", it could be rage syndrome, especially if you say you know the warning signs of aggression and aren't spotting any at all.
also, I wouldn't rule out the idea that children have been shitty to him before in his old home. have children been around regularly in your home up until now? if not, it could be that he sees children as a source of fear/danger encroaching on his new happy life. my dog is very friendly, but a visit with my youngest brother (who didn't do anything bad, just followed him around and bothered him to do tricks all the time without treats) made my dog really standoffish around kids.
one more thing to remember is that children are small and, to a poorly-socialized dog, odd-looking. a dog who spends his life around older kids and adults won't know what to make of a small kid; best case scenario, they are tolerant of them if they're confident and good at handling new experiences--but if they've been *really* poorly-socialized, they correlate "new" with "danger".
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>>2478887
I work with dogs as a bather/groomer - I know how to spot a dog's warning signs (since we get bit to fuck if we don't learn quick), but not a ton about training. Still, I was aware the Alpha stuff was discredited, but the family don't buy it. Granted, I do tend to have a dog do a command (Sit/Stay) before a meal or making sure he's walking beside me and not in front to stop the pulling.
I'm not sure if it's rage syndrome though because it seems to have direct causal reasons - kids, getting his jaws pried open, ect. He also is instantly calmer seconds after the attack, not minutes.
Children have been around his home as young as 10 years, but he freaked the fuck out when he saw a 2 year old crawling on the floor of his house.
He's also tolerated kids coming up and petting him outside the home - he JUST snapped at the girl outside today, she was at eye level and hugging him/petting him from the side. But kids have done that before, and he hasn't freaked. I initially thought it was just child aggression in the home, but now I'm uncertain.
He also goes for the face when he bites. Not warning bites at all.
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