Cocker Spaniel Temperament.

Cocker spaniel temperament is one aspect that you need to take into consideration when training your dog.  In general, cocker spaniels are very loving and gentle animals and love being around with a lot of people especially children.

One cocker spaniel temperament that may hinder its training is its tendency to become possessive.  Since these dogs are generally close to people and children they might develop an attachment to one particular person only and may develop loyalty and protectiveness towards that person. You need to train the dog properly for it to develop a liking equally for all members of your family.  In order to do this, all family members must engage in walking, feeding and playing with the dog.  If you are sitting down with your cocker spaniel and it suddenly growls at another person or another canine walking by, you need to stand up and walk away from your pet.  You should let the dog know that you are not rewarding its behavior by staying with him.  You need to repeat this several times so that your cocker spaniel realizes that what he is doing is unacceptable behavior.

Another aspect of cocker spaniel temperament that you need to deal with is possessiveness with food.  The reason for this is the fact that the dog is anxious of losing its meal.  In order to correct this, introduce an empty bowl to the cocker spaniel and gradually fill it with small amounts of dog food.  At the start, choose something that your dog loves.  You may observe some aggression at the beginning but this will improve over time as the animal gains confidence that you are not going to take away its food. Be sure that all the members of your family can safely give your dog food by making sure that he is trained properly in this regard.

The same cocker spaniel temperament can be found with potential possessiveness to toys.  Your pet may become aggressive if his toy is suddenly taken away or your focus of attention shifts to another object.  In order for them to be trained properly on this, never antagonize your dog but instead use some positive reinforcement because these dogs are very sensitive to harsh words and may not respond accordingly if treated that way.

A rare condition found in cocker spaniel temperament is the rage syndrome where the dog will exhibit aggressive behavior without any warning or provocation. When this happens never try to pacify the animal as it cannot be stopped.  What you need to do is immediately leave the room for a few minutes until the rage symptoms disappear.  After the attack the dog is pacified and will act as if nothing happened. There is no cure for this condition and no one really knows for sure what causes it.  The condition has been known to appear in as young as eight week old pups but is more common to exhibit itself at the time of puberty for the males and the first season of heat in the females.  Many owners mistakenly think that this is just due to bad behavior but is actually a serious clinical condition that may need to be dealt with because the attacks do not stop and tends to become more regular as the dog grows older.