18 month old cockerpoo becoming aggressive with my husband

[Beautiful3]

Is this due to him being a teenager now? Or should I get him done, will that help with his aggression towards my husband? Most of the time he is fine with my husband, however 2 nights ago he has started snarling at him and bit his slipper. Since then he snarls at him, if he gets too close to me or his food.

Aggression and neutering isn't a fix and, in some cases, could make the situation worse.

First thing is get a check up with your vet and make sure there's no underlying health problems i.e. ear pain (a Spaniel thing) that could be making him act out. Your vet can also refer you to a registered behaviourist to work with you to get to the root of this.

Spaniels are known for resource guarding so this does need to be nipped in the bud. Definitely time for a behaviourist.

Thank you for your advice @bunnygeek, I didn't want to put him through the pain of being done, when he's not showing any interest in female dogs. I think a behaviourist may be the way forward.

Definitely don't get him neutered - it often makes aggression and resource guarding worse.

I would get a vet check first of all, to rule out any kind of pain or illness, then get in touch with an accredited behaviourist - your vet should be able to recommend someone. Just make sure they use positive reinforcement.

As above, neutering can make fear-related behaviours (aggression, resource guarding) worse. The reason is that the testosterone gives them a bit of a confidence boost and the loss of that would be counterproductive.

Get a vet check for any form of pain and illness (this is a pre-requisite for seeing any properly qualified behaviourist) and as part of that vet check get a referral to a local APBC or CCAB qualified behaviourist
www.apbc.org.uk/find-an-apbc-member/
www.asab.org/ccab-register

The APBC / CCAB qualification is important as the industry is unregulated and there are some utter charlatans out there who will make the situation worse.

In the meantime, try to avoid situations where the dog feels it has to resource guard. For instance, leave the dog alone when it's eating, and feed in a quiet place.

Thank you for that link @AvocadosBeforeMortgages that's very useful. Think I'll book him into the vets but do thinknits safeguarding his resources. He has just bitten my slipper, because I was too close to a leaflet that had been posted. He used to bring all the mail to me and I always rewarded him with treats. He has changed so much this week.

@sunflowersandbuttercups I'm going to do that, thank you.

I have to say that this all coming on in the space of a week is quite surprising. Could there have been an event that precipitated this - even one that you thought insignificant but ddog really took to heart? (No judgement here - I inadvertently made my dog scared of an everyday object, and only realised how it happened in retrospect.

It also makes a medical element to it more likely

BUT Cockers and their crosses do display resource guarding more frequently than other breeds, so there can be a genetic element to such behaviours.

Regardless, you need to see a vet then behaviourist pronto.

Whilst waiting to see a vet and qualified behaviourist, I would read about the canine ladder of aggression (if you haven’t already) because it’s likely that he’s giving more subtle signs that he’s unhappy before resorting to snarling and biting.