Biting very viscously when resource guarding and sometimes with no obvious trigger

[IVFNewbie]

Hi all.

We have a cockapoo/terrier cross, 15 months old. He goes crazy sometimes and has damaged me quite badly on a number of occasions. It's not play biting.
We have had a number of sessions with a behaviourist but not got very far with this due to lockdown.
My question is this- has anyone's else's dog been like this? We love him but it's starting to be very difficult and he is causing more and more injuries.

What did the behaviourist say ?
There is never biting without a trigger or warning - unless you’ve inadvertently training that out of him so he has no way to tell you how he feels.

Given this is mumsnet are there kids involved in the household at all ?

Contact your behaviourist. A qualififed behaviourist would not have been been put off by lockdown. Behaviourists have found working on zoom to be fantastic (expecially cases where aggresion is involved)

If you feel you have made no progress with your current behaviourist then change. I would make a vet appointment for a full check up on your dog and ask them for a behavioural referral.

This does need professional qualifed behaviourist help. The behaviourist will be able to assess the situation and give you a realistic outcome.

In answer to your question yes loads of dogs are like this however your situation is unique and only the professional help can get you on the right track.

My best friends cockapoo is like this. If he has anything he considers to be high value he tries to bury it in the sofa and will bite anyone who tries to enter the room. She isn't getting anywhere with the dog trainer either so she is going to start using a different one in the hope that helps. I feel for you OP, it's not nice to deal with

Had this years ago with a Springer spaniel and unfortunately had to rehome after kids bitten more than once. Tried an excellent trainer but couldn't resolve, she actually helped find a suitable home.

Would get something, may be his, may be something he shouldn't have. If you got near would bare teeth very aggressive and snap if you tried to get it. Had to distract with something else to get him out of it. The problem was once he did it just as DS walked past with no idea and got his hand

Spaniels are definitely prone to resource guarding. Unfortunately this is something only a registered behaviourist in person can help with - what works for one person on the internet may make your situation 10x worse.

Contact the behaviourist again.

I would contact a registered behaviourist. Your vet should be able to refer you, or you can google APDT registered trainers in your area.

Many dogs do behave like this but I wouldn't say it was normal.

You definitely need a good behaviourist. Worth going through your vet. There will be a trigger. It’s just whether you can spot it or need help. For now you need to avoid all triggering situations.

You need to see a properly qualified behaviourist
apbc.org.uk/find-an-apbc-member/
www.asab.org/ccab-register

It's very possible that the resource guarding is the trigger - ddog is so worried you're going to take a valuable thing away from him that he bites to protect the valuable thing.

Mine does this around other dogs (doesn't bite, just snappy), and as a consequence is allowed nothing of value in the park. It turned out yesterday that water is valuable enough to guard, even when you're not particularly thirsty

It would be well worth learning about dog body language though - it's also likely your dog is giving off plenty of warning signals that you're just not picking up on

It's very possible that the resource guarding is the trigger - ddog is so worried you're going to take a valuable thing away from him that he bites to protect the valuable thing.
^ Exactly this.

My dog resource guards. We never ever try to take anything off him. We ‘trade up’ instead. After a year of showing him that we will never take whatever item it is and he’s really started chilling out about it now.

I don’t know if the spaniel in yours makes things different though. I know they can be very neurotic.

When you say no obvious trigger, dies the dog just turn on people out of nowhere? Or do you mean the resource that the dog is guarding changes constantly?

Can you snap the dog put of it, does it go on for more than just one snap?

Does the dog seem disorientated after?

If your dog attacks out of nowhere, with no trigger, it's a lengthy attack (more than a few seconds) and your dog seems disorientated after, there's a chances it's rage syndrome. It uses to be called cocker rage, as it was thought to impact cockers and not other dogs.

Rage syndrome is a neurological disorder. Similar to epilepsy. Except the fit stage is where the dog glazes over and becomes extremely vicious. You can't stop them until it's over.

Good cocker breeders spent alot of time breeding it out of cockers and its known to impact more breeds now. A friend of mine had an English bull terrier with it. There's been some attempts to treat it with epilepsy medication but in most cases the dog needs to be put to sleep. It can't be trained out of a dog. If its trained out, it wasn't RS.

If there's a pattern to it, it's unlikely to be rage syndrome. I am not posting this to upset you. Just to make you aware of it's existence.

Do you know your dogs generational history?

If there's a pattern you need a proper qualified reliable behaviourist. Spaniels, are eknown for resource guarding and ot does need dealing with properly.

Thanks all!
There's no children in the house.
We don't know any history of the parents, etc.
I'll get going with a new behaviourist; this seems to be the consensus. And I've just noticed 'viscously' instead of 'viciously' :)

I agree with a PP about investigating rage syndrome. It might be worth seeing your vet as it could even be a brain tumour.