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Canine Behavior/Springer spaniel who bit my son

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Follow-Ups to Answer from Expert Lee Charles Kelley

Karen Seneker wrote at 2008-01-18 15:37:12
I would like to add to this answer.  I raised springer spaniels for many years in the 1980's. I got my dogs from breeders and like this one they were "flawed" and so could not be shown.  I don't know if this is still true but probably so.



In the show spaniels (I am assuming this dog was a bench springer) there is a syndrome that shows up frequently.  It is probably because of the breeders using the same champion dogs to breed puppies for show.  They don't talk about it much.



I bought a bench springer from a kennel that had many champions in their line.  I thought that was the only way to get a good dog.  NOT SO!.. At three years of age this beautiful formerly loving animal attached me when I was sitting on the couch and leaned over to pet her.  I had stitches in my face and hand.  At the time I picked her up and put her in another room.  She continued to snarl and growl.



I took her to the vet, who could find nothing and advised that I could have a brain scan done.



I then called the breeder.  She confirmed that the family of dogs that she came from developed "rage syndrome" at somewhere between 3 and 6 years of age and advised me to put her down.



I had two other dogs from the same breeder and they developed the same rage syndrome.  Sounds like the same thing to me.  They become very vicious randomly.  



I would NEVER take a chance with this type of dog.

Canine Behavior

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Lee Charles Kelley

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I've been training dogs in New York City for nearly 20 years. My training approach and philosophy are based on the way police dogs, search-and-rescue dogs, and detection dogs are trained--through the prey drive, inherited from the wolf. It's true that there's been a shift away from using the "wolf model" in dog training recently, and to some extent, there's a good reason. That's because trainers have been using the wrong model, the one that says you have to be the "alpha" or the pack leader in order to control your dog's behavior. This simply isn't true. In wild wolves there is no dominance hierarchy, no "alpha" wolf, and no pack leader (not in the traditional sense). The pack instinct only exists to enable wolves to hunt large prey by working in harmony. (Wolves who live near garbage dumps, for example, and who don't hunt together, don't form packs.) So if wolves don't have an instinct to "follow the pack leader" or "obey the alpha wolf," how could dogs have inherited it from them?

Years ago, before I became a dog trainer, I noticed that the happiest, most obedient, and best-behaved dogs I met weren't the ones who'd been to a dog trainer or behaviorist; they were the dogs whose owners always had Frisbees and tennis balls on hand. And while it might seem that my approach would only be relevant to high-drive dogs who love fetch and tug-of-war, it isn't. Even something as seemingly unrelated as a housebreaking issue or greeting behavior are often the direct result of a dog's predatory energy not having an acceptable outlet.

All behavior is an expression of energy. So when a dog's energy isn't utilized in a way that feels satisfying to his or her instincts and emotions, that's when behavioral problems develop. Giving the dog an acceptable outlet for its energy will almost always bring the dog's behavior back into alignment with its instincts

Feel free to ask me questions about any training/behavioral issue.

LCK

Experience

20 years as a dog trainer. I'm also a bestselling author, writing a series of dog-related mystery novels for Avon.

Organizations
Dog Writers Association of America

Education/Credentials
Just a natural gift I have for understanding and training dogs

Past/Present Clients
Too numerous to mention.

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