Case Profile: The Spaniel
This case profile is the first in a new series of short blogs which explores so of the most common issues I see on a daily basis up at the facility. Whilst every single dog is different, there are very often trends relating to specific breeds of dog, or specific scenarios - and it can be both a reassurance and a support to know just how common your dogs behavioural issues are. This weeks issue - the dog that has my heart and soul - the spaniel.
BREED(S): Working Cocker Spaniels, Show Cocker Spaniels, Springer Spaniels, Cockerpoos.
Owners most commonly see me for: Hyperactivity, over excitement, anxiety and/or fearfulness - sometimes leading to ‘snappy’ aggression towards people, resource guarding behaviours.
Most Common symptoms include: Pulling like a freight train (!), Jumping, barking, screaming, lunging, growling and snapping in and around certain objects, the crate, when being touched. High levels of redirective behaviour (sometimes described as “the dog is always busy, won’t settle”, or “the dog is always stealing things).
Occasional symptoms include: High prey drive, obsessive or fixated behaviours. Extreme fear, usually towards sounds and traffic. Neurotic behaviours.
Case Breakdown: One of the most common cases I work with is hyperactivity and the plethora of other behaviours that come alongside it with spaniels. The first thing that must be said is that the stereotype of the ‘crazy cocker’ is absolutely, by no means how a spaniel has to be. The reason spaniels so often end up presenting as hyperactive is for two reasons - their exceptionally high emotional sensitivity, and the way that many owners interact with their dogs to encourage (inadvertently or intentionally) the hyperactivity in their dogs. Spaniels are not a dog that needs any help to be motivated. They thrive on human contact and affection, and they need very little stimulation in order to engage. Despite this, many spaniels are subject to huge amounts of over stimulation in their home environment, or given the freedom to practice high levels of excitement towards prey animals at a young age. This excess energy and stimulation has to escape somewhere, which is what owners see as the behavioural issues they are experiencing.
As working dogs, spaniels need to be taught how to switch off and relax, and how to use the skill of relaxation to navigate busy and stressful scenarios. Just like when we teach a young child to use full stops, spaniels need to be encouraged to slow down, regularly sit down, and take a moment to breathe. Often owners fall into the trap of thinking that their dogs just need more exercise, or need to be kept busy with games and toys. But in most situations the opposite is true.
Spaniels also need to be interacted with in a very calm, clear and gentle way. One of my rules is to give them the ‘minimum amount of information required’ - because they are just so good at responding that they don’t need an excess of information in the form of sound or stimulus. unfortunately, most of my clients have been to a puppy class that told them the exact opposite. High excitement, high stimulation, high reward - and spaniels as a type suffer from this over stimulation more than any other dog. Often the ‘sit’ is taught with a high stimulus reward, which rewires an activity which is naturally supposed to slow and calm the brain, into something that holds the dog in a very excited, fixated state. When we block our spaniels main path to relaxation in this way, we trap them in a loop of over stimulation. Dogs that are kept in an overstimulated state end up becoming stressed and anxious, and they begin to relate touch and affection to excitement instead of calm and relaxation - which means that they can end up becoming aggressive in an effort to manage their space and be left alone to switch off.
Steps towards resolution: One of the best skills you can teach your spaniel is to relax, which we do through an activity called ‘place work’. We also work on ensuring that dogs relate our touch to calmness, and how to communicate with them in a calmer way that nurtures a more relaxed state. This incredible breed of dog is the best example I know of emotional intelligence, and what happens when human beings confuse ‘excitement’ with ‘goodness’ and ‘happiness’. Spaniels more than any other dog will teach you how to slow down and calm down - and become more sensitive to the world around you.
