Cocker Spaniel - a couple of problems

Question
I have a 21 month old male cocker spaniel who is no longer entire.  He is on a diet of James Wellbeloved and is fed twice daily.  He lives inside.

There are two things that I have a slight problem with:

(1)  He is wary with strangers and sometimes when they are in the house barks a little aggressively at them and backs away if they try to appease him.  He sometimes does this when we're walking in the field (he is off the lead) and when people approach from another direction he barks at them and circles them and is worse if they haven't got a dog with them.

(2)  If he hears something on the television (say a high pitched noise or something) he goes mad and stands at the back door whinging and whining.  When he's let out he shoots out of the door screeching like a banshee.  It drives us nuts.  I don't like not to let him out or scold him because I don't want him not to ask to go out when he genuinely need to.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Answer
Cocker spaniels can often be wary and sometimes aggressive towards strangers. I would not allow him to run off leash when you take him for walks since he is running up to them and behaving in an aggressive manner. Either use a retractable lead or long line if you want to give him a little bit of freedom, or keep him on a 6 foot leash and make him walk next to you. If he starts to show aggression towards others, he should be reprimanded with a stern "NO" in a low tone of voice accompanied by a quick jerk of the leash. You may want to use a martingale style (limited slip) collar with him as opposed to a regular flat collar or harness. If that doesn't work, a pinch collar may be necessary. I do not recommend the use of slip collars (choke chains) because they are so often misused and can cause injury to the dog due to their unlimited tightening ability.

When people come to your house, he should be kept on a 6 foot leash so you can quickly correct him for aggressive behavior. Tell your visitors to completely ignore him. That means no looking at him, no talking to him, and especially no trying to touch him or reaching out towards him. They should behave as if he were not there. If they cannot do that, then you should put him in another room and/or in his crate. If they are doing a good job of ignoring him completely, and he is still aggressive towards them, you should tell him "NO," again in a firm, low tone of voice, and 'pop' the leash to cause his collar to instantly tighten and release. If he gets worse or does not stop the behavior, repeat, popping the leash a bit harder. Repeat until he stops acting aggressively, and then praise him. At no point should the person he is acting aggressively towards look at him or move. If they move, it could trigger his prey drive and he may bite them. Eventually he may be comfortable enough with the person to accept a verbal greeting or even a pet from them.

You may want to consult the help of a professional behaviorist that can come to your house and help show you how to handle him when he is acting aggressively.   


His behavior towards noises on the TV is odd, indeed. Have you had him checked to rule out any health issues that could make his ears overly sensitive or something? If not, I would recommend that first. If he checks out okay, then I'd recommend snapping a leash to his collar before you take him out, and if he starts to run out screaming, you know he didn't need to go out to go potty, so you can just bring him right back inside since you'll have ahold of the leash. Make it a habit of leashing him every time you take him out, and he will soon learn that if he's just going to run out the door screaming, he's going to be pulled right back in the house and he should stop that behavior.