working cocker spaniel

Question
I have a seven year old dog who i got when he was 16 weeks and he had been treated very badly by the person who had him.  She put him in a kennel on his own and said she didn't like him because she acquired him to train as a working dog when he was older but didn't like him because he barked all the time. I thought, ' what do you expect ' he was lonely and very young.   I have treated him well, love him loads and he is very well behaved and i can tell adores me, in return. There is one problem that i can't resolve. I like going for long walks with friends and their dogs, however he hates it if the other dogs come up to him when we are out for these walks.  He is not too bad now with strange dogs in the fields he just lets them say hello and is fine if they say hello and dont jump on him if they do he very aggressively sends them packing by growling and chasing them off. If it is a dog that has been in his garden or house because the friend has visited he will not tolerate them going near him.  He has never bitten another dog but it is quite frightening to listen to the noise he makes when they come near him baring his teeth and sometimes grabbing them by the neck so my friends keep their dogs on retractable leads all except one who has a bitch the same breed. She just runs around with him but never goes near him and he is fine with her.  Unless on very rare occasions when she tries to go up to him.  The strangest thing is that he will go up to these dogs himself as if he is setting them up and if they get to friendly he will warn them off.  What am i doing wrong that makes him like this

Answer
Dear Sue,
Thanks for the question. I don't think it is anything you are doing! Social relationships between dogs are complex and some dogs are fine with all dogs, fine with some dogs and naughty with others, and some dogs are not fine with any other dogs.

In addition, some dogs behave differently towards large dogs, small dogs, strange dogs, known dogs, dog with poor social skills, et cetera.  

The first thing to do is to identify which groups of dogs or which situations are more likely to trigger your dog's unwanted behaviors.

Keep a log of all interactions with other dogs. Record everything you can imagine about the situations and the other dogs. On leases, off leashes, large dogs, small dogs, in field, on sidewalk, after 10 minutes of play, after 25 minutes of play, when you are next to the other dog, when you are not near either dog, et cetera.

If you can identify a pattern or a specific trigger for his behavior, that will help. If not, your job is to treat him as if he were afraid of every dog. Yes, afraid - this behavior is probably related to fear.

Of course, it is always possible that the other dogs are not quite following the "dog rules" of greet and play and he is just reacting to their poor social skills. Maybe they approach him rudely and he reacts too quickly.

In an event, do not punish him for reacting. That will not teach him to relax but will make him more anxious. From his point of view some dogs are scary and if you punish him, you'll verify his beliefs because you only attack when those scary dogs are nearby. He'll not recognize that you are punishing his behavior, he'll learn to associate your attacks with the presence of scary dogs, hence they become more scary (from his point of view)

Here's a brief overview of the treatment. When you see other dogs at a distance, ask him to sit - try to get him focused on you. If the other dogs are off lead, this will be difficult because they will approach. Practice in areas where people have their dogs on lead so you can predict how close the handlers with their dogs pass.

Start off at a distance that is so great, he can succeed. Slowly get closer to the path where the other dogs and handlers are walking each session. Always ask him to sit, pay him for sitting (treats work well for this. If he starts to react, you have him too close, just lead him farther from the other dogs and ask him to sit.  

This process is much more detailed than I can describe her. Buy the books, The Cautious Canine by Patricia McConnell and Fight! by Jean Donaldson. Both books give details on how to treat fearful and aggressive behaviors.

Happy Training!
AT