Rage Syndrome
![[Deleted User]](https://wd.vanillicon.com/v2/d80a24c30f728a8ff5cd343ed748fb96.svg)
[Deleted User]
Posts: 3 Forum Member
I know a friend through a forum, they bought a mixed cocker spaniel puppy, love him and raise him as their own kid. Now the dog just turned one year old, and started to show rage syndrome, attacking the owner for no reason. The bite was quite bad (they showed me the injury picture)...and this is not the first time attack.The young couple was thinking of giving up the dog for adoption.
I personally think it is not easy to find a good home for him, as the adopter has to be very experienced in handling this kind of rage syndrome dog. But to euthanize the dog also very cruel too...any other suggestion?
Admin Edit: Unnecessary links removed.
I personally think it is not easy to find a good home for him, as the adopter has to be very experienced in handling this kind of rage syndrome dog. But to euthanize the dog also very cruel too...any other suggestion?
Admin Edit: Unnecessary links removed.
0
Comments
Any rescue organisation would almost certainly not take in a dog with rage syndrome. They would find it impossible to rehome the dog. Apart from that it would be very irresponsible of them to rehome the dog without being completely honest with the potential owners, & most potential owners looking to rehome a dog wouldn't want one with unpredictable & serious aggression issues.
Sadly, it may be the case that euthanasia is the only option for your friend. But I would advice them to firstly check with their vet as to whether this really is rage syndrome & whether the vet thinks that that anything can be done by way of medication.
If your friend decides to try to find a new home for the dog him/herself, then they MUST be honest with any new owners. It would be highly irresponsible not to tell them the truth.
Was just trying to post link re. Rage Syndrome and I got chucked off.
I'll just.....be over here......sitting quietly
rehoming would be a bad idea unless they are 100% honest with anything and everything the dog has ever done.
if it were mine, and it bit, it would be euthanised, especially if it was a child it had bitten. let it drift off to a peaceful sleep, and not feel the need to bite again. safer all round.
Where the aggression is focused on a specific target, and in that sense functional, it is unlikely to be of neurological origin.
What is very much more common, (particularly in some Golden retrievers, some cocker spaniels and some springers) is an extreme form of agenda-conflict aggression (a.k.a status/dominance aggression). I.e. the dog will violently and disproportionately retaliate against anything, however mild, that it doesn’t like, or objects to, at that point in time.
As it is entirely the dog’s choice it may choose to allow that same thing at other times, or it may not and it is this apparent inconsistency that confused people.
However the outlook is much the same as rage syndrome, and the prognosis equally poor,
As the triggers are often everyday things, and the aggression can be severe, unpredictable and with little or no warning, it is very difficult to take effective safety precautions or to implement effective behavioural modification as these dogs are not behaving rationally, and so are not inclined to respond to rational programmes.
If left without clear boundaries to their behaviour, i.e the problem isn't addressed to try to avoid conflict, they invariably escalate their aggressive bullying with impunity. However if countered on their lack of boundaries, however benignly, they become enraged and highly aggressive so there is little opportunity or available options to effectively change the behaviour.
The biggest cause of death in dogs under a year of age is due to behavioural problems, and those problems are most frequently extreme aggression that is unresponsive to behavioural modification because the risk factors with regard to personal safety and legal liability are such that euthanasia, sooner or later, is the only effective and safe end to the aggression.
These dogs are not re-homable. Unless the original owner is doing something terribly wrong why would the dog behave differently elsewhere? Especially by the time this has become an established behaviour?
The law now also makes re-homing organisations more responsible for the consequences if they re-home a dog that goes on to cause injury, whereas before they used to just have the new owners sign a disclaimer so they are not keen to take them on, with good reason.
There was some research done on the effect on the behaviour of cocker spaniels of the permissiveness of their owners as they grew up and the conclusion was basically that a less permissive upbringing moderated this aggressive behaviour but did not eliminate or “cure” it.
Trying to re-home a dog as a teenager/young adult, rather than a relatively impressionable puppy, who had already developed and experienced success with this behaviour is a different matter.
In my opinion euthanasia is not cruel. The euthanasia itself is just an injection, no different to an anaesthetic, except the dog doesn’t wake up after. The dog, unlike a person, does not have any more concept of this outcome than it does the outcome of an anaesthetic.
How can a dead dog suffer?
However a live dog can inflict injury and suffer from frustration, social exclusion, overly rough physical restraint or punishment, harsh handling, aversion tactics etc, employed in failed attempts to resolve the behaviour and protect people from injury, after which the dog is likely to be euthanasied anyway, maybe after someone has suffered increasingly serious injuries and/or after the owners have possibly also been prosecuted, if the dog bites someone outside the family.
With regard to the dog inflicting injuries to people outside the family damages of thousands of pounds can be sought as compensation and any third party insurance could be invalidated if there was a known history of aggresion, particularly if the insurance company had not been made aware, and if they had been made aware they would probalbly have imposed an exclusion for aggression.
Yes I would certainly have the dog checked by a vet, but this is not an uncommon age for this sort of behavioural problem to become increasingly apparent and we do not have anything like a full behavioural history to go on here, but this does not sound to me like a story that is likely to have a happy ending.:(
Particularly in view of the lack of behavioural history it could also be worth having a qualified behaviourist individually assess this dog before making a final decision.
brilliant reply
Agreed. The dog should be investigated by a vet, and in the meantime, the owners should muzzle it whenever it's around people, particularly strangers who don't understand its behaviour - may seem unkind, but if it's already bitten the owner, best to avoid a tragedy. If the dog is truly suffering from rage syndrome, I think euthanasia is really the only option. As Tass has said so well, the dog can't be trained because any form of training will simply trigger the rage. Best to have it done as soon as possible and remember the good times, rather than wait and have to do it in desperation.
I found the euthanised bit rather upsetting and maybe it's best to find out if the dog has a health problem before killing the poor thing! Maybe it was provoked in some way and was scared!
I have a pure red Cocker and never a gentler dog could you meet and I have met others and have friends with Cockers all of whom are very well behaved dogs!
What is the Cocker crossed with? Maybe it's been crossed one of those 'unpredictable' types like a Staffy who seem to have 'mood swings' because from what you've said, biting is not the behaviour of the majority of Cocker Spaniels from my experience!
I think most of us that have mentioned euthanasia have also said that the owner should go to the vet for investigations first to check if this really is rage syndrome or whether it is caused by something else.
Also as Tass said, we do not have the full behavioural history of this dog, nor do we know the full circumstances under which it became aggressive, so these need to investigated first, preferably under vet referral to a properly qualified veterinary behaviourist.
And whilst you may find euthanasia for a young dog upsetting, no-one is advocating that the dog should simply be pts without further investigation. But if it does turn out to be the type of aggression that cannot be modified by behavioural work or medical intervention, and is unpredictable & severe, what sort of life would this poor dog be left with? Shut up in a rescue centre for the rest of it's life? No chance of leading a normal life? Sometimes euthanasia can be kinder than leaving a dog to live a miserable life.
You will note from my post I said I also thought it unlikely to be rage syndrome, and I explained why. I also explained why this difference of definition would not necessarily alter the outcome.
I'm glad you have been lucky enough to only encounter nice cockers and no, thankfully it is not the behaviour of the majority of cocker spaniels but regretably it is noted by vets, behaviourists and some unfortunate owners of these individuals to be the behaviour of a significant minority of this breed.
I have certainly met a significant number of cockers with very significant people-aggression problems, including directed towards their owners, up to and including inflicting injuries on more than one occasion that left scars and requiring stiching.
I have also met many very nice ones. In most cases they have been rasied in a very similar manner to the problem ones, on one occcasion even by the same owner.
I don't think anyone has suggested having the dog PTS without further investigation.
Also the insinuation that Staffs have mood swings is a bit unfair. They normally have excellent temperaments, despite being very strong dogs, and make excellent pets, especially for children. And I think one would notice if a Cocker spaniel had been crossed with a Staff, they're not exactly interchangeable!