anyone have or like cocker spaniels?

[ontariogreys]

yes missy had 'rage syndrome' i think. she loved her family though, she just had major fear aggresion towards strangers. AKC breeders normally have good quality dogs. it's not true that byb's and puppy mills have over come health problems. missy died at 7 years old and she was from a byb. but its better to rescue anyway

Thanks Saphira and Snuggs! everyone sounds like they have cute pups!! Irescue452, sorry to hear about your baby.

Missy was likely just a shy or submissive dog, With Brody he could wake up from a nap 10' away from me and then run at me snarling and snapping, he would suddenly get aggressive simply because you were brushing him and attack. It is more commonly seen in red cockers but Brody was black, a lot of the problems with health etc stem back to when the cockers became very popular due to the coppertone commercials and they were being mass bred hoping to make a profit by people who had no interest in breeding for quality, the same happened with shepherds basically destroying the breed, most professional breeders have been importing GSD's from Germany to attempt to fix the damage and improve the breeding stock

[dab_20]

oh, well, i didn't exactly know what rage syndrome was. Missy was a red cocker. But I am glad she didn't have rage syndrome. How did Brody get rage syndrome? Just from bad breeding?

[ontariogreys]

It is more common in the english cocker and though no large studies have been done it is believed to be a inherited trait. The theories are: it is a form of epilepsy, a canine form of schizophrenia; low serotonin levels in the brain and thyroid dysfunction.

What are the symptoms of Rage Syndrome?

Sudden attacks for no apparent reason; the dog will often be sleeping and then attack without warning. The eyes become dilated and sometimes change colour during and after an attack, the dog is totally confused when attacking and will not respond to any attempts to stop it. The attacks are very unpredictable and the dog will often appear disorientated afterward and unaware of it's actions, then return to it's normal self shortly after. Victims are usually members of the family and due to the lack of warning from the dog, suffer from a flesh wound that will need medical attention.

Though medications are often tried and changes of diet, usually the end result is having the dog euthanized because there is no way to predict when or why the dog attacks. If a responsible breeder finds any pup does have rage syndrome the breeding line ends there, therefore there is less chance of ending of with a dog with rage syndrome through a breeder due to tracking of pedigrees, because they keep most or sell as show prospects and the must return policy on pets which allows them to know what is happening as far as health of their pups as they mature, but that is not necessarily the case with byb's and puppymills most wash their hands of the pups after their 30 day health guarantee, so they won't know if there are genetic or mental health problems in the litters they sell