Does Anyone Know about Rage Syndrome? (bite, spaniel, breeding, train)
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I will look elsewhere too but a friend of mine suggested my dog may have this problem and it is fairly common in sporting breeds. How do you know and is there anything that can be done short of destroying the dog?
Years ago, friends of ours had to get rid of their Springer Spaniel.
He attacked their young son.
However, it is my understanding that Rage Syndrome is not exclusively a spaniel trait.
I have heard of Springer Rage, a rare and controversial neurological condition that manifests itself as a spontaneous attack, followed by confusion, and then a return to normal behavior. Sounds like that's the same thing as Rage syndrome. If that's what your dog has, I'm not sure if that can be fixed or not? I don't really know anything about it, so I can't really help you much there.. sorry! Have you talked to professionals about this, like vets, trainers, etc? If what your dog has is just a bad behavioral problem, you might not have to have him put down. Most behavioral problems can be fixed. I know it probably sounds stupid, but I just started to watch The Dog Whisperer (Cesar Millan) and he does some amazing things with all different dogs that have all different problems. He always says he doesn't train dogs, he trains people and rehabilitates dogs. If you really can't find anyone to help you I would honestly suggest that you try to contact him, before you put your dog down. As I said, I know that probably sounds stupid, but I don't really know what else to suggest. I really hope you can find someone or something to help, good luck!
Dog Whisperer: National Geographic Channel (http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/dogwhisperer/ - broken link)
A neurological condition seems plausible for very rare occasions but RAGE syndrome affecting the many breeds they list?
When sleeping, I might buy some type of sleeping disorder similar to a persons sleepwalking. (my brother is a sleepwalker and I have some stories from way back when we were teens) anyway, I'd buy that before so called RAGE syndrome.
Or just a nasty ass dog who needs severe corrections.
Springer rage may be small dog attitude which needs a hard adjustment.
A good remote collar hit will take a dog out of any confusion they may be having.
Tell them to go to a Trainer NOT a so called behaviorist.
I saw it first-hand. My first adoption was a wonderful, gorgeous 4-year-old Springer, much loved but given up by Army people when the local base closed and there was family illness, etc.
Occasionally, he'd come up and snarl and bite my cuffs or something. Absolutely out of the blue.
Then he did it a coupld of times when I simply walked by. It was terrifying. The "fit" would last about a minute and he'd be snarling and trying his best to get at me. He really looked post-seizure afterwards, although I've read that EEGs don't bear this out.
Most of the time, he was a loving and lovely dog.
One night he came at me and wouldn't stop. Clamped down on one hand. I had a chair between us and a boot in one hand to fight him off. After several minutes, his "fit" broke. I called the police and had him removed and he was put down. I'm told there is nothing else to be done and it is very dangerous. If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't believe it or understand. You aren't talking about a nip or a warning- it's an all-out attack. I'm told it's endemic in spaniels, especially Springers.
I never wanted a breed, and wouldn't have one again. Too much chance of in-breeding. The rage thing supposedly doesn't surface until the dog is over about three years old. It has nothing to do with training, dominance, whatever. As I said, it looks neurological, and it is very dangerous to people around these dogs. It broke my heart to give Pete up and have him put down, but there was no other choice.
Add: Dog trainers I talked to said that there is no way to work with rage syndrome, and the dog has to be put down. I emphasize, it has nothing to do with behavioral issues or dominance or any Cesar Milan stuff. It is extrmely neuro-looking. In fact, I could tell when my dog was having "a bad day" (a seizure aura?) and his eyes would dilate a great deal, and after, he'd shake his head and snuffle and go to areas in the house where he never went and stare. Very post-seizure-like.
Anyone who has ever seen this (or been bitten in it) would never suggest obedience class or other training things. As sad as it is. the dog must be put down. It's way too dangerous.
I have adopted many dogs since Pete, but no breeds. I am not fearful of dogs or wussy or anything. What I saw in Pete was an animal willing and able to do serious damage and unable to be stopped or treated in any way to prevent it.
After doing some reading here and elsewhere, it's not likely Spot has this problem. Here's what happened and it's really odd. Spot is a 3 yo GSP and he is very well trained to commands and hand signals. He is very protective of me especially. It's not a good idea for a strange man to come between me and Spot. Because he is well trained, we take him everywhere and he has no problems being out among people and other dogs. Our home is usually very quiet, no noise and nothing going on.
One day last week, we had service people at the house all day long. Spot was crated and very upset because the service people were strange men in his territory with me. After the people were all gone, I let Spot out of his crate and he ran to the den. My H had his back to Spot and was sort of back behind the TV where the men had been working. If I hadn't walked into the den, I think Spot would have attacked H. I immediately told Spot to sit and lay down and he did. I grabbed his collar and H then walked him to the bedroom and put him in his crate. We left him crated for 10 minutes or so then H went into the bedroom and let him out. Spot was fine and acted very apologetic/submissive towards H for the rest of the night. Since then, no problems.
Spot is a rescue from a very bad situation and he was also very ill as a puppy. He had severe socialization issues and we had to work very hard training him. Spot is very bright and he would lay down his life for me in a New York second. We try to be careful NOT to put him in situations where he feels the need to defend me. Someone else suggested we should do full blown protection training with him because the most important part is teaching the dog when not to attack. What do you think?
After doing some reading here and elsewhere, it's not likely Spot has this problem. Here's what happened and it's really odd. Spot is a 3 yo GSP and he is very well trained to commands and hand signals. He is very protective of me especially. It's not a good idea for a strange man to come between me and Spot. Because he is well trained, we take him everywhere and he has no problems being out among people and other dogs. Our home is usually very quiet, no noise and nothing going on.
One day last week, we had service people at the house all day long. Spot was crated and very upset because the service people were strange men in his territory with me. After the people were all gone, I let Spot out of his crate and he ran to the den. My H had his back to Spot and was sort of back behind the TV where the men had been working. If I hadn't walked into the den, I think Spot would have attacked H. I immediately told Spot to sit and lay down and he did. I grabbed his collar and H then walked him to the bedroom and put him in his crate. We left him crated for 10 minutes or so then H went into the bedroom and let him out. Spot was fine and acted very apologetic/submissive toward H for the rest of the night. Since then, no problems.
Spot is a rescue from a very bad situation and he was also very ill as a puppy. He had severe socialization issues and we had to work very hard training him. Spot is very bright and he would lay down his life for me in a New York second. We try to be careful NOT to put him in situations where he feels the need to defend me. Someone else suggested we should do full blown protection training with him because the most important part is teaching the dog when not to attack. What do you think?
If you find a good trainer that could be the controlled avenue to take with your GSD.
A dog trained under control & PPD trained is less of a liability than an unpredictable dog, and learns to bite the most effective way, bite - hold - fight (less damaging and very effective), not to bite, release and re-bite though this is also effective and wake up call for anyone up to funny business with you. All you'd have to do is turn the dog on to alert, if the bad guy doesn't stop, he gets just what he deserves.
It's allot of work for the owner, more so than the dog. The dog will learn fast, it's us that lag behind LOL!
Ideally he will be trained to protect you on command, stop on command or act on his own when he sees aggression toward you such as a bad man hitting you.
The dog will be evaluated first by the trainer.
I train every week (once per week) with my 2 Mal's. That's what I have them for, to protect me.
Forgive me for this spelling error. I know it's wrong. The trainer I worked with in Spot's initial training also does shutzhunde training. She did evaluate Spot and says he was made for protection. GSP's are pound for pound the strongest dogs around. Spot was stronger than her GS. I think training is in Spot's future and he will love it and I will struggle to keep up.
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