'Cocker Rage' Any solutions ?

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Longstrider

Longstrider

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Does anyone on the forum have any useful info on this condition ? My very nearly 3 year old, normally placid and well behaved cocker (but excitable as are all cockers) has been diagnosed by the vet as having Cocker Rage .. sudden bouts of aggressive and manic behaviour with a 'wild eyed look' from which he seems to come round afterwards as if from a trance. Currently being treated with drugs normally used for epilepsy but would welcome advice from those with knowledge on the matter.
 
Have you got young kids? If so, I think you have a difficult decision to consider. If not, and you are willing to risk a bite, then see how the epilepsy drugs work out. They do work for some dogs. If they don't, sadly, you are back to that difficult decision again, as this type of aggression is not trainable: it is a brain defect. I had a Belgian Malinois (a non-compliance dog) with ideopathic aggression (rage with no trigger) that I took on to try and rehabilitate. I spend a lot of time with aggressive dogs but I had never seen such uncontrolled fury. It put me in hospital last year. I put a bullet in its head the next morning. That said, a cocker is much less of a hazard so, unless you have young kids, it is worth giving the drugs a punt.

Please don't take the above as negative. Just sharing my own related experience but with a much more dangerous breed.

Kind regards,

Carl
 
Is ur dog yellow/lemon coloured?
I've read more common in lemon coloured show lines than working lines?

Have u spoke to the breeder? See if they've heard of any other instances of it in their breeding and to let them know incase any other instances show up they can stop breeding those lines

Hope u find a solution, not be an easy choice to make
 
I had a black cocker that had this. It was never diagnosed by the vet I just thought he was angry! You would notice with him that he was acting strangely and then would snap and growl at you. Give it 10 mins and he’s forgotten about it all and sits looking at you wondering why you want to throttle him.... very strange.
 
Shame that after three years..Any new chemical treatments,teeth ok? I expect the vet would have given your dog a good going over.
MIL had a blue roan cocker dog,with that odd far-away look. Never did trust it with my kids. Never heard of 'cocker rage'till now either, no Google then. john
 
Longstrider said:
Does anyone on the forum have any useful info on this condition ? My very nearly 3 year old, normally placid and well behaved cocker (but excitable as are all cockers) has been diagnosed by the vet as having Cocker Rage .. sudden bouts of aggressive and manic behaviour with a 'wild eyed look' from which he seems to come round afterwards as if from a trance. Currently being treated with drugs normally used for epilepsy but would welcome advice from those with knowledge on the matter.
Click to expand...
 
If this genuinely is Cocker Rage, then I’d have him put to sleep. Having seen it, it is really scary. There is no known food or drug trigger and as said above it seems more common in solid colours. Used to be called red rage until it was seen in solid colours other than red. The one I had in was black and had attacked both owners savagely.
 
I'm not aware of any effective treatment. My advice to a friend in a similar situation was along the lines of what forth Horseman and Millerich said. It will be a liability for the rest of it's life. Sorry to hear that you are in this terrible situation.
 
Appreciate the input guys. The drugs seem to having a positive effect for now and the episodes are now far more minor and more 'telegraphed' so we are able to deal with the situation appropriately when we see the signs. He'll not be put down unless it's absolutely necessary, and we're willing to monitor as assess on a week to week basis. He is single colour chocolate brown, and there's only my wife and I (and the dog) in the house so no small children to take into consideration.
The dog isn't worked, he was never meant to be more than a pet. Diet has not changed and the vet has given him a full 'MOT' so no tooth problems or such that might be causing pain to trigger the episodes.
 
Hope it works out for you! Incidentally, if he's not yet been castrated I'd be inclined to get it done. Last thing you need is him potentially passing on that gene, if indeed it's a genetic thing. Best of luck
 
Have u spoke to the breeder??

I know if i was a breeder i'd want to know about conditions like that so they can make an informed decision about future matings/breeding etc if more turne dout to have it.
 
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