That's so sad. Our dogs are definitely more bold together than when alone. Once one is going they're all ready to get whatever it is.
Yeah, it’s very sad for sure.
And yeah, they definitely are!! It seems to give them more confidence or something.
Never saw any pack mentality with the Cockers. They all did their own thing and never exhibited any hostility towards humans.
I did buy two males from different breeders to replace my deceased Ch.stud. But ONE exhibited "rage syndrome" something that had erupted first with Springer Spaniels. The other was missing a important part,I returned him, also. (he however was a very sweet,stable dog)
My sister wanted to replace her female that died and I recommended she try good friends of mine in another state. They didn't have the dog more than an hour before it exhibited rage syndrome. That one was returned also.
The rage syndrome exhibited (to my eyes) - the dog would wag and want to be petted. As soon as that happened it would bite. Seconds later the dog was calm & apparently friendly again.
I should mention the male with rage syndrome had many ancestors in common. When I returned one male(local breeder) I offered her the dog on lead. She automatically held the lead straight out, away from her body like you would handle a vicious dog. Should say, she turned around and sold it to one of her friends and they were showing it. SMH.
That’s good!! I think it does depend on the breed too. I’m not normally one to lump all dogs of one breed together or judge them based off breed or whatever but I do think some dogs may have more of a propensity to the pack thing or are maybe slightly more “wild”. For example, Siberian Huskies and a lot of the Northern, Spitz type breeds, even like Samoyeds, seem to prefer the company of other dogs and are very pack oriented dogs, more so than a lot of other breeds. Now thankfully these breeds are also usually gentle, docile, and friendly, so I’m not sure they’d turn on humans or anything, but they’re more pack oriented. I think a lot of the Shepherd breeds are the same way. Which these dogs were, Belgian and Dutch, and I think GSDs are like that too. And I also think that, although excellent dogs, the Belgian Malinois and Dutch Shepherds, are very powerful and dominant dogs that need a strong leader so I do not think a 14 year old (and he started when he was 13 so even younger) should be handling that many dogs, of any breed but especially those breeds, by himself. So I think that’s partly on the owner too. But that said, he had been doing it for a year with no issues so who knows what happened. I think some of the dogs did not belong to the owner too so maybe there were some new dogs in the pack or something, boarders or rescues maybe, that didn’t recognize him. Or maybe they fought and he tried to break it up. We can only speculate as to what happened but of course speculation will do no good and won’t change what happened.
I am sure those 4 dogs that were outside will be put down though. And who knows what will happen to the other 7. I believe some or maybe all were not registered with the town either so maybe they will be put down too.
but the ones that attacked him DEFINITELY should be. Although I find it odd and don’t really understand how the neighbor was able to get the dogs into the basement without being attacked himself with the dogs in that state.
It is a terrible tragedy though for sure.
As for the Cocker Spaniels, that is horrible that they would continue breeding or even just selling dogs with that issue!!
Although that syndrome was still relatively new, right? Do you know if they’ve since fixed, reduced, or eliminated it at all? I’ve thought about getting a Spaniel before but the rage syndrome thing has put me off from it. I know most dogs probably will not get it but if there’s even a chance one could, I don’t want to go through that heartbreak of getting attached and then having to give it up or even euthanize it. I am sure most are wonderful dogs though.
Good morning my friends!
