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Thank you all very much for your continued help. I really appreciate the sharp contrast of advice I've been receiving of late! As I said before, all advice is appreciated, but those that say it tastefully are doubly so!
Anyway, let me address a few things:
#1) This cocker spaniel is not, in my untrained opinion, suffering from any sort of "cocker rage" syndrome. I read a LOT about this before bringing the puppy back, and I am quite confident that what we saw was instigated behavior, rather than random rage attacks. The dog only displayed the behavior when removing toys was involved.
#2) I would be extremely upset if this dog was being considered for anything other than rehoming with someone with more knowledge an I. Heres why (this will address your point too, luckypenny)
1. The aggressive behavior never exhibited itself except when pulling away toys/chew bones.
2. The aggressive behavior only exhibited itself when toys/chew bones were pulled away after he had decided to lay down and chew on it
3. The aggressive behavior only exhibited itself when the toys/chew bones were pulled away from the side or behind the dog
I don't think he has a vision problem, as he played fetch extremely well for a number of hours. If he lost the ball, he was able to find it. Peripheral vision hasn't been looked into yet. I also dont think he has a hearing problem, as he would always come when called.
I spoke to another person for a while about this, and we came up with a potential theory. Obviously it will be impossible to prove, but please tell me what you think:
First the facts: The dog was surrendered by its owner, and the life it had prior to the surrender is unknown. The dog now is healthy, playful, and sweet 99% of the time. When a toy or chew toy is pulled away from him behind/from the side after he has laid down, he becomes very upset and "lunges" at your face. This is not playful fighting or snapping at your hand, but seems like something more.
We thought what might be happening is defensive rather than aggressive. Lets say as puppy this guy used to be something of a chewer, as all puppies are. lets say he didn't have many toys, and would thus get his parents shoes or furniture or anything not allowed, lay down, and start chewing. Now lets say his parents found out, and being bad owners, decided to punnish him too severely. Maybe even really hurting him. As a result, the dog now gets scared when something is pulled away unexpectedly. He reacts in a very negative, very "cornered animal" type way.
Ive seen abused animals react 2 ways in response to incidents that remind it of abuse:
1. Shy away with tail between legs
2. Become aggressive and defensive
What if this little dog is reacting in way #2, to what he perceives to be a conditioned stimulus of "you are going to be punished"?
Does any of this make sense?
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