Sorry to hear about Luke.Ollie is castrated and has his off days with us sometimes and he is pushing his luck.He snapped at Gorden the other day he tried to stop him getting in this awful smelly puddle and grabbed at his collar he isn't collar sensitive as any other time you can take his collar and he is fine.He was stroppy he had been stopped from doing what he wanted to do.
Having had two stroppy teenage human boys I put it down to being pushy as he doesn't make a habit of it and when he does push his luck,I get him over it then do exactly the same things again in a different enviroment and he is fine.
He is like Ralph majority of the time and loves his cuddles and is cuddly back so maybe it was a combination of a lot of little things.
I think they all have to go through their stroppy stage and being a teenager our other dog was castrated at 17 months and calmed down quickly because he was then coming out of his stroppy phase Ollie is a lot calmer a lot younger than Max ever was but he is not going to be totally stroppy free until he has got a little older.
Maybe he will need more watching when you have bbq's.

I think you always have to be careful with dogs around food. I was advised to always try to give your dog an alternative if you are trying to take food away from it ie swap it for something else and that way they don't feel threatened if you want something off them and it doesn't turn into a battle.

As far as Ralph is concerned I would have him neutered esp if he is starting to get stroppy. We only had Sam neutered recently at 5 years old and I think we should have had it done earlier as it has not made a great difference to him as the behaviours have been learned and ingrained now. He is great with us but with other dogs he can be stroppy.

I

I was just going to write exactly the same as this!!! (that's no surprise A is it!!!!)

It's a known fact that some dogs are very sensitive to you grabbing their collar, and it's something that has to be done often to de-sensitise them, and I was just wondering whether this was the first time you tried it with Jake? If it isn't then I'll have to think again. So sorry about this Luke, this is not good is it! If he was out in the full sun for quite a while, don't forget that their brains are very near to the surface, unlike ours and can't tolerate direct sunlight on their heads like we can. I know this from when a puppy of mine took a fit and the vet said it was the sunlight on her head and explained it all to me. What was he like afterwards, sloping off knowing he did wrong maybe???

We went up the vets this afternoon, for a check over just for piece of mind, and a good chat. The vet 100% believes it wasn't circumstancial i.e the heat, but is hormone related in a way. The out of character 'stubbornness', the doing things on his terms, the slight snapping [it has occured but only a little grumble now n then], leg cocking etcetc all adds too hormones according to our vet.
Now, I trust our vets implicitely, they are not the sort to do something for the sake if you get what I mean? They always say their policy is neutering is NOT routine and shouldn't be the quick fix answer etc, they are also the sort to send you away and tell you to use more 'natural' remedies i.e salt water etc rather than you buy medication you don't need. They have also been ever so supportive through a lot over the years.
So when the vet we saw said in his opinion castration is necesary and should calm him down a bit and restore his loveable, soppy sod character rather than this dominant, horny raging nightmare which tbf, he really CAN be at times.
Booked in for Monday morning. I'm a bit 'humph' as I really dislike putting dogs through something like this if it isn't necesary and always swore I would never castrate a male for any reasons other than medical. But, I trust our vets practice, they know us, they know Ralph, they know the situation.
So we shall see if it has any affects.

I hope it's nothing Luke and it's more than likely to be just one of those things. But your comment about his eyes "not being Ralph" have made me wonder if it could be Rage Syndrome? It's more well known in Cockers, but can be quite common in Springers too.

Here's a couple of articles about it, might be worth a read to discount it at least:

http://www.cockerspanielrage.org.uk/...nda%20Ward.pdf

http://www.cockerspanielrage.org.uk/ragestudy_ward1.htm

Doubtful, like I say, but just made me wonder.

Hope the castration solves the problem.

Now this was something someone who witnessed it happen comment on, but I dismissed it as only thought it occured in cockers Hmmn will have a read of the articles, thanks Rips x

I am still thinking along the lines of teenage behaviour and I'm not convinced that castrating will help if tha'ts the case. Loki had his moments around that age too.

I had a look back through Dogsey and came upon some posts by our late Shadowboxer that might be of help:

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php...age#post696859
http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php...age#post334910

I know, it is more well known of in Cockers, but Springers can be affected too. Along with a few other breeds I think?

I remember when we got Bonnie in 1984 (it seemed quite common in Springers in those days, media got hold of it etc etc) we had a few people come up to us and tell is we were mad to get a Springer with me being only a kid as they're "viscious"! Seems no breed is free from ignorant prejudice!

Try not to worry too much as it's a long time since I've heard of a Springer having it and I doubt it is Rage, but the articles could help you to recognise any symptoms if it does happen again.

Good luck on Monday Ralph for the big snip!

Good luck Luke and I really hope you find that castration helps.