Aggressive dog behaviour?

I can take my neutered 9 year old male cocker spaniels full food dish away from him without any aggression, when i try to take a piece of paper he is chewing on he snarls and bares his teeth in a most aggressive manner
Answers:
Spaniels are actually the dogs most likely to bite you, so be careful with this. I suggest you speak to a trainer and behaviorist immediately. This kind of aggressive behavior can worsen if not nipped in the bud from the beginning.

EDIT: Sorry, that came out wrong. What I meant to say is that spaniels have the highest bite record, so a professional who is familiar with the breed might be able to help you to curb aggressive protective tendencies. I have nothing against spaniels. Every breed is different...some being more food-aggressive than others, some being more protective than others etc. (both of my dogs have strong prey drives...typical with the terrier breeds, but good training has helped curb it) I did not mean to insinuate that spaniels are vicious.

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Uck, I hate cocker spaniels, but I'm not going to let my opinion be biased.
Sounds like perhaps he's being protective over something that's "his"
See, YOU give him his food and his bowl, so that's showing your dominance over that particular item, but you have not established dominance over that piece of paper, or other toys.
If this were my dog, I would slap it across the face.
But that's my method of training, others don't agree with that.

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It's called resource guarding whether it is with food or another object. Either way, it is aggressive behavior and he needs retraining before he bites you or some other unsuspecting person. Call your vet for a recommendation for a trainer that can help with resource guarding issues. It takes time and patience and can be a tough problem to solve.

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i think the next time kristin does something wrong she should be slapped across the face. you need to put a stop to that soon before an unsuspecting person gets bit and you have a lawsuit on your hands.
ps. let us know when your dog has had enough of your abuse kristin and bites you.

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Aggression is often misinterperted. To be sure that you really have an aggression case on your hands you need to be evaluated by a professional.
If the growling is in mean manner, it actually sounds like resource gaurding, which is differnt from aggression. Just b/c she doesn't gaurd her food, doesn't mean she wont gaurd some stuff. My guess is that you don't like her to play/chew on paper, so every time she gets it you take it away (where as she gets fed dinner everyday, no matter what...she doesn't get paper to chew on everyday). Therefore, when she gets the paper, it has a higher value than her dinner. So there is a couple of ways to work this out. You can allow her to chew on paper more (as a reward), b/c it is not going to hurt her. You want to train a STRONG "drop it" command. (When she is playing w/ a toy, get a treat and stick it under her nose so she can smell it. tell her "drop it" and have your non-treat hand on the toy. She will have to let go of the toy to get the treat. do this A LOT until she will drop a toy (eventually anything) for the possibility of a treat). If you have a strong drop it command, then you lower your chances of getting bit (b/c you are not trying to take the forbidden item from her mouth). You should also train a "leave it" command, which means pull your nose away, and you use this command BEFORE the forbidden object is in the mouth. (This is more lenghy to explain. Take a treat, so it to your dog. Say "leave it" and close your hand in a fist around the treat. Wait for you dog to give up trying to get the treat. when they do, give them a treat from your OTHER hand. This way your dog learns that he is rewarded for leaving the forbidden item alone. Work up to being able to have your hand open the entire time, then the food on the floor, then with other objects.) If you teach a strong "leave it" then you can stop your dog from getting the paper to begin with.
http://www.diamondsintheruff.com...
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/834...
http://www.clickersoultions.com...
These website will have very informative articles about how to handle resource gaurding and basic training.
BTW...there isn't one breed that is more likely to bite than another. It really just depends on the dog and there personality.not a breed thing.
I hope this has helped!!