8 month old boxer... uncontrollable!!!!?

Question

My fiance and I got a boxer pup (only 6 weeks) 2 months after we bought our house. About 5 months ago, Zoey's behavior went CRAZY, she's EXTREMELY hyper we can't have company without her jumping all over them and she runs under the coffee table and snapps at us when we scald her. We do not hit, worried she will be afraid of us. So once we finally catch her, we have to kennel her the whole time that we have company, and we are a young couple, 21, so we have people over often. Well she is gettin progressively worse, the other night we were watching TV and she bit his toe. This morning i let her out so i could get ready for work, and she wouldn't come in, it was an honest to gosh fight... I ended up being 30 minutes late for work, have 3 seperate sets of bite marks and my arms are all scrated and bruised, I am all for gettin rid of this demon, but it would crush my fiance... any suggestions??? please!!!!

what is the difference between a crate and kennel?

Answer 1

find a good traing ing class it sounds like she rules the roost

Answer 2

I'll address this issue by issue.

"My fiance and I got a boxer pup (only 6 weeks) 2 months after we bought our house. About 5 months ago, Zoey's behavior went CRAZY, she's EXTREMELY hyper"

She needs more exercise. The boxer I have now is 11 months old, and we were having some of the same problems. The first thing we did was make sure she got more exercise. The second thing we did was crate her the whole day when we were not home-we had been leaving her in a dog pen. She needed to be crated. That alone produced amazing results.

".... we can't have company without her jumping all over them...."
That's not too hard to fix. When she approaches you and her intent is to jump, raise your knee to the level of her chest-don't kick at her-just raise your knee so that she can't reach you to put her paws on you. Then have her sit. (She has learned "sit" I assume?) When she sits, praise her. This may take a while for her to get, but the principle is simple! Also, instruct your guests to do this. They may think it is weird, but after a while, you dog will get the picture. If you know you have guests coming, put a light lead on Zoey so that she cannot jump. When a guest approaches her, have her sit, then allow the guest to greet her.


"...and she runs under the coffee table..."

Keep her on a light lead (leash) so that she can be caught and brought under control.


"...and snaps at us when we scald her."
Totally unacceptable. Two ways to combat this. First of all, you have to assert yourself as the alpha. The best way to do this is to force her to submit. Make her sit, then make her lay down, then roll her over on her back. Get a good grip on the skin around her neck so that she cannot snap or bite at you, then put your face close to her ear and growl. Loudly. Do it until she stops fighting against you. I know-it sounds weird as hell, but it works. The other thing-when she bites, grab her ear and bite her back-Don't draw blood! Just bite her hard enough to make her yip. If she will snap at you, then she will snap at anyone.

"...We do not hit, worried she will be afraid of us...."
You don't have to hit her. You must assert yourself, though and she must learn her place in the pack. You and your husband must agree to adopt training methods, you must be consistant, and you must be firm. When scolding, use a firm "Bad Dog" in a growling voice. No matter how wild this dog is now, she loves you and wants to please. She doesn't have to be "afraid" of you-but she does have to respect you.

"...So once we finally catch her, we have to kennel her the whole time that we have company, and we are a young couple, 21, so we have people over often...."
She is going to have to be socialized. This may mean that your company has to put up with a wild dog for a few minutes until Zoey gets used to them. Crating her is putting a band aid on a bleeding artery.

"....Well she is gettin progressively worse, the other night we were watching TV and she bit his toe...."

Two ways to handle this-bite back, give her the "BAD DOG!" treatment.

"This morning i let her out so i could get ready for work, and she wouldn't come in, it was an honest to gosh fight... I ended up being 30 minutes late for work, have 3 seperate sets of bite marks and my arms are all scrated and bruised, I am all for gettin rid of this demon, but it would crush my fiance... any suggestions??? please!!!!"

Call your vet and ask to be referred to an obedience school if you feel you cannot do this alone. If you are anywhere near the State of Virginia, contact me and I will take the dog. What she has are people problems-she is likely not a bad dog-you just don't know how to manipulate her behavior. An experienced obedience trainer can help.

Good luck to you all! If you can get past this, you will find that you have a great dog! Boxers rock!

Answer 3

I once had an elderly lady for a friend. She had a wonderful little dog. A mix of some sort. She had the dog trained well and it behaved very well. Learn here https://tr.im/qadDG

She kept an uncovered candy dish on her coffee table with candy in it. The dog was forbidden to eat the candy. When she was in the room observing the dog he did not even appear to notice the candy. One day while she was in her dinning room she happened to look in a mirror and could see her dog in the living room. He did not know he was being watched. For several minutes he was sitting in front of the candy bowl staring at the candy. Finally he reached in and took one. He placed it on the table and stared at it, he woofed at it. He stared some more, licked his chops and PUT IT BACK in the bowl and walked away. Did he want the candy, oh yeah. Did he eat it? Nope. They can be trained that well but most, I'll admit, are not trained that well. When I was a young boy, maybe 5 years old. We had a german shepherd. He was very well trained also. My mom could leave food unattended on the table, no problem. She would open the oven door and set a pan roast beef or roast chicken on the door to cool. No problem. He would not touch it, watched or not. But butter? Whole other story. You leave a stick of butter anywhere he could reach and it was gone. He was a large shepherd so there were not many places he could not reach. Really, I think the number of dogs trained to the point they will leave food alone when not being supervised is very small indeed.
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Now if we are talking obedience training, not food grubbing, that is a different story. Way back when I was first learning obedience training one of the final exercises was to put our dogs in a down/stay and not only leave the room but leave the building for 15 minutes. The only person that stayed was our trainer, not the owners. Most of the dogs in my class did not break their stay, which would be an automatic fail. I'm happy to report my dog was one of the ones that passed.

Answer 4

You cannot "get rid" of a dog that has bitten you and another family member. Who on earth would want to take a biting dog? She has learned that she could get away with this probably by not being corrected consistently from an early age. When you have company you will have to continue to kennel this dog because you cannot ever trust her not to bite people. If you are not going to euthanize her for biting you and your fiancee then you need to buy a good muzzle for her so she cannot bite you when you correct her and also enroll in an obedience class so you can learn how to teach your dog and she should wear a muzzle while she is in class too.

Answer 5

The answer is simple - stop babying the demon and start treating it like a dog. 1. Discipline 2. Training 3. Exercise 4. Love. Dogs thrive in a structured environment. You and your b/f need to take control over the sitation and establish the hierarchy with you two as the pack leaders.

In order to do that everything in your home needs to be a command. You don't need to scold, yell, spank, flick, yell no etc ever. Teach the puppy first the basic commands - sit and down. Down especially is the dog submitting. When the dog becomes uncontrollable you need to put the dog in down and do not allow her to get back up till you say. Pause from you're doing in order to enforce her down. If you need to put her leash on while in the house for a bit till she becomes profient you should do so - in order to keep her in control.

In order for her to eat you need to give her a command, to be pet, to go outside, to put her leash on, to come inside, to get on the bed, to get off the bed, etc etc etc. When you get up keep zoey in down unless you tell her to come with you.

There is a time and place for rough housing and while in the house isn't the right time. She should be in down w/ her appropriate chew toy. Make sure zoey is getting 2-3 long walks a day and at least 30 min - 1 hour of all out running each day. You'll be AMAZED at the difference it makes in her behavior.

Also the food you're feeding her should be a premium brand. Feeding her something that has by products and corn and even TO MUCH protein add to hyper activity. (www.nutroproducts.com - large breed puppy formula). Reducing the protein will help to calm her also. Nutro specifically has an added natural calming agent in the food (I believe it's the Yucca plant).

Anyway...... while walking zoey is an excellent way to maintain heirarchy. You need to be the lead. You exit the home first and she needs to stay right by your side. Consult your trainer for good heeling tips and exercises to teach zoey how to properly heel.

Zoey is out of control because she is filling a viod in the pack. Without a strong leader she feels free to do what she needs to do to feel secure i.e. biting, nipping, not obeying etc. She feels she's the pack leader and is trying to control the situation. Domestic dogs are born followers - breeds were developed to serve man - you just have to be able to lead.

It takes a bit of time, behavior readustment (on your part) and patience but it can be done. Don't forget - a command for everything and she should be in down while in the house unless YOU advise otherwise.

Good Luck

Answer 6

so which you decide on for to attend 2 and a a million/2 days to get your dogs veterinary care is what you assert. i'm valuable you're a hectic and demanding guy or woman, in case you would be unable to locate the time to take your dogs to the emergency vet as we talk, then I recommend you pay somebody to do it for you. (generally those with such important schedules have a paid assistant to safeguard trivial tihngs alongside with taking ones dogs to the vet) So do what you may desire to so as that your dogs can see an emergency vet as we talk. you probably did a minimum of %. up the telephone the former day while the dogs first have been given ill and talk on your universal veterinarian.....or have been you too busy to try this additionally.

Answer 7

First of all you chose a difficult dog. Boxers are very hyper and very stubborn and hard to control. I suggest you purchase a book on training a boxer and you might want to also buy Ceasar's Way byt sesar Millan the dog whisperer. He talks about all breeds in his book but the same prinicpals apply to most dogs.

Answer 8

lots on excercise will help get rid of some of the energy.. they are very hyper dogs.. also u can invest in training classing... tho be picky with who u choose to do the training... as for the jumping u can try the no jump harness... i know petsmart sells them... they also do training classes.. u might also be able to try vingear and water in a spray bottle to help with some of the trying... it takes alot of work and patience.. but you will need to correct the problems now because it will be harder to correct the older she gets... talk to ur vet and see if he thinks that spaying her might help calm her down... he might also be able to recommend a trainer... good luck

Answer 9

Get a spray bottle and spray the dog with a stream of water when you scold her. Dogs hate that and its not painful. Most dogs calm down at about 2 years old.

Answer 10

Sounds like you give your pup to much freedom and haven't shown it who is the boss of the house. I have an American bulldog that I keep tethered to me when he is out of his crate. It helps me train him manners, to show him what I expect of him. As soon as he jumps up at someone I pull back and put him in the sit position. Water guns work wonders also, I use the

Nothing In Life is Free method.
Does your dog: Get on the furniture and refuse to get off? Nudge your hand, insisting on being petted or played with? Refuse to come when called? Defend its food bowl or toys from you? "Nothing in life is free" can help. "Nothing in life is free" is not a magic pill that will solve a specific behavior problem; rather it's a way of living with your dog that will help it behave better because it trusts and accepts you as its leader and is confident knowing its place in your family.

How to practice "nothing in life is free:"
Using positive reinforcement methods, teach your dog a few commands and/or tricks. "Sit," "Down" and "Stay" are useful commands and "Shake," "Speak" and "Rollover" are fun tricks to teach your dog.
Once your dog knows a few commands, you can begin to practice "nothing in life is free." Before you give your dog anything (food, a treat, a walk, a pat on the head) it must first perform one of the commands it has learned. For example:
YOU YOUR DOG
Put your dog's leash on to go for a walk Must sit until you've put the leash on
Feed your dog Must lie down and stay until you've put the bowl down
Play a game of fetch after work Must sit and shake hands each time you throw the toy
Rub your dog's belly while watching TV Must lie down and rollover before being petted

Once you've given the command, don't give your dog what it wants until it does what you want. If it refuses to perform the command, walk away, come back a few minutes later and start again. If your dog refuses to obey the command, be patient and remember that eventually it will have to obey your command in order to get what it wants.
Make sure your dog knows the command well and understands what you want before you begin practicing "nothing in life is free."
The benefits of this technique:
Most dogs assume a neutral or submissive role toward people, but some dogs will challenge their owners for dominance. Requiring a dominant dog to work for everything it wants is a safe and non-confrontational way to establish control.
Dogs who may never display aggressive behavior such as growling, snarling,or snapping, may still manage to manipulate you. These dogs may display affectionate, though "pushy" behavior, such as nudging your hand to be petted or "worming" its way on to the furniture in order to be close to you. This technique gently reminds the "pushy" dog that it must abide by your rules.
Obeying commands helps build a fearful dog's confidence; having a strong leader and knowing its place in the hierarchy helps to make the submissive dog feel more secure.
Why this technique works:
Animals that live in groups, like dogs, establish a social structure within the group called a dominance hierarchy. This dominance hierarchy serves to maintain order, reduce conflict and promote cooperation among pack members. In order for your home to be a safe and happy place for pets and people, it's best that the humans in the household assume the highest positions in the dominance hierarchy. Practicing "nothing in life is free" effectively and gently communicates to your dog that its position in the hierarchy is subordinate to yours. From your dog's point of view, children also have a place in this hierarchy. Because children are small and can get down on the dog's level to play, dogs often consider them to be playmates, rather than superiors. With the supervision of an adult, it's a good idea to encourage children in the household (aged eight and over) to also practice "nothing in life is free" with your dog.