We have two boxers, a male and a female. Our male is very well tempered and plays well with other dogs, he has never shown a sign of aggression. Our female on the other hand can turn very aggressive over nothing. She is aggressive to our male boxer at times and recently has turned aggressive to other dogs. Nothing in her environment has changed. From puppies I tried to let them interact with other dogs, she has never had a negative experience that I am aware of.
When we are walking, our dogs leashed of course, every once in a while there will be a dog around, even if it is not close to her, she starts growling, barking and showing her teeth. My male and her get along 98% of the time, and she goes from being very loving to him to agressive very quick. Infact, when we are on our walks and she sees another dog, she bites my other dog, and growls at him as well. He has never been physically hurt by her, but I worry why she is behaving in such a manner.
2007-10-15 15:29:28 · 8 answers · asked by J A 2 in Pets ➔ Dogs
Added information: She is spayed and we have owned her since she was a puppy. She has never acted aggresive towards humans.
2007-10-15 16:15:56 · update #1
I strongly suggest the book "Control Unleashed". It has great ideas on reactive dogs such as yours. Some of the games including "hey look at that dog!" would greatly help your girl to change her view on other dogs and reframe the entire picture for her. She will no longer stare at other dogs and basically have zone out instead it teaches her to reorient to you when she see's another dog.
I DO NOT suggest the Ceaser Milan "dog whisper" type methods, its a good way to get bitten if you are not well versed in ready a dogs body language. Re-directed aggression is common in reactive dogs. Your lucky that your male has not retaliated for her taking out her frustrations on him!
Good luck and feel free to email me at kycanine@yahoo.com for more help. I do suggest getting her into training with someone experienced in dog-dog aggression issues. I'd start out with private lessons with the goal of getting her sound enough to participate in group classes.
2007-10-15 16:34:17 · answer #1 · answered by kycanine 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Female Boxer Dog
2016-10-02 22:08:37 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just to add I agree completely with Misa M and KYCanine's assessments of the situation and it sort of goes along with my experiences with boxers. For some reason their personalities seem to be a real mixed bag (sorry boxer fans). I have met many like your male and just as many like your female - but I have not seen a trend with females being more aggressive than males. I think what I'd like to see is boxer breeders focus a bit more on temperament because the breed does seem to have some issues temperament-wise and they seem to be all over the map regardless of how good the owner is.
One of the worst cases I saw was aggression in a female boxer puppy that was well-bred and owned a by a good friend of mine who is very experienced with training dogs - her husband is a vet and she had successfully owned and trained rotties for years. She got a boxer pup after hearing how great they were with kids. Despite their best efforts, they could not control the aggression in this little female and ending up biting her then 7-year old son hard at the age of 4 months (and her son was being well-behaved with the dog at the time). The dog was returned the breeder who gave to a trainer friend who ended up agreeing that the dog was too naturally dominant aggressive to be placed with kids. A male from the same litter was adopted by her next door neighbor and he was a great dog with kids. Based on this and about 5 other experiences I've seen, I've come to the conclusion that boxer personalities are just a crap-shoot.
2007-10-17 04:26:01 · answer #3 · answered by ? 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
This is called "displaced aggression". I'm sure that your male boxer would really appreciate your solving this problem too - ouch!
Your female is less comfortable with other dogs for whatever reason. It's too bad because it seems that you and your family have really done your homework. It's also great that she likes your male and that they get along. Try to take your female out for walks on her own, and keep her far away from other dogs - and reward her heavily for tolerating just the sight of them. You don't want to push her - and you do want to recognize that changing the association that she has from "uh oh" to "Oh Goody!" (If it helps you to say "Yay! Other dogs! Great!" in a happy tone - by all means, do so.) If this were my dog, I'd save all of the best, most mind blowing treats for these occasions. And try to step in between your dogs before she can act up again - keep her well away from other dogs until she looks to you for her rewards. Then you can think about getting a bit closer.
It's very hard to teach dogs anything when they are upset about something in the environment. The key is to take it slowly and work with her at her comfort levels. I'm sure you'll succeed. Good luck!
2007-10-15 15:40:09 · answer #4 · answered by Misa M 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Your female boxer is trying to be the Alpha dog....
Just as with our human children, our dogs have their own intrinsic personalities. It's not totally environment that determines their personality. So with your male, it's a dominance thing, to prove she's alpha over him.
The fact that she's dog aggressive to other dogs when you have her on leash makes me wonder about a couple things, however.
1) You need to figure out if you are Alpha Pack Leader to your dogs. If you are, it's just a matter of training her how to behave on leash.
2) You need to attend obedience classes with your girl. This is not "good citizen" behavior and there IS a good citizen award you can work towards getting.
3) You need to assess her to see if she's dog aggressive, or aggressive due to fearfulness.
4) If this is a sudden and complete change, then you need to take her to a vet for a thorough checkup. I have seen dogs turn bad due to brain tumors.
Below are some links to help you understand what it means to be Alpha Pack Leader and how to make sure you are Alpha Pack Leader.
2007-10-16 02:22:04 · answer #5 · answered by Nedra E 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Im sorry to hear. I am a boxer owner and we chose a boy b/c I heard the females tend to be a bit more aggressive. Im not sure why.
Try calling a dog trainer. Maybe they can give you good ideas on how to break this
2007-10-16 01:19:23 · answer #6 · answered by . 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am in the same boat as you. I have 2 boxer pups... the female is 5 months and the male is 7 months. They love one another but when we are out on walks and another dog passes, she will start to bite my male pup and growl. When we are at the dog park, my male pup will play with the other dogs and she will run up to them and start biting my male pup. She doesn't know how to play friendly when they are both together. She isn't like that when she is on her own though... it's like she is showing off. Also, she always tries to dominate him by mounting him and when she does this she growls uncontrollably.
This is how I solve the problem. When I am walking them, I keep them on opposite sides and don't let them cross over in front of one another--this took quite a while at first and I needed to walk them separately in order for them to actually learn to heel and not pull. When they are at the dog park, I will hold her while my male pup is playing with the other dogs and then I'll let her go--if she becomes aggressive, I'll put her leash on and give her a "time-out"... she eventually realizes that she's doing something wrong and I let her off her leash and she plays normally. You just have to keep an eye on them and correct it immediately.
2007-10-15 22:29:14 · answer #7 · answered by * Kimberley * 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Years ago, our wonderful family dog killed our litter of Himalayan kittens. We couldn't believe that she would do such a thing. But, it is a 'dog' thing, and we can't hold dogs to our own values and morals. Since then, I haven't trusted any of my dogs alone with a litter. ( of puppies or kittens) Added: That dog was absolutely wonderful with our toddler son. Aggression towards other animals (prey) is not in any way related to how a dog will be with children.
2016-03-16 21:11:45 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree with Misa M. that when dogs have one thing on their mind they are completely focused on it. Cesar Milan's tapes address this. Don't walk with your other dog so that you can retrain her without distraction. Your attitude of not being afraid this is going to happen is important, be mentally prepared to give her a correction with a choker collar and another and another when they happen and just keep going. Eventually if you are strong enough physically, set her up for more distractions until she finds out that it is going to not happen anymore because
"Mom" doesn't allow that behavior in her dogs. She's pushing your buttons for dominance...now push them back !
2007-10-15 15:52:16 · answer #9 · answered by buzzword07 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A dog should be trained on how to eat, walk with you, not to bark, potty training and sleep on its place etc. You can teach anything to your puppy, dogs get trained easily with some good instructions. If you want some good training tips visit https://tr.im/530mZ
If properly trained, they should also understand whistle and gesture equivalents for all the relevant commands, e.g. short whistle or finger raised sit, long whistle or flat hand lay down, and so on.
It's important that they also get gestures and whistles as voice may not be sufficient over long distances and under certain circumstances.
2016-02-15 21:42:36 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋