Experience with Boxers?

[Diesel's Dad]

HELP!!!

Previously well behaved pup now an 11 month old stroppy adolescent. Driving me mad with his constant desire for rough play and biting.

Read every training book and website I can find, many of which contradict each other. My favourite comment is “don’t let your dog do XYZ”. Ever tried to stop 35 kg of muscle doing what he wants!?!?

He gets a 30 minute on lead walk around the streets about 9am which is mainly 100% good as gold; then a longer 60 ish minute run off lead in the woods at 2-3 ish pm. Same most days. Along with various play and training sessions in the garden during the day. By evening time all I want to do is collapse i front of the TV! He still wants to eat my Face!

This weekend walking with friends we stopped for beers at a pub afterwards and he was so bad I had to put him back in the car for timeout, 6 times, made no difference!

Seems to be worse when me and DM are together. Out here in the dusk now with DM asleep on the sofa and he’s finally chilled out.

Any advice gratefully received! Thanks.

DD

 

[JudyN]

I've no experience of boxers, but they do seem to be made out of rubber and springs!

Have you tried impulse control training? (Search on YouTube for 'It's Yer Choice'.) Teach a good 'settle' (though regard it as a work in progress). Focus on any games that reward calm, low-key behaviour. Make sure that your voice and body language doesn't reinforce him (e.g. shouting 'NO!' and looking challenging when he's bouncing all over you - he'll just react to the energy in your voice/stance). Rather than 'correcting' him, walk away from him and ignore him for a while.

Give him recreational bones or frozen stuffed Kongs, so he can lie quietly on his bed chewing them instead of chewing you.

Don't expect too much too soon. He's like a child who's ate all the blue Smarties at a party crossed with a teenager on a short fuse who wants to see how far he can push you. Focus on the moments when he does behave like you want him to do and tell yourself that those moments will eventually get longer.......

 

[JoanneF]

Judy is right. A combination of Tigger and teenager ...

But I will add - it does take time and effort to train a good pub dog, you have to be committed to putting the hours in. There are no shortcuts and you have to reinforce the good practice on a reasonably regular basis!

 

[Diesel's Dad]

Well finally making progress! He’s not enjoying this rubbish weather which limits our time outside a bit but 2 key things we’ve done have made a huge improvement to his behaviour.

Firstly we’ve switched to a figure 8 slip leash. We borrowed one off a friend to try and after 10 minutes of violent protest he settled down and now walks like a charm! Wouldn’t say he’s stopped pulling 100% but certainly miles better. Would recommend anyone with a strong puller tried this. Just remember when you first try it they WILL go nuts, you’ve just got to assert a bit of authority and persevere!

Secondly, and this may be a bit controversial... The Whacking Stick! Now before anyone starts this was suggested by our trainer who has been handling police dogs for 30 years and just retired. He suggested that in extreme circumstances I.e trying to chew my feet or jumping at me short sharp whack was needed.

He’s not exactly a small dog and was advised id have to be really trying to hurt him. So a short length of hose pipe wrapped in colourful tape was order of the day. First time he got violent with me he got a single sharp wallop on the bum, same the second time. For about a week after that every time we see that glint in his eye the stick comes out and as soon as he sees it he backs off. Now I’m not in favour of physical punishment in any way but two smacks has worked wonders with his general bahaviour.

 

[JudyN]

I'm just going to say, for anyone else reading, that almost all modern dog behaviourists wouldn't dream of using physical punishment. It could backfire really badly with some dogs - you are training with fear, and a fearful dog is often an aggressive dog.

Plus bear in mind that if you beat a toddler every time they were about to do something you didn't want them to do, it would probably 'work' in the sense that the toddler would stop doing it... out of pure fear. But it doesn't make it right. And in most cases, the dog's unwanted behaviour is down to overexuberance - would you smack your child because they launched themselves at you in such a strong show of affection that they knocked you off your feet?

@Diesel's Dad , I'm not judging you - I'm a pragmatic person and I don't have the police dog trainer's experience - but I would really discourage anyone else reading from trying this approach. I never, ever want my dog to worry that I might be about to hurt him.

 

[Mad Murphy]

When you hit its not respect you gain its obedience through fear.

 

[Kara 1]

I have met an ex police dog handler that used the same methods as you described and i was appalled ....proven fact nowadays is kindness works every time and patience. ....
Exercise, good food , patience ,patience patience and really looking into the breed that fits into your lifestyle. ..boxers are high energy and puppies much longer even longer than labs ....
Also Diesel isnt getting Violent with you ...he is playing and just needs to know his boundaries. ...
And i am really suprised that someone would smack their dog with a hosepipe. ...nowadays ....

 

[JoanneF]

Absolutely agree with the others about physical punishment. To add, with this type of approach some dogs get desensitised to it. So you have to get a bigger stick. Then they can get desensitised to that and you get an even bigger one. And so on. There are force free alternatives to both issues. For pulling, try this

And for the unwanted play

Neither of these are quick fixes but if you are prepared to put the time in, you will have a dog who is doing what you ask because he is happy to do so, not because he is afraid of the consequences of failing to do so.

I am shocked about the police handler, I really thought the police had adopted more up to date methods.

Edited to add - I wouldn't use a figure of eight on a brachycephallic dog. TBH I wouldn't anyway but especially on a brachycephallic breed.

 

[Ari_RR]

The phase of jumping on humans and such things is fairly short, I think, he will grow out of this quickly, and there are ways to prevent or redirect, at least to some degree.
The effects of physical punishment and fear-based training can be long lasting.

 

[niamh123]

I have a 32kg 13 month old EBT I have gone through the same problem as you but I have never punished him .This phase has now passed and he is a very well behaved boy,everytime you punish Diesel you are making him very wary of you,I knew EBT were very stubbon before I got my first I did loads and loads of research and spoke to owners of EBT before I decided I would be able to give them the best life I could without using punishment but positive training which has given me an absolute dream of a dog