[KiPo]

We have a male and female boxer puppy from the same litter and they sometimes seem to have fun playing together, but often the female will bite the male either on the legs or ears and pull him to the ground then stand over him and keep biting at him (usually not too hard). However, she does use enough force to pull him to the ground by the ears and sometimes even the mouth. What concerns me most is that she will sometimes shake his face or ears like a toy and not let go. When this happens, or right before it happens they sometimes begin to snarl at each other in a bit of a nasty way (but their tails don't go down). When she starts shaking his skin and doesn't let go I pull her off of him saying "no" strongly and hold her down firmly, but not in any way painfully for a few seconds before letting her back up.

Is this type of play aggression normal in boxer puppies? Will it get better for example if the male grows bigger and stronger and is able to put her in her place a few times and clearly establish dominance? Right now it is not clear who is dominant and we have been doing great socializing them, training them and doing essentially everything separately and sometimes together. Does anyone have experience with this or advice? Thank you very much in advance.

 

[KiPo]

 

[Lindar51]

Sorry can't offer much advice , its very difficult raising two puppies from the same litter together.

Why you could regret bringing home a pair of littermates

Think twice before adopting a pair of puppies from the same litter; find out why you may want to resist the temptation and not have to regret your action later.

healthypets.mercola.com

Maybe this link can help give you some ideas.

 

[[email protected]]

Nice looking puppies! I don't think you have a lot to worry about here, they are puppies and if you feel things are getting out of control then you need to step in and maybe separate them for a bit. Sounds like the female is the dominate one here so may need to reign her in a bit. Biting is a normal part of puppy play and unless there is blood being drawn and someone is screaming in pain I wouldn't worry too much. Dogs skin is tougher than ours but one should not be allowed to be the "bully" I do not recommending holding any dog down to discipline it that is not effective and can lead to further aggression they learn nothing from this. Time out is better than that.

 

[KiPo]

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Nice looking puppies! I don't think you have a lot to worry about here, they are puppies and if you feel things are getting out of control then you need to step in and maybe separate them for a bit. Sounds like the female is the dominate one here so may need to reign her in a bit. Biting is a normal part of puppy play and unless there is blood being drawn and someone is screaming in pain I wouldn't worry too much. Dogs skin is tougher than ours but one should not be allowed to be the "bully" I do not recommending holding any dog down to discipline it that is not effective and can lead to further aggression they learn nothing from this. Time out is better than that.

Thank you for your advice! I see. I will try just saying "no" and separating them instead when that happens. There hasn't been blood but there are some red scratches on certain parts of their body's especially his. He hasn't yelped when being bullied as much the past few days, but maybe its because he is just getting used to it.

 

[[email protected]]

The think here is the female is being a bully and by you taking her out of the situation you are showing her she is not in control you are you will have to step in and be alpha I have two boxers they are neither one the alpha I am they are 2 and 4 years old now they still play rough sometimes and there are scratches but no one is the boss but Me! My male is more laid back and my female well just say rhymes with witch sometimes!

 

[Joeponds]

Congratulations on your pups they are beautiful.. The bitch will most likely be the dominate one @ first . do not worry they will sound like there killing each other. They will produce guttural sounds. No blood will be spilled. Its all part of growing up Boxer. Mouthing will be a big part of it.

 

[chip18]

Well the best advise, is to have one well trained dog before adding a second dog and clearly that did not happen. Two pups are twice the work load separate walk's, separate training session's and the pup's can bond with each other and not with you.

And if you always, train both together?? You are thinking you are training both at once?? But you are only train one?? The most dominate of the two. The "Female," she will listen and learn and the male will, just key off of her. And as long as they are always together ... you won't really notice?? But if you happen to one day, separate the two you may find that your "male," does not know crap??

And Boxer's at play pretty much always sound like a "Dog Fight??" So that is not really a big deal. And that is why they are often the first dog's to be asked to leave "Doggie Day Care, and the GSD's, owner's are often next in line to be asked to take there dog's and "Don't come back, Thank You."

A responsible "Breeder," would not have sold you two puppy's, at least not without asking a lot of question's first?? But you could have done worst! At least you did not get two girl's!! So while this is not "ideal," it is "do-able."

But this is nothing new, from books I read many year's ago, I remember two thing's. Rare in Dog's, in Boxer's the female is the most "Dominate of the two sexes." And the other Book, just said "the girl's are different??"

Now if you have not seen the diffidence?? You what not have known what "the girl's are different means??" But it seem's like you have a good idea?? She will "Beat her buddy, down like a rag doll," unless you step up. You have to step up (which it seem's you are doing) but the girl's are serious business!

With the girl's you really, really don't want to "trip that switch," that can trigger full on "Berserk Mode??" I don't care how sweet, goofy and innocent, they appear?? It is there! Worst than my 85 lbs American Band Dawg vs insane freaking 113 lbs, of Working Line German Shepard! And I got stitches breaking up that last dust up! But my 65 lb Baby Girl, (Stru) and her objections to baby Kittens being born and Gunther's lack of respect?? And my not dealing with him?? Was to much for her and she went off!!! And that was insane??

And I like the Girls, but if asked by someone that I feel is at least halfway competent about getting a Boxer? My advise would be to get a "Boy."

But it seem's like early on you have seen enough to know something is going on?? So you do need to step up to set the rule's but even so the dog's at there level still have there "Pack."

So food for though ... Leerburg | Raising Two Pups at a Time: Why It's a Bad Idea

 

[KiPo]

Congratulations on your pups they are beautiful.. The bitch will most likely be the dominate one @ first . do not worry they will sound like there killing each other. They will produce guttural sounds. No blood will be spilled. Its all part of growing up Boxer. Mouthing will be a big part of it.

Thank you! they do produce those sounds all the time, but when things get heated they become more high pitched and high frequency like a quick succession of high pitched "rha rha rha rha rha", which sounds like dog fight snarling to me. Is this still normal? I'll start stepping in every time I hear this just in case.

 

[Sodamo]

Welcome KiPo, and welcome to the exciting world of boxers. You are in for a treat. definitely no expert but we have had a few since 1992. Nothing looks unseemly in your pics, great looking pups. I’d be willing to bet they have been acting this way since shortly after they could walk steadily with confidence (2 or 3 weeks) 😁. Be outta sight and you might think these young ones are indeed killing each other. I have never seen this play draw blood, they are very good at learning the limits. I can’t say with certainty how long it will last, but our 4 yo male, tolerates (and participates) with our 8 month old male. And he enjoys it just as much as when he was the pup with our older dogs. I sometimes call it face fighting, at times they could be laying next to each other only the heads moving. I will step in and declare a time out (put in a sit) if getting too loud, rambunctious.
As for for dominance, I’ll bet on the female. Even when we had 6, 4 females, 2 males, all the girls were dominant to the boys, regardless of age. But as above, I am the Alpha. The times we introduced a new male, no matter how hard they might try, eventually they gave up And just enjoyed life. Our dominant girl also looked after the others. We have always been free feeders, with all the dogs sharing. Kalani would always come to me if the dishes needed water or food and it was always for the others.
As for training: work with both, separately and together.

 

[mmurante]

Heyas, and welcome!


I had littermates myself, a brother and sister, and it was a LOT of work. Absolutely worth it though.

As mentioned before, the key is that you need to treat them both as separate dogs. Do NOT train together. You'll need to socialize, train, walk, basically do everything separately with them so they don't become bonded with each other instead of you. Like, obviously, they're going to love and pile on each other, but as said above, if you do everything together, they never get the chance to become their own individual dogs, and become co-dependent on the other, which gets TERRIBLE as they get older. Think along the lines of if one needs an overnight vet stay -- the other tends to lose their proverbial sh*t. So, they need to look to you first, and their littermate last for support and guidance.

Otherwise, everything else seems about on par. Boxers play rough, and i've not seen another breed of dog that plays like them, so that just comes with the territory. If one is being a total brat though, separate them until they calm down.

Good luck!

 

[BrindleBabies]

They are so darn cute! I just want to kiss them! I have litter mates too, fun eh? Mine are 8 1/2 months so I know exactly where you are coming from. Sometimes they do seem to get "pissy" and usually a firm "no" does the trick or you may have to physically separate them. I've really enjoyed Cesar's training videos and of course this forum is excellent. My fur babies get rough sometimes, but mostly they are just playing. I haven't felt it has been too hard for them to bond to me and I do a lot of things together and some things separately. Recently my boy was sick and spent the night in the ER and my she was just fine. They do have separate kennels where they sleep at night. My hubby and I walk them together, and separately too. I do find that I've been able to train some things together and other things they needed extra time one on one. She's more of a puller on the leash, still working on that but he's great. I didn't know that getting litter mates was a big no-no but honestly, it has been ok for me so far. I think that over time your boy will eventually show her he's boss by pinning here once in awhile, but if he's not very dominant, she'll mostly boss him around. That is how it's been in the past with my pairs, though none of them were litter mates. Good luck! Let us know how it goes.