[Danzig]

Zelda is perfect in every way, and she is actually a very good girl, with a few exceptions in certain situations.

She already knows sit, stay, fetch, bring, laydown, and all of the basic commands. I thought it was pretty early for a boxer to be doing all of that @ 10 months, but they are very smart!

One of the situations is Jumping! Whenever she meets a new person, or even walks by one, she starts jumping up and lunging at whoever it is! When we have a visitor, same thing, she will jump on them, not letting them walk through the hallway, and then she even sometimes pees on the floor she gets so excited!

Is there anything we can do to "curb" her excitment? I tell people to just stick you knee up when they come over, but some people just freeze, and don't know how to react.

Another thing is, whenever I take her to the park, or the beach, I love to give her the freedom to roam about, and run around as she pleases, but all of a sudden, she something will trigger her to start barking! I don't mean like a woo woo, or like a "COME PLAY WITH ME" type of bark. When she does it, it sounds like she has contracted rabies or something, she gets down in front and raises her buts in the air and just barks her loudest! I've tried everything! she will go for an hour if I let her! I was thinking about getting her an electric bark collar, because I want to stop this behavior immediately!

Is there a more humane way to go about this than electricution?

ANY suggestions would help!

Danzig

 

[JessiesMom]

When you know someone is coming over, leash her and make her sit until the person is inside.

 

[sully]

Does she jump when you come home as well?

 

[Danzig]

no, because she used to, and she was sick of catching knees to the grill every time she did. She doesn't pee either! I think it is just with new people or strangers, or people she hasent seen for a while.

 

[Danzig]

yah i'll try that!

 

[sully]

I think basically dogs like to lick and smell faces when they greet members back to the pack, that's why they jump to reach people.   Although the knee trick worked, others may not do it as assertively as you or your dog just may not respect their dominance.  It's probably not a great idea as you could hurt your dog.  Plus you don't want to teach her to only respect physical domination.   I believe the best way is to ignore them when they are jumping.  Have other people do this when they come over.   Also commanding them to sit while they are jumping will give them an alternate behavior that is acceptable.  Ignore her until she learns to sit and greet people calmly.  It might be tough since she's just avoided doing it to you but you can use visitors to help you train her out of the jumping.   Boxers are pretty much black and white....never let them on the furniture, or always let them on the furniture.  Never let them jump, or always let them jump.  Theres no "sometimes" in their world from what I can tell.  That's my amateur advice, take it for what it's worth.

 

[Kate]

Maybe Liz can help you with this one.  I know that the knee in the chest is old school training and can hurt the dog.  I'm sure Liz of Willow have posted something in the training section of the forum or they can recommend how to training for Zelda with positive reinforcement to stop the jumping. In the meantime, keeping her on a leash and making her sit when people come over like Angela said is an excellent idea.

 

[15842]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't use the electro collar.  Have you checked the body language thread?  Head down between the paws and butt in the air is the traditional Boxer invitation to play.  As for the jumping, I have the same problem and am working on it now.  Whenever I meet someone and Ringer is doing this, I tell them to ignore him when he is jumping and I correct him for bad behaviour.  Personally, I don't like strangers people being able to give commands to my pup so I do the corrections.  If you know you are meeting someone, put Zelda on a leash and perform the introductions on the leash.
Excitement peeing has been covered a bunch on the forum and I think the jumping has too.  Search for those and read the body language thread.  Very helpful.

 

[Danzig]

thank you for the suggestions, and yah, im gonna go check out body language right now!

she never barks, unless she is off the leash at the park or beach and something triggers it, like the other night, we were walking on the beach, and she was playing fetch with a stick in the water and having a ball! Then, all of a sudden, she ran by my girlfriend and bit her hand (not hard) my gf just looked at her like she was in trouble, and there she goes! Psychodog!

so we FINALLY got her back on the leash (she is soooo hard to catch!) and went home. It was night time, so I didn't want to be a disturbance.

 

[15842]

Sounds like play time to me.

 

[Ky_IsisnOnyxsMama]

i totally 100 % agree with everything dan said...she is playing..isis does the same thing and my blk lab does also b/c now he has adopted boxer play as his own...that the come play with me stance and the more you dont the more they will bark and say come onnnnnnnnnnn..hahah let her get that energy out at the beach or park it only makes home alot calmer...

boxers are very smart..they learn quickly..shell start to understand..no need for physical punish,ment...the jumping..instead of the knee to chest which can hurt them...you could turn your leg side ways..so its your hip they get..they are trying to get to your face..just out of happiness..constant repetitiveness will make her understand..shes jsut happy and has to learn to control it thats all..shell learn..like dan said just leash her when people come over..itll work...boxers are happy social fun dogs..play is first on their mind..which is a good thing..and i agree with dan also..i dont let other people commmand my dogs either its confusing to them...

when she barks and barks like crazy at the beach and does her down thing..run around like a crazy person..and play with her..id bet she loves it !! i do it and isis looks at me for a second like wow ok  hahaha but shell rn around me and trip out b/c thats all she wanted...

good luck

 

[Barbs2Ks]

Kiah gets really excited when the kids come over and new people too.  If she doesn't settle, I put her in a timeout in the bathroom for about 2 minutes (sometimes I have the kids give her the timeouts).  It has really worked for her and when she comes out you can tell she wants to jump but doesn't.  Still does her beans though, which I love.

 

[Danzig]

yah, it is really comforting to know she doesn't have some "mean streak" waiting to come out of her later!

Good to know that all it is is playing.

 

[Ky_IsisnOnyxsMama]

ooooooooooo most def thats a boxer play thing..thats all it is..shes just excited and telling you come play thats all they do it to eachother too...no biggy just run around like a crazy person youll see hahahahahahah

 

[Danzig]

im gonna try timeouts too! I usually just put her in the room when someone is knocking ta the door, but I guess that makes sense, if she doesn't have a reason, or the opportunity to jump, she will always do it.

Thanks!

 

[Ky_IsisnOnyxsMama]

she will get better she just has to learn thats all ..they are very well behaved dogs..they jsut need to learn whats ok and whats not thats all

 

[samsonsmom]

Oh that is totally play mode she is in!! Angel does that all the time, to Samson, to me and hubby and to her toys....For the jumping, what you can do is leash her, keep a bag of treats handy, when a visitor comes over, have them put Zelds into a "sit", then they reward her when she does well...What I also have done in the past with Buck & Tia when they were younger is, I would put them outside, let my guestd get comfy and then bring the dogs in on lead...The knee in the chest has never worked for me and I actually don't like that anyways. I find if I turn my back on Angel and ignore her that works better. She hates to be ignored

 

[Donya]

Maverick is only 16 weeks old and even he shows that body language when he is playing. As for the jumping we just ignore him or put him on the leash.