[IvoryPearl]

Hi everyone, recently we became parents of 2 white boxer girls, one who is deaf. We were just going to get her but noticed she was a bit lonely so we took on one of her sisters who hears and sees just fine. Their names are Ivory and Pearl.

I am new to the boxer breed, I have had American Pitbull Terriers all my life but recently decided to go with boxers after my passed away. My husband likes the boxer breed so I read up on them and they seem to be a good family choice, since now we have a 4 month old baby and another on the way.

Anywho, I am here to learn more than I researched before adopting them, I know you can't get better advice than from people who have been there and done that. They are 3 months old, I have started taking them out on a leash together, they drive me nuts because they want to play all the way and get all tangled and Ivory who is deaf wants to chase after cars.  have started teaching them to sit and they seem to be doing well for being so hyper and young.

Ivory is on the left and Pearl is on the right

 

[nano]

They are adorable! I think you made a very wise decision to take them both.

 

[heather-mumofdaisy]

Oh they are gorgeous!
My white boxer, Daisy will be 2 in April. She is not deaf although I think she does suffer from selective hearing! LOL!

Heather

 

[tootsie]

Welcome to the forums. Your girls are beautiful!

 

[samsonsmom]

Welcome to you all...Those are 2 sweeties for sure and quite a handful...I salute you for dealing with 2 pups at the same time...

Nano has given you some excellent advice and I would definitely talk to our other newbie who just brought home a 7 wk old deaf pup...I think it would help you both....PLease, feel free to ask as many questions as you need and enjoy those precious darlings, they will steal your heart....

 

[JessiesMom]

oh my god... those two faces are precious!...

 

[mom2scoutandgunner]

What adorable girls you have.  You must have a hard time telling them apart if you are looking too close!  Welcome to the board.  I hope you find all the information you need.  All you have to do is ask...someone will be along soon with the right answers.

 

[GunnarsMom]

Welcome, those are some gorgeous babies!!

 

[Zhanna]

Howdy from Texas!
What beautiful little fur babies!
Good luck with your skin babies, too!
Zhanna

 

[baileysmom]

Your babies are beautiful. Welcome to this great group.

Linda

 

[Glenn]

Welcome.... They are great looking dogs!!

 

[instructor74]

Welcome to the forum enjoy there is a lot of great info to be had here! Just ask I am sure that someone will know the answer. They are both beautiful

 

[SemisweetVixen]

OMG, they're gorgeous -- Ivory w/that blue eye - simply striking!! Good luck w/your new little girls!!

 

[boxerbaby18]

Beautiful.Ive always found that white boxers with a blue eye is deaf does anyone know if this is true?

 

[IvoryPearl]

Thanks everyone! Yes they are a handful, specially being in two. I am teaching them to wait while I feed them because they want to jump in the bowl, that is going very well, I just tap their noses. I am also teaching them to sit which is going really well too surprisingly even if I do both at the same time. They also do very well around the baby, I tapped their noses a few times to let them know not to jump or get close to his face and they do very well, they go crazy licking his feet. They are really good girls so far. I am working on playing with them, they seem to be so shy about rough housing, Ivory the deaf one, I can't even pat on her chest because she gets so weird about it. They are very sensitive when you smack their nose or tell them no, they get so shy and put their butt forward hahhahaha so I am working on letting them know the difference between me trying to teach them and me just wanting to play with them.

They are now out of our garage and in a dog house, they are doing really good with that too. It's funny when we go out there, Pearl comes out barking like she is so tough and then a few seconds later Ivory comes out stumbling like she was sleeping. She sleeps the best out of anyone in this house I think.

So, so far it has been good. The only thing I am trying to keep an eye on is aggression during feeding. Not with me, I can put my hands on them and their food and they don't mind but Pearl seems to want everything Ivory has and Ivory won't have it, she will jump and attack her, so I am trying to teach Pearl to eat what she has and not be so darn curious about what Ivory has.

 

[tonkasmom]

They are beautiful.  I had a white boxer who was deaf in the past.  He learned hand signals pretty quickly.  However, he also learned that if he didn't look at you then he didn't have to mind.   :lol:   We would catch him just barely looking at us out of the corner of his eye and then quickly turning his head away.  He was a sweetie.

 

[tootsie]

Hmmm, I'm a little confused with your training. You say that you smack their nose to tell them no. You should never ever smack them on their nose, or anywhere else for that matter. My Maddie was a rescue, and I can't even raise my hand over her head to pet her on the top of her head without her shying away like I'm going to smack her. I believe she was the product of smacking.
Boxers are very sensitive dogs. During your training period it is not wise to rough house with them, because on the one hand you are telling them it is okay to jump and box and act crazy, then you are smacking and telling them no. Confusing??
I am attaching a link about training deaf dogs. It has a lot about teaching hand signals for your deaf girl. Please go through it, I think it will be a great help to you. You have two beautiful boxers, it will be hard to train the two, but I think if you work with the hand signals the both of them will catch on rather quickly.

http://www.deafdogs.org/training/

 

[Colleen]

I agree. Never raise a hand or anything for that matter to a dog. I know I'm new here and only have raised 2 pups, but I had a bull/boxer mix before my two now.  At 13 weeks he put 15 stiches in my husbands hand, and 2 weeks later 4 in my face.  I did alot of research on dog behavior. Worked with an all positive animal behaviorist here in PA.  This lead me to a book called The Other End of the Leash, by Patricia McConnell.  A very well worth read.  You can get it on Amazon really cheap!  It's all about animail behavior. It was amazing what I learned.  It taught me how dogs "speak" and how to interpret them and teach them.  It also express how important positive behavior traning is.  As for a deaf dog, this may really help.  It teaches you and helps you truly understand that dogs actually learn from visual comands well before words. The interpret your actions and behaviors. Eventually, they start connecting words.  For a Boxer who is, shall I say, a very energetic puppy, and then an energetic puppy adult, this book was the best. I don't just recomend this to those of you raising pups, but to anyone who loves dogs.  It's such an insight to their behavior as well as ours!

Sad to say, my mix George, well, no matter what we did he got worse, but I learned how to deal with that and come to terms with it by education myself. He was obviously a case of puppy milling.

 

[IvoryPearl]

Well sorry if you guys misunderstood, when I mean tap I mean I place three fingers on their nose and push them down away from what I don't want them to be doing, I don't mean I smack their face, I don't want them to be terrified of me. They seem very sensitive as it is, compared to my past breed. I have only had to use a newspaper 2 times to keep them from chewing on the AC lines, and they seem to leave it alone just fine.
Trust me, I have raised amazing pit bulls, none of the 4 that I had ever showed any aggression to people, kids, other pets or at feeding time.  

And to be honest with you, the boxers seem alot easier, not as stubborn. I already have both of the girls sitting, even Ivory is doing great with the hand signal. It took all about 3 hours and a handfull of treats and they are doing it.

As far as other things, well they are trouble, they chew and take everything that is out thinking it's their toys, but not too bad. I can never find their bowls, they keep taking them as toys.

They are both doing really well with the baby too, they can actually be around him without licking his face, jumping or bitting, they simply go up to him and look at him.

The feeding has gotten a bit better, I stay out there and supervise to make sure they each stay at their own station.

The walking has been alot better, they can walk a long while without horsing around, but when they are tired and bored they get into it with each other. I take both of them at the same time, I see no point in one at a time, since ultimately I want them to walk with me and both behave and not have to horseplay with each other during our walks.

Lets, see, I have to remember what else, I have been so busy with the baby, the dogs, the house, etc etc. Oh the rough housing with me, it's working, I go out there and kneel down, call them over and start rolling them over and scratching them and tossing them, they seem to be doing well, no more jumping up at me though which was very irritating, but they can actually distinguish play from training a bit, of course I have to let them know what time it is by either making them sit, which means, I don't want to play or kneeling down and grabbing them.

They had their shots and will be in for the Parvo this week.

I did have one question, what is the food of preference for you guys for the boxers?

With the pits I had to feed foods for their sensitive skin as well as alot of raw food.

Thanks

 

[beckhamboxer]

BEAUTIFUL dogs!! welcome!