[Gipsy]

Hello, [my first post]

    I have 2 beautiful purebred. I obtained them form a reputable breeder. They are in good health, nutrition is excellent, weight, etc etc...

    I love them both, brother and sister, and they will be spayed and neutered.
   
    The Male is the perfect Boxer. He is submissive, yet courageous, playful, rambunctious at times, and easy to train [super intelligent]. He lets anyone pat him and will play with any dog of any size.

    The female is a good boxer but is not consistent. She hides under the bench at the Dog park while her brother goes insane with the other Dogs. If she is walking in a very crowded area she will snap at other dogs. Sometimes she barks at me when I give her commands, instead of obeying. And sometimes gives an ulmost unoticeable but steady growl to family members or strangers. On the flip side she is just as good a boxer as her brother under most situations. What gives?

 

[Guest]

i'm not an expert and i'm sure others will come along to help, but what is the age of the female?  is she intact?

she sounds fearful and may be in pain somewhere.  have you taken her to the vet to rule out a physical cause.

sounds frightening with her growling at family members.  you're so sweet to come here and try to get help for her.

ps - welcome gipsy!

 

[Barbs2Ks]

You might want to take her to a obedience class where she will get socialization without her brother near and learn that you are the leader and listen to you.  Classes like this also give a dog confidence and though I am not a trainer or behaviorist to me she sounds a bit fearful.

 

[g00dgirl]

WElcome to BF!

How old are they? How was she socialized as a puppy?
It sounds like a socialization problem.  She seems afraid of crowed places, new dogs and visitors.
It would be best to have her visit the vet to rule out any pain she might be having, which will change their behavior.
Has she always been like this?

 

[jasonl]

Yes try to seperate them and work with her training
does she feel more protected with her brother around ?
she needs to view you as the leader , mabey use a leash and make her mingle along with you  just be sure to supervise and correct her
just as you say  i have a fearfull  english pointer (rescue)  ,and  my other is a female boxer , my pointer is much more comfortable with her big sis being around , if she is playing with other dogs she will sit and show teeth(smile) but if her sister is there she is more calm , usually if i go in with the dogs and mingle in she will be by my side ( as if im her protector) but she goes out there with no coaxing and needs no correction .
fearfull agression is not good , it can get much worse without correction , practice the walk keep her on your side , this fearfull state is not good for a dog , i spent much time with my pointer ,  playing ( she gained my trust) , leash walking , it took lots of time and corrections , my problem at first  was i felt bad for her in that situation , how could i correct a dog that is shaking ? i would avoid putting her in that siuation. This only intensifed the problem  
a trainer told me just like when she snaps, shaking is unwanted behavior and should be corrected . not to the extreme of snapping but still  a correction ,at first  i would always sit with her and try to comfort her , as soon as i would move away she would become fearfull , so i would go back and sit with her.  ect..... cycle ... and she never improved
once i got over my problem it was easy to fix hers   she is not at 100% but gets much better everday

Good Luck and dont give up
your energy is her energy

 

[Gipsy]

Thanks for the responses. A little more info on the boxers. Alchemy is male and 17 weeks. Stardust -female, with sporadic aggression-  is the same age.

They sleep inside the same crate. I dont know if that is an issue. They take suppervised playtimes in the fenced yard, and they spend most of the time around the couch with me watching TV -Well, I watch TV, they are too tired from playing to do anything but sleep by this time.-.

I feed them 3 times a day Royal Canin. They go for walks on a daily basis. And to the dog park once or twice a week. I think they are getting a lot of socialization.

Any tips will be appreciated, I am a DIY type of person but will  find a behaviourist if it proves too much for me. Thanks for any help you could send my way. Thanks.

 

[HannaBanana]

I have two boxers, one male and one female.    My male is sooo care free and the biggest love you will ever meet.  He has no issues at daycare and is submissive.  Then you have my female.   She has attitude and is about 100% opposite of my male.  She has been kicked out of two daycares and I only let her socialize with dogs she knows.  She is very portective of us, her brother and her boxer friend Shelly.    I used to freak she was aggressive and took her out of all situations.  She rules the roost in our house and we all know it.  She is more independant than our male.    She would never bite a human but if a dog gets into her space, she will let them know she is not having it.   However over time I have done a lot better with her and that is thru obedience training and giving her her own time outside of her brother.

IMO I would work/train her separate - and give her her own crate.   She needs her own space where she can call hers without sharing.    Then find out what she needs help on.  If playing at the dog park, take her yourself.  Keep her on lead, have her interact with other dogs - but keep her on lead to make sure she plays nicely.   If its listening then you need to put an end to the 'tude.  Do you ask the dog or do you tell the dog?   And does the dog control you, or do you control the dog??

I would start institution the NILF plan (nothing in life if free).

http://www.pets.ca/articles/article-dog_nilf.htm  

Make her work for everything and anything - even her meals.   if she will not listen to what you ask, then no meal for her.   Its funny because if they want it that bad (it being anything) they will work for it.  Boxers are smart dogs, but you cannot let them be smarter than you!  Also the use of timeouts for dicipline is a good idea too.

Good Luck

 

[jasonl]

Well Said ,
HannaBanana
NILF is the way to have a balanced dog , you are the pack leader ,you need to be in control

 

[Newcastle]

At 17 weeks she's just coming off of a "social dominance" stage of development, and entering the "flight instinct" stage, so her behavior is not entirely off the wall.  I agree that she needs some separate time with you, and that should includes some walks as well as training and play.  Be careful of corrections as they often tend to increase fear and aggression, rather than decrease it.  Classical conditioning and desensitization might be more effective - this article is about more severe aggression but the theory and practice can work for milder aggression and fear just as well:
http://www.kerryblues.info/WDJ/FIRE.HTML

NILIF is a good program to follow in any case and can help the dog learn to trust you as the leader, which can also help with fear and aggression (if the dog trusts that you will prevent any problems from happening, they may not feel the need to take preventive action - snapping, growling - of their own).

Barking at you is just a bratty teenager thing; you can either remove your attention/her toys/whatever will make an impact, or you can do an "Oops! You didn't do what I asked so you don't get a bite of this yummy cheeseburger!" (or whatever treat you happen to have handy) - this is a situation where training the two together can work in your favor; you give a cue and whoever complies gets the treat; if you're working on latency (speed of response), then whoever complies first gets the treat.

Growling is a sign that she's uncomfortable - you don't want to correct this behavior, really, because it's a warning - dogs that don't growl tend to bite first.  It's not something you want to encourage, of course; the above article could apply to this, as well.

 

[Gipsy]

thanks. She hasnt bitten anyone. And she likes to play rough with my daughter and the other kids in the neighborhood that seem to enjoy their "lick attacks" as they call them.  Should I be worried about bitting?

I started the NILF yesterday as soon as I read up on it. I started to see a change in attitude this morning. She is still vocal and complaining, but after she didnt get her afternoon feeding yesterday for not complying to simple commands she figured it out this morning. She barked at the first commands, so I took the food away and brought it back 20 minutes later than usual....guess what.... she was willing to go into a -sit-, followed by a -lay down-. This guys are so cool, and fun to be around,....but a totally different breed than my old Shepherd's.

Thanks for the links. The NILF is what I instinctively learned from my neighbor, as a boy, for raising German Shepherds. I guess its back to the basics. In a world populated by "Dog whisperers" and "novel and succesful techniques". Its good to see that it is the basics that give real results.

 

[HannaBanana]

Boxers can be stubborn but they are very intelligent.  Work with them, test their mind, and it becomes more fun and task when you see what you can get out of your dog!!

Glad things are starting off good

 

[Gipsy]

Thanks for the replies. My 3rd day with Nilf and I have seen the female become focused on me. She is less vocal and is beginning to look up to me for direction, things are moving along. Thank you all.

 

[nano]

Great post guys!

Nano

 

[gexoo]

My girl is 10 months, and she has never had an issue with people or other dogs.  If anything she had no manners, meaning she would be up in everyone's face
I adopted a pit/mix from the shelter, and the first time I walked him and he saw another dog, oh my god.  He went into vicious mode, barking, growling, snarling, etc.  I tried to correct him and in that state, he almost snapped back at me.  I don't put up with that BS!  My trainer said it could be two things.

1.  Dogs act differently when they are on or off a leash.
2.  He might feel the need to protect me, or his pack (I walk him with my girl).

I corrected him with the prong collar (not choke collar).  It that's mid evil looking device.  It doesn't choke them, just nips that back of his neck.  He's doing a lot better know, and I don't feel worried when I see another dog walking my way.

You might want to look into a trainer who can help you correct this behavior.

Good luck

Rob