[pdenchfield]

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for all your support as I send in questions from time to time. It's been maybe a month since I posted here.

Bailey's a 3-year-old boxer who's been with us since early July, and she's still having house-breaking issues and some fighting with one of our other dogs (all 3 of our dogs are female - I know, bad idea), and possibly suffers from separation anxiety. Fortunately, (1) my family is now on board with keeping her and (2) I made contact with a dog trainer who lives a few minutes away and promised to give us a free initial consultation when she gets back into town mid-November. She gave me very helpful tips over the phone, including using a vinegar-water spray bottle to break up fights. She also suggested that she might be able to increase family compliance with the house-breaking regimen so we can finally get Bailey to "stay dry" when she's home. (We have two teens who drive. Bailey still pees in the crate sometimes - yesterday she was in there only 3 hours, with a pee-out beforehand, and still peed. I don't think UTI is a concern as she is able to hold it through the night and usually holds it for 6-8 hours during the day as well, in the crate.)

My heart goes out to our other dog Santa, who's 2 years old and deathly afraid of the spray bottle. I wonder if she was trained with the spray bottle before we rescued her? Now she stays away from Bailey - and they used to play together nicely sometimes. (Santa's avoidance of Bailey often means staying away from me and other family members as well, because I have Bailey on a leash. It's so sad to see her down the hall, peeking around the corner at us, not willing to come close. She's not normally a timid dog. Usually she's very affectionate and loving of attention.) Bailey, for her part, appears oblivious to any hints Santa might be dropping that she does NOT want to play, so hopefully the dog trainer can help us train Bailey to "get it" and walk away. Hopefully she can help us explain to both dogs that they can hang out together if they play nicely. Oh, and since I leash Bailey for house-breaking, she goes into the kitchen with me, which is normally a no-no for all the dogs. This plus the fact that I walk the dogs separately (as I don't want them to fight) and I often walk Bailey first because she's been known to wet the crate even 20 minutes after dinner, which probably dove-tails with separation anxiety, makes me think that Santa may want to defend her alpha status (she displays a lot of alpha behaviors).

I have a question for those of you who know boxers well. Do boxers as a rule become single-minded and disregard the leash and pull on their necks, and if so, how do you get around this? It seems that Bailey's awareness of me, the leash, and her collar go away completely if she sees another dog when we're walking (I'm dragging her back with me and she keeps her rear towards me the entire time! - my nice pants were muddy after an encounter this morning - I'm going to use jeans to walk the dogs now). Same goes if she sees someone drive up or she sees a crazy look in Santa's eyes. She gets intensely curious. If I bring her out to pee and she gets like this, I have to finally give up and bring her back inside until the distraction is past, then try again. Bailey knows a lot of commands, like sit and go potty...it's just that I can't get her attention when I need it. I would appreciate any breed-specific thoughts you can give me in advance of my meeting with the dog trainer in mid-November.

Separation anxiety might be a concern as well, though I've been encouraging her to stay in one spot with a toy while I do something else, within sight (such as leash her to the table while I cook dinner). The toy can work miracles, especially a stuffed kong, but she's not seeming to learn independence yet...she's totally dependent on that toy to keep her occupied and hasn't been able to transfer that approach (keeping herself occupied) very successfully in the absence of a compelling toy. Maybe she just needs more time.

Thanks in advance for all your thoughts! You can see pics of all my dogs under my username in the photos section.

Pamela

 

[sianny]

Hi,

just thought this might help with bailey pulling on her leash, Ive got two young boxers one of 16 months and one of 4 months and no amount of doggie training classes managed to stop it (as you have probably already worked out, boxers are very stubborn) so after watching losts of dog training programs I noticed alot of dog trainers using what is called a halti, it goes around the dogs muzzle and you need a double ended leash which connects to her collar and to the underside of the halti (under the dogs chin), the halti helps guide the dogs head so you can take their attention away from the problem and it instantly stops them pulling leaving you in complete control.

I thought it seemed a bit cruel at first but it was the best thing I ever did, for the dogs and for my arm sockets!!

Hope this helps

 

[BurningRiver]

Hi Pamela,
I'm a bit short on time, so I have no tips for you on lead pulling (unfortunately, this is one of the absolute hardest things to break), but you should be able to work through this with your trainer. I prefer to use a prong collar as a trainging collar for my girls and have had great success with it. As with any collar (yes, even the haltis), just make sure to have the prong collar properly fitted to your dog by a qualified trainer prior to using one. You will also need to be shown how a proper correction is given by both collars and trained how to use them yourself prior to actually using them.

My main reason for posting is because I had an idea for you with regards to Santa. . . Try filling a separate water bottle with chicken broth and spraying it into Santa's mouth. She should learn in short order that the spray bottle isn't something to be feared if good stuff comes out of it. (This is assuming that you don't plan on using the spray bottle as correction with her, that is.)

Good luck, glad to hear that you're hanging in there. Also very glad to hear that you've had good help from the trainer.

 

[pdenchfield]

Hi Jessica,

Thanks for the reply! Actually, I do plan on using (and currently do use) the spray bottle to correct Santa. My issue is that now Santa seems to associate Bailey with the spray bottle, so won't come near Bailey, which means not coming near the rest of us as we are training Bailey.

Have a good day,
Pamela

 

[samsonsmom]

Hi Pamela, well I guess since we hadn't heard from you in a abit, I was hoping that things had gotten better, doesn't sound like it. I am very sorry to hear that. The fact that everybody is on board about wanting Bailey to stay is a great positive which is half the battle sometimes.

I know some people don't like the Halti for walking, but I have had tremendous success with it. My Tia was a terrible "puller" and would have choked herself if I hadn't started using it. Nothing else worked for her. Every dog is different tho & it does take some getting used to when first wearing it, but I found that mine adapted very quickly..Then we all were able to enjoy our walks!! A lot of that I know your trainer will address also.

I wish I could give you some thoughts on the "peeing" issue, but that one stumps me and I'm not sure what else to recomend. It could be a behavior thing..Maybe not..

Keep us posted..

 

[pdenchfield]

Thank you Sianny and SamsonsMom for the Halti suggestion. I had pretty good experience with the Halti on my other dog years ago, so I might try that with Bailey. I'll check with the trainer when I see her in a few weeks.

Good news from this morning's walk. I had some success trying out what I read in another post about having the dog sit before continuing as a cue that they have to slow down. This morning, I'd have Bailey sit 3 times in a row, then she'd get it and walk nice. She'd forget and we'd go through the whole routine again, but I'm hopeful because she seems to get it eventually (then forget it after a bit)...if I'm consistent I think she'll learn something.

Pamela

 

[samsonsmom]

Something else you can do is when you come to an intersection, have Bailey assume the sit position & wait for like 30 seconds before crossing the street. I did that with all of my dogs and it's just another way to teach them plus the added benefit it could save your life too. One time when I was walking Tia, we came to a corner did our sit, wait & was just about to start off again when a car came around the corner too fast & failed to stop at the stop sign. Had we not stopped, it's very possible we might have been hit..

 

[pdenchfield]

Good tip, Willow. Thanks.

 

[ssimmons99]

Also - it sounds like the pulling is associated to a fixation on the other dog - is that right - she start lunging etc?  I agree with the prong collar - also place the collar up high on the neck - many working breeds used harnesses around the base of the neck to pull - so that's why they don't seem so affected by resistance in that area.  Up higher on the neck - like right under the jaw is the best - if you vote to not do the prong collar yet - get a choke or a modified choke collar - it should keep her from pulling as hard.

Make sure to let the trainer know about the lunging at other dogs - they can help you with that as well.

 

[pdenchfield]

Thanks, Chloe! Yes, Bailey gets fixated on other dogs, as well as anything new and unexpected - she's such a curious little girl! I will be sure to tell the trainer about her behavior.

--Pamela