Aggression or playfulness?

[whitscarl]

I have a boxer mix that will be seven weeks old tomorrow (we believe she's boxer/border collie mix but looks exactly like a boxer puppy). She has been sleeping at my house for the past four days but during the day returns to spend the day with her littermates so that she can socialize, continue to learn bite inhibition, etc. She's been handled by people since a few days after birth and is very well socialized, sweet and submissive - allows herself to be flipped on her back without protest, falls asleep in laps, rarely even play-bites with me. I've watched two little girls literally fight over who got to hold her and she just allowed herself to be passed back and forth between them. But last night my roommate (a male with whom she'd hardly interacted) was hanging out with us. She was fine with him, sitting in his lap and licking his face, until at some point he bent over and put his face next to the back of her neck. She growled a little and he did it again, at which point she jumped up and started snarling and snapped a little. I immediately pushed her on the bed and told her no in a stern voice and she became submissive. I know I scared her, but I can't imagine letting that type of reaction pass because if she had been a big dog it would have been horrifying. She's never done anything like that before with anyone. Afterward she let my roommate hold her and licked his face and seemed to be totally fine. Is this normal? Did she just feel protective or just not want him in her space or was she being aggressive?

 

[Caney Creek]

I am 99.9% sure that she was not being aggressive. Puppies tend to play rough -- it is through this type of play that they learn *boundaries* such as bite inhibition. They take it too far, their playmate gets hurt and doesn't want to play anymore. Through this trial and error they realize that biting hurts others, and so learn to use their jaws gently.

So, puppies don't know that their biting hurts, and they also don't know what parts of the body are appropriate for play-biting -- also something they learn as they grow and play with others. More than likely your pup took your roommate's body language as an invitation to play (if you watch puppies play together they do this all the time -- one stands over the other, and the pup on bottom usually gets riled up about it and jumps up to play) and growling/biting/jumping around is the only way she knows how to play right now (plus, I'm sure she was probably a bit intimidated at the same time, being a tiny little pup and having some enormous human practically on top of her!). She is only 7 weeks old -- just barely at the age where her play is starting to get more rambunctious and wild (boxers play ROUGH!). All this means is that she still has a lot to learn -- it in no way indicates that she'll grow up to be an aggressive dog.

Pushing her is really unnecessary, and she doesn't understand what "no" means either -- she might sense that you're unhappy by your tone, but that's about it. The best way to "punish" her when she bites or plays too rough, is to stop playing with her and ignore her. She wants attention more than anything, and will learn quickly how to behave appropriately if her bad behavior is immediately followed by her being ignored. Hitting, pushing, or using physical force of any kind is more likely to create a fearful dog who may one day feel the need to defend itself.

 

[whitscarl]

Thanks so much for the replies! I began to realize that it was completely normal and an invitation to play once I started reading a little more about boxer puppies. That makes a lot of sense as it was definitely a play position that they were in. The only puppy I've ever raised was a golden retriever and I'm just starting to learn how different boxers are! Their invitations to play sound a LOT scarier sometimes than those of golden retriever puppies and I interpreted that as aggression because I'm not used to it. As far as the submissive thing goes, it's not so much submission that I meant - that was probably the wrong word for it - as that she's just a really sweet puppy who doesn't care how she's held and just likes affection and people. She isn't submissive, she is very playful, especially with other pups - she's just super sweet. I also realized that she's a little hesitant around new people and especially boys, which I can probably attribute to her youngness and the fact that she's had many more females in her life so far than males. I understand from reading a few other threads that this is also normal. I just need to get used to the boxer way of life!