Aggressive Boxer

[GuinnessBud]

As I posted in my intro section, my name is Brittany and I don't actually OWN Boxers but I dog-sit for two Boxers named Guinness and Buddy often. Guinness is a 4 year old brindle boxer and he's an absolute sweetheart to people... but he HATES other dogs. He WILL attack and try his best to kill. He lives with 8 year old Buddy, a Boxer mix, whom he is generally fine with but there was a bad attack when I was watching them once where Buddy had to get some surgery on his eye. He's usually fine with Buddy and there's been no incidents since but there is just no way of controlling Guinness around other dogs. The first year of his life, he was fine, and was taken to dog parks, etc. I didn't meet these dogs until a year in a half ago though so I don't know what he was like as a puppy. Is it common for Boxers to have dog aggression? What can you do to help them, or do you just never trust them?

 

[TwoDogs]

What can you do to help them, or do you just never trust them?

Dog-dog aggression is a serious behavioral problem that really shouldn't be tackled by the average owner by themselves. It would be irresponsible of anyone to recommend a course of action over the internet when they haven't even seen the dog's behavior. It really is much safer to have the help of a trained animal behaviorist. There are a number of different methods that address dog aggression mostly depending on what causes the aggression. A behaviorist will be able to evaluate the dog, determine why the dog is aggressing and direct you on the best method to deal with your particular situation.

Given that you are only the pet sitter for these dogs, my best and safest advice to you is to play it safe with this dog. It is NOT your responsibility to rehabilitate this dog and if you were to try to implement a behavior modification plan without the owner on board, you would be assuming liability for this dog's actions. I would recommend that when this dog is with you, that you use management measures to ensure that this dog is never in a situation where he is allowed to aggress toward another dog. Your priority should be ensuring your safety and the safety of the other dogs in your care. Carefully monitor his interactions with his housemate so that you can diffuse any possible altercation before it escalates.

The answer to your last question "Do you just never trust them?" is yes. If a dog has a history of severe dog aggression, there is always the possibility that they will be triggered to aggress again. It is irresponsible to think otherwise. They may show great improvement with behavior modification, but the possibility is always there.

I also suggest the following books on dog-dog aggression:
Fight!: A Practical Guide to the Treatment of Dog-dog Aggression by Jean Donaldson
Aggression in Dogs: Practical Management, Prevention and Behavior Modification by Brenda Aloff
Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog by Emma Parsons

Good luck

 

[GuinnessBud]

Dog-dog aggression is a serious behavioral problem that really shouldn't be tackled by the average owner by themselves. It would be irresponsible of anyone to recommend a course of action over the internet when they haven't even seen the dog's behavior. It really is much safer to have the help of a trained animal behaviorist. There are a number of different methods that address dog aggression mostly depending on what causes the aggression. A behaviorist will be able to evaluate the dog, determine why the dog is aggressing and direct you on the best method to deal with your particular situation.

Given that you are only the pet sitter for these dogs, my best and safest advice to you is to play it safe with this dog. It is NOT your responsibility to rehabilitate this dog and if you were to try to implement a behavior modification plan without the owner on board, you would be assuming liability for this dog's actions. I would recommend that when this dog is with you, that you use management measures to ensure that this dog is never in a situation where he is allowed to aggress toward another dog. Your priority should be ensuring your safety and the safety of the other dogs in your care. Carefully monitor his interactions with his housemate so that you can diffuse any possible altercation before it escalates.

The answer to your last question "Do you just never trust them?" is yes. If a dog has a history of severe dog aggression, there is always the possibility that they will be triggered to aggress again. It is irresponsible to think otherwise. They may show great improvement with behavior modification, but the possibility is always there.

I also suggest the following books on dog-dog aggression:
Fight!: A Practical Guide to the Treatment of Dog-dog Aggression by Jean Donaldson
Aggression in Dogs: Practical Management, Prevention and Behavior Modification by Brenda Aloff
Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog by Emma Parsons

Good luck

Thank you so much for the advice.

I am definitely not going to attempt anything myself, for sure; I just thought I could be of help to the owners and pass along some information to them. I'm pretty close to them and they've been clueless as to what caused this suddenly. The owner told me he had owned Boxers in the past and they're sort of known to have dog aggression, so I was just wondering if it WAS the breed or moreso the owner behind them.

 

[TwoDogs]

It's not so much that they are a dog-aggressive breed, it's more that given their breed characteristics, they are more prone to being dog-aggressive if you don't socialize and train them well. Boxers were bred to be guard dogs. They are naturally, alert and self-confident and will stand their ground if threatened. They are wary of strangers and extremely loyal to their people. They have a rough, full-contact way of play and they are generally very forward in their greeting of other dogs. Given these characteristics, if a Boxer isn't socialized early and trained well, the potential exists for dog aggression to develop--more likely than in, say, one of the hound breeds that were bred for life in a pack. But this goes for a lot of other breeds, too.

Additionally, breeding plays a big part of it. If breeders don't pay attention to the temperment of their stock and breed overly shy, wary or aggressive dogs, that only harms the breed and negatively influences people's perception of it. Boxers are one of the most popular dogs (in the US at least) so you can bet there is loads of indescriminate breeding going on resulting in lots of dogs with less than ideal temperment. It's not surprising then that that is a prevailing perception of the breed.