Aggressive dog

[scooter52398]

Last night on our usual walk Scooter became a totally different dog! I have never seen him so aggressive towards other people. Normally he is pretty good about walking right past other people as they are outside their houses, not last night he was barking and up on his hind feet trying to get to the people. I had to make him stop and try to make him sit because he is very strong and then try to get him to continue to walk. I went home and was very upset by his behavior, I put him in his cage for a little while then daddy gave him the "talk". He was back to his normal self when we got home. I have no clue what caused him to act up last night. I made his appointment to get fixed and then am going to look into training classes. But he knows the basic commands he just needs help with the aggressiveness. Would anyone know what kind of training that I need to look into? Should I get a trainer to come to my house and train him in his territory? I don't want to stop walking him, but I can't walk him if he keeps up that type of behavior!

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

Sounds like he was afraid of something. Or it could have been the full moon. My dogs were so skittish and jumpy last night as well, barking at trash cans and acting scared a lot. I attributed it to the full moon since they were fine and bouncing off the walls once we got home as well. They were fine today too.

Dogs have moods too. If it continues, you might want to take the dog to a vet and have him checked out for any problems. Sometimes when they are not feeling well, they can become moody and aggressive for apparently "no reason," when actually it is because they are ill.

Good luck.

 

[Moonshadow]

That may explain it.

Is the full moon why Meta took me for a walk instead of me taking her last night?

She is usually really good and if she get ahead I just tell her to "walk with mommy" and she does a little circle to get back by my side. Last night she was usually the full length of the lead ahead of me.

Could it have been the moon? Or is that unlikely?

 

[bunchtolove8]

I've been told that changes in eye sight and hearing can cause personality issues - full moon may have contributed to shadows. How old is your boxer? I agree with the suggestion to have the vet check it out if this continues.

 

[Alice N. Mead]

Aggressive Behavior - Full Moon

My darling rescue boxer, Gus, has been a problem as far as being people and dog agressive, and I thought we had the solution - a cross between discipline, training, and love of cookies. Now, when a person or a dog approaches us, he turns around, sits in front to me, gives me his paw, I give him a small buscuit, and by that time the person or thing is GONE! However, the night before last he was SO NERVOUS - acting protective. He kept circling me, and acting as if he saw something. Even with my glasses on, I couldn't see man or beast. It must have been the full moon, and it didn't occur to me that it would affect his behavior. Thank you for the helpful hint.

 

[Renee&Jake]

Re: Aggressive Boxer

I think what Alice Mead suggested was wonderful. I've seen a behaviorialst and attended seminars on both dog/dog and dog/human aggression and both that approach in making headway.

Although you are right in being concerned about this, and about neutering him if he is a household pet, keep in mind how intuitive Boxers can be.

A friend and I were at the lake this summer with our dogs, (4 altogether) and the dogs were swimming and splashing, 2 people on a motorcycle show up. Normally, Jake is calm around strangers, comfortable in crowds and traffic, but as they approach, he lets out this DEEP growl, his hackles come up, tail wags hard. So I grab his collar, because his behavior is scaring me, and give him a sharp "settle" command. He protested with a snort, but quieted down.

As they come up to my friend and I, it becomes obvious that they were intoxicated, and they asked us if we had any drugs to sell them! We were both so freaked out! By this time, her Rottie is as unhappy about this as my Boxer, she starts growling, Jake joins in, the drunk people backed off, and I learned a valuble lesson about listening to my dog. -Renee & Jake

 

[scooter52398]

Thanks for the replies. I made an appointment to get Scooter neutered next Friday. Needed to be done anyway. Also, I am looking into training classes because I know he could use some training. Lately, I have been going to my parents to walk Scooter as no one is around in their area and he was walking fine but looks like he is searching for female dog territory :( I also noticed that since people are putting their Halloween decorations up he seems to be aggressive towards the decorations. For example, they have these black rats that they put in front of their houses and he thinks it is some live animal and wants to check everything out. But first he'll bark and act wild!

 

[Saywinboxers]

Aggressive dog?

I am glad you got Scooter neutered for both your sake. But as far as your questions, I feel people really need to listen to there dogs, so often people ignore barking dogs and later learn of neighborhood problems etc.... Obedience is always a good idea! socialization is a must.... you ask if it should be done privately? I like a few private lessons, more so on your behalf, and then practice in public and in future dog classes. I wouldn't be so quick to judge your dog, it may be like you stated, halloween decorations etc... some times it could be as simple as the odor of a dog on a person who past you buy......And I do agree with the moon syndrome...While working at the vets, we saw alot more seizure dogs when the moon was full, and there is many documentation on this....Ask anyone who works at an emergency room at a hospital! I had a simular experience with a dog I was showing, this dog loved to show never a problem! one day he freaked out, wouldn't let the judge near him, cowered away, it was unreal..... would move beautifully when asked for his down and back but wouldn't get near the judge? I later learned this judge was shady to say the least, quite the ladies man, etc........so I just chalked it up to my dog knew best! and it has never happened again, so who knows...............they try there best to tell us things.......Cindy

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

Training is an excellent idea. Congratulations.

As for barking at decorations, etc., mine do that all the time. My Susie freaked out about a "for rent" sign that was in the yard across the street one day because it hadn't been there before and she was sure it was some sort of "intruder." For those kinds of incidents, I take them over and let them see and sniff the decorations, etc., and calm them down some. They are just afraid because something is "out of place" in their territory.

Actually (that incident being kind of amusing however) I agree with Saywinboxers in that they ARE guard dogs and they do do their guard dog thing. I too totally trust my dogs' instincts over mine, especially at night.

For example: The other evening, we were going out for our last walk around 10:30pm. We live on a nature trail and it is kind of spooky at night. Usually very quiet and we're the only ones on the trail at that time. But this night, Susie saw something across the street, down the trail (away from the direction we were headed), and went wild barking and hackles raised, etc. We stopped and I tried my best to see what it was that was upsetting her, but could see nothing. But because I trusted her instincts, I thought there might be someone "lurking" in the bushes over there or something so, I decided to let the barking Susie "check it out" and we started over that direction.

As we approached the street to cross (Susie still barking), a "wino" type came staggering out of the bushes across the street (I never saw him at all until then) and started running away from us and the barking Susie. Scared the you-know-what out of me, that's for sure. And also scared the wino too!!

So, all that barking is what guard dogs do. They warn you that something isn't right with their "territory" and they want to check it out and protect you. That's what they do. You don't really want to "train" that out of them. It is what boxers do best.

Good luck and trust your dogs. They won't ever let you down.

 

[dumerili03]

the firs time i have ever seen winston aggressive toward anything was last week (kind of silly actually). my roommates from last year live upstairs from me, and winston likes to visit them. he is excellent with the heel command and we were walking but as we entered the room, i was the only one heeling. he stood frozen in the doorway. i sat frustrated telling him to come, heel, etc. i finally picked him up and sat him in the middle of the room. my ex roommate said "yeah, he acted like that when i brought him up last time. watch this." he reached up and gently nudged his metallic silver happy birthday balloons and winston went crazy. haclkes, and everything, barking like mad. he has never acted like that before. i really have never heard him bark aggressively at anything. it is kind of relieving that he has some non-passive traits to him. protection...i don't know, he HATED those balloons though.
jim