Alpha female issues here????

[bz3boys]

Ok...here's the situation....Roxy our beloved 4 month old Boxer girl is a great ball of energy. I let her play outside in the backyard for 2-3 hours, 2-3 times a day. When I go outside to play with/check on her...she zooms by, barking and growling....snapping at my feet and legs. She has actually drawn blood on several occassions! I have told her "NO!" stomped my feet, and when I can catch her she gets scolded! But since she is doing the sneak attacks, I can't get her attention and I know this is turning into a very bad habit and behavior we need to get under control very soon!

I have 3 small children, and they are terrified she will do it to them! When she is on the leash, she is fine, no aggression, no biting.....and she only does this to ME!! :mad:

Any gentle advice??....(I hate being yelled at in posts)

Thanks!

Nichelle and Roxy-the-zoom-biter :eek:

 

[bz3boys]

Really?

No advice? Is it because I said I didn't want to be yelled at? Well I will take yelling over nothing! :p

Really hoping for some tips!

Thanks!

 

[matilda8255]

LOL! I am so sorry to laugh but that description of her zooming around and the sneak attack just made me think of a pirranah.

The weekends are much slower on this site so by Monday you should have lots of good advice. This is my opinion and I am NO expert. Boxers are famous for zooming around but the bitting has to stop. Molly does this to her older sister Cleo and Cleo tells her off and Molly runs away and finds her ball. My entire backyard is filled with various balls of all shapes and sizes. When Molly starts being bratty (If I am playing with another dog and she wants attention etc.) I get her interested in a ball and she instantly stops whatever evil thing she was doing.

Distraction is the key! It is easy to stop a boxer from behaving badly by distracting them with something else they enjoy. For Molly it is balls but it could be treats, rope toys, or bones. I like to leave the toys outside where she plays so she knows they are her special toys because I think that makes her want them more and she behaves better.

Good Luck!!
Stephanie

 

[bz3boys]

Thanks!

I will try that! She better stop soon...or I am going to have bloody stumps for legs! :eek:

She is just getting too big for her britches!! HAHA!

Thanks again for your help with the animated graphic...I think I got it to work! :D

 

[matilda8255]

Oh yeah, it looks really nice she is beautiful.:D

 

[sportygirl]

Roxy sounds a lot like Tucker who when given the chance pushes your buttons. In an attempt to get her to stop the behavior I would first suggest you try a squirt bottle, filled with water. As she does the fly by squirt her and in a deep voice say "baaah". Sounds corny but the "bah" sounds like a growl to a dog. Once you have her attention tell her to sit, stay. Then give her a frisbee, pinky ball to play with. This way you are showing her what the positive thing to do is.

Since she is off lead when she acts up you may also want to consider using a throw chain. Basically, you get a 12" long piece of linked chain from a hardware store. When Roxy begins the negative behavior and doesn't listen to your reprimand, toss the throw chain near her feet, never directly at her. The noise itself usually gets their attention. As soon as she stops the behavior, praise her with "good girl". Roxy needs to be rewarded when she does listen. Stay calm and consistent and she will catch on. Good luck! Kara

 

[winnie]

Winnie is almost 6 months and, I swear, could be a renewable energy source... she does the same thing at the park - zips around like no tomorrow. I can't take her off leash because as soon as she see's another person (or dog especially) she goes completely nuts and mummy and daddy cease to exist.


It sounds like your having recall difficulties to begin with - just as we were. So what we do is when we are at the park, she is on a 8 metre long retractable leash... every once in a while, and everytime she gets distracted i'll call her and tell her to come, if she doesn't respond on her own, i 'reel her in' and give her a treat once shes at my feet. (this was taught to us by our puppy trainer by-the-way).

It has really made a difference.. now although she doesn't come when she's called everytime yet, we have gotten to the point that she'll come if she's not distracted, and if she is distracted the sound of our voice at least breaks the distraction and you can tell that is is unsure of what she wants to do.. go to mummy and get a cookie.. or try to get to that dog and play. Some people are very big on 'not giving your dog a treat for doing something they are supposed to' - however, as our trainer said - it is better to do whatever you have to, to ensure that your dog comes to you, than to risk having him/her take off into the street or run down a child or elderly person or go after another dog or animal.

Now with the biting, winnie doesn't ever try to nip me, however, she does try to nip at tim (aka daddy). (she was the alpha of her litter - i don't know if that means anything... ). Whenever winnie bites (be it play, anger, nipping whatever) we take a firm grip around her mouth and get our face very close to hers, stare her in the eye and yell "no biting". It has definately worked - there have been times where she wanted to have a bit of rambuncous (sp?) play and just as she goes to give tim nip, we yell "no biting" and she usually winds up frozen in this hilarious looking pose with her mouth hanging open!

I hope this helps at least a little.. (and I understand what you said about the yelling part.. at times I have come on here looking for advice and feel that people can jump down your throat - which certainly isn't encouraging to those who are looking to learn in order to improve the life of their dog. - there that's my two-cents on that!)

 

[bz3boys]

Thank you!

I will think about all that you said and give it a try! All this energy that these boxers have! WOW!

Thankfully this week Roxy is starting to pay attention to me when I tell her no biting.....now we just need to get the zooming under control! Yikes!

Thanks! And thanks for not "yelling"! :D

Nichelle

 

[Slugger6969]

HA! The zooming under control??? Isn't that a Boxer trait? I believe she will soon come to respect your personal space as she matures. You do exercises with her now to get her to understand that, right? Like if she's laying in your path you shuffle your feet and say excuse me but keep on going. Same if she's standing in the way of the direction you want to go. You never ever walk around her.

I love using a squirt bottle. However, when my guys figured out that it was just water and more of a bother than a true deterent then I started diluting vinegar in it.

How about clicker training? For instance, when she zooms by and DOES NOT bite then you click at that very instance and treat. Course you'll have to condition her to the clicker and if you don't know how to do that then search this site for links to Shirley Chong's site.

 

[bz3boys]

Oooooooooo....clicker training...

ROXY would love that! I know she will think it is a game at first, but man this lil' girl will do anything for a treat!

Yes! That adorable zooming is one of my favorite traits....but when combined with the barking, nipping, and growling it is not as cute! :eek:

Thanks for the kind advice! :D