Bitting and jumping!! (a lot of excitement)

[Irondano]

My boxer is 7 month old, and at night she is bitting whatever she can, (obviusly she bit a lot of things that she shouldnt bit)...
I take her to walk twice a day, sometimes i put her backpacks, do biking with her.
But most of the time specially at night she bit, dig, and destroy whatever she can.
I know (´cuase i see it) that she is a wonderful dog, but maybe i am not helping her the best way to be calm.

Thanks for helping me!!!

 

[LILYLARUE]

You walk her twice a day, but for how long? Sounds like she isn't getting rid of enough energy to wear her out by nights end. Try longer walks. Atleast 30-45 mins with some stops and smelling during the walk. Excercise includes physical and the mental stimulation. Both the body and the mind needs to be worked or you have a boxer with too much energy and a lot of boredom.

Another way to wear her out is to find her a playmate that will match her energy level. An hour of some good play should do the trick!

 

[Irondano]

Thanks but i walk her at least 45 mins each time!

Maybe im failing in the mental stuff!! Cuase she is really energetic!!!

Do you have any idea how i can do the mental stimulation???

Thanks a lot!!

 

[LILYLARUE]

There are mental games made for dogs. Do a search for "mental stimulation dog toys" on the web.

Or, create some of your own. Use 3 cups turned upside down with a treat under one. Start with one cup. Show him the treat and let him smell it on the floor then put the cup on top of it. He will have to figure out how to get the treat out. After a couple good retreives, then add a second cup, showing the treat then covering and let him get it out. The second cup comes into play when he masters the first and you can shift them around making him find the right cup with the treat. Add another cup and even a few more spread around the room when he's mastered the retreival. You can then do many cups in different rooms with treats in only a few. That will get him interested in hide a seek.

You can then move to hide a seek with a special toy or treat. Take him in a room. Show him the treat then hide it (easily the first few times) and then take him to another room. Have him sit, then say "fo find it" and allow him to. If he seems confused, take him to the treat and allow him to eat it. Then start again with a new treat. Remove him and give the command "go find it". It won't take him long to figure out that he should go get it himself. Eventually you will hide things less obviously and be able to have him sit when you hide it and come back to release him to go seek.

These are two games that both my dogs absolutely love and keeps them busy for a long time without much interaction from me.

 

[larrygs]

One simple way is to do obedience training, especially at that age. Basics are good, and there are many things besides the basics, such as watch me, touch, leave it, stay with distractions such as a bouncing ball, etc. When going to obedience classes you will see some of the dogs panting as they try to figure things out.

You might want to introduce some tricks. We just taught Layla to "give me five" and a "high five" Easy to do, and pretty cute.

A frozen stuffed cong is also good for them to work on for awhile.

Introducing new experiences, such as swimming, or walking around the strip mall, a trail through some woods, etc might help.

You mentioned walking. Walking is not enough with Layla, we find a place were she can run several times a week. Sometime a fence ball park or a dog park

Hope this gives you some ideas.

 

[larrygs]

More occurs to me regarding the chewing and destroying at night. At the beginning every thing is a chew toy to them. You need to train them on what can be chewed and what not to chew.

We have plenty of dog toys, balls, empty plastic bottles, etc which we hide and rotate every few days so they are relatively new each time. We use the "leave it" command on anything else she would decide to bite.

We also have bully sticks for her to chew on. Even when she is physcally tired, Layla likes to contently chew on something.