boxer wont leave my 5 yr old alone

[Love My Abbey]

Ugh...I am so at my wits end. My 9 month old boxer rescue (we have had her for 3 months) , Abbey, will not leave my 5 yr old daughter, Brooklyn, alone. Poor Brooklyn cant play outside, or with toys, or even sit on the couch and watch tv without Abbey jumping all over her, biting her hair, her ankles, her arms, etc. Brooklyn will tell her firmly "Abbey stop" but she wont stop. Brooklyn ends up dropping to the ground and covering up her head because the biting on her ankles, and hands hurts her!!!
Brooklyn likes to walk Abbey around on her leash outside, gives her treats, works sit, down, catch with her, feeds her, etc. But it doesnt seem to matter.
As soon as Brooklyn comes into the living room with a Barbie, or whatever, Abbey is right there attacking her. She will go outside to play on her slides, and Abbey is right there attacking her. Its very sad. My 5 yr old cant even play like a kid!! I am always having to tell her "go play in your room by yourself". If I go into her room to play with Brooklyn, I have to close the door so Abbey wont come in there. Abbey will stand outside the door and bark and scratch the door like crazy.
I just dont know what to do. Life is just not fun with Abbey anymore. I am constantly taking toys out of her mouth,and trying to keep her away from Brooklyn. she chews on all the kids toys, books, barbies, blocks, cars, etc. I am constantly yelling at Abbey to get off Brooklyn. I am constantly yelling at Brooklyn to go play by herself. Grrrrrrrrrr
I dont know that I can handle a couple more years of this before she grows out of her "teenage years".
Help!!!

 

[LokiGem]

Oh my goodness! This sounds pretty tough!
My boxer is 4 months and he plays with the neighborhood children he jumps all over them and tries to lick them to death but Never bites. However when he plays with my 5 year old niece (named Abby, ) he plays much more rough. He also plays with my 2 year old nephew but, more gently than I've ever seen him play. When Loki plays with my niece he jumps up and nearly knocks her over, he bites at her hair, and nipps her hands and feet. I must admit that my niece is very hyper, kind of pushy, and has a high pitched voice. I think Loki reacts more rough with Abby because of her body language and behavior. My nephew is very quiet and always approaches Loki by crouching down to him with gentle motions, where as my niece runs to him flailing like only a 5 year old girl can.
I instructed Abby to move more slowly around Loki and if he tries to play rough I told her to cross her arms over her chest, stand tall and look at the sky, ignoring Loki. This helps and he usually backs off. Maybe you could try this with Brooklyn. Another method I've read about is to keep your Abbey on a leash in the house tied to you. This way she can't get to Brooklyn whenever she wants and you can praise or scold her when appropriate. If you can stick with this and be consistant for a couple of days she should learn through the rewards not to attack your daughter.
Hope this helps

 

[Love My Abbey]

hello! Thanks for the reply. I too have a 2 yr old that Abbey completely leaves alone. Once about a month ago, Abbey knocked him down on purpose a couple of times....but for the most part she completely leaves him alone.
As far as the leash thing goes, I guess I could try that. Abbey would have to be on the leash the entire time Brooklyn is around?? Thats a lot of me dragging the dog all over the house to get my stuff done!! LoL!!
I have talked to Brooklyn a million times about the proper way to treat the dog, but sometimes it goes in one ear and out the other. She is excited to have a new dog, and wants to play with her all the time. Its just that her play turns into biting in a matter of minutes. So now Abbey thinks its ok to bite anytime.
We will work on it and hopefully things will get better......

 

[Eva]

What does your 2 year old do differently than Brooklyn? Does he ignore Abbey most of the time? Brooklyn might try the same tatics, if you can see them......
I can understand your fustration, and it sounds like both Abbey and Brooklyn need a little instruction. It may take a lot of reminding on your part, but I am sure that if you keep reminding Brooklyn that very physical or "rough" interaction on her part leads Abbey to bite, she will eventually start remembering and slowly change her behavior. As for that leash, is there a place that you can tie or attach it to in the room, so you don't have to constantly hold it? If so, feel free to do that sometimes, and then have Brooklyn CALMLY (LOL, I know that sounds easier than it is) interact w/Abbey, like petting w/her and maybe a little tug-of-war....then, if Abbey gets rough, Brooklyn can more easily get away as she tells Abbey "NO." And I would recommend you come over when Abbey gets rough and roll her over onto her back and hold her still and/or occasionally take her lips and gently fold them back over her teeth and hold her mouth shut (so she learns that can really hurt! Kind of like a reverse pinch...) and tell her "NO" again....
Be patient and consistant, and I promise it will pay off! Good luck!! :cool:

 

[Eric J]

Originally posted by Eva
And I would recommend you come over when Abbey gets rough and roll her over onto her back and hold her still and/or occasionally take her lips and gently fold them back over her teeth and hold her mouth shut (so she learns that can really hurt! Kind of like a reverse pinch...) and tell her "NO" again....
Be patient and consistant, and I promise it will pay off! Good luck!! :cool:

OH boy, is this ever wrong. It has been covered more threads then you could read in an hour, that doing the "alpha roll" (your description of rolling the dog over) does not work and is not good for establishing your dogs relationship with you. Go do a search on "alpha roll" on this site to find out more then you ever needed to know on why not to use it.

As for making your dog bite itself, read the site's rules you agreed to become a member, where such training (hurting a dog, how else do you propose a dog learns by this method except by you setting it up to cause pain by bit to itself) is not allowed to be discussed on these boards since they are not in the best interest of the dog.

 

[Barb_IA]

It just sounds like puppy rough play to me. They love to play with children. Your just going to have to find away to break her of some of her bad habits...ankle biting and such. Boxers can be very persistant when they are young. You will have atleast another year if not more of her playful ways while growing up.
I'm sure you can probably do a search on boxerworld to help you find some positive help with your problems...Good luck.

 

[Scrapper's Mom]

Do you have a crate for this 9 mo. old girl? I know the idea is to get her to leave your daughter alone, but 9 months is right in the middle of Boxer adolescence. They act just like bratty teenagers at that time. They will calm down when they get older, but Scrapper (19 mos) still just wants to play with the boys when my son has his friends over. I am noticing that he is calming down, so it's a process, not something that occurs overnight.

In the meantime, you can use the crate by putting your pup in there so that she can be in the middle of the play area, but not bother your daughter. She can see out and hear what's going on, but not get in the middle of things. No, don't crate her all the time, but you can use it to help in this situation.

Boxers are just energetic, intelligent dogs. They think they are another one of the kids, so they just want to join in the play. The problem is that your 5 year old isn't big enough to fend off the dog yet so she gets the brunt of the "play." I think your dog leaves the 2 year old alone because she instinctively senses that the 2 year old is still a baby. My big galout acted like a little lamb for the week I was babysitting a 3 month old puppy last January. He let him take his toys, his food, anything, right out of his mouth and stepped ever so lightly around the pup because he knew that this was a baby and he acted accordingly.

Of course, I think it goes without saying that a baby shouldn't be left alone without supervision with any dog.

 

[boxermom5]

I agree with the "rough play" - I think it almost goes without saying that the harder you play the harder your boxer will play. They do grow out of the nipping the ankles thing though my younger dog will still go for the long hair or ears (she is a real ear fanatic). Tenaia does still nip at Tess's ankles when she is playing of if she is trying to rouse Tess into playing with her (we always tease her and tell her Tess is not a piece of chicken). Tess usually retaliates by sitting on Tenaia's head and that is generally successful in the release of the grip on her leg and Tenaia gives up after being sat on 2 or 3 times. Maybe Brooklyn could try that approach - just sit back (not full weight) enough to be touching Abbey's head until she stops the nip and using a command such as "don't bite" or "enough" at the same time. Might work....

 

[LokiGem]

I agree with Eric and Scrappers mom. Don't try to hold Abbeys mouth closed, not a good idea. And you should definatley have a place to confine the dog when this is a problem. I reread the original post and it seems like you remove your daughter from the area by having her play in her room with the door closed. I think it makes more sence to remove Abbey by putting her in a crate or a closed off part of the house when she gets out of hand.
I think it is important for Brooklyn to have the run of the house, not Abbey. Afterall, Abbey is the one who isn't playing nice so she should be the one with a time out. Abbey will have to learn that even 5 year old and 2 year old children are people that she must learn to listen to and respect.

 

[Eva]

Sorry if I offended you Eric, but I want to make it very clear that I have NEVER hurt my babies, nor do I ever condone such behavior. When I said "hold their mouth shut," I didn't mean it to sound like a tight long grip...just for a sec at the most....That was not at all what I was saying...I think you misunderstood me. I've been a member of this site for some time as well...I respect the rules! :rolleyes:

And, maybe I do it differently than others who have attempted it, but I have found the rolling over a dog to work for me. Again, I think I do it differently....a lot of the time I rub their tummys or throat, which makes them calm down on their own. I don't lock them down or forcefully inhibit them from moving, or anything like that!

I do think using the crate for brief breaks is a good idea though!

Eva