Can a boxer be too friendly?

[wicket]

Now, before everyone assumes I want an aggressive dog let me make it clear that I DO NOT. But I do have a few questions.... I know boxers are supposed to be protective of their owners, but I feel like my boxer, wicket, is a little too friendly. And what I mean by that is that he will drag me, and I mean drag me while we are walking to go up to complete strangers. He gets very excited, wags his little nub tail and walks right up to them. Now I dont want him growling at people or snapping at people, but I dont want him walking up to strangers. I have had him literally drag me to a homeless man walking 12 or 13 feet in front of us once. If I hold him on the leash from doing so he will keep pulling and choke himself. I would like to know that in the event anything bad ever happened..like an intruder in my house that he would protect me, or alert me. He doesnt bark when people walk by the house, or even when people come up to the door, even if its someone he doesnt know. Is it because I am calm walking him that he thinks every person is okay to approach? he is six months old also, if that makes any difference. I dont want to train him to be agressive in any way, but I dont want him walking up to strangers.

 

[Jan]

How old is Wickett? He may become a bit more wary or strangers when he gets a little older. I have found though, that with most boxers, strangers are just friends that they haven't met yet. It really sounds to met that you need to teach Wickett to walk nicely on a leash. Maybe a Gentle Leader or an Easy Walk Harness would help, while you did that.

Good luck!

 

[SteveL]

Mine (Rocky) started to become a little more weary of people around that age. He still thinks everyone is his friend but he approaches slower. He now will bark if something startles him at the house.

 

[Josue]

I understand where you're coming from on this, I wouldn't want too friendly of a dog either. Our boy goes ape when someone comes over, and my fiance is kind of nervous about him doing this. I enjoy this reaction though, because I don't want him to hold the flashlight when/if someone breaks in!!! LOL He warms up to the new person very quickly though, so I don't see this as a problem that needs an immediate remedy.

 

[wicket]

Wicket is about six months. Yeah, the thing I dont like is he walks up to strangers because he doesnt think everyone is he friend, he KNOWS they are...I mean, he gets so excited he doesnt just wag his tail, he wags his whole butt! I do want to train him to walk better, after posting this last night I did look at the huuuuge thread on the gentle leader harness. I think ill be looking into one of those. I just dont want him running up to people he doesnt know. If I tell him its okay then its okay, but to drag me to them is not.

 

[CoraBoxer]

If I tell him its okay then its okay, but to drag me to them is not.

Make it clear to him every time that its not. My Cora is 6 months today and she wants to meet people too. But she doesn't unless I say we do, I like to let people pass us while we sit and wait. They're young but practice (sometimes i feel like we're going in reverse forgetting what we've learned already - or I thought we did). It'll take a while. GL (harness) helps with the choking and control. I'm learning as much about all this as Cora is but I find she does great at the dog park where there are lots of people and dog and the people expect the dogs to be there and love it. She calms down quickly and enjoys it more. My hope is that she learns that people dont mean time to go crazy (exposure). Same with dogs (possible to be calm around them).

 

[LeeUmm]

6 months is very young. Boxers don't generally mature until they're around 2 years give or take. Right now he's still a baby pretty much. As he gets older, it will click in.

He'll most likely still be friendly, but he will develop that protection trait.

 

[whiskers]

Juno is the same! She's 10.5 months old and she'd rather go home with a stranger than me. It's kind of weird because if someone approaches her too quickly, she gets a little shy... but she loves going up and greeting people and shaking her whole butt. I think it takes a while for that protective trait to kick in but even then it might not take place on walks. For example my last boxer had no problem greeting everyone she met, the only time she acted protective was when someone we didn't know came to the door.

 

[sandy's mom]

My Sandy is almost 9 and she does not meet a stranger.
She loves everybody...

But... we had some work done at our house and my DIL was there with the workers. She stayed beside her the whole day. DIL said she had never seen her act that way, she was friendly and loving, but very protective too.

 

[NateBazooka]

I'll echo whiskers' statements a tad.

My boxer Kevin (also ~10.5 months old) loves all people and animals. His biggest problems are jumping on people and refusing to "give up" when another dog doesn't want to play (he just gets in a play stance and barks incessantly). Even people and dogs who aren't acting necessarily friendly towards him he thinks of as friends - a dog snapped at him at the park the other day, and Kev licked his nose.

However, when he's "home", he can acts much more protective. If there's a lot of noise outside, or someone at the door, he gives warning with a real deep woof. Thankfully, I don't yet know what he would do if an intruder did come in uninvited, and he has thus far always switched back to a big face licker whenever I've welcomed people into my home, but all of a sudden UPS guys and pizza delivery drivers no longer require me to sign for anything - they just shove the box through the door and take off!