Vicky Scott
Boxer Buddy
Hi everyone,
I wonder if anyone can offer me some advice??? I've posted on here a few times, but i think this is my biggest challenge, and i'm wondering whether i need some professional advice from a behaviourist???
Ellie is my white/brindle boxer she is almost 11 months old and i love her with all my heart.
In my opinion Ellie has always seemed a little dominant, but this seems to have got worse over the past few months. Ellie had to have an operation in September due to being born with Osteochondrosis, the surgery was just awful but nothing prepared us for the following weeks. Poor Ellie had to be shut in a crate for about 12 weeks and only coming out for short periods of time to rebuild the muscles in both of her front legs.
As you can imagine we spoilt Ellie quite alot, which i don't regret, my poor baby suffered a great deal of pain and frustration. Ellie's legs are healing well and she is now able to go off lead for 5 mins in the park, which she loves. The problem is i've got to walk her about an hour once a day and other short walks if possible to strengthen her legs up, but she seems to have developed some strange behaviours.. ie. She bites her lead really bad after about 15 mins and i don't mean just a little, i mean a full war with the lead. I've tried ignoring her, this doesn't work, if i tell her off she things i'm playing, if i take the lead out of her mouth she gets more fired up, and distracting her doesn't work either???????? This is my first problem, i really don't know what else to do and it is so so so important that i walk her but it is proving to be almost impossible!!!!!
Next problem... When we go out Ellie has always been left in the kitchen, when she was younger she was alway in her crate but for the last month or so we have just left her in the kitchen with her bed. She has until recently been very good. Ellie always has a walk before we go out and she has a mountain of toys and bones. We are only ever gone for a max of 5 hours, but over the last week we have come home to find that she has eaten chunks out of the door?! Why has she started this now at 11 months old? What do i do? If i take the door off and put a gate up then i feel she isn't going to learn. I don't want to have to go back to crating her again, i want to give her freedom. She is left in the kitchen all night and doesn't do a thing??!!
Last thing is.. and i'm so sorry this is so long, but it feels so great to be able to get all of this off my chest.. Ellie doesn't really take a blind bit of notice when we tell her off, she turns everything into a game. She barks quite a lot and sometime i ignore her as thats what i've been advised and my neighbours phone to make sure everything is ok as she just barks for ages no matter what i do. She never knows when to stop when playing, and she tends to bite a little when over excited.. although i must say she doesn't bite hard.
I feel this is all down to all that she has been through, i didn't really have the opportunity to train her as i had been when she was a small puppy and she has been over spoilt, but i'm not sure how to correct everything.
Sorry this is so long, but i'm going to sleep well tonight knowing that someone out there will have an answer to at least one of my problems.
Thank you for reading this and i hope to hear from you soon. Please feel free to be honest with me, and tell me if you think i need some professional help.
Kind regards,
Vicky & Ellie xxxxx
I wonder if anyone can offer me some advice??? I've posted on here a few times, but i think this is my biggest challenge, and i'm wondering whether i need some professional advice from a behaviourist???
Ellie is my white/brindle boxer she is almost 11 months old and i love her with all my heart.
In my opinion Ellie has always seemed a little dominant, but this seems to have got worse over the past few months. Ellie had to have an operation in September due to being born with Osteochondrosis, the surgery was just awful but nothing prepared us for the following weeks. Poor Ellie had to be shut in a crate for about 12 weeks and only coming out for short periods of time to rebuild the muscles in both of her front legs.
As you can imagine we spoilt Ellie quite alot, which i don't regret, my poor baby suffered a great deal of pain and frustration. Ellie's legs are healing well and she is now able to go off lead for 5 mins in the park, which she loves. The problem is i've got to walk her about an hour once a day and other short walks if possible to strengthen her legs up, but she seems to have developed some strange behaviours.. ie. She bites her lead really bad after about 15 mins and i don't mean just a little, i mean a full war with the lead. I've tried ignoring her, this doesn't work, if i tell her off she things i'm playing, if i take the lead out of her mouth she gets more fired up, and distracting her doesn't work either???????? This is my first problem, i really don't know what else to do and it is so so so important that i walk her but it is proving to be almost impossible!!!!!
Next problem... When we go out Ellie has always been left in the kitchen, when she was younger she was alway in her crate but for the last month or so we have just left her in the kitchen with her bed. She has until recently been very good. Ellie always has a walk before we go out and she has a mountain of toys and bones. We are only ever gone for a max of 5 hours, but over the last week we have come home to find that she has eaten chunks out of the door?! Why has she started this now at 11 months old? What do i do? If i take the door off and put a gate up then i feel she isn't going to learn. I don't want to have to go back to crating her again, i want to give her freedom. She is left in the kitchen all night and doesn't do a thing??!!
Last thing is.. and i'm so sorry this is so long, but it feels so great to be able to get all of this off my chest.. Ellie doesn't really take a blind bit of notice when we tell her off, she turns everything into a game. She barks quite a lot and sometime i ignore her as thats what i've been advised and my neighbours phone to make sure everything is ok as she just barks for ages no matter what i do. She never knows when to stop when playing, and she tends to bite a little when over excited.. although i must say she doesn't bite hard.
I feel this is all down to all that she has been through, i didn't really have the opportunity to train her as i had been when she was a small puppy and she has been over spoilt, but i'm not sure how to correct everything.
Sorry this is so long, but i'm going to sleep well tonight knowing that someone out there will have an answer to at least one of my problems.
Thank you for reading this and i hope to hear from you soon. Please feel free to be honest with me, and tell me if you think i need some professional help.
Kind regards,
Vicky & Ellie xxxxx
But no doubt the missed training when she was younger has contributed. LOL - adolescents are notorious for appearing to 'forget' any training they've had - but they don't really, they're simply testing boundaries. Without the basic training in the first place though... well, they are understandably a bit wild.