do your boxers bark (in home) with strangers approaching?

[Colin Doyle]

I have a beagle that barks at everything. I also have a 4 month old boxer that recently started barking. Rocky mainly barks when people knock on the door or at people he does not recognize. When he first did it it was the funniest thing I had seen. It was very loud and he sort of starttled himself.
I was wondering how big Winston was since he and Rocky are about the same age?

****************************************************
Colin

Sir Rocky Conan Doyle--1/28/01, Male Fawn, Black Mask, Natural Ears
Miss Madeleine (Maddie)--Beagle, 12/24/95

****************************************************

 

[Joodles]

Zoe was pretty much silent for her first 6 months. My older dog Butch taught her to watch at the window.

Zoe is the only dog now. She lets me know when the mail and paper are coming. And the icecream truck. And hot-air balloons. She will run to the window for other interesting things, but only bark if there is "danger."

 

[Brutus and Amaya's Mom]

Some boxers are better watch dogs than others. Brutus barks when people come to the door or if he sees them walk past the house outside. Somehow he learned that if we say stranger he runs to the door and barks.

Amaya will occasionally bark but she is in way protective. She barks more while playing that at strangers or the door. Usually if she does bark Brutus started it.

 

[malinda]

Megan doesn't bark at approaching strangers, although I hope that if there was any real danger she would. If fact my neighbor who doesn't like dogs, informed me last weekend that she likes Megan because she never barks, unlike the dogs down the street that always bark.

 

[dumerili03]

Hey, Colin Doyle

winston's about 40 lbs i would imagine. i weighed him at 17 weeks (he was pretty ribby then) and he was 30 lbs. i've since changed his diet a little and i can see noticable growth which i'm happy about. he's 19 weeks now
jim

 

[Colin Doyle]

Hey Jim,
It sounds like Rocky and Winston are on the same path. He is 4 months old and weighs 35 lb. He too is kind of ribby, but eats like a horse. How did you change Winston's diet?
The funniest thing happened yesterday. Have you ever heard a beagle bark (they call it a bay not a bark)? It is sort of like a howl and a bark. Well naturally Maddie does it and now Rocky is starting to bark (bay) like Maddie. I heard it for the first time yesterday and Maddie was not even in the room with us. I was like "What the hell?" This should be interesting.

 

[OpusandBill2004]

Boxer barks...

Sophia disliked mailmen after her experience with mace and a heavy leather mailbag. She was in the front yard, and dad had just gone around back with the lawn mower when he hears Sophia whining. He ran to the front, only to be met by our neighbor who said, "I saw her attack him!" From then on, anyone in a postal service uniform was public enemy number one. It didn't matter what race they were either. She did, however, do quite well with the FedEx and UPS drivers.

My suspicion is that FedEx/UPS drivers didn't walk across her grass, and rang the doorbell politely, so there was no need to hate them.

She taught Dani very well.

 

[Lisa M]

Casper is a silent guard dog. He watches as our lab mix barks and growls her head off but he doesn't bark. Actucally, I'me very glad because it can be, as you said, annoying at times. (Especially when I'm on the phone with a client :rolleyes: )

Don't worry about your boxer greeting folks with kisses, they are great at being able to tell the difference between friends and foes - one of the traits I love so much about them. Even other silent boxers in our family have gone over and tackled and growled at those who have threatened their loved ones. They've always seemed to sense when someone was in danger and how much force was needed to let the danger know that they were serious about protecting us.

Despite Casper's not barking at people, he is a great watch dog in that he hears the same noises that Sumi does, his response is just different. Often before she even starts her warning woofs, he will cock his head then look over toward the source of the noise, then get up to see what it is. After living with him and learning his habits, I can tell when he hears someone outside - so I know they are there, but they don't know that I know - until Sumi goes growling over at the door that is

Boxers are very good at assessing a situation - so it seems to me that Casper goes and checks everything out and determines there is nothing to worry about - which so far he's been right about every time.

 

[dumerili03]

colin doyle...

i'm not an advocate of the BARF diet yet, but i kinda mix up his food. sometimes i'll throw an egg in, some raw ground beef, canned dog food, little peanut butter, plain yogurt, really anything higher in calories that he'll eat. some days he's just not hungry (which is annoying cause i want him to grow!).
i'm not familiar with the beagle bay, but if it's anything like a basset hound (TERRIBLY ANNOYING!!) then i know what it sounds like. we used to live next to a basset who would just hollar and carry on all day. hahaha, i bet that was a surprise to you! imagine the lady who's cats began barking! that'd be a shock.
jim

 

[kassa]

Some of your puppies are quite young yet to
demonstrate protection behaviors. It's primarily
related to sexual/physical maturity, so I wouldn't
think much about it until about 15 months. They may
not develop it at all if there is another dog in
the household that serves as the early warning
system -- that doesn't mean the dog wouldn't
go into full protection mode if you were out with
him/her and threatened.

They CAN tell the difference between bad people
and good people, and if your boxer ever really
takes an instant dislike to somebody, TRUST him.

I try to limit the behavior to a low growl and a
dancer to alert me that somebody is outside,
then I check it out and release the dog ("Good boy,
enough") if it's somebody with legitimate business.