Growling at strangers - agrressive to other dogs

[RiosUncle]

My room mate has an adorable five year old boxer named Rio. He loves me to pieces and is a very well behaved though a bit territorial and protective as is the nature of boxers. He has been trained with hand and voice commands and was a winning show dog in his youth.

We have had two major related behavioral issues that I'm not sure how to deal with. He barks and growls when ever someone comes within sight of the house even more so if they have a leashed dog. He is not very responsive when told "No", "Sit", or "Stay". The other issue is that he growls and lunges toward any dogs we see when on a walk.

Yesterday he was able to get loose through a poorly latched door while I was napping (My room mate is out of town) and attacked a retriever that was leashed and being walked. He did not hurt the other dog which leads me to believe his intentions were of a warning nature as he is powerful enough to have severely hurt the retriever if he so desired, but the other dogs owner did have to "peel" him off his dog.

He was understandably upset and I am at a loss for how to correct this behavior. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Be well,
Rio's Uncle

 

[Krikkit]

Hi and Welcome to Boxerworld Rio's Uncle Rio is a nice name. Sometimes the easiest solution to this type of thing is prevention - is it possible to block his access in the house / yard so he can not see what is happening in the street? This can really help calm territorial behaviour.

Regarding the problems you are having on leash, take a look at this thread (just posted): http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56312

It's great Rio has such nice humans who want to help him out

Sharon

 

[RiosUncle]

Unfortunately our house has full windows on three sides with the street side in the middle so he can see them coming, passing and going. It is particularly difficult when someone comes to the door. Rio can be quite intimidating when you have a guest over for the first time, as soon as the people are in and he can sniff them he's fine, overly friendly if anything. We've remedied part of the problem by gating him in the upstairs when we are gone to work or for extended periods.

My main concern is how to prevent an incident like what occurred yesterday. I was greatly distressed by his attack on the other dog and grateful that the owner did not take action. While the door situation was a fluke, it is always possible that he could slip out when someone opens the door and repeat such an occurrence with less favorable results.

I will check out the link you sent on leash aggression. Thanks for your kind words and advice!

Be well,
Wayne

 

[Krikkit]

Wayne, yes, things like that are distressing - I'm sure most of us here appreciate the problem.

Would it be possible for you to put some baby gates across the doorway(s), or some type of barrier so if a door is accidently left open he can not get through? It may need some thinking 'outside the square'. My house does not have doors as such, but large sliding glass doors and fold out panels - we use a bamboo trellace for the fold out panels for when we want the dogs inside, but the doors open. A friend of ours built in a false entry to her home, so her dogs are not able to access the actual door way. It too, is made out of a trellace type material and actually looks really nice. Mind you, for a quick fix, I'm prepared to sacrifice 'looks' and go for safety.

Wishing you all the best with this

Sharon

 

[ladyluck_t]

I am not qualified to give advice on behavioral issues, since my little girl acts like a hyper 2yr old on speed, but are you sure this is aggression and not normal "boxer" play. they do play very intensely and can sometimes be confused with aggression. My katie has not nor has ever been aggressive and she was kicked out of doggie day care for "aggression" i finally pinned the guy down about her "aggression" and found out she was just being a typical boxer and playing intensely. It is just a thought.


Good Luck,

Carolyn and Katie

 

[mikeyb203]

agressive to dogs

I'm replying to you because I have had the exact same problem with my female boxer. The weird thing was that she had always been good with other dogs and animals until she reached the age of four. It was literally over night when she became agressive to other dogs. She will lunge at them on walks and has attacked several dogs. Nothing has worked to break her of this behavior issue. Also there was never an incident that could be contributed to her becoming so agressive to dogs. After Two well known trainers, behavior specialists and an increase in my homeowners insurance, we decided that the only thing that would fix the problem would be to prevent it.

 

[hudson78]

I have to agree with the previous post. I have 2.5 yr old female who became aggressive towards other dogs, sometimes it's not about fixing the problem but preventing it, or managing it. For instance, we use to let both our dogs off leash and play all the time, now that Ally has developed aggression issues with other dogs we no longer let her run loose in areas we know there will be other dogs near by. It's honestly too hard on your nerves, I had to peel her off a few retrievers and labs when she went after them after an unprovoked attack. That being said she does have 6 or 7 dogs that she gets along with for whatever reason so we make sure she gets to see them once a week or more. I believe it's familiar scents that make her more relaxed around dogs she doesn't know.

Best of luck!!

 

[RiosUncle]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. While it sounds like his behavior may not change entirely, it is comforting to know that this is not a unique problem to Rio. I've always assumed it is because he takes his job of protecting "the pack" very seriously and getting him to stop would be like trying to get a human mother not to care for her child! I will try some of the preventive measures mentioned here as well as working on focusing him on me when I walk him without getting tense or tightening the leash. Other than that, we'll just let him be a boxer! =)

Thanks again,
Wayne

PS: Can't wait for his pictures to post so I can show him off!