[ Help!! ] My boxer has serious problems

[thomas_papa]

Hallo everybody,

I am asking for your advice because my thomas (male 10 months old) has few behavioural problems, one of them I think is serious, and I just could not figure it out of how to deal with it yet, so probably anybody has some advice please? The problems were:

1. I have another (male) dog in my house, he's older than my thomas (about 4-5 years), he's been there ever since my thomas first arrived from the breeder. At first few months, there seems no problem at all between two of them and in fact I think they get along quite well.
Suddenly three days ago, we were sitting in the living room and so were the dogs. Then, out of the blue Thomas is attacking my other dog and became really scary, as Thomas is actually biting the neck of my other dog and wont let go of him. I try to pull Thomas as hard as I can but I didnt manage to separate them, until my father in law hit thomas with a rotten in his body. I know it is bad to hit dogs, but we were in the situation where we have to act fast otherwise my other dog will die. Okay, then we manage to separate them and things are getting normal again, as we try to treat my other dog. Then 15 minutes later, my other dog seems to try to make it up with Thomas (we know it from his body language), again Thomas responded by attacking my other dog again, until we have to hit him again.
Now I am very cautious of leaving home again, because I am afraid that the same thing will happen again. Does everybody has any suggestion or advice regarding this? I am really sad now and doesnt know what to do :(

2.I have a slight problem too regarding the piss/poo behaviour of Thomas because there are days when he will just do the thing outside of house (where he suppose to), but suddenly I caught him doing it like 5 times a day inside the house. The way I teach him is usually just speaking to him showing that I dont like that kind of behaviour from him, and he always give that looks that he's sorry about the mess that he make, only to make it again in about 15 minutes later :( What you actually do in this condition?

Thank you and I am really hoping that there is somebody that could help me with these problems.

 

[Net45582]

Are they both neutered?

 

[SandyHG55654]

Well it's been said before about the figting, the best combo is male/female male/males can fight and female/female is the worst. How old is the other dog? Are they both neutered? Usually at the age of 2 sometimes they begin to fight. I would call in a behaviorist asap and you will need to keep them separated at all times even when you think they are getting along. They will fight to the death. It maybe necissary for you to rehome one of them for safety's sake. Do a search on male/male combo's i'm sure you'll find info on this topic.

 

[Louie's Mom]

are your boys neutered?

how old is Thomas?

It could be that thomas is maturing and is competing with your other male for the alpha position.

I can tell you right now that the fight didn't "just happen out of the blue" there were clear body signals that you didn't recognize.

Someone on her can explain things better than me but to sum it up - your boys are probably not going to be friends.

you can only have 2 dogs if they are both spayed or neutered, otherwise hormones will cause the dogs to fight if they are both of the same sex - and if they are of opposite sexes, Well . . . then you have a house full of puppies AND YOU DON'T WANT THAT

Good luck

 

[sgbtab]

take the older dog to the vet to see if he is ill. it could be where he is ill and thomas is viying for his postion. if there is nothing wrong with his health then you need to start nilif. (nothing in life is free) with both the dogs make them work for what they want or need.

the way you do that is never hit them or threaten them. it is not fear that you want from them. you need to take the alpha position right away. you must let the dogs know that there is no fighting in the pack. so what you could start with is make them sit everytime they need to go out,eat or even play with you.

the only thing hitting and yelling does is make the dog fear you which in turn he will not trust you.

 

[agilityboxer]

Vet for neuters if needed and to check out your two would be my first recommendation. Then NILIF and the behaviorist would be my next step. I’ve gone though a very similar situation when my two females grew to maturity.

are your boys neutered?

I can tell you right now that the fight didn't "just happen out of the blue" there were clear body signals that you didn't recognize.

This is very true, but I know when it started at my house, I had no clue that they were building into a dominance fight. Luckily we have pretty much gotten past it, but I have really keyed into the postures, looks, and noises they make when building up to a negative event. You should probably surf the web and find more information on canine posturing there is some great info out there.

Also, it is very important to identify the “trigger” (what “triggers” the fight). For my two it was normally food or attention (specifically from me). It is hard to really see the whole situation from the dogs perspective and this is something the behaviorist should really be able to help in this arena.

If you are not sure where to look for a behaviorist try contacting some local rescue groups. They will most likely have a couple to recommend.

Hope this helps!