Help w/ boxer puppy & 2 1/2 year old toddler

[11laura11]

Hello,

I gave in to my husband who really wanted a boxer. He does take care of him most of the time when he is not traveling. Here is the problem, at first our two year old daughter loved him. now she screams every time he jumps on her, which is all the time. I know boxer's are really jumpy. What can I do? I am really stressed and my husband is begging me to keep him. But I don't want my daughter upset all the time. Also, how long will it be before he is house trained? Help!!!

 

[Laurie_Duke]

Do not take this the wrong way ??

Did you do some research on the boxer breed before you bought one, I adopted mine and put hours upon hours of reading into the breed, also how old is he ??

Laurie.:D :D

 

[Maniago]

Welcome to Boxerworld....


More information would help us better answer you. How old is your puppy?

 

[11laura11]

Reply to puppy boxert

I will not take anything the wrong way, don't worry! He is eleven weeks old. We did lots of research for over a year. And when we went to buy him, we observed him for over two hours with our daughter. He was not as jumpy and she was so happy. It is only now that she isn't. I love every other trait about them except how he jumps all over her. What can I do? I have tried to teach him to no avail... Thanks...

 

[trudy]

First off let me say hello, welcome to BW it is a great place to get info, but when you are posting you need to be a little more specific....or you'll get some responses that are not helpful at all...

Second I live in Watertown 15 minutes from Boston...sounds like your pup needs some excercise maybe when the temp reaches over 20 degrees we'll be able to set up a date...

Now to your post ----- First off we need to know how old is your puppy? Has he had any formal obedience training? Is he crate trained? All of these things will help...He should definately NOT be jumping on the baby however, it is a natural puppy thing to do just that and if he hasn't been consistently trained *not* to jump then you really can't blame him for jumping...

So let us know how old, about the crate and about the obedience training and we'll see if we can be of any help....

 

[11laura11]

He is 11 weeks and we have started crate training

Will the obedience training help with the jumping and when should we start? How early?

 

[trudy]

Look at that we were posting at the same time..

11 weeks is very young...he probably isn't even house trained yet...my advice is this for now...keep him on a leash when him and the baby are in the same room together...he should not have even the opportunity to jump up on her....

House Train him and crate train him first....

Trudy is a year and a half and we're *still* working on the no jumping up thing....okay sorry that probably didn't make you feel any better:D

 

[trudy]

He can go to puppy kindergarten as soon as he's had all his first shots.....

 

[Knye2001]

I don't know much about toddlers (or kids for that matter) but can she tell the puppy to sit? Obediance would be wonderful for your family and the puppy. I would make sure to include your daughter in the training so that the puppy sees that he HAS to mind her!!! After a little obediance, your daughter would be able to tell the puppy to sit and then pet it (after a while, it will learn that only when it sits, will she pet him!!) I can imagine that a screaming 2 1/2 year old and a bouncing puppy would get aggravating, but just be patient!! Boxers mature slowly, but they are very willing to train to please you!! Use that willingness to your advantage and just make sure that your daughter is always involved with training the puppy so that it sees her as an alpha!! Good luck and I'm sure you'll get tons of advice on this issue as we all love to help anyone willing to be helped!!!

Katy

 

[vasha]

i dont have any children, so i can address a few things - but i'm not very kid savvy - with that out of the way, lets get started

Originally posted by 11laura11
Hello,

I gave in to my husband who really wanted a boxer. He does take care of him most of the time when he is not traveling. Here is the problem, at first our two year old daughter loved him. now she screams every time he jumps on her, which is all the time. I know boxer's are really jumpy. What can I do? I am really stressed and my husband is begging me to keep him. But I don't want my daughter upset all the time. Also, how long will it be before he is house trained? Help!!!

At 11 weeks, he's prone to excitement and he's showing your daughter how much he loves her. When she screams at him when he jumps she's just encouraging him to keep jumping. As hard as it is, she can't scream. She should just turn around and ignore him. Can you make it a game for her somehow?

Have you been working with him at home on sit/stay, etc etc? If you haven't please start - as you can see boxers are extremely energetic (at times hyper) dogs and if he hasnt had any obedience training he's going to get VERY unruly.

Also, your puppy probably sees your daughter as a littermate or moreso on his level than he sees you and your husband. If you've started obedience - ask your daughter to start using those phrases to get him off of her.

Please please PLEASE don't give up your puppy - this is a workable situation that can be resolved with more time and patience.



vasha