Hyperactivity

[Lee S]

Hi guys,

We're having some problems with our 15 month old boxer. He is our first dog together, but i did grow up with boxers so have had a few in the family over the years.

Here goes! He is great when we are at home or there is just us alone with him, he is well behaved, does as he is told and everything. However he is a real problem when people visit, or when we take him to other peoples houses or even if he sees people in the street. Basically he just goes nuts and doesn't calm down at all. I know boxers are nuts anyway and we expected that but we never quite expected this. He did go to Puppy class for about 6 months from being 3-4 months old, but we had to stop taking him as he was getting unbearable, he just wouldn't listen and do anything, yet everything we learned we do at home and he is great with it. The trainer at puppy class was suprised at how he is, the class he went to was just for Boxers only! So the trainer was a boxer lover and even had 3, yet he said he had never see one so hyped up as ours!

He really is a great dog when there is just us 2 home, he has never been nasty to anyone and is the softest animal you have ever seen, but his size is now making matters worse.

The trainer at puppy class thought his food might be an issue as it was pretty cheap stuff, we tried him on a couple that was suggested but that resulted in a visit to the vets due to his stomach not being able to take it. So in the end we resorted back to what he was on originally.

When people come round the house we usually put him in his crate for 10 minutes then get him out on his lead, then i try and occupy him with a toy or something (Was told to make myself more interesting than visitors) It is difficult as his concentration drifts and visitors are always more exciting than me! We always get people to ignore him and not make eye contact, when we do try and introduce him to them he jumps up at them and sends them flying, he won't stay calm long enough for them to say put him in a sit and give them a paw or something, so he never gets treats off other people. He is also really bad on the lead so thats something we have never got to grips with.

I was planning on changing his food again to something else, someone recommended Burns, but im open to ideas on that one. I know there are no quick fixes with this, but something needs to happen. He is 110% Hyper, if i could get him to 100% Hyper im sure he would start to "get it".

Oh yes, we also had him "done" which i now regret as it never made any difference.

Help!

 

[AdamsBunch]

A few ideas...

Try Nutro, it is the best food that I have come across. It's healthy with no fillers are artificial flavors or preservatives. Our boxers love it! The wet food is great, lots of different combos of lamb and rice and pasta! And it has no fatty stuff on it like Pedigree does.

As far as is behavior it sounds like he needs to be socialized. Dogs can become hyperactive when introduced to something or someone new if they haven't had the chance to experience a lot. Long walks are great to get out lots of energy and dog parks are a great way for him to get rid of that curiosity in a safe environment. Try to have be calm before someone ever comes in the house and separating him only increases his curiosity and excitement.

Good luck.

 

[SherylM]

If you are feeding inexpensive food it could be the fillers that he is reacting too. There are a lot of foods that are even better than Nutro. Burns is an excellent food. The thing to remember when doing the switch is to do it very gradually to avoid the upset tummy. I work at a health food store for dogs and one of our customers constantly complained about their lab being extraordinarily hyper. They switched his food to Burns and are more than pleased with the results. Now he's just normal lab hyper!

 

[Lee S]

Ok guys thanks so far.

Like i said we were planning to change his food, but was a little bit wary. The last time we did it he ended up at the vets after passing blood due to an intolerance to the food (That was royal canin, then we also tried hills natures best - None of which had a good effect on him, hence going back to the cheap bakers). I have ordered a bag of Burns so will start to change him over this week.

As for socialisation!! we wondered about this, you see we don't get loads of visitors (Even less now he his so hyper) And there isn't many relatives who is prepared to let him in their house! so it has never been easy. Would regular trips into town help? Say sat on a bench in a town centre with him for a bit with lots of people around? or does he need to have more contact with them? The other thing is, my mums Jack Russel comes to stay at our house on occasions, we have just had her for a week and also had her for a week back in October, is there anything we should be doing when they are playing together? She is much quieter than him and clearly smaller and doesnt want to play 24/7 like him. We started to seperate them when they get too much together, either by putting them both in their crates or just one of them. Should we be just letting them got on with it? Or doing something else? He is never nasty with her, in fact he is too soft, she is the one who goes for him when she has had enough of him, he is so soft he just stands there!

So how do i distract him when people come? He suddenly isnt interested in toys or bones or anything when someone comes, just them!

 

[lucasmum]

Luca is my third boxer and they have all been exactly the same as you describe. Luca is 10 mnths and I recently posted about the same problem, particularly outside with strangers. It means that he can't always go off lead because I'm scared he's going to knock someone over, let alone cover them in mud etc. I bought some training discs and I am amazed to discover that they actually work. The ones I got are made by "Mikki" and tyey come with instuctions. I used them in the house first on family members and have now graduated to outside and I'm really pleased. If you do try them I'd be really interested to know how you get on. On the food subject, I feed Luca burns but on the food analysis part of this site, it says that although the ingredients are of a good quality, the meat content is too low so I add some chicken or fish to it. Good Luck.

 

[Lee S]

Luca is my third boxer and they have all been exactly the same as you describe. Luca is 10 mnths and I recently posted about the same problem, particularly outside with strangers. It means that he can't always go off lead because I'm scared he's going to knock someone over, let alone cover them in mud etc. I bought some training discs and I am amazed to discover that they actually work. The ones I got are made by "Mikki" and tyey come with instuctions. I used them in the house first on family members and have now graduated to outside and I'm really pleased. If you do try them I'd be really interested to know how you get on. On the food subject, I feed Luca burns but on the food analysis part of this site, it says that although the ingredients are of a good quality, the meat content is too low so I add some chicken or fish to it. Good Luck.

Hi and thanks,

Can you give me some more info on these disks please?

 

[taryndanae]

Just regarding the food, you can go to www.dogfoodanalysis.com and see the rating of food you have had your boxer on as well as food you wish to try. Good luck

 

[agbo]

Wow! If it's not because I know that I didn't write this post, I would have sworn that it was about my dog. My boxer is also 15 months and behaves the same way! However; he does eat high quality food and he doesn't behave any differently. All I can say is that it's very important not to give affection while he's in a hyper state. You need to continue with NILIF and be persistent! I've been told that the hyper activity should start to subside around 2 yrs as long as the training is consistant. Best of luck to you!

 

[lucasmum]

Hi, the training discs are literally about 5 metal discs on a piece of ribbon and you just rattle them or throw them on the ground. The noise they make isn't harsh, I didn't want to use the coins in a can thing because Luca is a little jumpy anyway. I don't know quite how they work they just do, but make sure you read the instuctions about how to introduce them with food on the floor first. I got them from a pet shop online, I don't think I'm allowed to say on here the name but try googling Mikki training discs. Let me know how you get on, good luck.

 

[Lola's mum]

Reading your post made me laugh as it was as if you were describing Zebedee
He used to be such a monster and was literally pinging off the ceiling no matter how much exercise he had.
He is almost 2 now and is much calmer than he used to be. Our trainer said he was hyper even for a Boxer and asked what food he was on, treats etc but said they were ok. He said it's obviously his nature and hopefully he'll grow out of it and he has, it has just taken time.

Be firm & consistant, Zeb jumped up guests terribly and people hated coming round ours because of it, every single time he jumped up we told him down and ignored him. he only got attention when all 4 paws were on the floor. It does work you just have to be consistant even though it gets tedious.
When out walking Zeb the minute he got excited at approaching people we stopped & I put him on short lead and made him sit, now he passes people fine. Off lead he'll even come back to me and not jump up other people first.

Good luck