I can raise humans but this puppy stuff is rough

[gretchensmom]

Gretchen is now 7 weeks old and she's not chewing on much else but the family members! We've tried ignoring her and it seems to make her attack the kids even more. My 3 year old is getting pretty scared of her now. This is not what I expected when we choose to get another boxer. Our last boxer was about 2 years old when we adopted her, so this puppy stuff is pretty new to all of us. She's decided to start growling at us when we ignore her or tell her NO. None of us can tell if she's meaning business or just playing, but we hope for playing. Her housebreaking is going well, the crate training however is still another story. She'll walk into her crate on her own but the minute we close the door to have her sit in it for a few minutes, she goes balistic!

I have noticed another problem. Her front left leg, at the joint is bowed out more than her right one. She was'nt like that the day we brought her home and the past few days she's been gimping. My sofa is close to the floor, but I wonder if her hopping down from it may have caused her little bones to bend. It does'nt seem to bother or hurt her, so when she goes to the vet next time I'm going to see what they can do for her.

If anybody has any advice on the biting issue, it would be GREATLY appreciated!!

 

[Lovely Rita]

i don't know about the leg thing, but i think my puppy might have had the same problem. i believe i posted about it a while ago, if you do a search you may be able to find it as well as some other stories about similar things.

as for the biting, i think i have a pretty good idea what that is. since your puppy is so young, she has missed out on the company of her siblings and her mother. the last two weeks before one is supposed to bring a puppy home (week six & seven. a reputable breeder sends puppies home at no earlier than 8 weeks) are the weeks where puppies learn bite inhibition (among other equally important things). people who bring their dogs home earlier than this often have a more difficult time training their dogs, and the dogs are more likely to have an aggression problem. however, this is not always the case, and i know for a fact that there are many people on this site who got their dogs earlier than advisable (though pure, innocent ignorance), and their dogs are perfectly behaved in every way, so there may be something else contributing to her biting. also, you mentioned you have a young child? young children don't really know how to behave with puppies, and puppies don't usually know how to behave around little kids, so maybe your daughter is inadvertantly doing something that is upsetting the puppy? i don't know, but that may be another reason. so, i advise that you take you puppy to puppy class as soon as she has gotten her vaccinations, because you are going to have to be very consistant with training your puppy, and if you start earlier you may have an easier time at it!

good luck! give your puupy a slobber from me :D !

 

[tesster]

The puppy stuff is rough, but it's worth it!

The best advise I can give you is to start training early and be very consistent with it. You can't afford to raise a dog that doesn't know how to behave appropriately towards people with a 3 yr old around.

When she is playing and does something inappropriate like biting, play must stop. Make a high pitched yelp sound and stop playing with her immediately. This is going to be important for you because your puppy is really too young to be away from her littermates at 7 weeks. They learn bite inhibition from each other at this age. One puppy bites another one. The bitten puppy yelps and stops playing with her. She learns that biting isn't rewarding because the other puppy stops playing with her when she bites. So, you're going to have to be very consistent with this. Teach your kids the same. Puppy bites = yelp and stop play.

I do want to point out that boxers are naturally very rough in play. You might not have experienced this with your previous 2 year old. They play very physically. You need to be diligent about teaching Gretchen what kind of play is appropriate with humans. She's probably looking at your kids as littermates and she's playing with them as if they are dogs. You need to teach her the difference in the same way you teach bite inhibition. Jumping on you or the kids and boxing and playing like she would with another dog, is not appropriate. That kind of play with other dogs is perfectly acceptable, but not with you.

If she goes crazy when you put her in the crate, you cannot give her any attention for that. You certainly shouldn't let her out until she calms down, otherwise you're rewarding the behavior. When crate training, wait till she calms down to let her out.

All of that must be coupled with loads of exercise. A tired puppy is a good puppy.

My dog still barks at me for attention, so I'll yield to other BWers on the growling. I don't know what to do about the foot. You should definitely talk to the vet about it.

Just remember that there will be very frustrating times, but the joy and love you receive in return is worth it all x 10.

Take care,
Julie and Tess

 

[gretchensmom]

Thanx guys for all your advice and help

Thanks for helping me. I guess I should have learned more about the puppy stages before I brought her home, but I thought she was coming from a very good home. I think maybe I was wrong. I did'nt know 6 weeks was too early to seperate them.

My youngest son does'nt understand how to teach the puppy not to bite, but then again obviously I don't either. Me and my family are so new to this puppy thing, we feel lost most of the time. The bad thing is, we've only had her a week!

As for her leg, I have a vet appt. next week for her bosters and wormer, so I hope they can tell me something. All in all, I think she's doing well. We all have some adjusting to do.

Her crate training, she seems to whine and carry on more when we are home and try to put her in it for a few minutes, than if we leave. My inlaws live next door and tell me they can hear her in the house and after about 30 minutes she calms down. But when we're home it's a whole new ball game!

Thanks alot.

 

[Melissa79]

Crate Training

Gretchens Mom,
I have a 5 month old boxer puppy and it took us weeks to get him into the crate since he had a pretty traumatic experience with a travel crate on his journey to us. Now he goes in there on command and when we are gone he only carries on for about 5-10 minutes. If we are home and he is in there he will carry on and on. I guess it takes peserverence and patience. Good luck with your new baby.

 

[ToMuchFun: )]

Our Bailey has the same thing with her leg, but it wasn't really noticable until she was about 10 or 11 weeks old. When we took her to the vet for her 12wk. shots I showed him and he said a lot of times this will straighten out with exercise (running and walking). We have a fenced in backyard and she runs nonstop everyday no matter how cold it is or how much snow is on the ground, she's my little out of the four dogs. Unfortunately, her leg is still bowed.

As Julie said, it is very frustrating, but oh so worth it lovicon. I would have a hundred boxers if I could. Good Luck! It will get better :D

 

[razzberet99]

well Alex was def. a chewer and a "biter" durning that first puppy stage - Good news! she is now 10 months - she has basically outgrown it. She now "nibbles" and it does not hurt. Still very playful though.

I have a 4 year old daughter and I just separate them when i think Alex is playing too rough. I still don't leave them together esp. for long periods of time. Also always have a "toy" or something in hand for the Puppy to chew on. THey will eventually learn what they can chew on and what they can't.

Alex is great with her now though. She does like to get ahold of Caitlin's socks and pull them off of her. Always the clown....

 

[gretchensmom]

Gretchen's update

Well, we took Gretchen to the vet about her bowed front paw and I don't know if they really know what they're talkin about! Her doc. said she brook her growth plate and now one bone has stopped growing and the other continues to grow. He took pics. so in a year when she's full grown they can see if it's gotten worse or improved. He did mention the possibility of very expensive surgery, but to tell the truth I think it's starting to improve on it's own. I know only time will tell. I did do a search on other's having this problem and it was a huge relief to know that most grew out of it. It's only been a few days and she already seems to be straightening it on her own. It does'nt look as bad. She has been getting more exercise since it's been nearly 80 degrees here! As for all the advice about her biting and chewing, she's learning the word NO pretty well. Now if I could just get my 3 year old to learn it, I'll be doing fine! Of course, what you said about my kids doing things to encourage her biting was right. They think it's a game for her to chase them and they jump on the couch where her little legs can't get her up there to get them! I guess she'll suprise them one day huh? Thanks alot guys