My boxer is too rough

[agbo]

Hi folks:
I just want to know if this is normal.... My boxer is 1yr old and he is WAY too rough wit my 5 yr old niece and 1 yr old nephew. He loves to play but he gets soooo excited around small children that he paws and jumps on them. I've really tried to get him to stop but his excitement gets the most of him. The reason that I purchased a boxer was because I thought they were great with kids. He loves them but he'll end up hurting them. Has anyone had a similar experience? What should I do? Will this get better?

 

[My Boxer]

This sounds like normal Boxer behavior. My Boxers love children and love to play with them. They know how to play "house", where the girls love to dress them up, how to play "hide and seek", ball, and baseball, although they don't always give the ball back when playing third base! Right now the kids are trying to teach them to pull them in a wagon, but the dogs keep climbing into the wagon! My dogs just automatically took to the children-I don't have any, and these are the kids from the neighborhood, kids who ring the doorbell and ask if the dogs can come out to play! But I do watch them as they can get so excited that they can accidently knock over a little one in the excitement of play. The dogs know the word "gentle", and so do the kids. I have taught the kids how to train the dogs not to jump on them and to play "nice", and it has worked! I involve the kids in training and treat giving and both dogs and kids love it! It is quite wonderful to watch a 4 year old put one of the dogs in a sit/stay when she wants to get him out of her way! Hang in there,and train, train, train. NILIF has always worked for me. Also, the dogs are very protective of their kids. Whenever someone approaches that they don't know, they get between them and the stranger and watch them intently until they have passed. Its as if they are saying, "keep going, and these are my kids". I never worry about my dogs hurting the kids, but I do supervise and teach both dogs and kids how to behave.

 

[Louise501]

What should I do? Will this get better?

Not unless you train him to behave in a more appropriate way. I taught my son not to give my boxers any attention if they are jumping up, just to totally ignore them untill they sit and calm down. There are lots of different methods, have a search in the training forums, you will find different methods suit different families

 

[Just-A-Clown]

This sounds like normal Boxer behavior. My Boxers love children and love to play with them. They know how to play "house", where the girls love to dress them up, how to play "hide and seek", ball, and baseball, although they don't always give the ball back when playing third base! Right now the kids are trying to teach them to pull them in a wagon, but the dogs keep climbing into the wagon! My dogs just automatically took to the children-I don't have any, and these are the kids from the neighborhood, kids who ring the doorbell and ask if the dogs can come out to play! But I do watch them as they can get so excited that they can accidently knock over a little one in the excitement of play. The dogs know the word "gentle", and so do the kids. I have taught the kids how to train the dogs not to jump on them and to play "nice", and it has worked! I involve the kids in training and treat giving and both dogs and kids love it! It is quite wonderful to watch a 4 year old put one of the dogs in a sit/stay when she wants to get him out of her way! Hang in there,and train, train, train. NILIF has always worked for me. Also, the dogs are very protective of their kids. Whenever someone approaches that they don't know, they get between them and the stranger and watch them intently until they have passed. Its as if they are saying, "keep going, and these are my kids". I never worry about my dogs hurting the kids, but I do supervise and teach both dogs and kids how to behave.

What a great post and right on! Our Boxer also just loves kids and since we are empty nesters he enjoys ALL of the neighborhood kids. He's still a puppy but when he was a small puppy I was amazed at how he seemed to know that he had to play with the children carefully. So we were lucky there, but we built on that and worked with the skin kids and Beau on commands. "Be nice" is a good one, I started this one when he wants to play with a stuffed toy. He brings it over and wants me to hold it as he chews, tugs, I throw it and he brings it back, you know the usual stuff. On occasion he may get some teeth on my hand, I'll say "HEY, be nice". He will drop the toy, has this sad look in his eyes, reach up and give you a kiss to say he's sorry. Give him a little pat on the head and he's right back on the toy and plays nicer. Point is, you can teach them to behave.

We have one little girl who lives two doors down who just has that connection with animals, and Beau just loves her. Yet, the skin kid has established that she is boss (I think she is going to be President someday) and the sight of her regaining control by putting Beau in a sit stay always makes me smile. She likes to put his lead on and walk him around the yard, he patiently follows her around right at her side.

When ever Beau would jump on the kids we would give him a stern "HEY" and tell him off holding a flat hand out towards him, like you use for a stay or wait. The little girl caught on to this and whenever Beau gets a little too excited for her she will use it, and he listens. These kinds of things set boundaries for your pup, and establish who's boss, regardless of skin kids size.

At 10 months Beau can get sooooo excited with the kids but has learned that he has to behave, or we are not playing. Try putting him on a lead when the kids want to play. The moment he does something he shouldn't give him a stern "HEY" while grabbing the lead, correcting the behavior. Make him sit for a minute while he settles and watches the kids play. When he's calm let him join in again, that's his reward. It won't take him long to know that he has to behave a certain way or fun is over.

It's not just one thing, NILIF, training commands with the kids and setting clear boundaries all put together will do the trick.

 

[agbo]

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Addie Girl]

Addie loooooooves kids too! My two year old nephew will tug on her ears, hug her, tackle her, even try to bite her ! Most of the time Addie is good. Occasionally she will push him down or paw at him. She has gotten better as she has aged. If I know the kids will be around I try and take her for a longer walk so she won't be so excited. Also, finding a way to ignore her until she calms down helps.

The problem I have had recently is Addie's HUGE fear of strollers, wagons and tricycles.... She is terrified of them, only if they are moving, and if the kid is in them, she thinks it is attacking them! She will bite at the wheels and try and make it stop... Has anyone dealt with this before? She has come close to nipping the baby's hands before so I don't let her near any of the moving objects... but I would like to teach her how not to be afraid. Any suggestions?