New Puppy Blues

[Apenamon]

I resently bought my first boxer male pup. (6wks old) He is full of energy. He bites every thing including me. And it seems at times he's out of control. What can I do to help him with this aggression before it get out of hand. I bought some repellent spray and lots of toys. But he still bites everything. My clothes, the carpet, socks, shoes... Everything.

Please Help!

 

[Boxer Frenzy in Oregon]

Be patient!!! He's just a pup teething. When we brought our Bailey home, that's all she did! Just make sure you keep all of that stuff you don't want him to chew on away from him. We learned that early. It's not the puppy's fault they found the socks, shoes and etc. It was ours for leaving them out:( It seemed like forever before she calmed down. Enjoy the puppy months. Before you know it, he will be grown. Bailey is almost 6 months and now she just chews on her toys.
Good luck and have fun!!!

 

[Krikkit]

Congratulations on your new puppy

What is your boys name? Puppy biting is perfectly normal - we have all been through it here and can certainly sympathise. Your boy has left his Mom and littermates a little young so you now have to teach him all the things they would have helped him learn

This recent thread on biting should give you lots on information on how to manage this.

http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=4800

Here are a couple of articles on puppy chewing:

http://www.petcompanion.com/dogs/article6A.htm

http://www.doggiedoor.com/chewing.shtml

http://www.boxerbytes.com/biting.htm

A great book for any Boxer parent to read is "Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson and covers all the normal puppy and dog behavior 'problems' which people tend to run into problems with. It is available at Dogwise http://www.dogwise.com and I think many bookstores sell it too.

Looking forward to hearing more about your boy. We like puppy pics here too

take care

 

[trinidad]

boxer puppy

I don't know at all how to give advice on a new puppy, but I am intrested in buying on. I live in San Diego and have tried for the last couple months to find someone to respond to my e-mails from the breeders accounts, with no avail. If you can help me, please respond.
I hope I'm doing this right.
SD35

 

[Alisha Mobley]

I also went throught the biting stage w/ my females. They loved to chew my hands when I tried to pet them. I would hold my hands away from then so they couldn't touch them. This would make them stop and look up at my hands. I then would praise them for not biting. I also had the problem with mine chasing my kids and chewing on their feet and legs. To help control this I would quickly grab the pup and place it in a sit. They soon learned that if they bite they had to sit. A young pup doesn't like to sit for very long or at all so it helped them to learn and it helped get them on the road to obedience training. As for chewing up things they are not supposed to I did not put anything out of their reach. I simply taught them that their belongings were they only thing that could go in their mouths. Of course mine were never unsupervised unless they were crated. Each time I caught them chewing something that didn't belong to them I would quickly grab it while giving a very firm "No!" and replacing the object with one of their own. With a 6 year old daughter and a 4 year old son there is always stuff laying around that the dogs shouldn't be chewing. I figured it would be best to train the dogs not to chew stuff than to rely on the kids to pick up after themselves.:rolleyes: If I see my dogs trying to eat something or chew something in the yard or something they have found I tell them "No" and they will now spit it out. After they spit it out I can forget about it because they will not attempt to get it again. It's a lot easier than cleaning up the neighborhood before going for a walk.

Trinidad,

Have you checked your local rescue. I know they usually have adult Boxers but it doesn't hurt to check anyway. If they don't have what your looking for try doing a search for Boxer breeders. You may not find one really close to you but arrangements can be made to get a pup. The only thing I would advise is to be careful when searching for a breeder. You might want to do a search on questions to ask a breeder before you talk to one. You want to make sure health testing has been done and the breeder has proof of this. Health testing is the only way to know for sure if in fact the parents are healthy, don't take the breeders word for it...make them show you proof. Ask for references, the breeder should have the names, phone numbers, addresses, etc of each person who has ever bought a pup from them so supplying you with references shouldn't be a problem. You should expect health guarantees and contracts that will protect you as the purchaser, the breeder, and the pup. You should also expect the breeder to "interview" you before allowing you to purchase a pup. This is how breeders make sure thier pups are going to good homes. If the breeder doesn't do this than you should assume they don't care about their pups or where they end up and look for a different breeder. If they don't care about their pups then they will not be there for you in the future for all the questions you most likely will have. A good breeder will encourage you to keep them updated on the pups progress and will encourage you to call if any problem/question should arise in the future for the entire life of the pup. There are many things that need to be considered when looking for a pup. With a little more research you should be able to find a healthy pup w/ no problem.

 

[TypeAMommy]

Chewing, etc

When you initially said your puppy had "tons of toys" it made me think that may be part of the problem. Choose one...maybe a rubber Kong with peanut butter spread inside to make it particularly enticing...and every time you see your pup chewing on something he shouldn't, calmly take it from him, give him the proper toy and say "here, chew this." It's positive, not negative, and soon he'll get the idea that this one thing is what he's to chew on. Puppies aren't capable of discerning their toys from yours at that stage! Of course 6 weeks is too young to be reliable in any type of training...so just be patient and consistent. Praise praise praise!

 

[tcarlisle]

Wow, 6 weeks....

Yes, minimize the amount of toys. If there are too many toys, then the dog doesn't realize that he is only allowed to chew a couple of items. With too many toys the dog will think everything is fair game for chewing.

Anytime the dog is chewing something other than a toy, just say no (calmly but shortly) and place a toy right in front of his mouth and urge him to chew it. When he does, use a very pleasant tone and say good. It takes a lot of work, but this is effective. Basically, you need to have a toy within your reach at all times.

But at 6 weeks, the dog really isn't capable of learning not to chew inappropriate things. So you have to supervise this dog at all times (you are doing that anyways for housebreaking, right?) Left unsupervised, the dog will chew anything it can find, which not only can be costly to you, but also dangerous to the dog.

Are you crate training? You might want to consider it if you aren't. One way to make sure the pup isn't chewing (or peeing on) the carpet while you are sleeping or busy is to crate him. Just make sure you aren't leaving a 6 week pup crated too long at a time. He shouldn't bve in a crate for more than a couple hours at a time (he needs attention, and also needs to pee alot at 6 wks).

Tom C

 

[TClarke]

Six Weeks ...memories memories memories

Trixie was into everything too. I soon learned that I had to keep on her to teach her what was acceptable and unacceptable in *my* house.

I found that when I gave her her first few toys, it was really tough for her to pick one. I was so excited to have bought so many toys that I would throw them all down on the living room floor and expect her to pick. She thought the Ficus tree was more fun .

Later I figured out that if I left one or two toys in each room and kept a toy in my pocket that when she would go to chew something that was 'not okay' I would become totally animated and distract her. She found out >I< was more fun than any dumb ficus tree and would come play with me.

But sometimes I would just get SO tired out. I would want to check my email, or cook dinner, or just sit and veg on the couch. During those times, she would get into things she's not supposed to, but then that became a "teachable" moment in which I would be taught THERE IS NO RELAXING WITH AN 8 WEEK OLD PUPPY and she would be taught right from wrong.

To this day she still gets into things she's not supposed to from time to time. This is usually when I'm not doing MY job and she hasn't had enough attention and stimulation.

I'd be interested to hear where you are NOW with your new baby. I mean, you posted this a few weeks ago so your bouncing baby boy is probably about 9 weeks old now. I'm sure you see a difference and have learned the hardest lesson: A PUPPY IS THE GREATEST SOURCE OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE MONEY CAN BUY... IT'S ALSO A WONDERFL WEIGHT LOSS PLAN... AND A CONSTANT SOURCE OF LAUGHTER... AND A CONSTANT SOURCE OF FRUSTRATION... AND......

Good luck!

 

[Apenamon]

9 weeks now and he's still a hand full

Hi Everyone,
Thanks so much for your suggestions. Djay is still a full of biting energy. I have lots of puppy cuts on my hands. My co-workers are wondering if I'm being abused... I've stopped putting down a lot of toys. He has only 3 right now. (ball, cloth bone and chew toy). But he still loves chewing on me more. When I'm cleaning his cage he attacks me. It gets to the point where we have "time out" and I have to cage him to calm him down. His ears were cropped last week and now that he's getting better he back to the biting again. I'm hoping by the time he's 12 weeks we can spend time together instead of me stopping him from biting me, my clothes, towels, socks... everything..) I will give you guys an update in a couple of weeks. But the good things are .. he knows his T"sit commands and what "NO" means ..even it his too stubborn to stop sometimes.

[Edited by Apenamon on 04-06-2001 at 09:37 PM]

 

[Alisha Mobley]

Originally posted by tcarlisle

But at 6 weeks, the dog really isn't capable of learning not to chew inappropriate things.

Tom C

I wouldn't under estimate them. With enough patience, persistence, and positive reinforcement they can learn what is appropriate chew things and more. I've accomplished this twice now.