Possesive of Mommy?? (LONG)

[NuBoxer Fan]

Hi All! Last week we took Zuzu to her first puppy kindegarten (PK) class. She turned 12 weeks old on Saturday. We went against vet and breeder advice by not waiting until she was 4 months old, but she has had two rounds of vaccinations and all of the boxer books we have read (some recommended on this site) encouraged participation in puppy classes before 16 weeks. The main reason that I wanted to take Zuzu to PK was because I was concerned about her being properly socialized with other dogs. She gets to come to work with me (at a High School Counseling Center) so she is exposed to all sorts of people, but the few times she has been around other dogs she seemed to be a bit aggressive. I have since learned (thanks to PK - the trainer has a boxer of her own!!!) that boxers are VERY vocal when they play, so some of my fears were unfounded. The trainer told me that she did not think Zuzu was aggressive with the other puppies, which was good news to me.

So, anyway, today I brought her over to my friend's house to play with her 1 1/2 year old Yellow Lab. They played really nicely for a while, the older dog letting Zuzu check out her food bowl and drink her water with no problems. After they were playing for a while, the older dog offered to play tug with one of her bones. We don't play tug with Zuzu, so I am not sure if she understood what was going on. She got quite growly- almost mean but the older dog gave her what for when she got tired of Zuzu. An interesting thing we noticed about Zuzu was that she seemed to get aggressive with the lab any time I was paying attention to the lab, or the lab was near me. At one point I was holding Zuzu in my lap with one arm and petting Rookie with the other hand to try to show Zuzu that I don't need her to get in between us. This is certainly something that I will bring up with the trainer, because if I am ever to bring Zuzu to a dog park I would hate for her to be aggresive with strange dogs. Has anyone else had an experience like this with their puppies? Am I overreacting if I am very concerned? To be fair to Zuzu, she spends a great deal of time with me one on one and this WAS the first time that I have really had the opportunity to pay attention to another dog while she was around. But, like I said, if this is a problem I want to deal with it now before it becomes a set behavior.

 

[Mandy1155]

One of my boxers does this. She is VERY vocal with any tug or steal the toy type playing. She gets very loud and to someone who didn't know her would think it was aggressive. She also gets barky and sometimes growls when we play with the other dogs (we know she is just playing though). It seems to be her way of getting attention. She is very vocal but has never bitten. We are dealing with some issues with her being so darn vocal with other dogs that we don't know and scares them but at home they all know she is just playing.

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

Your puppy is too young to know much aggression. He sounds like a typical boxer pup to me.

Boxers love to show off for you. If mine aren't getting attention they want, they will start playing loudly and seemingly aggressively with one another, all the while keeping an eye on me and visitors to make sure we are watching them.

I'm also not sure what you mean by "aggressive" when the lab was near you. Was the pup baring teeth, staring wide-eyed, or what? Or just making noise and trying to get in between the two of you? Like I said, I truly doubt your pup is aggressive since he's way too young to know this type of behavior yet. And I certainly doubt that he would be "brave" enough to consider taking on an older, much bigger dog like a lab at his age.

Sounds like play to me.

 

[NuBoxer Fan]

Tulsa-Dan

She was generally just very noisy and tried to get in between us. Thanks for the reassurances that she was just playing. I guess I just worry about how she will behave when she weighs 60 lbs!! I want to make sure we are doing everything we can to properly socialize and train her so she is a pleasant dog. This forum is a tremendous help (and stress reliever).

Thanks again!

Kara

 

[Gypsy'sMom]

Hey Kara,

Is Deneen the trainer you are taking Zuzu to? Just wondering cuz Gypsy and I just started an Advanced class with her. She did a double take when she saw Gypsy outside the door, cuz she thought it was her dog!

Gypsy started PK at 9 weeks (with a different trainer). she was the youngest in the class, and quite the little spitfire (some of the puppies were 6 months old). She got put into 'time-out' a few times during the play sessions for being 'b!*chy', but quickly learned that she had to be nice if she wanted to play.

Sounds like Zuzu just wants to be the center of your attention! But, its good that you are getting her around other dogs, so that she learns she can 'share' you once in a while.

 

[NuBoxer Fan]

Yes, we are taking Zuzu to Deneen's class. Today was her second class and there was a new male Golden there. He took charge of the class pretty quickly, and Zuzu played really nicely with him. She is definitely the "craziest" of the dogs, but the class is: 2 Goldens, 1 Lhasa Apso (sp?) and then Zuzu the Boxer. She makes the owners of the other dogs a little nervous with her running and boxing, and noisy playing. I can tell that it will be a good experience for her because she thinks she always gets to be in charge and it's definitely good for her to learn that that is not the case.

We are taking Zuzu for a playdate with her sister, who is one of the pups that the breeder kept. It will be nice for Zuzu to have a boxer buddy. The trainer said that Zuzu will probably remember her sister and mom, and for me to not be surprised if the two pups fight?? Has anyone heard this theory before? I have never really seen a dog fight, but I suppose I will know what one is when I do.

Margaret, you will have to let me know how things go with Gypsy's training. So far we are very satisfied.

TTFN folks!!