Pup is aggressive towards mom but not dad

[Kyrock]

Hiya. My 12 week old male boxer, Loki has just over the past couple of days started to become increasingly aggressive towards his mother. He's pretty good with me as he likes to nip and rough house a bit but never bites me or causes damage. Over the past couple days he's drawn blood on Marcie twice. Isn't this a little early for him to be pushing the dominance/hierarchy thing? Or maybe she's just an easy bleeder. What can I do to curb this activity ASAP because he is growing like a weed and this obviously can't go on.

 

[gmacleod]

It is unlikely to be aggression, but it is very likely to be a puppy that doesn't understand bite inhibition or the boundaries of acceptable play. That's something you have to teach

How do you (or your wife) currently react when he starts getting too rough, or bites too hard?

There is an absolute ton of information in the forums if you care to do a search on "puppy biting". This is something that every boxer puppy owner has to deal with to a greater or lesser extent, so there is no shortage of previous experiences and advice that you can benefit from And here's a very brief article that may help you out a little: http://www.boxerworld.com/puppy/biting/

 

[Kyrock]

He seems to listen to me when I say "no" to him. Unfortunately not so much when she tells him no. I read the article you posted and we'll try ignoring him now. He's such a good boy otherwise...he's just rammy at this age. He's already getting better at chewing the right things as we're always substituting my furniture for his toys. If we can just get past this, all will be well in the world

 

[gmacleod]

That should certainly help On the occassions it doesn't work (no single thing works in every single situation), there are other things you can try. Some of these are:

• Redirecting his attention to something more suitable, such as a toy.
• Screeching "OUCH" when he bites too hard, and retiring "injured" from the game (that's what his littermates would do).
• Ignoring him - if he won't play nice, you won't play at all.
• Actively ignoring him - meaning get up and leave the room for a few minutes, shut the door so he can't follow. That isolates or gives the pup a "time-out" on his own for a bit. Kind of reinforces the "if you behave like that, I won't play with you at all" concept and is useful for the pup who refuses to be ignored.
• Put the pup in a time out for a few minutes. That can be in another room, in a puppy play pen (probably the best option with a baby pup), or even in his crate. Careful on the crate suggestion though - you don't want to create too many negative associations with the crate.
• Engage him in a short training session instead. It's hard to be biting when you're doing a 'down'. That may be better for a slightly older pup though.

 

[Kyrock]

Thanks so much for the great suggestions. It's been 15 years since I've had to do any puppy training... I'm a li'l rusty.