She lunges at us,why?

[Gibson]

We have a 6 mnth old puppy who is very dominant. She's a biter,but I've found that saying "be gentle"makes her a little softer using her teeth. She now sometimes is playing with a toy and all of a sudden she'll pin her ears right back ,and take a lunge at you,preferably at your face. Her eyes are fierce and she really is annoyed at something.We've managed to avoid being bitten by her,but I don't find this behaviour in anyway normal. She's our fourth boxer,but our first bitch ( we were told to buy a bitch as they were nice and calm,better for the older citizens). She's proved that theorie to be wrong. Her trainer finds her very hard to handle ,and keeps advising us to use a hard hand,the harder you treat her,the more vicious she gets,so I'm using the more gentle approach and I feel that she's calmer. She's just had another lunge at me this evening( usually it's my husband who gets the rough treatment). We are expecting our first grandchild in august and there's no way I can let this dog anywhere near a baby as we can't trust her. The squirt bottle is no use,as she loves drinking the water. Please Help,I don't want to be defeated by a puppy. :( Paula.

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

At 6 mo., it would appear to me the dog is engaging you in play. This seems to happen only when playing, so logically it would appear a way to get you to play with her. Boxers play quite roughly and bite and snarl and look "vicious" when in fact it is just "play fighting" and no real pain is inflicted or intended.

I agree that a gentle training approach is MUCH better than a "hard hand." That is NOT the way to train boxers, for sure.

I suggest that if the dog lunges at you, immediately turn your back, end play with the dog, take away the toys and give her a time out (quietly lead her to her crate and put her in - no anger or words, just gently lead her and let her know that she needs to cool her jets for a while). She will then learn that when she displays this behavior, all her fun stops and she'll stop displaying that behavior to get what she wants.

Be consistent and persistent. Theses are the key elements in resolving issues such as this.

I also recommend "The Dog Listener" by Jan Fennell as a great way to learn how to communicate with your dog. It will also help establish leadership with the puppy so that she knows that you are Top Dog in her home now.

Good luck.

 

[AntJan]

Using a "hard hand" is no way to train any dog. You want your Boxer to obey you because she wants to, not because she's fearful of you.

Nikki never lunged at us the way you're describing your 6 month old of doing, but she did nip at our ankles a lot, in addition to jumping up on us. What we learned was if you COMPLETELY IGNORE your Boxer, they will quickly learn that they get no attention when they behave in certain ways. That's basically what your little one is trying to get out of you -- attention.

The next time she lunges at you, try turning your back on her & ignore her. It might be hard at first, but they do learn! You can also take her to her crate for a "time out", but make sure you're not scolding her while putting her in there. You don't want her to associate her crate as something bad.

Hope this helps!

 

[Gibson]

Lunging

Thanks for your advice ,I'll do what you suggest and carry on with the gentler training method.I'll try and buy the book you advised "Tulsa Dan",I'll probably have to buy it through internet as it's not a title I've seen over here. I'll keep you posted .
Thanks for the advice. Paula.

 

[shells]

i recommend getting a new trainer, i had also used a trained who was using a harder hand, and i never had more problems with my puppy! as soon as i stopped, he turned into an angel one thing you mentioned was that when she lunges at you, her ears are "pinned back" i want to make sure, but i had always been told it's the ears foward (we call it the naughty look, when their ears make little triangles over their eyes, on natural ears) that is the dominant look. maybe she's trying to engage you in some wrestling action, does she lungs with her jaws? tyler always wants to wrestle, and he sort of jumps up but not with an open mouth, sort of head butts if anything. he gets off if we tell him to (he sort of crawls on you and waits to see if you want to wrestle, arms on your shoulders) but this is his way of saying "wrestle with me!" i agree with turning around and ignoring the behavior if you would like it to stop, the book "The Dog Whisperer" is available at most barnes and nobles or on amazon.com, and i also loved "The Culture Clash" a booka bout dog training that i found extremly helpful. good luck!

 

[sirpoopsalot]

I had some similar troubles with my very dominant 4 month old who did bite a great deal (this is an understatement). I went to a trainer who at first advised a "harder hand" but very quickly realized that this would only make my pup more aggressive. She then advised me to spend an hour each day just holding the dog in a "dominant" position. What I mean by this is having the dog sit on the floor. Then you can stand or kneel over the dog and put your hands just lightly through the collar just below the ears and grab very lightly onto the scruff. She told me that this just means that you are in a position of dominance (over the dog), but the difference is that where your hands are the dog will be unable to bite you. it's not hurting him at all but he can feel your hands there. Then when the dog gets a little use to you being a little dominant she told me to start playing with his ears, stroking them but also feeling them and moving them around and getting him use to my hand there while one hand stayed on his neck. The next step was to start feeling down his front leg with one hand while the other was on his neck Then advancing to with one hand picking the leg up and running my fingers through his toes. My dog immediately tried to bite me when I started doing this "dominance" position. He did not want to give up dominance. I just held my hand at his neck holding lightly at his scruff and try as he might he couldn't get my hands close enough to his mouth. The trainer also suggested doing a lot of general touching with him and spending a long time with your hands just all over his coat. This actually worked wonders. Within a 3 days the pup calmed down, almost completely ceased the biting and became about 100 times more responsive if I called him or asked him to do something. I know all dogs respond differently but this method might be worth a try for you.

 

[Gibson]

Lunging

I've ordered the book advised by Tulsa Dan.It'll take a couple of weeks for delivery but as the same book has been advised by others ,I hope it's good.I have a feeling that Sileas is a bit calmer the last couple of days.We took away her bench in the living room and she now sleeps in her basket all night and not a whimper.About the dominance training suggested,I sometimes put my arms under her front legs and lift her off the ground holding her her for a few minutes.I'll try the treatment "sirpoopsalot"advised,only I doubt if I can hold her for an hour. She's a fidget,and an hour is a long time for her( and me).It's worth a try. I'm very gratefull for all the advice I've been given. What would I do without this site and all the great people who are there to help in our hours of need.Thanks everybody for taking the time to help out . :D Paula.