What to do?!

[Love My Abbey]

We adopted Abbey a month ago from a boxer rescue. She is almost 7 months old, so still a pup. She is doing really good here at the house, although she loves to chew up the kids hard plastic toys. *sigh*
My question is about my 5 yr old daughter. She loves to play with Abbey outside. She will throw the ball for her etc. However, within a few minutes, the play turns rough. Abbey will start nipping at my daughters ankles, hands, arms etc. My daughter knows to stand still when Abbey does this, but Abbey wont quit. Abbey has never broken the skin, but she has left bruises on my daughters arms. Abbey will also do this in the house if my daughter runs down the hall, Abbey will run after her nipping at her heels. Or if my daughter is playing on the floor, Abbey will chew her hair, try to hump her, chew her hands, arms etc.
I just dont know what to do, expect etc.
We will be signing her up for obedience soon, do you think this will help?
Abbey truly is a wonderfull dog, until she gets all wired up, then she is out of control. We love our Abbey, and are proud to have her as part of the family. We just hope to quit having the rough play with my daughter... Oh, Abbey never does this with my 2 yr old son....so maybe its a domination thing?! HELP!!!

 

[VTbxrFan]

Obedience class will probably help a lot -- and be sure to involve your daughter (and son) in Abbey's training. Abbey needs to learn that your daughter out ranks her. Teach your daughter to make Abbey "sit" (or "down") when she gets to rough and don't resume play until she has settled down. Absolutely do not let Abbey continue playing when she gets too rough because that rewards the behavior that you don't want.

I'm sure you'll get some great advice here. Stick with it and really put some time and effort into consistent training. You've reached that tough point with boxers because Abbey is still a puppy and doesn't fully understand appropriate behavior, but she's big enough to cause a lot of trouble. Work on the problems as a family and Abbey and your children will grow up to be best buddies.

 

[cfhtlhii]

Princess is the same age and has the same problem with my 4 yr old son. Our solution was they do not play together. If he is outside playing she is either on her leash with me or hubby or inside in her kennel. She plays outside at other times with me or hubby. We have, for the most part, taught the kids not to run in the house which eliminated that problem as well. She was maybe a little more rambunctious then your girl and had broken the skin several times, but doing these things helped.
Best of luck!

Connie

 

[Chewy's Mom]

When your daughter plays with Abbey, does your daughter play in a hyper, wild and crazy sort of way like many 5 year olds do? Hubby and I don't have kids, but we have had a couple of friends that will rough up Chewy when they play with him - like wrestle with him, and just generally make him way more hyper. We discourage this type of play with Chewy because he gets out of control and doesn't know his own strength. Maybe just pay attention to HOW your daughter plays with Abbey. You may need to teach your daughter how to play in such a way that Abbey doesn't get too excited and out of control. It must be tough to have 2 little kids and a new boxer. So much energy!!

 

[MommyD.]

We had this same problem when J.J. first came home with us, he will be 8 months next week. I had never had a young puppy before so I was really worried when I saw him nipping, chasing the kids down (ages 3 and 5) and growling at them while they were playing. I kept asking my husband, family members, and friends if this was normal. I even called the vet because if he was going to have aggression issues, I wanted to work on them right away. She assured me that it was pretty much normal and to use this little 'trick'. When he would get rough with the children, or us she told us to say OUCH very loudly (not screaming), but loud enough for him to get the point and the take a "time out" from playing. That way he knew that we did not like that. It only took him a very short time to learn this. We have to take time outs very rarely now. If we do at all it is usually because the kids are bring too rough. J.J. is a perfect dog and the kids are for sure his best buddies. I love watching them play together. I think the training your are speaking of will come in handy no matter what. We invloved our children in the training too so he listens to them with his commands. I am not sure why it is just your daughter, unless she just plays with the dog more than your son? I hope that this helps. You will find lots of good advice here, I am sure. Good Luck!

 

[Matt S]

No doubt about it, obedience training will help in many ways & what's more Abbey will love it. :D
I'd also recommend using the Boxer World search engine & run a few searches on things such as 'biting', 'nipping', 'soft biting' or 'bite inhibition', I'm sure you'll come up with a heap of useful information. (FYI - search function is a little grey/blue button at the top right of the page.)
Also, here is the Boxer World puppy page which deals with biting & chewing.

http://www.boxerworld.com/puppy/biting/

 

[Boo]

I used to see this with my dogs when they were around Abbey's age, and I wondered then if perhaps the dogs don't quite see the distinction between "skin kid" and "fur kid".

I would imagine from their perspective, the kids are more like litter mates or peers, rather than 2 legged humans that have to be obeyed the same as Mum and Dad.

The 2 main things to remember are: supervision, and training.

We incorporated the children in daily training sessions with the dogs. When ever there was a rough play incident we would stand with the child while he (it was usually our son) asked the dog to sit, lie down and roll over.

Although sometimes it felt that nothing much was helping, our dogs (Jasper and Piper) are now only 1 1/2 years old, and they only play rough with my hubby - but at his own instigation. So remember to keep at it.

It sounds like your daughter already has the maturity to keep her head even when the dog is over excited.

I know there are a lot of much more experienced owners, breeders and trainers on the boards whose advice you should definitely heed. My reason for sticking in my 2 cents worth is this:

As an inexperienced dog owner I feel that if I can do it - ANYONE can. Truly, it's just a matter of patience and consistency.

Adele

 

[Alisha Mobley]

Another vote here for obedience classes.:D Will work wonders and don't forget everyone must be involved in the training. Show your daughter what to do and supervise while she works w/ the dog for 5 mins or so (just make sure she only works w/ the dog while your around...don't want her confusing the dog ).

When Tyson started training my son was 2 and my daughter was 4...as I learned, I taught them. I'd train w/ him for 10-15 mins then bring in the kids to work w/ him for 5-10 mins.

Good Luck!

 

[KC]

I've had some of the same problems with Bailey with our friends' kids and I can tell you - all the suggestions you have gotten are just perfect - incorporate them all!! The 'ouch" works, making your dog obey your daughter will help, and obedience will help! One of the biggest helps, though, is maturity in your dog and, unfortunately, that only comes with age - but the other tricks can help a lot and prevent a serious injury!! To elaborate on one other thing - the kids at my house are not allowed to play with the dogs - the only play that is allowed is fetching a ball that the kids throw. It is a non-negotiable rule at my house and it prevents a lot of problems! It's so cute, too, when the girls want to play with the little ones, they just shake all over and go get a ball to play with - too funny! They learn the rules fast - these boxers of ours - as long as we're consistent!

Good for you for asking and taking an active role - you'll have a better dog for all your hard work!