We have a lovely year old boxer/pit mix. She is lovely and gets long with our daughter very well. But man, she is a handful.
She gets walks and dog park, which is great, but right now she has a growth on her lip so that means the dog park is out. Until we get it looked at (she has a vet visit) she can't go because the last time we went she tore a bit of it off and bled everywhere!. So she gets exercise during the day. But we have a few issues with her. Not major though.
The dog jumps on you when excited. I generally ignore her, but it's very hard to ignore a 70 pound dog that jumps on your back and scratches you until it bleeds ( I have very sensitive skin and her scratches make welts on me). She also jumps up and will bonk my 4 year old in the face. She is really mouthing a lot of my daughters hands. A lot. If my daughter is swinging, she will jump in front of the swing. This results in either the dog getting smacked rather hard in the face or my daughter being thrown off the swing. All I hear all day long is my daughter screaming and crying that the dog is biting her. She isn't biting, but mouthing. The dog is constantly chewing on the sticks that fall down outside from our grapefruit tree. Our whole patio is covered with wood chips.
She is now taking to jumping up on counter tops looking for food and my dining room table. She will take anything off the table and eat it. She ate my daughters shoes the other day, her little stuffed horse. She ate my sprayer for my hose pipe, my saw, my hammer handle ( I had a tool bucket outside). This has come on all of a sudden.
My husband used to take her walking while on his bike, but he stopped that because the last time he did it (of all the times to take her out, he did it after it rained so the roads where slick) they were going at a good pace and she just stopped. My husband flipped over the handlebars and landed on tthe street. Thank god he didn't hit his head (he didn't have a helmet). This has created a HUGE amount of tension with my husband and the dog. My husband is a good guy, but has never grown up with dogs. He thought for the longest time that being stern was being aggressive. Not aggressive in the way that he would hit her. But his actions. his voice. so we are working together with him and that.
My dog is good, and I rationally know that this is a stage and she is a puppy and she is crazy. But omg, I wish she would just chill out. As horrid as it is to say this, I didn't want her when we got her. I know that boxers are high energy and we are not a high energy family. We just aren't. But when my husband saw this lanky cute 4 month old puppy he fell in love and wouldn't listen to reason. Just wouldn't. for a few weeks he really wanted to rehome her, but I am not going to do that just because he feels slightly overwhelmed. Things have gotten better.
But man, I can't wait until she is like 5 years old. Hahahaha. Maybe then she will chill out.
Sorry that was a mess of a post.
She gets walks and dog park, which is great, but right now she has a growth on her lip so that means the dog park is out. Until we get it looked at (she has a vet visit) she can't go because the last time we went she tore a bit of it off and bled everywhere!. So she gets exercise during the day. But we have a few issues with her. Not major though.
The dog jumps on you when excited. I generally ignore her, but it's very hard to ignore a 70 pound dog that jumps on your back and scratches you until it bleeds ( I have very sensitive skin and her scratches make welts on me). She also jumps up and will bonk my 4 year old in the face. She is really mouthing a lot of my daughters hands. A lot. If my daughter is swinging, she will jump in front of the swing. This results in either the dog getting smacked rather hard in the face or my daughter being thrown off the swing. All I hear all day long is my daughter screaming and crying that the dog is biting her. She isn't biting, but mouthing. The dog is constantly chewing on the sticks that fall down outside from our grapefruit tree. Our whole patio is covered with wood chips.
She is now taking to jumping up on counter tops looking for food and my dining room table. She will take anything off the table and eat it. She ate my daughters shoes the other day, her little stuffed horse. She ate my sprayer for my hose pipe, my saw, my hammer handle ( I had a tool bucket outside). This has come on all of a sudden.
My husband used to take her walking while on his bike, but he stopped that because the last time he did it (of all the times to take her out, he did it after it rained so the roads where slick) they were going at a good pace and she just stopped. My husband flipped over the handlebars and landed on tthe street. Thank god he didn't hit his head (he didn't have a helmet). This has created a HUGE amount of tension with my husband and the dog. My husband is a good guy, but has never grown up with dogs. He thought for the longest time that being stern was being aggressive. Not aggressive in the way that he would hit her. But his actions. his voice. so we are working together with him and that.
My dog is good, and I rationally know that this is a stage and she is a puppy and she is crazy. But omg, I wish she would just chill out. As horrid as it is to say this, I didn't want her when we got her. I know that boxers are high energy and we are not a high energy family. We just aren't. But when my husband saw this lanky cute 4 month old puppy he fell in love and wouldn't listen to reason. Just wouldn't. for a few weeks he really wanted to rehome her, but I am not going to do that just because he feels slightly overwhelmed. Things have gotten better.
But man, I can't wait until she is like 5 years old. Hahahaha. Maybe then she will chill out.
Sorry that was a mess of a post.
There are a ton of articles and books out there. Karen Pryor started the whole thing and is really good at explaining it. It is used to every animal imaginable with great results..from fish and crabs to lions to horses to cats to humans....yes, humans...thought they call it TAGteach for us
from me! Great explanation!
