Is Our Boxer Puppy Aggressive or Dominant?

[SouthernArt]

We have our 11 week old puppy, Duchess, and we're new to the boxer world. Here's the problem: When Duchess get's wound up, she gets very snippy. If we try to pet her while she's playing, she'll snap at and bite us. Last night I leaned over her, and she jumped up and bit my lip! She's done this several times in the past few weeks.

My question is, is she just being a puppy and playing, or is she showing signs of aggression and dominance when she gets older? When she starts this, we usually put her in her crate until she calms down. I have even tried rolling her over on her back and holding her there for a minute. Usually when I do that, though, she just tries to bite me until I let her up.

What do we do???

[Tulsa-Dan]

This is pretty typical puppy play activity. Nipping and biting are natural bahaviors for puppies.

You DO need to stop the nipping and biting A.S.A.P. It is cute now, but when you've got a full grown boxer on your hands (literally), you won't think it is so cute.

Please do a search on this site (the gray "search" button atop each page) and search the search words "biting" or "nipping" or "bite inhibition" and you will find TONS of information on how to "nip" (pun intended) this in the bud.

Good luck.

[Renee&Jake]

I think what you may be experiencing is a little puppy testing, and I have seen similar situations turn into aggression, as well as severe dominance. My own Boxer, Jakob, was VERY nippy as a pup, and two things worked well.

The first thing we tried was suggested by our vet, and that was to hold the muzzle (gently, but firm) with a good, solid NO. It suprised him and gave us the opportuinty to give him a toy if he wanted to get rough with something.

The second thing was the "long down". Since almost EVERYTHING else we tried made him fight harder, (BOXERS- go figure! ) was to simply require he lay in a down position for 5 minutes, like a "time-out". Even if I has to stand on that leash to keep him in a down, it was much more final, and didn't leave us open to manipulation on his part.

This behavior kept up for a few months, so be patient. Also, you could research Patricia McConnell and what she calls a "body block". That works MIRACLES with dogs that jump or get pushy.

Good Luck!!

-Renee & Jakob