why does she go after people?

ryan/erin · #1 19th August 2002, 01:50 PM

Our boxer, Ali, has a bad habit of scaring people who are walking by our house. She loves to sit outside on her chain, and it is conveient for us to potty her out there, but when someone walks by, she jumps at them and barks. Last night, she broke her collar, was loose, and was so excited to get to this older lady, that she was jumping and barking at her. The lady got scared and started swinging a stick at Ali. My fiance had to run outside and get the lady to stop, and Ali to leave the poor woman alone. How can we get her to break this behavior? We know she's just trying to guard the house, and we don't think that she would hurt anyone on purpose, but it really scares people, and I'm afraid she'll jump on someone and hurt them on accident. Ali is 18 months old, will this get better with age? Help!

VTbxrFan · #2 19th August 2002, 02:13 PM

Being on a tie-out will make most dogs more aggressive. Dallas is normally very quiet and doesn't bark a lot, but I've noticed that when he is on a tie-out when we are camping or something, he goes nuts at everything that goes by. My reasoning might be wrong, but it makes sense to me because they probably don't feel as safe -- they can't get away from something that approaches them because they are tied up, so they have to keep any potentially dangerous person as far away as possible. I really try to avoid having Dallas tied to anything unless I am right there with him so he feels safe. (And even then, I keep it to short periods of time when I need to do something and need both hands free -- I go back to holding the leash as soon as I can.)

trudy · #3 19th August 2002, 02:32 PM

I agree with VTBxrfan if you want her to stop "going after" people you need to stop tying her out...and from what I understand your tying her in the front of your yard??

The whole tying out thing tends to make dogs more aggressive...they do not have the option to "flee" a situation ie, a stranger approaching them and or their house so their only other option is "fight"....

I would walk her on her leash to do her business.....leaving her tied out is just not a good idea all around.