Crazy moments!

katied · #1 10-01-2009, 02:15 PM

Hi,
We have just adopted a 4 year old rescue boxer, most of the time shes brilliant when out on walks but sometimes she just won't stop jumping up to bite her lead. We make her sit before we carry on walking but then she does it again. How do we get her to stop doing this?
Also, she has these kind of crazy 10 minutes!!! Shes quite chilled out and generally sleeps quite a lot during the day and she doesn't really have any interest in toys or chewing stuff. Today we were in the garden when she started throwing 1 of her toys up in the air and jumping around it in circles. Then she went absolutely mental! Running around and trying to bite my feet and barking at me over & over again! I tried to make her sit and she did but then carried on & kept barking! I didn't think she was going to intentionally hurt me cos it was obvious she wanted to play but I didn't know what to do with her or how to calm her down. In the end I brought my little girl inside (I wasn't worried she was going to bite her just accidentally knock her flying!) and closed the patio door until she'd calmed down! My partner says this is what she does every night on her last walk of the evening but this is the first time I'd experienced it & if i'm honest, I had no idea what to do with her! Do all boxers have these mad moments, and what do I do to chill her out or how do I play with her without her hurting me in these instances?!

esabbott · #2 10-10-2009, 12:50 PM

Our Maggie has her "crazy moments" during the day! Until we got our back yard fenced in she would go crazy in the house! We have found that she has alot of energy--we knew that she would from others that owned boxers. We found that she loves balls, so when she wants to burn some energy usually 3 times daily we play ball--sometimes she will take the ball and do the indy 500 around the yard--it is the funniest thing I have ever seen! She really keeps us entertained. But once she has burned her energy level down she relaxes and is calm. Maybe there is a place you could take your dog to just run! This may help. Good Luck

katied · #3 10-10-2009, 04:00 PM

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. We're in a bit of a funny situation here because as mad as it sounds...she doesn't run! Its not that she can't obviously but when we take her out for a walk she won't go more than a few feet ahead of you and even then if she feels like she gets a bit too far ahead, she'll stop & wait for us to catch up! We've tried all different types of toys and she not interested in chasing anything (or playing with anything come think of it unless it playing tug of war but thats literally it!). Its not so much the metal periods at home that are the probem now, its the fact now, that she is so difficult to walk. She continues to try to bite her lead and bark at you! For the whole walk! She'll move around you in circles & try and dive at your feet. Besides this she is the most perfect dog we could have have ever wished for. We just don't know what to do about it or make her stop. Hope someone can help? x

esabbott · #4 10-10-2009, 07:07 PM

Our Maggie has this ritual every night when my husband comes home from work, he loves it though. She plays with his feet, bites at them and barks and growls at them. This is a game she plays. This is on top of her other crazy moments. This is their rough play time. She has tried to do this with me, but I do not play rough with her. I tell her "no" in a firm voice and she stops this with me. I tell her to go get a toy--it is usually a tug of war one and I will play with that with her. She will get a toy on her own. But in the beginning I would go and get it for her and tell her what it was. Boxers definitely require a lot of attention. It seems as though more than any other dog we have owned. I was wondering if since this is a rescue dog maybe the previous owners used to play this way with her. I find it interesting that she will not chase things that you throw. Do you know anything about her background?
Maybe she is afraid you will leave so she does not want to be out of your closeness for a moment. Will she run with you on the lease?

katied · #5 10-12-2009, 04:10 AM

Yeah she will run on the lead with you and also she'll run off the lead if you run too. We don't know anything about her background at all. All the rescue centre know is that she around 4 years old & came to them as a stray from Ireland. She has definitely been owned before we can tell that from how well behaved she is, how well house trained she is & from the way she listens to & knows commands. Obviuosly there is no way of ever knowing but there are no obvious signs of her being mistreated & she is really well behaved. I'm at the point now though where I am unable to walk her duing the day as my partner is at work all day and because of the constant jumping up at the lead and barking, I can't take her & my 1 year old out together. So the poor dog has to wait until my other half gets home for her walks (he does take her out twice, once when he gets in then again before we go to bed). Shes never aggressive, but I'd love to be able to take her out for walk as I think sitting at home all day with me must be very boring for her! Just don't know how to control the barking & lead biting!

esabbott · #6 10-12-2009, 08:33 AM

I wonder if hiring a personal trainer for 1hr would be worth the money. If he or she could spend time with you on a walk to help you learn to correct the behavior it might be worth the money. My son has a chocolate lab that was totally uncontrollable and he hired someone for $60 an hour to work with him one on one. What a difference that has made in the how the dog behaves. It might be worth checking into and you may only have to have the trainer one time if the trainer can teach you a method that will work.

gordnbec · #7 10-12-2009, 02:57 PM

On the walking side you might want to try a gentle leader type collar, she may not like it at first but with praise and persistance it may eleviate the lead biting. other than that you could try reward training for walking properly which means when she is walking how you like reward with a tasty treat. When unwanted behaviour like pulling, jumpingor lead biting occurs stop turn or change direction but make it clear that this won't be tolerated if she starts to walk properly again reward her for it. Either way it seem as though training would be of major help here and click and reward training is the best type for boxers. The other mad as a hatter moments might also subside somewhat if you can get the walking issue ironed out as it will enable you to walk further and more often and use up some of that pent up energy. Boxers need lots of excerise otherwise they find ways to burn up that energy which we as owners may not like. *TIRED DOG = GOOD DOG* This cannot be stressed enough. Dogs generally only get upto mischief when they are bored from lack of excercise or mental stimulation and it's win win for you to excerise your dog as you will reap the benefits of a brisk 45+min walk twice a day.

So from the sounds of it you have a reasonably good girl to start with all you need is to get the training down and within weeks you'll see a different result. The effort is worth the reward as nothing loves you as unconditionally as a dog that bonds with you.