why me? Aggression?

[Abby Angel]

Abby just turned 8 months old and for the most part is very well behaved with the commands of come,sit,stay etc. I amhome with her all day so it makes it nice that I have time to work with her and no young kids around. My problems is...usually I never have to use a leash on her she stays in the yard and knows her boundaries. At night I do use a leash for the sake of not being able to see where she is at and I also use it during the day if I don't want to stay outside for a long period of time. At times she is fine with the leash, other times she jumps up on me and starts to bite me growling and twisting the leash..pulling like tug of war which she knows we do not do. The bites are not in play..she means business. I will finally get her into the house. I have tried the spray bottle but that doesn't seem to phase her. Or I can be watching T.V. and she will come over to just ME and grab my gown and start biting it or my arm,feet or socks. She hates for me to be on the phone. She will start really biting at me then. Why is she only biting ME? I am the one who feeds her and mainly takes care of her. Hubby does sometimes. Kids are all married. I am starting to think she hates me! But yet she is so smart when we were outside and the phone rang she rand over and picked up the phone off the porch and brought it to me. I told her to drop it and she did. So she is smart and knows what she is doing...I just don't know how to stop it...she has me out smarted on this biting at ME only....Why ME????

[gmacleod]

It sounds very much like attention-getting behaviour from a bored teenager who's testing her boundaries It does not sound like aggression - as in, intent to hurt aggression - but rather a dog who wants attention and knows that she will get it by being pushy. How do you react to her when does this (e.g. the biting inside the house)? I'm afraid that if it is with attention - negative attention included - then that is actually encouragement...

But how you react to the dog demanding attention is only half the story. The other half is a matter of why she is being so pushy in the first place.

Do you have her in any sort of training classes or other mentally-challenging activities (like dog sport)? If you don't, then starting her in some classes would be a very good idea. A tired boxer is a good boxer, as is so often said. But tired doesn't just mean that they need lots of physical exercise, but a lot of mental exercise as well. Otherwise, you get bored and frustrated high-energy dogs who misbehave in very much the way you describe Your pup is clearly very intelligent - which is a blessing, but also a curse if that intelligence isn't exercised regularly. Group training classes are very likely to help enormously (though I bet she'll be a terror in class initially ). A second thing you might do (not really a substitute, but an addition) is think up some mentally challenging games for her at home - such as learning the names of her toys and playing hide & seek with them (you hide the toy, she finds it). That sort of mental challenge can do wonders for improving behaviour (especially if combined by suitable amounts of exercise - at least 2 hours good hard running/playing exercise daily - and training classes that will exercise her mind as well).

[ehayes21]

I agree 100% with Gmacleod. She sounds like a bored teenage boxer who needs some training and good exercise. Rowdy was particularly fiesty when he hit his teens, so you have to be creative. Along with upping the training nd exercise, I introduced some interactive puzzle toys and played games like hide and seek as mentioned above. It really helped. Good luck!

[jboboxer]

I'm in a similar situation in that my dog bites my wife more often than she bites me. As she rarely will even attempt to bite me, but I'm not sure if it's pack leader or deep voice or opposite sex, but she has bonded with me a lot more than my wife.
I am the one who is with her more often and I do feed her, but my wife is probably more affectionate towards Roxy.......

But I think Roxy is bored and the way I found this post was using the keyword search toys. I feel bad that she's so bored, but not sure what to do completely, so I was going to look for some toys for her.
I bought 3 kongs and had trouble putting things in there that would either wouldn't last long and the treat would come out quickly or she could care less what was in there. I put peanut butter in a kong and left it in her crate and 4 hours later the peanut butter was still there.

I ended up buying one a more durable kong, the black one......... then I found that she loves the dried chicken treats and I put it in there every day now for her and she probably spends 1 hour working on it or longer. It's keeping her busy and I've noticed she is not biting as much and isn't trying to chew things up as much. She used to sleep with a blanket in her crate, but when she's bored and we're home she would go into her crate to just chew/rip the blanket up.

I don't mean to steal your thread, but figured since I'm going through something similar that you might want to look at some type of food that dries her crazy and put in a kong.

As others have suggested, you should walk your dog every day. It's not only good for behavior and good for your dogs health, it's good for your health as well. They say the majority of behavior problems are due to a dog that's not being exercised enough.

Maybe yours likes to chase balls, which makes it even easier for you to play fetch and less work for you, but I'm not that lucky......

I'm not sure what other toys people can suggest

[jboboxer]

I thought I might add...........

Could it be that your dog is also teething? I don't know enough about teething and if it would cause your dog to want to bite you and she needs something to chew on and I'm not sure when it starts in dogs..... but just thought I'd put it out there

[BxrMommieNAZ]

Originally Posted by jboboxer

I thought I might add...........

Could it be that your dog is also teething? I don't know enough about teething and if it would cause your dog to want to bite you and she needs something to chew on and I'm not sure when it starts in dogs..... but just thought I'd put it out there

Teething is around 3-5 months in dogs typically. Shoudln't be teething at 8 months old.

[ehayes21]

Originally Posted by jboboxer

I'm in a similar situation in that my dog bites my wife more often than she bites me. As she rarely will even attempt to bite me, but I'm not sure if it's pack leader or deep voice or opposite sex, but she has bonded with me a lot more than my wife.
I am the one who is with her more often and I do feed her, but my wife is probably more affectionate towards Roxy.......

But I think Roxy is bored and the way I found this post was using the keyword search toys. I feel bad that she's so bored, but not sure what to do completely, so I was going to look for some toys for her.
I bought 3 kongs and had trouble putting things in there that would either wouldn't last long and the treat would come out quickly or she could care less what was in there. I put peanut butter in a kong and left it in her crate and 4 hours later the peanut butter was still there.

I ended up buying one a more durable kong, the black one......... then I found that she loves the dried chicken treats and I put it in there every day now for her and she probably spends 1 hour working on it or longer. It's keeping her busy and I've noticed she is not biting as much and isn't trying to chew things up as much. She used to sleep with a blanket in her crate, but when she's bored and we're home she would go into her crate to just chew/rip the blanket up.

I don't mean to steal your thread, but figured since I'm going through something similar that you might want to look at some type of food that dries her crazy and put in a kong.

As others have suggested, you should walk your dog every day. It's not only good for behavior and good for your dogs health, it's good for your health as well. They say the majority of behavior problems are due to a dog that's not being exercised enough.

Maybe yours likes to chase balls, which makes it even easier for you to play fetch and less work for you, but I'm not that lucky......

I'm not sure what other toys people can suggest

I think it's great that you've shared your experience. Every dog is different and I think it's important to try anything that might work. I am glad you've found something good for Roxy to chew on instead of you!

[Abby Angel]

I am open to any suggestions. Never gave it a minutes thought my stealing my thread, it is all open to everyone. Abby doesn't chew her blankies at all or anything else, just my socks and robe only if I have them on. She is jealous if I am on the phone cause then she will bite my bare feet. She gets alot of exercise outside with her ball. She has 4 different kinds, that is her favorite toy, her balls. It is just at times..not always...she attacks me on her leash with a jump, pulling like tug of war and biting me with growling and nothing I say or do will make her stop. I tell her NO BITE and when I get her inside I tell her BAD DOG and walk away from her. Always when we come in from outside I tell her GOOD GIRl, and I pet her. Could she be getting to much attention? Is there a such thing? I give her alot of attention, and we are very close. She knows what she is doing and just has me out smarted on this one.

[gmacleod]

Originally Posted by Abby Angel

...She gets alot of exercise outside with her ball.

But there is zero mental stimulation in playing outside with her ball Sure, she could get the 2+ hours of hard daily exercise she requires - IF you stand out there with her and throw the ball for that long. But it will NOT provide her with one iota of mental stimulation. LOL - where is the thinking and problem solving required in catching a ball? There is no thinking involved at all, but that is what your puppy needs to relieve her boredom.

[TwoDogs]

Originally Posted by jboboxer

I'm not sure what other toys people can suggest

I absolutely love the Canine Genius stuffable puzzle toys. They have two--the Leo and the Mike.
Canine Genius | The orignial smart toy for dogs!
They are really durable and easy to stuff. I like them better than Kongs because you can fit more inside of them. Because the openings aren't just a hole, you can fit all differently shaped treats inside. With a Kong, if I want to freeze a banana inside (my dogs' favorite treat), I have to fill the Kong with banana mash and freeze the whole thing. With the Leo, I just freeze the banana and stick the whole thing in. That means I don't have to have a million toys in the freezer, I just need the one Leo. The Mike holds more than the Leo and since it only has two openings, it takes longer for my guys to work the stuff out of it.

They are a bit pricey, but I've had my original Leo for 4 years now and it is holding up really well. And I've only bought one of each for each of my dogs, as compared to the multiple Kongs I would have had to buy.

BTW, I have no personal interest in the company or anything. I just really like their toys.

[jboboxer]

Originally Posted by TwoDogs

I absolutely love the Canine Genius stuffable puzzle toys. They have two--the Leo and the Mike.
Canine Genius | The orignial smart toy for dogs!
They are really durable and easy to stuff. I like them better than Kongs because you can fit more inside of them. Because the openings aren't just a hole, you can fit all differently shaped treats inside. With a Kong, if I want to freeze a banana inside (my dogs' favorite treat), I have to fill the Kong with banana mash and freeze the whole thing. With the Leo, I just freeze the banana and stick the whole thing in. That means I don't have to have a million toys in the freezer, I just need the one Leo. The Mike holds more than the Leo and since it only has two openings, it takes longer for my guys to work the stuff out of it.

They are a bit pricey, but I've had my original Leo for 4 years now and it is holding up really well. And I've only bought one of each for each of my dogs, as compared to the multiple Kongs I would have had to buy.

BTW, I have no personal interest in the company or anything. I just really like their toys.

How does it work? does the dog squeeze on one side and then it comes out on the other side? How long does your dog normally play with it?

I've been putting in dried chicken everyday in the black kong and she plays with it for about 1 hour at most if there's a hard piece to get out and then she will stop trying.

But are these really that mentally challenging for dogs?

I was thinking about buying this Omega Tricky treat ball after reading a lot of great reviews on it and there's a lot of videos on it on youtube. The main reason is that Roxy seems to push her toys under the couch all the time and I end up having to get it every few minutes. I was thinking this ball seems a little too big for her to push under the couch.

Amazon.com: Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball, Large: Home & Garden

But I'm not sure if there's any other ways of mentally challenging dogs? I try to play hide and seek with her, mostly because I grew up playing hide and sick with my two dogs as a child, so it's probably something I enjoy more than the dog. But I can tell you, she loves trying to figure out where I'm hiding. I just keep calling her name until she finds me. It seems to be the most challenging game so far, but I'd really like to keep her more challenged mentally.

Seems like there would be less digging in the backyard, happier dog and less chewing things up or biting people

[Abby Angel]

Thank you everyone...I understand now what your saying about the mental stimulation part as she is nudging me as I type. Not just playing, make her use her brain. I will definitly take your advice and let all know how it works out. Very much appreciated for everyones help. Abby says thanks also!