Monica told me about the problem with her new boxer:
“Hello,
I have two boxer dogs a one and a half year old male (Bailey) and a 16wk female (Daisy). They are both very good in the house and listen to both my husband and I however whenever we take them around other dogs they both start barking and the male even lunges at other dogs. For instance, we recently signed them up for training classes and the whole class Bailey was barking and lunging at the other dogs. Some times it would be at a dog that wasn’t doing anything and some times another dog would growl at him and it would set him off. Daisy was good until Bailey started getting out of control and then it would set her off and she would start barking but not lunging.
We just dont know what to do, we take him on long runs so he gets a lot of exercise and we made sure to socialize him as a puppy, he does ok at a leash free dog park when the other dogs are behaving but as soon as theres a scuffel he tries to be right in the middle of it. Is there any hope for him?”
There is always hope, Monica!
I could list some advice for you here, but I think it would be better for the dogs to have some one-on-one training sessions. It looks to me as though Bailey is being protective over Daisy and his male hormones are getting the better of him.
Unless you want to breed from them, consider at least having Bailey neutered. This may help calm him down around other dogs.
Preston has a problem with his male American Bulldog:
“I have a 2 year old American Bull Dog. He’s very socialized with other dogs. The only problem he has is that he will show aggression to another male dog that is not neutered. Why is that.”
If your dog has not himself been neutered, then he is most likely reacting to the male hormones. He will see the other dogs as competition or a threat. Think about having him neutered if you do not intend using him for breeding or showing.
Catalina left this qusetion on the dog training question page:
“My 3 year old german shepherd is very agressive towards other dogs and unframiliar people. We can’t even take her to the beach without her barking at people walking by, and becoming agressive towards other dogs. When we are at home we have to keep her tied up because she likes to nip at people’s feet. She is perfectly behaved towards the family, but when it comes to others she is very agressive. What should we do?” more…
Lisa asked for help with her sometimes grouchy lab puppy….
“My puppy is a lab about 9months and loves people but when he is sleeping and we try to get him to get up so we can bring him in the room so he won’t roam around the house and chew everything. He will show teeth and growl even to us.He is very friendly unless he wants attention then he will nibble are hands try to get us to play. He is very active we take him swimming and walking and running daily. He is getting better except for the sleep part. Why does he do that and what can we do to correct that?”
Here is what I suggest: more…
