Boxer Talk

Hey,

I have had a read through some blogs and all look very useful, i wonder if a breeder or someone expereinced can offer me some advice.

I have a white bitch, she is 18months old and i think she is just coming into her second season, she is very good with humans and fantastic with children however she does have a small problem with other dogs, her behavious is unpredictible as there no pattern to what dog she takes a disliking to, however she will tend to leave the bigger dogs alone - typical bully!

I took her to puppy socialising when she was a pup and have recently tried another class and a 1-1 trainer, unfortuntaely there is no REAL improvement.
It upsets me because she is such a lovely dog and in my expereince has never hurt a dog, she just uses her strength and noise.

When i got Sasha i would like to have let her have a litter but am a bit worried about a few things...
Can somebody help by answering?

1. Has anybody experienced any behaviour problems similar to this in their boxers? if so what have you done and has it improved?
2. If i let her have a litter, will her attitude be carried on into the pups?
3. would she get TOO protective of the pups?

Sasha has no health problems that i'm aware of and of course i would have the relevant checks done before if i decided to breed her.
She has an overshot jaw and not the prettiest boxer (but she is beautiful in my eyes, but she is my girl so i would say that ) would the overshot jaw be carried on to the puppies?

I have been given advice to have her baby bits taken out by the vet as this COULD improve her behaviour with other dogs, but i don't want to get her done and find it hasn't improved anything, then i've just ruined the chance of letting her be a mother.

I know this is a loooong blog but i am really stuck and any advice on any of the abover would really be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!!!

Hi there Laa!

Doesn't matter how long your post is.

I wouldn't want to advise you on breading and the likelihood of physical or behavioural traits being passed on. I don't know anywhere near enough about breading to advise you there, sorry.

Are you sure there's no pattern to Sasha's aggression issues? Perhaps towards and specific gender for example?

It sounds to me like you've tried very hard to alleviate the problem so certainly don't get down about it. As far as I know the only way to overcome such problems is training (You've already tried.) which is of course tricky as it involves confronting that specific problem.

I'm not really sure what to suggest. Watching for physical cues and correcting at each instance can help and certainly reinforces the idea that it's not what you want.

If training hasn't worked though perhaps it's just something that needs more time/effort/patience before it can. Perhaps it needs a different training method.

Is the problem really that severe? Is it frequent or very occasional? If it was the latter I'd not worry too much about it but rather just be careful. Gage your dogs reaction around unknown dogs. Even waiting quite a long while till she appears for sure in a calm state before letting her off to play.

From my own anecdotal experience aggression certainly isn't necessarily something that runs in the family. I had a mother and daughter at one time. The mother had issues with other dogs but the daughter didn't. Again I'm not a breeder but I'd think the right socialising and training could overcome any predisposition.

Sorry I realise none of that was particularly helpful.

Thank you for your response Paul.

I will continue this heavy slog of training, some days she is better than other and i think it's safe to say my girl is not blessed with brains so i hope it 'sinks in' sooner rather than later.

I will also seek professional advice from a breeder/vet about my other queries.

Thanks again