Hi All!
I apologise in advance for the essay but I want to give as much information as I can so you are in the best position help us. We have a 6 month & 3 week old female Boston Terrier puppy, we have had her since she was 9 weeks old. We have some issues with aggressive behaviour and really need some constructive advice please. We really don't know how to resolve her behaviour and have tried most things I have read online.
I appreciate that some or all of the issue may be taught behaviour and we don't need any lectures on that score, we just need advice on how to now deal with what we now have. My fiance used to 'rough' play with her as a younger puppy, just by kind of chasing her body with his hands, trying to tease her by taking toys from her to throw for her to fetch with his hands etc. She loved this but would get very carried away/over excited, so we tried to teach her 'enough' and 'settle' to try and calm her down after these very short sessions, with some degree of success. However, I discouraged the 'rough' play as I was never happy with it - I didn't like the fact that it would get Xena so worked up, and eventually (after a lot of nagging), I got him to stop doing this with her. If I had to estimate, I'd say these sessions were only about 5 minutes long and every few days over the course of a couple of weeks, so not much. But I think this has been enough to establish some undesirable behaviour in our puppy
.
I know that Bostons can be stubborn and can try to be domineering but I think the behaviour we have goes beyond that? So here's my best description of it...At least once a day, if we tell her 'no' to try and stop her digging up the compost in the garden or digging at the sofa cushions or any other small thing, she will totally lose her temper with us. She will bark, lunge at us and try to nip/bite our hands (not hard enough to make us bleed but enough to be unwanted!). During this, she also won't be told to sit and will ignore all commands she would normally respond to. On the advice of our dog training class trainer, we used to 'make like a tree' to make ourselves uninteresting (holding hands in the air and not look at or talk to her until she calmed down and then tell her to instantly sit) and this did work for a while to calm her down or at least to distract her enough for her to forget what the fuss was about. However, now she is a bit bigger and her legs are even more spring-loaded(!)
, she will just jump vertically and try nipping at our under arms if we have them held aloft 'making like a tree'. Yesterday, I wasn't the one who told her 'no' but she jumped up and nipped my elbow! Most (about 90%) of this behaviour is directed at my fiance though but will do it to me if I tell her 'no' at times. In the last week, we decided to try another tactic - we now both leave the room for 5 minutes and that seems to work sometimes at that particular moment, but it's not preventing her from behaving aggressively again. We've tried ignoring the behaviour but it's impossible because even if you sit and hide your hands, she will still try to get to them to bite us along with barking and lunging as well. We've tried asserting ourselves by saying 'no' and 'naughty' in very low tones and even yelled once or twice - but this only magnifies her aggression and makes her worse. The weekend before last, she was aggressively barking and lunging at me in the garden ( I told her to get off the composted area) and I got so angry with her reaction I went inside and just sat on the sofa crying because I don't know what to do anymore to stop it, I felt so helpless/useless. I'm not an emotional woman at all or one who cries easily or often (actually quite the reverse!), so this should tell you how bad this situation now has me feeling
.
I'm obviously very concerned by this and want it to stop as soon as possible, because I'd hate for her to bite anyone whilst walking or whilst anyone else is in our home or bite our dog walker. I have visions of her biting a stranger whilst out walking and having to be euthanised
. Obviously, we love her very much and would be absolutely heart broken by this. I also know it can't be good for Xena getting herself worked up into this kind of state, or for us either.
Just so that you know - we take Xena to training classes every week without fail, where she's taught new things and can socialise with other dogs. We also have a dog walker twice a week who takes her walking on group walks with other dogs, some regular, some new. When we meet dogs out on walks, if the other owner is willing, we let Xena say hello to the other dogs so I think she is well socialised in this regard. I also have a 9 year old step son who visits, and who she sees every 2 weeks, as well as my fiances parents every 2 weeks along with our neighbours and other dog walkers she sees daily as well so I don't think she lacks socialisation with humans either.
We also have training sessions with her at home on pretty much a daily basis and whilst out walking. We walk and feed her 3 times a day and have been working hard on her impulse control. We make her sit and wait for her meals and before going through doors (behind us, not in front) but appreciate we may need to do more in this area - any suggestions welcome! She has lots of bones and chew toys - we play tug, fetch and catch indoors and in the garden with other toys. She is a big attention seeker, always wants to play and be on the go when not sleeping and perhaps we have over-indulged this too much? We don't really get any down time whilst at home with her in the evening until she sleeps, which isn't normally until our bed time anyway.
Also, maybe just another note worthy point - we still keep her in her crate during the days we work, 3-5 days a week. Obviously she has water and is walked after 4 hours, and 2 days a week she is with the dog walker and other dogs in the afternoon. But we did wonder if she is now too old for this and should be trusted to roam the first floor of our house, starting with short periods? We also did think this could be contributing to her behaviour? But there doesn't seem to be any professional constructive evidence of this online, most 'professionals' seem to advocate the crate and Xena does see it as her calm/safe place in the world. She also sleeps in this at night and seems happy to do so.
Finally, due to her age, we appreciate she is teething on and off and her hormones may also be wacky as she enters the time frame for her first season/heat and wondered if this could solely explain the escalation in aggression in the past 2 weeks? She also seems to have been periodically temporarily off her food during the past 2 weeks as well, not sure if this a good indicator for her hormones being wacky or not?
In every other way though, Xena is a very loving and quite an obedient girl who makes us laugh each and every day. We love her very much and can't imagine her not being in our lives but want to eradicate this unwanted behaviour and welcome any experience and advice you all may have. Thank you so much for reading all of this- I'm very much hoping lots of you will be able to help.
P.S. Pics of our little madam are attached!
)
I apologise in advance for the essay but I want to give as much information as I can so you are in the best position help us. We have a 6 month & 3 week old female Boston Terrier puppy, we have had her since she was 9 weeks old. We have some issues with aggressive behaviour and really need some constructive advice please. We really don't know how to resolve her behaviour and have tried most things I have read online.
I appreciate that some or all of the issue may be taught behaviour and we don't need any lectures on that score, we just need advice on how to now deal with what we now have. My fiance used to 'rough' play with her as a younger puppy, just by kind of chasing her body with his hands, trying to tease her by taking toys from her to throw for her to fetch with his hands etc. She loved this but would get very carried away/over excited, so we tried to teach her 'enough' and 'settle' to try and calm her down after these very short sessions, with some degree of success. However, I discouraged the 'rough' play as I was never happy with it - I didn't like the fact that it would get Xena so worked up, and eventually (after a lot of nagging), I got him to stop doing this with her. If I had to estimate, I'd say these sessions were only about 5 minutes long and every few days over the course of a couple of weeks, so not much. But I think this has been enough to establish some undesirable behaviour in our puppy
I know that Bostons can be stubborn and can try to be domineering but I think the behaviour we have goes beyond that? So here's my best description of it...At least once a day, if we tell her 'no' to try and stop her digging up the compost in the garden or digging at the sofa cushions or any other small thing, she will totally lose her temper with us. She will bark, lunge at us and try to nip/bite our hands (not hard enough to make us bleed but enough to be unwanted!). During this, she also won't be told to sit and will ignore all commands she would normally respond to. On the advice of our dog training class trainer, we used to 'make like a tree' to make ourselves uninteresting (holding hands in the air and not look at or talk to her until she calmed down and then tell her to instantly sit) and this did work for a while to calm her down or at least to distract her enough for her to forget what the fuss was about. However, now she is a bit bigger and her legs are even more spring-loaded(!)
I'm obviously very concerned by this and want it to stop as soon as possible, because I'd hate for her to bite anyone whilst walking or whilst anyone else is in our home or bite our dog walker. I have visions of her biting a stranger whilst out walking and having to be euthanised
Just so that you know - we take Xena to training classes every week without fail, where she's taught new things and can socialise with other dogs. We also have a dog walker twice a week who takes her walking on group walks with other dogs, some regular, some new. When we meet dogs out on walks, if the other owner is willing, we let Xena say hello to the other dogs so I think she is well socialised in this regard. I also have a 9 year old step son who visits, and who she sees every 2 weeks, as well as my fiances parents every 2 weeks along with our neighbours and other dog walkers she sees daily as well so I don't think she lacks socialisation with humans either.
We also have training sessions with her at home on pretty much a daily basis and whilst out walking. We walk and feed her 3 times a day and have been working hard on her impulse control. We make her sit and wait for her meals and before going through doors (behind us, not in front) but appreciate we may need to do more in this area - any suggestions welcome! She has lots of bones and chew toys - we play tug, fetch and catch indoors and in the garden with other toys. She is a big attention seeker, always wants to play and be on the go when not sleeping and perhaps we have over-indulged this too much? We don't really get any down time whilst at home with her in the evening until she sleeps, which isn't normally until our bed time anyway.
Also, maybe just another note worthy point - we still keep her in her crate during the days we work, 3-5 days a week. Obviously she has water and is walked after 4 hours, and 2 days a week she is with the dog walker and other dogs in the afternoon. But we did wonder if she is now too old for this and should be trusted to roam the first floor of our house, starting with short periods? We also did think this could be contributing to her behaviour? But there doesn't seem to be any professional constructive evidence of this online, most 'professionals' seem to advocate the crate and Xena does see it as her calm/safe place in the world. She also sleeps in this at night and seems happy to do so.
Finally, due to her age, we appreciate she is teething on and off and her hormones may also be wacky as she enters the time frame for her first season/heat and wondered if this could solely explain the escalation in aggression in the past 2 weeks? She also seems to have been periodically temporarily off her food during the past 2 weeks as well, not sure if this a good indicator for her hormones being wacky or not?
In every other way though, Xena is a very loving and quite an obedient girl who makes us laugh each and every day. We love her very much and can't imagine her not being in our lives but want to eradicate this unwanted behaviour and welcome any experience and advice you all may have. Thank you so much for reading all of this- I'm very much hoping lots of you will be able to help.
P.S. Pics of our little madam are attached!
) 