Expert: Renee Cox - 7/2/2008

Question
QUESTION: I have a two and a half year old Boxer bitch. She is the perfect pet in the house and shows no signs of aggression towards me, my wife, my two children or any one who we let into our house, she will bark at the door but as soon as our guests are in she will make a fuss of them.
However when we take her out for her daily exercise she will attack other dogs, we keep her on the lead until we are sure there are no other dogs around but she will still go for them on the lead.  She will always puts them on there back and will lose the plot, to the point where she will snap at us when getting her off.
I'm sure she is trying to protect us as when she is off the lead and a fair distance away from us she will play with other dogs (as long as they are not little tiny ones)
Please help this is driving us mad as she is a lovely dog.

ANSWER: Hi Peter. It sounds like your girl may be dog agressive, which a lot of Boxers are. When you're walking your dog, everytime she tenses up, or growls, or whatever it is that she does, turn around sharply and walk in the other direction. You have to do this every single time. Eventually, it will change the behavior as long as you're consistant. I would also suggest obedience classes or even a trainer to help you with this problem. They can see exactly what your dog is doing, and help you correct it in person. The above method does work however, as long as you do it every single time the dog does a bad behavior. Good luck!

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QUESTION: Many thanks for the quick and well educated answer. I have seen behavior collars on the market not the electric shock ones but similar, they vibrate, do you think they would help when she is of the lead? as sometimes other dogs catch us by surprise and we don't have time to get her back on the lead.

Answer
Some dogs do really well with these types of collars. However, some dogs get so focused on what ever it is they're doing, the collar doesn't even faze them. My best advice, would be to talk to a trainer and see if they think that it would work on your girl. There's also some types of collars that will spray a nasty smell, or blow a lot of air. There's a few types of these collars out. I know of a few people who have used them with great success. I have also known dog owners with dogs who you could hook a live wire to them and it wouldn't get them out of what ever they're doing. lol I'd let someone who is trained to watch your dog, and see if they think the collar would work for your girl, see how intense her reactions to other dogs are, before you spend a lot of money on a training aid that may not even work for your girl.