Phew I guess I should be grateful for small mercies - at least my one behaves at home! He does get overly-interested in visitors but will leave them alone if I tell them to completely ignore him. AND apart from seeking out rats in the back garden he isn't a nuisance there. It is out for his walks that he is so badly behaved.

I feel a bit better today with the advice I got on here and just generally a little bit more recovered. I do have a modicum of control over him and his recall on the whole is pretty good.

I think the only solution to such a hyper beast is the passage of time - roll on his 10th birthday

Thanks for taking the time to give me your advice Mattie - I do appreciate it and judging by the list of dogs you have, you probably have come across a beast similar to mine?

He is such a fast learner - I can teach him absolutely anything in such a short time. When we're out treats don't really interest him because I think he's gone over threshold but balls on a rope sometimes get his attention.

As I said to Tangutica -roll on his 10th year!

I have one like him now and she is really frustrating at times but I can't let her see me frustrated as she gets worse.

The idea is not to let him get hyper, you keep control all the time and keep him focused on you. If you are throwing a ball and fetching it back stop the game before he gets fed up or just throw a few times then do something else then back to the throwing.

Tilly has improved a lot since I have been doing this, trying to keep her attention at all times, now I can let her drop her attention to me for short periods then bring it back again before she gets hyper.

It doesn't matter how much experience we get, the next dog we take on has fresh challenges so we continue to learn, you are learning a lot at the moment and will be able to pass that on to others in the not too distant future.

That is a shame, they are missing so much with him and he isn't learning control, it is a bit like kids, if you don't teach them control you get hooligans.

About the lunging while he is out, and possibly injuring you, try standing on the lead. Our springer would have a fit of bouncing and yank my arm all over the place. I learnt that if I stand on the lead, she eventually realises nothing is happening, she's going nowhere and stands still - cue for calm order and treat/fuss.

It does mean for the first few times you look like a complete loony, standing quietly there and waiting for the dog to figure out going crazy is getting him nowhere. I think part of the reason this worked for Willow was that I wasn't trying to get control back, I was quietly waiting for her to control herself.

If nothing else, you might get less injured!

I agree with the premise of your advice that sometimes ignoring and preventing them from getting the attention that they are being so naughty for often helps. Somebody suggested on here that I do that when he's playing too rough with me and starts biting.

He lunges momentarily whilst we're out - trying to dart into garden gates because he thinks there's a cat there and he can use the power of surprise

What he does with his lead when he gets very excited is attempts to play tug with it, so I'm holding it and he's trying desperately to wrestle it from my hand. If I can I drop the lead - which defeats him as there's no tug back but if there are other dogs around and he's in the mood to bolt then I can't.

Sadly he has all the characteristics of what Mattie referred to as a teenage hooligan. Mind you I have good days when things go really well and days when he's almost impossible (or rather all my training techniques go out the window and I've nothing to pull out the bag to distract him at that moment.

I hope your dog has a harness on, if a dog is allowed to do this with the lead clipped to the collar or head collar they can do a lot of damage and may even break their neck.

A lot depends on why they are leaping about as well, this wouldn't work with Tilly but will with Dolly who leaps about when she wants to go and say hello to another dog and is prevented, the reason has to be taken into account.

I gave up on worrying if I look a loony a long time ago


Dogs don't do naughty, they do what works, if something doesn't work they stop doing it. It is us humans who call normal dog behaviour naughty and it is up to us to teach our dogs what is acceptable in our society which is what we are trying to do.

For those that are having problems understanding ignoring the bad behaviour think of a child in a supermarket who wants sweets when they get to the check-out, mum says no, child starts to put pressure on mum for the sweets, mum still says no, so child ups the pressure, mum says no, so child starts to scream, mum finds this embarrassing so gives in. Next time at the check-out the child gets to the screaming quicker because it worked but if mum just let her scream the first time the next time the child rarely screams because it didn't work. I have seen this myself many times when I ran a pre-school playgroup. Children like dogs do what works.

Quickly clip another lead on before dropping the lead he is tugging, I am so evil.

The good days will start to overtake the bad so keep it up, you are doing well with him and eventually you will miss all this fun when he is well behaved and obedient.

Do you know what he is crossed with , that may help a little, but to be honest you are describing a typical hyper Boxer, and I hate to tell you this, at 3 yrs old he is still very much a baby (mentally) in fact most Boxers never grow up and can test you at any time through their lives.

The first thing you need to do (for your own sake) is be able to control his walks......... what do you walk him on, if its a normal collar and lead its obviously not working for you.

My advice is get that sorted first, either try a good harness and half check collar, with a double ended lead OR a headcollar (dogmatic are good) and a half check collar, again with the double ended lead, this way you have more control and can stop the pulling easier, if you have control, you can work with him before he gets into the "zone" once there you`ve lost the battle.

The biting and tugging the lead in my experience comes from boredom, they have lost interest in the walk so will entertain themselves (my two did this) when they were young, when this happens, you need to implement some training into the walk, its a good idea to do this anyway when walking them on the lead, it keeps their mind guessing, don't give him a chance to make his own entertainment.

Do some wait, sit, down, walk on, stop, sit, wait, and so on , keep his mind active, this way he will eventually stop tugging the lead as he wont have time to think.

If he is ball or treat obsessed than use that to distract from any distractions..i.e cats furry things, my boy would sell his soul for a tennis ball,

The aggression and prey drive, you may not be able to cure, but you should be able to manage it, if you can master the lead walking life will be so much simpler, I would get what you need and work on that first, remember if you can catch him before he goes into the zone, he will listen to you,

Good luck.........

Yes exactly the same as mine, he tries to play tug with me when he's on his lead!

Hi Jackbox

I do have a double lead - one clips in the front and one along the back of his harness.

It did occur that this was classic boxer immaturity! GROAN!

I took him on a different walk this afternoon around different lanes that are very rural and he was significantly calmer, I'm convinced it's where there are lots of distractions i.e cats, rats, rabbits etc.

Where we walked today we were walking alongside a hedge and a pheasant suddenly flew out which startled us both and I let him stand there and watch where it was and where it went and then he just trotted alongside by side me.

No telling with this crazy dude.