Boxer Jealousy

Hi,

I have two male boxers {brothers} had them since 8 weeks they are 13months now. Sampson is the smaller of the two 55pounds and Rogan is the bigger @ 70pounds. Sampson is very jealous of Rogan. We give equal attention to both but when you play with Sampson if Rogan is around he starts to growl and tonight he tried to bite my husband and now he wants to get rid of him. Has anyone had this happen to them with two male boxers?

Help I do not want to have to give Sampson away

Johnna Campbell

Hi,

You say he started to growl, are you sure it's not that deep throated noise that Boxer's traditionally make when they play? For example, when I play rough with my Benson, you would bet your house that he was mauling me. The noise is incredible!

Also, when you say he tried to bite your husband, could that not have been the excited mind of a young Boxer? Again, when Benson gets over excited, he starts to nip at my sleeves. When he does this, playtime stops.

I'm hoping that it's just a case of two over excited young Boxers who just love life and playing.

I have 2 Boxer boys (7 months and 11 months) and they make a horrible noise when playing - like a proper dog attack, or, as Hammer says, a really deep throated growly noise

Even if they're playing with us, we still get the noise!

They will often bite/mouth if you're not careful. Mine have mouths round each others throats and heads and legs all the time; and we have to be careful that they don't try this with us.

Our eldest, Max, is great at this, but our puppy is still learning not to do this to us.

They are extremely boisterous when playing and get over excited very easily

Hello and welcome,


Sorry you are having trouble with your boys.

I dont think this is a Boxer play growl, as you say he bit your hubby.

The trouble you have is you have two (adolescent teenage boys) who unfortunately are also litter brothers.

I am not going to saY anthing about the breeder who sold you two male siblings.

They are both reaching maturity at the same time, so they will both be trying to take the Alpha role.

In a household where they dogs have a age gap, Hierarchy usually takes its place naturally, i.e older dog is in charge , and teaches younger dog manners, and respect.

When you have two the same age, and specially same sex, they will be no natural hierarchy structure for them to follow.

As youngsters, they will be OK together, but as they mature you may see , what you are seeing now, one or both is going to try to take the job of boss between themselves...plus all the other hormonal goings on adolescence brings.

Hopefully you can fix this, but I think you need to bring a behaviorist into your home, and help you sort this out now, before it escalates to them fighting....and it will if you dont sort it now.

You need someone who can read body language and help you see who is top dog, (it is not always the one who is starting the trouble) and this is crucial for you to get this sorted.

Some Boxers when reaching maturity can become same sex intolerant...not always but it can happen, some people can keep multiple males together with no problem, it all depends on the dogs, and you the owner of cause .

Are either, or , both castrated?? if not dont rush into castrating just yet, you need to find the top dog first, then it may be an option.

I know many ,many boxer owners, and not many would keep two or more males together (but they usually are all intact)

I am not trying to frighten you, but you must be aware of the work you need to put in to sorting this out, before it osculates to where you have a real problem on your hands.

You need to put a new structure into your home, remove all toys anything that you feel may start trouble, no petting when they are both trying to gain attention.

It would also be a good idea to put into practice the NILF (nothing in life is free) way of training,

There is lots of info on the web if you Google it.

This means both of them get nothing from you , unless they do something you require first. i.e sit/ before feeding , putting leads on ans so on.

Don't rush into getting rid of one, get someone in to help you, and hopefully it will sort itself out.

Good luck

as it happens i have two male boxers brothers aswell.one of mine has an attention disorder lol.ive had no trouble off mine apart from house damage.we had one first then one two weeks later.they adore each other cuddle up together clean each other but they do act like a pack of dogs you have to impose your leadership to them early on.the one we had first lennox he is dominant over lewis.even when lennox was taken ill he has never challenged him.talk about band of brothers.mine are two different sizes lennox 38kg and lewis 41kg big boy fair play.mine are the same age as yours.if one gets out of hand i remove him from the room for 10 mins or so untill hes lying down then il let him back in.ive got the same problem ones sane ones nuts lol.if he shows aggression again try making him lie on his side to make him be submissive to you dont show aggression back. watch the dog whisperer on sky 3 good tips on there.hope it works out for you

I know you may get different advice from us all, and like I said earlier, it can work.

But , Please, Please, Please, do not try the above..

By forcing a dog to lay in a submissive role will and can get you bitten.

Dogs do not ever force another dog into a Alpha role, the disobedient or submissive dog will lay down belly up of his own free will, to tell the dominant dog ! I am no trouble / threat"

Even CM ( dog whisperer) in his wisdom will, when he is doing his Alpha Role will tell his clients, you can only do this on little dogs, never try it on a big dog.............because you will get bitten, and you dont have the strength to hold a aggressive dog, or frightened large strong dog down for long enough. to force your will on them, you are backing a dog into a corner, and he will do what is natural to get out of it.

Hi Joanna what you are describing here sounds to me like a 'displacement activity'/redirected behaviour. When a dog becomes stressed/ over excited or prevented from performing a highly motived behaviour it may resort to this .

As Jackbox says I would steer clear of pinning or restraining your dog which may make matters a whole lot worse. What would I do? try to assess when the behaviour is likely to occur and avoid those situations (eg getting the dogs too excited when playing together) and distract with some other form of activity.

If I can find any info on this I will post it for you...

Updated There is lots of info about this behaviour if you search for it, for one reason or another I can't post links all the links but here is one.. http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache...lnk&cd=2&gl=uk

Funny you should say that, AD/OCD /DA/RB all seem to be a connected range of behaviours