Hi All,

Wondering if you could help me. I have a 12 week old Boxer Bitch, and a 3 year old little boy.

Our Pup is doing really well and loves my little boy, but I have noticed she is beginning to bite him, and bark. Not in a playful way either. When I tell her off, she starts on me. Then it comes to me and my little boy scared.

I don't know why she is like this, as next thing she is snuggling up to my little boy. But you never know what why she is going to go.

I have booked her into training classes which start next week, but at the moment this is starting to become a nightmare, and totally un-enjoyable!

I can't leave her in the same room as him alone as she starts on him, and he ends up crying.

PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME. I really don't know what to do.

Many thanks.

Hi Guest,

Your boxer is just a puppy and all puppies do this.  They just want to play and your puppy probably sees your 3 year old as one of his siblings.
We had a German shepherd puppy (who was quite big and weighed 2 1/2 stone at 12 weeks old) and he was just the same so I can understand your concerns.  Our German Shepherd actually knocked my son down and bit him on his head and made it bleed whilst out on a walk.  He was just playing but I started to panic and thought he would turn into a viscious dog, I  am ashamed to say that I actually thought about rehoming him at this point.  He turned into a wonderful dog and he was great with the kids once he matured and grew out of his silly puppy ways and we all loved him until last July when he was put to sleep because of an incurable illness aged nearly 6.

Could you not get one of those dog gates from argos (they are great for big dogs because they are bigger than baby gates) and keep your boxer in another room until you have time to watch them together then no accidents happen?   We have a Bichon Frise dog now and he is small but he did this with my daughter who was 3 when we got him last year, its just with a bigger dog its more of a problem.  It will get better in a few months when he gets his new teeth and matures a bit.   The training classes will also help.  Good luck!

I had a similar problem with Willis (dane) and Zack - who was 3 at the time. Willis saw Zack as an easy target to play with. Zack would run off, Willis would chase.... nightmare.

We used a water pistol and a saucepan and wooden spoon. Zack was with us, as was Willis. We hid the water pistol and the saucepan and waited for Willis to wake up and start...

As soon as Willis started on Zack he got a soaking with the water pistol and a yelled NO! He literally sat back on his haunches and looked very perplexed. It wasn't coming from Zack - it was just suddenly a nasty association all of a sudden. He had another go and he got another soaking. We then swapped to banging the saucepan with the spoon right behind his head - and that was enough. It took 3 attempts - water, water, noise and Willis never picked on Zack again.

Now, Zack is 5 and when the dogs are play fighting and he shouts at them to stop Phoebe runs in her bed and Willis sits and behaves :D :D

Well for a start, please NEVER leave your dog in the same room as your child unattended, young children do not know the limits of what is acceptable when dealing with dogs (even my 7 year old has a knack of putting the wind up dogs!) and you don't know what he is doing to the pup while you are not there.

Puppies, as you will have found out, have VERY sharp teeth - this is for a purpose - so they learn by playing with their litter mates not to bite too hard - if they bite then the litter mate won't play with them, so they get no 'fun'.  However, the playmate won't 'tell her off' - in order to communicate your displeasure you need to think dog, not furious Mum.  If her play gets too boisterous, call a time out and walk away (taking your child with you if necessary) and when your pup comes to find you, offer a play session with a suitable toy (like a ragger).

You might also want to think about your own approach, as your little boy may be picking up on your nervousness - are you really taking charge of the situation, or do you not know *how* to deal with this in a way that lets him see you are in control?

Just a note, ChloeH and I will probably have to agree to disagree, but I don't suggest using a water pistol in this way - for a confident boisterous dog it can become a reward in itself for the behaviour, and for a less confident, more nervous dog, they can start to associate the presence of the child with punishment, with possible disasterous consequences.  I can't see your dog, so don't know which catagory it falls into, so I try to always make suggestions that will 'do no harm'.

I didn't suggest the poster use a Water Pistol - I just recounted my experience based on my puppy, if thats OK with you? :)

You know me Chloe ;)  Always have to play devils advocate...

we had a similar problem when we first got our pup. he saw them as littermates and fair game for a bit of rough and tumble. my kids had never been scared of dogs so i was suprised but they just found the big lump a bit overwhelming and would cower or run from him and this just made it more of a game for him. in time they became more confident with him and would stand firm and say no firmly and he realised they were not equal to him but were higher in the pecking order and he had to respect them, you need lots of firm nos and in time your childs confidence will grow and his body language and firmness will show the dog whats acceptable.

Hi Digger,
have to agree with you over the water pistol.I was advised to use a water pistol to stop my Beardie from barking (a non barking beardie I ask you!)anyway this was looked upon by my beardie as hilarious as you said in your post about boistrous dogs.I personally find a newspaper banged on the table works wonders.

Hi! Try not to panic - your puppy is behaving perfectly normally for her age. She's treating you and your son as she would her littermates. If you do a [search] on here (top right corner of the screen) and type in 'Puppy mouthing' as keywords, you'll get loads and loads of threads on the subject.

Also I'd recommend a copy of 'The Perfect Puppy' by Gwen Bailey, which will give you lots of tips for turning her into a well-mannered friend.

Also it's generally recommended never to leave children and dogs (even well-trained ones) unattended - youngsters together, unsupervised, are an accident waiting to happen.
Good luck.

A member of my family has a Retriever, he is lovely but a little boistrous. My 5 year old niece was running round the room, pooch thought it would be a good idea to play too. He runs up, takes a nip at the childs bottom (seriously this happened) and when she fell to the floor crying he dived on top of her and began pushing her about on the floor.

I was mortified! Took the dog for time out, leaving him in the utility room to chill. 10 Minutes later he was invited in again, was offered a ball to play fetch with and everything went ok from there on in.

They really do not understand what is expected of them, you have to show him, kindly, firmly and calmly what you expect from him, what you class as play time, chill time, good play and bad play.

With some training and percevierance he should turn out to be a very well balanced friend for you and your family.

My German Shepherd used to nip peoples bums when we were out walking sometimes if I didn't get him on his lead quick enough (when he was young, he grew out of it as he got older)  I remember one time him running up to these 4 girls about 15 years old  and they had pvc trousers on.  They stood still and I tried to get him but he just kept running round and round them and thought it was a great game we were playing, then all of a sudden he went to have a nip of one of their bums and I just grabbed him before he sank his teeth into her trousers, fortunately the girl hadn't noticed what he was about to do.  I kept him on the lead after that until It was definite that no-one was around.

Thats one of the reasons I try not to sell any pups to families with children under 5 yrs of age. Not that I breed much nowadays as ive retired.

but my 10yr old who has always lovd dogs was wary at first as he imagined a pup to be this cute cuddly thing lying on his lap! some people dont realise how lively and terrorising pups can be

i have a gsd who was the same with my children  , i have three children the youngest being 3 and the eldest 9 , ozzy at one point would never leave my youngest alone , always chasing after him and nipping him , he never really did this to my eldest son because he always told him a firm no and ozzy listened to him where as with my youngest he would run off crying and ozzy would love this and get even more excited  , i would just tell ozzy NO with a firm voice and seperate him from us for a few minutes , then let him back in , but like others have said you should never leave a young child on his own with a dog no matter how much you trust the dog . ozzy is 10 months old now and has calmed down alot he still at the odd time has a nip at one of the children when he gets over excited  but nothing like it was and with a quick firm no he stops straight away!!!!!