Agressive/destructive behavior

Question
Sorry, this is a little long. My female pup is now eleven months old, and although she has always been a bit destructive and down right nuts, it seems she has gotten much worse over time. If she is scolded harshly she starts barking and growling and then the moment you turn around she nips at you. If she is told to stop doing something nicely shell continue as if you are not even talking to her. I know she isn't deaf because if you say the word "treat" to her she goes to where they are. I used to leave her loose in my room when younger while I was away, but in the last few months Ive had to put her in a cage because she has destroyed my room completely.  I don't know what to do, nothing I do seems to calm her. She has no respect for me or my family, and I am afraid she'll attack one of us in the house, especially my little brother. What should I do?

Answer
What has happened is she is a extroverted personality-type and your lack of socializing her and training her at an early, early age.

When pups are still with their mom in their litter, the mom teaches them to be rough and tough, and "big, bad Boxers."

She knows no other way than be rough and tough; and not trained to be behaved; what is acceptable behavior and what is not.

Training a puppy at an early age is no different than teaching our kids at an early age.

Also, she is not respecting you as the "alpha." She considers you as a playmate- a litter mate.

Try this trick for a few weeks to get her respect as the alpha:

Place her dog food bowl on the table where she can see the bowl, and set her in front of you to watch.

Put dog food in it, and place cookies or crackers on the table behind the bowl.

Stand and eat them without looking at her.

She will think you are eating food from her bowl.

When you are finished, tell her "okay, eat," and place her dog food bowl down on the floor in front of her so she can eat.

In the wild, pack animals, such as wolves, the order is the alpha eats first, all he wants, and if there is food left over, he tells the pack they can eat. They cannot eat until the alpha finishes and tells them to.

Therefore, she will soon see you as the alpha.


Next trick is to make her submissive to you.

When she will not obey, force her down on her side and hold her down. Hold her in this submissive position for a few minutes.

In the wild, the alpha makes the pack submissive to them on command.  When they submit, it is a sign of respect and obedience to the alpha. Non-challenging.

Also, after not being in a crate for so long, and the being abruptly crated, she is rebelling to the change. It should have been trained (crate trained) as a small puppy, and now, should have been a gradual transition in crate training.

Dogs do not like change from their routine.

If you do not have the ability, the time, the patience, the finances to train her properly and modify her behavior, then I highly suggest that you re-home her to a family that does.

Call a Boxer rescue and relinquish her. She need a lot of behavior modification training now, and should have begun at 3-4 weeks old. Eleven months is a young adult and the damage has been done- therefore, the behavior needs changing now before it is too late.