Boxer Behaviour and Toys.

Question
Hi. Our names are Steven and Nichol, and we have a beautiful young male Boxer dog, who is our family dog. So we Took our 5 1/2 month old Boxer male (35lbs) named Bice to the dog park. Very friendly guy, loves people very much, and gets along well with other dogs. We had an incident where another dog had a toy, in this case a frisbee. He went up to the other dog and started to pull on the frisbee, they other dog didn't mind at the time. Bice then snapped at the other dogs face and that dog dropped the frisbee and Bice took the toy. I took the toy from him and Bice snapped at the same dog again. So I took Bice for a time out, waited about 10 mins until I released him to hopefully go play with other dogs. Well that didn't go so well. For the record the other dog is bigger then Bice. So Bice again went after the other dog. This time when he tried to snap at the dog to get what he wanted, the other dog fought back and ended up kicking Bice's butt. Bice yelped and the other dog kept going on him until the owner took him off. We took Bice home right after that incident cause we didn't like Bice's aggressive behavior. This is the 2nd time he has acted in the manner towards another dog with toys. Why is this happening? He never growls or bits at home! We train him everyday. Well any answers would be appreciated.

Answer
Hi,

Sorry, but no.  You didn't take him home right after the incident.  You gave him 2 more chances to misbehave and THEN you took him home.  Do you understand what I'm saying?  The first instance, he snapped.  The second instance, he snapped.  The third, he got told off by the other dog and THEN you took him home.  If you truly don't like his aggressive behavior, you need to deal with it when it happens...not only after he's gotten a good telling off from another dog.

Any undesired behavior stops play.  Whether it's at home, the dog park, a friend's house.  Biting, growling (other than the normal Boxer 'talk'), snapping, jumping...any actions that are not wanted by you (or others) stop the fun.  I'm not sure what you had hoped to accomplish by the time out.  Unless you took him out of site, sound and smell of the dog park, it would have done nothing.

He's a puppy and it's perfectly normal for him to test his boundaries with you, other humans and other animals.  It's imperative that he's taught proper manners.  Bice was rewarded by the first snap (he got the toy), nothing happened at the second and the third he got what was coming to him.  

Until he can act properly, you will either have to skip the dog park or be hyper vigilant.  Any instance of misbehavior causes a trip back home.  ..immediately.  More socialization in controlled environments (home, walks) would be helpful as well.  He should be meeting a new dog and a new human every day in situations that you have control over.  

Because he doesn't growl or snap at home with his owners has no bearing on his public manners with other dogs.  It's great that you're training him and keep it up, however, working with distractions is something different.  Your also putting him in a very different environment if he's not been socialized well.  Formalized obedience classes are a great tool for socialization as well as learning.