male dog

Question
Kristen, I have 1yr old male boxer and Im having some difficulty with him and my husband getting along. I know its a domince type thing.  He starts out crying then it turns to a bark and then he wants to pounce on my husband. Then there is a day when they get along. There is also 2 other dogs in our house to....I need advice on what to do for them to get along.  he listens to me good but not my husband.  any advice is great.

Answer
It's probably not so much dominance as it is lack of respect, Beth. What you need to do is make the boxer your husband's responsibility for awhile. Your husband needs to feed/water the dog, take the dog for walks (you can go, too, with one of your other dogs if you like, but HE should be the one to handle the leash of the boxer), and participate in the dog's training. For a while, your husband needs to be #1 to the dog, so that the dog learns that your husband deserves the same respect as you do.

Boxers are high energy dogs; they require a lot of exercise and mental stimulation. The whining, then barking and pouncing on your husband behavior that you describe indicates to me that he might not be getting enough. This is his way of trying to initiate play, but it is not appropriate. The dog should never be the one to initiate play; YOU and your HUSBAND should, as the pack leaders.

Each of his daily walks should be at least 30-45 minutes long. He should also receive at least 30 minutes of training time a day, broken up into 5-10 minute increments, and after each training session, a nice game of fetch or something that he likes that will make him run and burn off some energy.