Tunsafun Boxers Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 Hi Guys, As you know, i've got two young boxers. my white bitch is 11 months old, my red and white bitch is 9 months old and they LOVE to play. The problem is, they are playing far too rough and there's lots of biting involved. they hang of each others necks which is starting to cause some problems. Poppy doesn't have too many marks on her, but pippa is scratched up and has small punctures under her ears, along her neck and even some on her legs. I dont want to keep them separated constantly, but have found this is the only way to ensure that this doesn't happen. Its such a shame because they love to play, and being of similar age, they can keep up with each other. I've been lucky to date as no wounds inflicted have become infected, but i know its only a matter of time. and as both of them are getting stronger and bigger, the wounds are getting deeper and more serious. Im doing supervised play with them, but after about 3 minutes i have to put a stop to it because the biting starts. Any suggestions on what i can do? Ive included a couple of photo's, sorry they aren't the best. the first is the bites on her neck. there's LOTS of them, the second was done by a tooth and would have really hurt! these wounds are about 4 days old now, and are clearing up well. any advice would be greatly appreciated. i really dont want to have to separate them constantly if i can at all avoid it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 When mine get too rough I call them and they have to sit for treats, time out if necessary. Kaos hangs off of Diesel's neck sometimes too - but he has more hair than your guys and an abundant scruff and most of the time doesn't mind the little leech! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamuzz Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 Maybe their play has to be supervised and like Kavik says, enforce time out. Be interested to read what others have to say as my GSD likes playing rough as well. That's fine when the other dog is a similar size but when I have a smaller foster it can be a bit worrying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haven Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 Given that it's around the neck area and not somewhere they would normally lick themselves, maybe you could give each of them a squirt of something distasteful to discourage them from chewing on eachother :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tunsafun Boxers Posted February 5, 2007 Author Share Posted February 5, 2007 Given that it's around the neck area and not somewhere they would normally lick themselves, maybe you could give each of them a squirt of something distasteful to discourage them from chewing on eachother :p Thats a great idea!!!!!! Any suggestions? Might just save them from being roughed up ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ci Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 (edited) My two still do this to each other and they are 5 now! I have seen them pulling each others cheeks to the point where I think it will come off!!! I montior it and if I see or heard them getting to that stage - I stop them playing and get them to do something or settle down. When you are not there is hard to montior but just stop them when you are around. They do calm down or grow out of it and my two will now sometimes when they get to that point, stop themselves or one of them come to me and stand behind me so I know it means time to stop. Edited February 5, 2007 by Ci Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haven Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 I'd ask your Vet for some Dimethyl Pthalate (sp) and mix some with water in a spray bottle. How much water vs concentrate you will need depends on the dogs, I'd just keep adding the concentrate until you get the ratio you need. You don't have to dilute it, but it can be expensive and in a spray bottle you will be going through a fair amount, so I'd recommend it just to save money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAX Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 What about some good tug toys? They could wrestle with them and play tug with each other instead of tugging on each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tunsafun Boxers Posted February 5, 2007 Author Share Posted February 5, 2007 Ive tried the tug toys, but have found that if Pippa gets one that Poppy wants, poppy starts tugging on her. I even bought 3 of each toy to stop arguments lol I guess pups will be pups eh? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockhard_mastiffs Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 It must be a boxer thing, i had two boxers who did the exact same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ci Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 And a Stafford thing! My two are Staffies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AussieDog Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 My two are the same - my older puppy drags my younger one around by the collar - literally. I asked some trainers at dog school on the weekend as i was concerned one would eventually hurt the other - both trainers said there is little that can be done and that i should only worry if they are hurting each other - ie if dogs are yelping (which there not). Both trainers said they will evenutally grow out of it - but to remember they are pups/dogs and thats what they do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tunsafun Boxers Posted February 9, 2007 Author Share Posted February 9, 2007 For the time being, i've separated them. They've still got playmates, but they aren't together. Poppy has a show in a couple of weeks and pippa has some nasty scratches and bites on her that need to heal. Its obviously Poppy doing all the biting because she has very little in the way of marks or sratches on her, pippa is however covered in bites. i'll put them back together this afternoon for a supervised play session, and do that daily, hopefully i can teach them that they can play, but that hanging off each others necks, ears and tails isn't acceptable! thanks again guys Jenna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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