Awesome dogs / Crazy pets Thread

[RCW]

Can I please ask a question about my dog. Will be a bit long winded intro. We think he's a 18 months old (microchip info was a bit weird on his breed) boxer cross. We have had him for about 3 months. In that time he has gone from a skinny and very timid boy to a very happy cheeky boy who grew a lot in the first month we had him.
Normally he is really friendly and just wants to play with everyone. Today when my wife was walking him a gentleman was leaving his house and Otis became really aggressive towards the man who we have never met. My wife had to pin him to the ground to restrain him.
We have seen him get agitated with other aggressive dogs or we think pigs hiding in the bush at our property but never like this and definitely never with a person.
Fortunately the gentleman was very understanding and went back inside his house to allow my wife to calm him down.
My wife said the man was distinctive in the fact he was a big man and wearing hi viz clothes.
We don't know what he went through before we got him and it makes me sick to the stomach to think about it.
Would anyone have any ideas on what triggered him?
The only thing I can think of is that this gentleman reminded him of his previous owner.
We adopted him from a pound over an hour away so I'm doubting this guy would be his previous owner
Thanks for reading.
Andrew
View attachment 135588

We've had 3 boxers. By nature, they can be a protective breed but generally are very happy sorts like yours.

While I don't know your area of Australia, many boxer-crosses in my area of USA are often boxer/pit bull mixes. Your dog looks very similar to a former co-workers boxer/pit bull dog. Pits are also protective.

I would be cognitive of the behavior and possible trigger(s) for the behavior.

In the meantime, I would also focus on obedience training to make sure he understands who is in charge of his behavior and what is and is not acceptable behavior. One of our boxers very much disliked a couple of people. We recognized that and kept him on a "short leash" in their presence.

 

[skeets]

Dogs are very preceptive, I have found over the years most dogs seem to know about people better than we do. A friends daughter was dating a guy that seemed to be a very nice young man, and his chocolate lab, a warm Hershey bar to everyone that ever came in touch with her. She simply hated this young man, and would have hurt him if she had the chance. Anyway his daughter and this guy parted ways, and it turned out this guy was an abuser, he married and abused his wife, and girl friend , nice guy, but the dog knew it from the get go.

 

[JimDeL]

...I'm a firm believer that our dogs can sense when someone is meaning evil. I know this person was just walking out of the house in post, but your dog could very well know that the person isn't a good person.

We've got a 70 pound Standard Poodle (Izzy) who doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She loves everybody. A few years ago we got a new neighbor down the street. He came over one morning when Izzy and I were out in the yard. She immediately started growling and showing teeth. The nearer he came, the more aggressive she got, putting herself between him and me. He looked at her and just said "sorry" and left.

Turns out he was a registered sex offender and child abuser. Izzy knew.

 

[RCW]

The 2 fellows our boxer didn’t like were our heating contractors.

Known them 30+ years; good guys.

Our theory was they were often here when just the Mrs. was home and I was at work.

He didn’t care for strange men around the house when Dad wasn’t here. He was definitely Mom’s dog and his protective genes kicked in…..

 

[WanderOn]

Thank you everyone. Really appreciate the feedback.
He is very protective of us. Whenever one of our boys (5 and 7) get too far from us he will go to them and stay with them.
Just really caught my wife off guard that he could become so aggressive.
They are amazing creatures and he is one of the best decisions I've ever made.

 

[Daren Todd]

We've got a 70 pound Standard Poodle (Izzy) who doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She loves everybody. A few years ago we got a new neighbor down the street. He came over one morning when Izzy and I were out in the yard. She immediately started growling and showing teeth. The nearer he came, the more aggressive she got, putting herself between him and me. He looked at her and just said "sorry" and left.

Turns out he was a registered sex offender and child abuser. Izzy knew.

We had a couple subcontractors running cable down our street. When I pulled up in my service truck (F550) they had their truck parked in the road and I sure couldn't get by.

I looked for them and couldn't find them. But they left the keys in their truck. So I moved their truck over so people could sneak past.

Wife and I were out walking our German shepherd who loves everyone as well. Well the guys were putting their stuff away as we were walking by.

One of the guys jumped out of the back of their truck, took three steps towards us with his hand out to greet Gypsy.

He said he never met a dog that didn't Ike him.

Well.... he found one

At the third step, she put her body between us, bristled up, and let out a growl that resonated from her toenails

She made me clench

Dude levitated into the back of that truck

 

[WanderOn]

Over the years, most (we had one dog that just didn't like anyone but the family) were friendly dogs. We had a Great Dane that loved almost everyone, but on two different occasions, she would get her fur up and become extremely aggressive. One time was when a man approached our vehicle while in a drive-thru line and came up from my blind spot and she tried to go out my window at him. He immediately apologized and took off. Another time I was walking her, a guy on a bicycle came up and wanted money and I told him I didn't have any and I started walking away not thinking much about it as it appeared he was preparing to ride away. Well instead he decided he was going to come closer and she went after him and he fell off his bike and started screaming he didn't want no trouble.

I'm a firm believer that our dogs can sense when someone is meaning evil. I know this person was just walking out of the house in post, but your dog could very well know that the person isn't a good person.

Can Dogs Sense Bad People? Exploring Canine Intuition

Discover the remarkable ability of dogs to detect bad people. Learn how canine intuition works and the signs to watch for. Read now!

blog.tryfi.com

Thank you. That was an interestingread It's incredible how much more perceptive dogs are than us.

 

[Daren Todd]

Thank you everyone. Really appreciate the feedback.
He is very protective of us. Whenever one of our boys (5 and 7) get too far from us he will go to them and stay with them.
Just really caught my wife off guard that he could become so aggressive.
They are amazing creatures and he is one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Our German Shepherd is super lovable and friendly to most people.

For some reason she doesn't like delivery vehicles.

FedEx, UPS, or an Amazon vehicle's are her triggers

She will bark and growl at them every time.

She's awesome with kids. She's been bumrushed a couple times by a special needs kid.

The first time was in a pet store and the kid came out of nowhere. He about gave me and one of the store employees a heart attack to have this kid suddenly wrapped around her neck. She handled it wonderfully.

The second time he surprised my wife at the mailbox. It was the same flipping kid Same thing, she never flinched, took the hug in stride. Gave the wife a heart attack

 

[The Evil Twin]

They have a 6th sense. Sometimes founded, other times not. None the less, when they don't like someone, that's good nuff reason for me.

 

[Russell King]

No idea if owner‘s in Australia neuter male dogs or not but your dog looks about the age where male dogs go into a heavy testosterone stage. I don’t recall why they go through that but that could be making the dog more dominant and aggressive against unknown people. Of course if he has been neutered then this is a meaningless post!

 

[JimDeL]

Our German Shepherd is super lovable and friendly to most people.

For some reason she doesn't like delivery vehicles.

FedEx, UPS, or an Amazon vehicle's are her triggers

She will bark and growl at them every time.

Izzy's the same - along with every other dog in the neighborhood. Dunno why, but it sets them off every time. They'll start when the delivery vehicles are a quarter mile away. Poodle, German Shepherd and Boxer - they all get excited (disturbed?) by the delivery vehicles.
All of them are friendly towards the drivers once they exit the trucks, though. Sorta funny.

 

[Daren Todd]

Izzy's the same - along with every other dog in the neighborhood. Dunno why, but it sets them off every time. They'll start when the delivery vehicles are a quarter mile away. Poodle, German Shepherd and Boxer - they all get excited (disturbed?) by the delivery vehicles.
All of them are friendly towards the drivers once they exit the trucks, though. Sorta funny.

Gypsy is not friendly towards the drivers.

She used to bark and lunge at everyone of them in the neighborhood.

But then she did the same thing to a guy getting out of his RV as well.

She might be thinking they are up to know good

Or she just doesn't like the Ding Dong Ditch that they do

She tolerated the mail jeeps at the mail box pedestals, but would get bent out of shape if they pulled up in front of someone house and the driver went to the door of the house with a package.

Granted she also doesn't like a vehicle starting next to her either.

She's super friendly to the neighbors when they pull up in their vehicle and talk to us while we are out walking.

But as soon as the engine starts up she takes it as a challenge and starts barking at the vehicle. If they don't shut the vehicle off, but stop and visit, and then drive off, she's absolutely fine

 

[WanderOn]

No idea if owner‘s in Australia neuter male dogs or not but your dog looks about the age where male dogs go into a heavy testosterone stage. I don’t recall why they go through that but that could be making the dog more dominant and aggressive against unknown people. Of course if he has been neutered then this is a meaningless post!

He has been neutered. It's the only way to adopt them from the pound.
For us, we would have had him neutered.
I don't think it's a meaningless post as there has been a lot of physical change for him still.
He has put on a lot of muscle in the last month. When I'm walking him it's really obvious across his hind quarters and shoulders.
He has been pushing his luck a bit with my wife when I'm not there. Thinks he's the alpha. Still trying to explain to him that I'm the boss because my wife said I could be.

 

[Daren Todd]

He has been neutered. It's the only way to adopt them from the pound.
For us, we would have had him neutered.
I don't think it's a meaningless post as there has been a lot of physical change for him still.
He has put on a lot of muscle in the last month. When I'm walking him it's really obvious across his hind quarters and shoulders.
He has been pushing his luck a bit with my wife when I'm not there. Thinks he's the alpha. Still trying to explain to him that I'm the boss because my wife said I could be.

I would recommend getting a pinch collar for the pooch for when your wife walks him.

We trained our German shepherd using a pinch collar.

But since then I'll walk her using her regular collar. My wife uses the pinch collar. Mom uses the pinch collar as well when she dog sits for us.

She's pretty good for the most part. But if we encounter a small critter that takes off, she will forget her manners and try to chase it.

I got enough booty to pop her back real quick and remind her of her manners. My mom or my wife not so much.

 

[Russell King]

He has been neutered. It's the only way to adopt them from the pound.
For us, we would have had him neutered.
I don't think it's a meaningless post as there has been a lot of physical change for him still.
He has put on a lot of muscle in the last month. When I'm walking him it's really obvious across his hind quarters and shoulders.
He has been pushing his luck a bit with my wife when I'm not there. Thinks he's the alpha. Still trying to explain to him that I'm the boss because my wife said I could be.

You might have your vet check him for the full neuter. Sometimes the dog is too young or something and the testes haven’t descended so they don’t really do the procedure properly. Unlikely but not unheard of!

We had one dog who was friendly to most but hated some men that had a cap or a beard or something odd like that. He wasn’t really aggressive but if they were in eyesight he was a very wary dog and didn’t want them to get close to us and was always sure to be between the person and me. We didn’t get him until he was 3 years old so don’t have any clue what happened to him before. He was better later on in age but still aware of that “thing” he didn’t like.

Good luck with him. Sounds like you might want to get with that guy and do some training with your dog. And you might want to increase the activity to burn off the energy since he is a teenager now!

Not sure pinch collars will work well on pit bulls or bull dogs, they seem to be able to ignore significant discomfort and pain due to their breeding (and I don’t like using them in general).

He is a good looking dog.

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

Last week felt like fall. The temp started heating back up this weekend so we got some pup cups.

 

[RCW]

Last week felt like fall. The temp started heating back up this weekend so we got some pup cups.

That’s called a Fugging - cross between a fight and a mugging.

Term we used when I was in the Bar business.

Looks like they’re really enjoying the treats!!!

 

[WanderOn]

You might have your vet check him for the full neuter. Sometimes the dog is too young or something and the testes haven’t descended so they don’t really do the procedure properly. Unlikely but not unheard of!

We had one dog who was friendly to most but hated some men that had a cap or a beard or something odd like that. He wasn’t really aggressive but if they were in eyesight he was a very wary dog and didn’t want them to get close to us and was always sure to be between the person and me. We didn’t get him until he was 3 years old so don’t have any clue what happened to him before. He was better later on in age but still aware of that “thing” he didn’t like.

Good luck with him. Sounds like you might want to get with that guy and do some training with your dog. And you might want to increase the activity to burn off the energy since he is a teenager now!

Not sure pinch collars will work well on pit bulls or bull dogs, they seem to be able to ignore significant discomfort and pain due to their breeding (and I don’t like using them in general).

He is a good looking dog.

Thanks.
Forgot to mention we have been doing a fair bit of training with him which he has taken to quire well.
You're right about energy. He gets 2 walks a day or taken to a large reserve nearby where he gets to run around off leash which wears him and the 2 boys out. (Thankfully)
Got a lot to learn. Both my wife and myself always had dogs around when we were kids/teens but this is our first time dealing with the "adult" side of dog ownership.
I really do appreciate the feedback from everyone.

I looked up pinch collars and as far as I can see they are illegal to import into Australia. Not something I would use.

He does respond well to training. Just gets distracted a bit easily.
He has been coming to heel really well lately.

 

[Russell King]

Glad it is going okay.

If you have bicycles there are attachments that you use to take the dog on a run or fast walk to get rid of the energy

here is one I used for a dog that just loved to race anything and he loved it. We had to use grass and gravel trails since he would wear his feet out on pavement.

Walkydog.com | Official WalkyDog Bike Leash North American Distributor

Walkydog Plus dog bicycle leash official website. The Walky Dog is an innovative dog bicycle seat attachment allowing you to take your dog on bike rides with safety in mind. We also carry the Walky Guard Pet vehicle barrier, dog travel items. Tips for safely biking with your dog using a dog bike...

walkydog.com

 

[RCW]

Having a Boxer is a little different than some other dogs. Inquisitive is not the proper terminology.

Every Boxer we’ve had has had issues with bees.

Not his first rodeo, but Geddy got into some bees today.

Tough to tell from the picture, but his jowls are triple in size and hard to the touch…..very swollen.

It was obvious he was not feeling well as he’s been stuck to Dad for a while.

Some Benadryl will hopefully make him more comfortable.