Barking, Chewing, agresive play

[Maria]

Bagira is 14 month, she continuous to destroy our home by eating furniture,  pillows and everything else she able to get.

She barking in the window on everything that moves even on the opposite site of the road.

She plays to rough with the kids, when I'm trying to stop her, or correct she give me a crazy eye look and runs around home turning couches upside down. I take her out to ours backyard where she can run free with wood sticks and balls but in spite of how many times she is out side she is still crazy at home.

She attacks my daughter's slippers, only hers and ones bit her very strongly during play, I have a personal trainer working with her but because he is not done yet I can not control my little elephant.

She is very loved, my personal positive energy, but some times I feel exhausted trying to raise my little elephant!!!

Also some medical problem - she gets pimples all around her face what can I use to wash and disinfect?

[Jens Gunther]

Hi Maria,

there was a post a few weeks ago about pimples. Have a look here.

You are right, they can be little elephants. Bagria does look like a sweetheart though! Since I introduced Nero to my household not even my heavy wrought iron furniture stays in once place for more than a few minutes once they start playing. They do calm down eventually.

It is a good thing that you have involved a trainer. I would suggest that your whole family, and especially your daughter, be involved in the training. She probably views your daughter as playmate and has developed a special bond with her. That bond will need to gain some structure to make it safe.

Our clothes and other things we handle regularly often become 'extensions' of us. Your daughters slippers are probably in this category. I have had to take special measures to protect my washing from Nero. He has even learnt to open the tumble dryer. The moment I leave him alone he drags whatever he can reach into a pile and builds himself a nest.

I see she does have lots of toys. What I do with my dogs when they chew on something they're not supposed to is give a sharp rebuke 'LEAVE', followed by an alternative 'Take this'. I always have a toy ready. It is important that everyone in the family handles it the same way and makes no exceptions. You can also challenge her a bit by spreading some treats about the back yard for her to find. It should keep her busy for a while.

Am I right to assume that you don't have an enclosed front yard? If I'm right, Bagria is patrolling her territory from the window. In this case this would be her only choice. Boerboels generally like to watch the boundary from a vantage point somewhere between the home and the fence and will let things on the other side of the fence do their thing, unless the fence is approached. If the window is Bagria's 'fence', she does not have the possibility of a removed vantage point from where she can observe her territory. Everything on the other side of the window thus might be interpreted as being too close for comfort. I have no idea whether this might work, but it might be worth a try. You could try to establish a boundary by taking her on patrol around the edge of the front yard several times a day. Spend some time with her walking about and watching the space every time, perhaps from the front door (I guess that would be the closest convenient place to the window) so that she can establish visual reference points. Then see what happens.

[Maria]

Jens Gunther said:

Hi Maria,

there was a post a few weeks ago about pimples. Have a look here.

You are right, they can be little elephants. Bagria does look like a sweetheart though! Since I introduced Nero to my household not even my heavy wrought iron furniture stays in once place for more than a few minutes once they start playing. They do calm down eventually.

It is a good thing that you have involved a trainer. I would suggest that your whole family, and especially your daughter, be involved in the training. She probably views your daughter as playmate and has developed a special bond with her. That bond will need to gain some structure to make it safe.

Our clothes and other things we handle regularly often become 'extensions' of us. Your daughters slippers are probably in this category. I have had to take special measures to protect my washing from Nero. He has even learnt to open the tumble dryer. The moment I leave him alone he drags whatever he can reach into a pile and builds himself a nest.

I see she does have lots of toys. What I do with my dogs when they chew on something they're not supposed to is give a sharp rebuke 'LEAVE', followed by an alternative 'Take this'. I always have a toy ready. It is important that everyone in the family handles it the same way and makes no exceptions. You can also challenge her a bit by spreading some treats about the back yard for her to find. It should keep her busy for a while.

Am I right to assume that you don't have an enclosed front yard? If I'm right, Bagria is patrolling her territory from the window. In this case this would be her only choice. Boerboels generally like to watch the boundary from a vantage point somewhere between the home and the fence and will let things on the other side of the fence do their thing, unless the fence is approached. If the window is Bagria's 'fence', she does not have the possibility of a removed vantage point from where she can observe her territory. Everything on the other side of the window thus might be interpreted as being too close for comfort. I have no idea whether this might work, but it might be worth a try. You could try to establish a boundary by taking her on patrol around the edge of the front yard several times a day. Spend some time with her walking about and watching the space every time, perhaps from the front door (I guess that would be the closest convenient place to the window) so that she can establish visual reference points. Then see what happens.

[Lisa Tiro]

Hi Maria. I can tell by your pictures that you have set no boundaries for Bagira. She is on chairs and on couches and chairs and looks like she is running the show. I love to spoil my dogs too but you need to draw the line! Your dog is a dog and should be treated as such. She does not respect you as her leader. It's fine to get a trainer but unless you take control things will never change. #1 She needs exercise EVERY DAY! You can not expect her to get tired out by running around the back yard. She needs a structured walk every day. #2 She needs boundaries. She should not be allowed to jump up on any piece of furniture she wants to. You need to invite her up on your terms. She is making her own decisions. #3 You need to supervise her at all times and when you catch her doing something good like chewing on HER toy or bone, praise her. If she has YOUR property, give her a stern NO and give her a chew toy. You have a lot of work to correct what you let get away from you. Keep her close and watch her. When you are not home she should be either crated or confined to one room with maybe a stuffed Kong or chew to keep her busy.

Good luck with your baby elephant!

~Lisa

[Maria]

Hi Lisa,

Thank you for your comments.

[Sweet Pea]

Maria, 

My crazy girl Sweet Pea was just like your girl. She was absolutely nuts. The biggest things that helped were tiring her out physically (which was incredibly hard) and mental stimulation. Train, train, train! Turning a dog into a thinking dog is hard work for them and often mentally tiring. I found that clicker training worked well with her as she thought it was a big game. Just a casual walk was nothing for her. I would have to go off-leash hiking with her with a weighted backpack. We started off with light weights and worked up to 15 lbs. Since Sweet Pea is good with other dogs, I enrolled her in doggy daycare on the days I was working. She played all day and came home exhausted! A tired dog is a good dog. 

When we got another BB puppy that helped also, but I wouldn't suggest that until you have her completely trained. Now that Sweet Pea is 5 1/2, she's finally mellowing out. She still has tons of energy but is not such a crazy nut. Her first 2 years were definitely the worst!

Hopefully your trainer is working with your family also to teach Bagira and is using techniques that allow her to think and figure things out, not just correction-based. 

[Maria]

Hi Kimberly,

I had a trainer who was coming in for 8 sessions, each he will show command and then I have to work on it till next time. He had a very busy schedule and was coming in ones in 2-3 weeks. I have a big family, who's not helping but doing everything the opposite. My husband is a truck driver whose gone all week long and sometimes even longer, 3 kids with there differences and problems. So I'm the only one who is consistent, and that approach did not work. So when I decided to hire this trainer, he works completely different. He works with her and then with me and her together but he does not involve the kids. I'm in charge and then when she is done it's my call with kids. She loves to play with them and still being a pup destroys bits and pieces of my home. Can not wait till she at list stop that. I just started to teach her off the sofas and were exhausted yesterday, because all day long I have to follow her from family room to living room making sure is not on it!!! She runs in our fenced backyard, when she is completely trained I will take her for walks. She has some nerve in her personality, and since she is getting stronger and bigger I do not want to take any chances. I can not say that she loves other dogs or strangers. Friends and family who been coming to us since she was little she loves and very exited and happy to see, females even new who comes to our home are ok, but males I would not take this risk. She is training for basic and advanced and then she will be trained for control. I need to be 100% sure. So I guess I'm doing everything possible in my situation. I love this site, where you can get great ideas and suggestions from other people with same breed, but some people do not realize what is good or manageable for them might not work for others. I can say this, in spite of hard work, Bagira is great source of positive energy, I love her deeply and doing everything humanly possible for her.      What is clicker training? Unfortunately I'm not exercise type, have many health problems so I can not jug with her but like I said I play with her outside when she is running like crazy with logs, balls and other toys, sometimes it's still cold out and she wants to play every 40m, and I'm like no not gonna happened. I will ask the trainer about emotional training, I think different trainers have different approach, you get one or other. Thank you for your response.   

Kimberly Baker said:

Maria, 

My crazy girl Sweet Pea was just like your girl. She was absolutely nuts. The biggest things that helped were tiring her out physically (which was incredibly hard) and mental stimulation. Train, train, train! Turning a dog into a thinking dog is hard work for them and often mentally tiring. I found that clicker training worked well with her as she thought it was a big game. Just a casual walk was nothing for her. I would have to go off-leash hiking with her with a weighted backpack. We started off with light weights and worked up to 15 lbs. Since Sweet Pea is good with other dogs, I enrolled her in doggy daycare on the days I was working. She played all day and came home exhausted! A tired dog is a good dog. 

When we got another BB puppy that helped also, but I wouldn't suggest that until you have her completely trained. Now that Sweet Pea is 5 1/2, she's finally mellowing out. She still has tons of energy but is not such a crazy nut. Her first 2 years were definitely the worst!

Hopefully your trainer is working with your family also to teach Bagira and is using techniques that allow her to think and figure things out, not just correction-based.