My boyfriend and I just brought home a 14 mo. old male Boxer (maybe with some Am Bulldog) last week. Chief was sweet as pie for the first few days. He has since started nipping at us and it has escalated into some 5-10 minute wars to get him off us and calmed down. He never bites hard enough to tear skin, but my boyfriend's forearms are very bruised. We have a trainer coming by today who works with the rescue on their "problem" dogs.

Yesterday and today I've done a lot more research on how to handle dominance in dogs and establish pack leadership. I am awaiting my order of Leerburg's DVD's (Basic Dog Obedience & Establishing Pack Structure). I know these are going to help a ton, but I wanted to get a little advice in the interim. Yesterday I was very strict making Chief follow me on his walk, waiting for me to leave and enter, making him sit to get petted, etc. He also spent a lot more time in his crate while we were home then he had been. He now must wear his leash at all times. I've noticed a big difference already. He will still mouth me but lets go when I say no. Not good yet, but it's progress.

I am wondering what to do when he disobeys a command. He knows how to sit but sometimes he won't do so the first time he's told. Does this warrant a correction? Does it matter that we didn't teach him the sit command? Yesterday I gave him a little snap on his leash when he wouldn't sit and told him to sit again. He continued to ignore me so I gave a more aggressive snap, then sit command and he finally sat. It seems like this would be appropriate considering he seems to be confused about the pack order, but I want to make sure I'm not being too forceful and jeopardizing future training.

Also, I read Ed's article about establishing pack leadership and he talks about having one person handle the dog initially. I am around a lot more than my boyfriend, but there are still times where I'm gone and he's home. Is it ok for both of us to handle Chief right now? Chief's already more aggressive toward my boyfriend and I think it would benefit him to get as much time being a "leader" as he can. He tends to be a little more gushy and I have to remind him not to just go up and start loving on Chief right now. (I'm sure the roles are usually reversed, but he's the softy and I'm the dictator.)

I'm sure the DVDs will shed a lot of light, but they don't get here for a few days and I want to start turning things around now. Any help and advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

1. Under what circumstances does he nip? Playing, protecting a toy or food, or what?

2. How much do you know about marker training? I would not correct a dog for noncompliance to a command that I did not train.

Welcome to the board!

1. The nipping initially started when he got excited while playing. He had a toy he was flinging around. He dropped it and jumped on us to start playing. The nipping has turned into clamping on our forearm and it happens whenever he feels like it!

2. I read Ed's free ebook on marker training. I'd love to implement it in the future. For now it's pack leadership and basic obedience.

 Quote: Vanessa Fullerto

... 2. I read Ed's free ebook on marker training. I'd love to implement it in the future. For now it's pack leadership and basic obedience.

Marker training is a way to teach basic obedience (or anything else), rather than a separate endeavor.

IMO, it's the best way, as well as a bond-builder.

 Quote: Vanessa Fullerto

1. The nipping initially started when he got excited while playing. He had a toy he was flinging around. He dropped it and jumped on us to start playing. The nipping has turned into clamping on our forearm and it happens whenever he feels like it!.

How long has he been with you?

Just trying to get a complete picture.

We've had him 1 week.

Update: We had a trainer who works with the rescue come by twice yesterday.

The first time he brought a female boxer to test Chief's reaction. She took a while to warm up to him and even snapped at him which apparently is very unusual for her. The trainer said that though Chief was "playful", he was acting very dominant and just kept at it. He said we should be wary because he will probably piss other dogs off even though he wants to play and not fight.

The second time he came by it was just him. He knows about Chief's biting/clamping on our arm issue. We are doing a good job giving him physical exercise with walks. He said we need to start doing a lot of obedience training to mentally stimulate him so he's not bored. He recommended that when he jumps up to bite at us that we step on his leash so he can't get up and ignore him until he calms down. He recognized Chief is trying to test us for dominance. What I find odd is he didn't once mention anything about pack leadership. He just said to spend time training so Chief doesn't get bored.

The trainer is also a little worried at how serious Chief is all the time. He never really has that playful Boxer puppiness. Even with the female boxer, he wanted to play but he was very serious about it. Don't know what to make of that. I'm hoping he's still just adjusting. It's only been a week after all.

"A lot of obedience training" is an exercise in pack leadership.

Yes, there are many more, but lots of training is huge. And marker training is even huger.

Have you received the Pack Structure video yet?

Pack Structure and Basic Obedience DVD arrive tomorrow. I've read the ebooks already and it has helped a lot. I'm headed to get a clicker and bait bag today. I decided to use the clicker as opposed to word markers since I'm brand new to this and I think it would be more consistent with a clicker. Is there anything wrong with having both my boyfriend and me work with Chief separately? Or should only one of us do the training?

I am a little worried about Chief's dominance issues in the long term. Even if we train him well and establish our leadership, is this behavior going to be an issue with friends/family? Is it possible for a dog to grow out of it as they age? The rescue has offered to take him back and try another match since they knew we were looking for a more easy going dog and they had no idea he would be like this. I really don't want to do that. I love Chief and I think my boyfriend and I are young and strong enough to handle him. I'm sure it would be hard to place him elsewhere. That being said, we are a young couple and do want to have children in the future. That's one of the reasons we wanted a Boxer and went to a Boxer rescue. I don't want to put us or Chief in a position where we have to get rid of him when babies come along. I would rather go through that pain now then later. Any advice?