Greetings everyone.

I have a question about my 6 month old boxer puppy. She will not allow us to pet her on the head. When we attempt to, she moves her head quickly, averting our touch. I have held her head and petted her against her will.

I am assuming this is a dominance issue. Am I correct? Does anyone have advice regarding the best way to handle this issue?

Wendy: have you ever hit her with your hand? Have you had her since she was able to be away from her mom? Maybe she received treatment that caused her to be afraid of hands. Either way, you could just start slowly petting her. I did that with Bindi who was shy when I first got her. When she was really sleepy I would sit next to her and stroke her head all the way to her tail, slowly and this caused her to relax and now she loves it.
Just a suggestion, I am not a professional trainer or anything.
And some dogs just aren't fans of being petted.
God bless you

My Boxer girl does this too when she is being a little brat. If she is trying to beg for food and she is ignored, when I or my wife try to pet her, she moves away from us. I think it might have something to do w/dominance. I think it's kind of funny. I wouldn't pet her against her will, just ignore it. I've read that female Boxers have a more independant temperament than the males, so that may have something to do with it as well. Or maybe that's generally how it is for all breeds?

Hi Sharon,
Thanks for the reply.
No, I do not hit for correction. I have had her since she was 8 weeks old. She was never allowed in the house with her previous owners and had almost no human contact. If the puppies tried to go in the door of their house, I know the owners were somewhat rough in the way they corrected the dogs.
When Roxanne came to us she was so emotionally distraught (I believe from being seperated from her pack) that she wouldn't eat or drink for 3 days. About a week and a half later she was diagnosed with coccidia. At it's peak she was pooping bloody diareah and received IV fluids. She had a very rough start health wise.
I started slow with the affection and have been very gentle with her, keeping in mind her lack of human contact in the beginning.
Her primary correction is Ah, Ah in a moderate tone... sometimes just normal conversation tone. This correction seems to work great with most situations. However, regarding potty training it's a whole different issue. I cannot seem to find a suitable correction. With her normal correction she seems to have no clue she is doing anything wrong. If I turn my tone up a knotch she gets scared and it seems any correction is lost in her fear.
I keep her on a leash at all times and let her out pretty frequently, but occasionally she still has an accident.

Alex,
I wasn't looking at it from and independent perspective. That sheds new light on the situation. I guess there is a difference between dominant and independent. I'll have to give that some thought.
Thanks for the reply

Hey Wendy, no problem. I read that you girl was a rescue. Good for you. Just have some more patience w/her and keep working on that food aggression. I also read that she leans up against you? Lol. My dog does the same thing. It's funny to me, but I will correct her for it. I just tell her "off" in a stern voice and she moves away. I'm sure THAT is a dominance thing. She will also come and plant her big block head on my leg while eating (more so with my wife). I tell her "off" again, and she moves, but tries it a bit later. It's kind of weird because she is not dominant w/us at all.

I can take anything out of her mouth, toys, food, etc, or while she is eating if I want to add more food in her bowl, I move in between her and the bowl w/no problem. She knows she is the low man on the pole, she is a great dog and great w/kids, people & other dogs. I'm really lucky.

My Dutchie didn't like his head petted until a couple of months ago. He is now seven and months old. He enjoyed other petting areas like neck and chest. He is a very dominant pup but I never suspected any dominance with petting his head.

Edited by lee sternberg (01/08/2008 03:52 PM)
Edit reason: caps