Does Aggressive Mom=Aggressive Pups?

[TexasRanger]

The animal shelter I work at got in a Boxer who gave birth to a litter of pups seven weeks ago. This week they are up for adoption. The mother became so aggressive she had to be moved to a special foster home since the shelter could not handle her. She had seven pups, 5 males and 2 females. We think they are a Lab X Boxer. My question is, what are the chances of the puppies becoming aggressive as they grow up? I know that some of the temperament of a dog comes from the parents. This shelter I work at , not the best in my opinion, doesn't really warn people about the things they even see the older dogs doing half the time.

[lizzybeth727]

I think a large part of a dog's aggression is genetic.

BUT...

A lot of aggression is caused by kennel stress from being in a shelter, and stress of having a litter of puppies. Some moms also guard their puppies, which looks like aggression but may or may not translate to aggression in other instances.

I would be a lot more interested in hearing how she is doing in her foster home, especially once she's been there 2-4 weeks and gets settled in. IMO that would give you a better indication of what temperment the puppies have. But even then, you have no idea what the father was like, and it's just as likely that the puppies will have his temperment instead.

[Zoom]

^^That

It's hard to properly gauge temperment so soon after whelping a litter in addition to being in a shelter. Give her a couple weeks in the foster home and see how things turn out.

[bubbatd]

Poor pups !!! To me TLC and socialization are so important from the beginning and
I question how much they get at a HS . How old were the pups when they came in ??? Would love to hang the breeder !

[Maxy24]

It all depends on why the mom was acting aggressively. Like was said, being in a shelter environment can cause dogs to freak. So can under socialization and past abuse. Some dogs of course do have poor temperaments and can pass them on, you'll probably never know why mom was so upset. Now the pups just need as much socialization as possible.

[antipunt1]

What they all said. I don't know that much about dogs, but I know enough about behaviorism

50% genes/ 50% environment. Because of this, you'll never really know how much the mother's environment/upbringing affected her current state

[Amstaffer]

Mom is 50% of the genes and I think genetics makes up only about 50% of behavior at best. So IHMO Aggressive move doesn't equal aggressive pups. Maybe more likely to be but way to many more variables to say yes.

[StillandSilent]

We had the same issue at one point. Mom was a boxer and there were several apparent daddies in the litter. Mom was eventually euthanized after trying to maul the behaviorist. Of the 10 pups, who had been extensively socialized since two weeks, three developed extremely aggressive temperments and two were euthanized (the third owner practices extreme measures to keep her pup safe and away from strangers)
Howver, I ended up fostering a single puppy from the litter for 3 months due to him being ill, and he turned out fine. But I took that little bugger EVERYWHERE to get him socialized.
My answer? Hopefully mom was just stressed out.

[planet molosser]

No- it is divided between inheritance, what the pup gets for socialization from birth and what u do as a owner- .

I bred a Russian Ovcharka type dog from russian figthing lines, who would bite anyone or any dog if given a chance , was not socialized at birth and I was figthing againest 2/3 of her temp by the time I got her at 3 months.

bred this dog to a Therapy dog 1st of the breed bred on a farm with allot of social work and I got total 5 dogs that was easier on temp, 1 therapy dog and 2 tougher dogs but both were able to be touched and got alone great with others alpha dogs from 2 litters.

Dont get the biggest toughest, dont get the runt either, get the social pup and us should be fine.

[germanshepardguy]

prob not