peanutsmom
Boxer Booster
Peanut is only left alone for a couple of hours two days a week when my son goes to story time at the library and playmorning the next day. Otherwise maybe an occasional few hours on a weekend day.
How long do you leave your boxer alone?
- Thread starter spyro
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busters mum
Super Boxer
I dont work, but I do have to leave buster whilst shopping etc.
We have never crated him but do keep him in just one room at night and when we are out. Luckily because we have kids our house was already kid proof and so it seems is buster proof to.
We have never crated him but do keep him in just one room at night and when we are out. Luckily because we have kids our house was already kid proof and so it seems is buster proof to.
Shayna's Mom
Boxer Booster
This is something that I put a lot of thought into.
I waited 14 years to get another dog after I lost my first boxer to wobblers syndrome. I felt that at the time between my job and living in apartments I wouldnt have been able to provide an adequate home for a boxer puppy.
We finally bought a home last June. And we are lucky enough to have a full basement. We bought a very nice 5'X10' kennel. We built a small platform to line the bottom with so that Shayna would not be on the cold concrete, and we lined that with indoor/outdoor carpeting and sectioned off the end for a potty area. We have a heater down there as well to make sure she is warm enough, and she has a big bed and toys. I line the potty area with newspapers.
This is where Shayna stays when we are at work. I work a considerable distance from my home, so Shayna is sometimes in the kennel for 10 hours.
She is also crate trained. She sleeps in her crate beside our bed at night, and I will put her in the crate if I have a short errand to run where she cant come with me.
My personal feelings are that it is really unfair to ask a puppy, especially a high energy puppy like a boxer, to stay in a small crate for hours. They need to be able to move and play, so the kennel works for me.
This arrangement keeps her safe. I dont have to worry that she has managed to get out of the back yard, or that someone has let her out, or stolen her. And I dont have to worry about coming home to any damage in the house. This arrangement could also be adapted to a garage if you dont have a basement, as long as you could have a heater going so that the puppy didnt get cold.
It took about three weeks to aclimate her to the kennel. When I first put her in it, I would put her breakfast in with her, and turn the radio on, and she had her toys, but she would cry. I had taken the week off, so I only put her down in it for short periods and built up on the time, and I never took her out if she was crying.
She now goes in it quietly, and with her tail up. She doesnt cry anymore. She was ripping up the news papers, but so what....This last week she has left the papers alone, so I am hoping she has outgrown that phase as it makes clean up easier, but if not that's ok too. It doesnt hurt anything.
Dawn and Shayna
I waited 14 years to get another dog after I lost my first boxer to wobblers syndrome. I felt that at the time between my job and living in apartments I wouldnt have been able to provide an adequate home for a boxer puppy.
We finally bought a home last June. And we are lucky enough to have a full basement. We bought a very nice 5'X10' kennel. We built a small platform to line the bottom with so that Shayna would not be on the cold concrete, and we lined that with indoor/outdoor carpeting and sectioned off the end for a potty area. We have a heater down there as well to make sure she is warm enough, and she has a big bed and toys. I line the potty area with newspapers.
This is where Shayna stays when we are at work. I work a considerable distance from my home, so Shayna is sometimes in the kennel for 10 hours.
She is also crate trained. She sleeps in her crate beside our bed at night, and I will put her in the crate if I have a short errand to run where she cant come with me.
My personal feelings are that it is really unfair to ask a puppy, especially a high energy puppy like a boxer, to stay in a small crate for hours. They need to be able to move and play, so the kennel works for me.
This arrangement keeps her safe. I dont have to worry that she has managed to get out of the back yard, or that someone has let her out, or stolen her. And I dont have to worry about coming home to any damage in the house. This arrangement could also be adapted to a garage if you dont have a basement, as long as you could have a heater going so that the puppy didnt get cold.
It took about three weeks to aclimate her to the kennel. When I first put her in it, I would put her breakfast in with her, and turn the radio on, and she had her toys, but she would cry. I had taken the week off, so I only put her down in it for short periods and built up on the time, and I never took her out if she was crying.
She now goes in it quietly, and with her tail up. She doesnt cry anymore. She was ripping up the news papers, but so what....This last week she has left the papers alone, so I am hoping she has outgrown that phase as it makes clean up easier, but if not that's ok too. It doesnt hurt anything.
Dawn and Shayna
kariRN
Boxer Buddy
Our George is really not left alone too often as my husband and I work opposite shifts. But there are times when he is left alone-sometimes it has been 8 hrs and he has freedom of the house. He spends most of his day on the couch as he is the ultimate couch potato! He also has access outside as he has his own door to a fenced in yard,so when the need arises to "relieve himself" he just lets himself out! Accidents have never been a problem with him,nor has destroying furniture or anything else(knock wood!)
layla'smommy
Super Boxer
The absolute max that Layla is ever left home alone is 8 hours. I'm a full time student, and work part-time, but I have long breaks between my classes, and before/after work so that I always have time to come home, take her for a walk, and play with her a before I have to return to school/work. Fridays is the only day that I work 8 hours, but I'm a nanny for a 3 year old who ADORES Layla, so we usually come over to my house and play with her, take her for a walk, or to the park or something in the middle of the day! It's an absolutely fabulous schedule for us at this time. I would of course prefer to never leave her alone, but the usual is about 4 hours before I'm home again for at least an hour, sometimes 3 hrs, before I have to leave her again for 2-3 hrs. I'm just worried about when I begin grad school....the schedule seems pretty intense, so I hope to get a place as close to the school as possible so that any little break I have I will be able to rush home and let her out and play before I have to get back to class.
Jenni & Layla
Jenni & Layla
natrhymer
Boxer Booster
We leave our boy alone with full roam of the house (minus the bedrooms, laundry room and bathrooms) for 9 hours every day during the work week. I used to go home at lunchtime to give him a potty break, but those mid-day visits increased his separation anxiety and he peed in the house every afternoon for a good 3 months or so before the vet told us to stop going home at lunch. It did the trick.
I do feel guilty for leaving him alone for that long, but he seems fine and he gets tons of play time and attention in the evenings, not to mention that he gets three walks (a long one and two short ones) before we leave in the morning, so I think he just sleeps most of the day, anyway!
It works out for us, but it really depends on the dog and his/her temperment/behaviors. Our boy was never a destructive dog and rarely "gets into" anything. I know there are dogs out there who cannot be trusted alone with free roaming privileges.
I do feel guilty for leaving him alone for that long, but he seems fine and he gets tons of play time and attention in the evenings, not to mention that he gets three walks (a long one and two short ones) before we leave in the morning, so I think he just sleeps most of the day, anyway!
It works out for us, but it really depends on the dog and his/her temperment/behaviors. Our boy was never a destructive dog and rarely "gets into" anything. I know there are dogs out there who cannot be trusted alone with free roaming privileges.
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layla'smommy
Super Boxer
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Layla has full run of the house when we're gone. She is not at all destructive, and I'm pretty sure she never even leaves our bedroom. She's always curled up on the bed when I leave, and curled up on the bed when I get home, and nothing in the house is ever out of place. We just got lucky that she doesn't have any destructive tendencies 
Jenni & Layla
Jenni & Layla
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