Inevitable Destruction?

[Bastiansgrlz]

Out of curiosity , is it a definitive that your house and furniture will be destroyed or close to it if you own a boxer? Or is the destructive behavior due to boredom or hyper activity . Will a tired dog ripp your sofa to just cotton ?

Does any one trust their boxer while they were at work after they are reliably potty trained ?

 

[LILYLARUE]

LOL Depends on their age. Boxers are naturally busy bodies. If they don't have something to do they will find something - AND USUALLY SOMETHING THAT'S BAD!!! Common saying about boxers, any dog actually, is "a tired dog is a good dog". Boxer's can be perpetual 2 year olds. And masters of manipulation and destruction! They are a very determined breed. Rarely give up on anything they find pleasurable or to release pent up energy.

Crating is ideal if they are bored and destructive. BUT some will hurt themselves trying to escape! Easier if they are tired before they are crated. Unless theres some seperation anxiety involved. That's harder to nix. Filled frozen kongs can help eleviate some boredom but nothing is better than some good exhausting exercise and lots of mental stimulation. My girl was crated until she was two. She crushed her crate one day and when I got home she was sitting all proudly inside the door! I had to wait until next payday til I could replace the crate, so I had to leave her out and free for a week. She didn't destroy anything that week, so never needed the crate again.

 

[bobzilla]

We have dozens of toys for our boxer(s). Soft toys, hard toys, chew toys. Most of the time they will play with them, rather than destroy the house. Once in a while, my 4 month old will bite on furniture, but rarely.

Keep them busy. Some things they have chewed on (but not destroyed): cushions, electrical chords, pillows, rungs on chairs, cell phones.

First comes management, then training (or simultaneously would be idesal).

Bob

 

[Stub]

Gus is three, and has had full run of the house alone for up to 10 hours at a time, since he was about 7 months old. (gradually increased his free time as he proved himself) The only thing he finds irresistible is paper. He will take all the trash out of the can by the desk and chew it up and scatter it all over the floor if I forget and leave the can on the floor. If I leave a paperback book turned up on the edge of the couch or on the hearth, he will rip it to shreds. But he has never destroyed furniture nor pulled books off the bookshelf, which he can easily reach from the couch if he wanted to. I try to take him for at least a 30-minute walk every morning before i leave for work though, and he gets lots of playtime in the yard after work, plus usually another walk at night. So exercise is key for destruction prevention I think! Crate training is also great house destruction prevention. Gus just could not handle the crate when he was a baby so he was baby gated into the small bathroom when a baby and not reliably housebroken.

 

[maggiemu]

I can't tell you how good it is to read this-- Maggie is alone for 3-5 max a day as my mom and I work different schedules and in those 3-5 hours she has managed to eat a couch, destroy the baby locks on the cupboards, knock down baby gates, eat mail and somehow lose an entire collar with tags. She's 14 months so I'm sure the naughtiness is just beginning (and secretly I kind of love it), but we're working on nipping it in the bud as much as possible.

Also, when unattended for about 5 minutes while I was in the shower, she managed to tear apart my king size down duvet and spread it all around my room... while the ceiling fan was going full speed. Looked like Christmas in there. This was 2 months ago and I am still finding feathers in places I would have never dreamed of looking.

 

[CoraBoxer]

Am I the only one to disagree? Maybe. I don't believe owning a boxer means you'll have to go through what you mentioned - destruction of objects or house. Kahner (4) a rescue came to live with me as an adult and I was told he was very high energy. Cora (4) has been with me since she was 8 weeks old and never had any issues with destruction but I can tell you she's actually much more energetic of the two. Both of mine sleep on their blanket all day. They fall asleep on their own after our morning walk and wake up to eat and go for afternoon walk when I get home from work. After the evening walk they usually hang out with me or play together and then settle down on their own for the night. Consistency/routine when it comes to exercise and training.. but also not putting/leaving the dogs in situations where they'll be overwhelmed, with freedom/choices (ie. not ready for) makes a big difference I think. The only thing thats suffered that fate at my house has been the hardwood floor.

 

[sjtorr]

I think I've been lucky too... although only at 9 months, so really hoping my trend continues!
She doesn't even destroy her toys. She destroyed one bed, but it was my own fault.. I gave her a frozen kong and it partially melted into the bedding before I could clean the bed, and she was just going for those wonderful smells.

Then again - she is still on crate rest. This is the worst teething time, so maybe forced crate rest has been a blessing in disguise. Instead of having household objects at her disposal, the only thing she really has to chew is the things she is allowed to chew. One more week and then we'll really find out if she is destructive to the house or not ;-)

 

[Cami]

I am on my 2nd Boxer. I have never once had anything destroyed in my home by either (both came as 8 week old pups).
I take that back.....they have destroyed a couple of their own toys (or a couple of cat toys) but that is what their toys are for!!
Constant supervision, plenty of toys and teaching them what is theirs and what isn't is the answer. Making sure they get a chance to rid themselves of pent up energy is also very helpful....or just don't allow it to get stored up.
Cami was crate free by 9 months of age. She was crated when we left the home only (out at night). Raine never took to the crate due to being claustrophobic but would stay in a puppy proofed kitchen until almost a year of age when we left the home. Never crated at night. This was more so to help the cat have some puppy-free time. Both Boxers were potty trained quickly (bell trained).
Neither of my girls were/are left alone for longer than 3 hours at a time (flexible work schedule is extremely helpful).
The worst clean up I ever had to do was picking up some stuffing from a couple of dog toys.

 

[whiskers]

It's not a boxer thing, any dog can be destructive. With puppies I expect them to be destructive and I take precautions to prevent them from being able to. Once mine were adults it became a non-issue.

But yes, with high energy breeds, as boxers are, dedtructive behavior can occur out of boredom too.

 

[packblt]

I think circumstances and personality have alot to do with if things get destroyed and it seems each dog is different but I don't think you can say every boxer will be destructful. From the day we brought Bandit home at 9-10 weeks, if you left him alone uncrated for even 2 minutes he would look for a toy, bed or his very favorite, paper to destroy. When we got Tyson at 12 weeks, but only 2 months after bringing Bandit home, he never chewed anything he wasn't supposed to and would bark and move away from Bandit as soon as Bandit got something he wasn't supposed to have. And Lola, 3 weeks later at about 9 weeks old, wouldn't take something she wasn't supposed to, but if Bandit was chewing something she would join in.

They were always crated crated when we weren't home(because of Bandit) right up until just a few months ago. As soon as Bandit could stay uncrated overnight without going on "search and destroy" missions we started leaving them out for short periods of time and kept adding time until they were able to be alone for atleast 6- 7 hours. They have never destroyed any furniture, only a few nibbles on kitchen chair rungs and throw pillows although they were a bit on the pricey side but were purchased way before we had the pups.

However, I am very careful to not leave things around to entice them but just last week my daughter left a bag of newly puchased maxi pads on the door knob of the closet near the steps meaning to take them upstairs with her...we all fofgot about them and left; my son came home to 24 unwrapped maxi pads all over the front foyer, some stuck to the hardwood floor but luckily none eaten