Is it possible to give a boxer run of the house....ever???

[Jenn]

Griffin is my sweet, adorable, smushy, dastardly, trouble-making, -findingm, and -enjoying 1 yr old boxer boy. We moved into a new place in January, and were giving him run of the house while we were at work. It worked out okay, mainly because we didn't care about the stuff he riuned. My parent's old couch, a rug we want to get rid of anyway....

But now, as we start to get new stuff in the house, we want to keep him in one room while we're at work. He stays in there, with the help of a baby gate, but yesterday our neighbors said he was moaning and crying loadly for a little while. I'm banking on that going away once he gets used to the new arrangement, but I was wondering, can you EVER trust these dogs enough to leave them unconfined? Griffin sees every room as a playground and every object as a toy, and I don't see that ending!!

 

[Alisha Mobley]

I'm sure eventually it will happen (or at least I have read about it). I'm still so excited that I can leave my 2 females uncrated and only gated in the kitchen while we are gone. I never seen mine even getting that far. They were completely in distructive mode when we were gone before but now they behave as long as they only have access to the kitchen. If allowed to roam the entire house they will (which they know they are only allowed in the living room and kitchen), they will drag everything out of the bedrooms and scatter them all over the living room. They will poop and pee in the rest of the house, chew up toys (not theirs), etc. It's kinda weird how they behave so good when given a limited amount of space but free roam and they are like Jeckle (sp) and Hide.:eek:

 

[RedBoxerK9]

I'm hoping that one day I will be able to let our two have the run of the house but until they're still this lively (which I've heard can be for quite some years yet), I'm keeping them both refined to one room. I tried the baby gate with Georgie but she managed to jump over it and ate all the plants in the room, the sofa cushions were chewed and spat out. The minute we forget to lock a door she's in there and has an absolute field day. I've been told this generally happens within the first ten minutes of you leaving the house. I popped out for 20 minutes one day and forgot to shut the bathroom door properly, she got in and had everything out, dragging them up the stairs so when we come in we're greeted by a nest of our stuff (our house is known as an upside down house, bedrooms are downstairs ).

So no way are they having the run of the place but the rooms they are kept in are quite big and spacious but with little for them to harm themselves. Frank likes paper, cardboard and clothing/cloth so I have to make sure anything of that description is out of reach. Georgie has chewed through the door frames but it's gradually stopping now.

We pick things up from when she was a puppy (before we confined her to one room) and there's chew marks on it remote controls, pens etc. We have no stair carpet, she destroyed that! We've decided to wait another year before we start replacing these things, she should be out of doing that by then - hopefully.

Regards
Sue

 

[Elsa]

It does end, the puppy stage that is. Ruby went through being a puppy up til the last year (she is almost three years old now). She also went through the "everything in the house HAS to be a toy" stage at around 14-18 mos. old. We trust her with being by herself at night (sleeping hours) and sometimes when we are working in the garden and don't want her trying to "help" by butting in.

As you aquire new things, your baby will learn what is permissable and what is not. Set a guideline of rules and stick to them. Ruby is allowed on the loveseat but only when there is a towel or blanket down. She will look at you and wait for a towel to be laid down before jumping up on the loveseat. She also has never attempted to get on the newer furniture in the sitting room (I think she knows it is off-limits even though we never restricted her from jumping on it). Just be very careful up until Griffin is at least two and has demonstrated that the urge to eat everything has subsided.

Really, they do settle down and garner some "house knowledge" in time. We also have always had her in the house so she doesn't go crazy like some dogs who never are let in (my friend never lets her dog in the house so when he does get the opportunity he is a crazy dog).

Best of luck!

 

[ElizabethH]

We have always given Junior run of the house since we got him over a year ago... he has access to the outside too and we have been very fortunate! We got Sammy Friday night and since he was already housebroken, we have given him the same priviledge. Everything is great so far (yesterday they were home alone for 9 hours (mommy came home at lunch tho for 15 min) and they were fine. This was the first time. I did find a few shoes in the backyard LOL! so I made sure they were all in closets before leaving today. I think we are just really fortunate so far... Good luck!!!

 

[Kailin]

Yes, it does happen. It takes Boxers a long time to mature tho--up to three years, depending on the dog. I've lived with a male Boxer (my brother's dog, back when we were in high school) that had free run of the house and never ever had any problems. But he was already 3 when we adopted him, and well beyond the puppy stage. I don't expect my puppy Lucy to be trustworthy for a long, long, long, long, long, long time... *wry grin*

Kailin
mother to
Lucy--born 12/27/00, Boxer, female, fawn, white feet and chest, natural ears, cropped tail, stubborn streak a mile wide
and
Buddy--born 3/99, Great Dane, male, brindle, natural ears and tail, stubborn streak 3 miles wide
and doting aunt to
Nano--born 1992, Boxer, male, brindle, cropped ears and tail, stubborn streak 3 feet wide

 

[karens]

We have always given our guys free roam when they reached about a year and a half, and thankfully, never had any serious problems. Right now, I only need to keep my bedroom door closed, because Emma shoves toys between the headboard and mattress and shredded a sheet trying to get one out once. :rolleyes: Spencer is the only one who is still in the crate. We got him from rescue and are not sure of his exact age, thinking around 1 1/2-2. My husband thought we should start weaning him out and he destroyed a chair. No more free roaming for Spency!

My guys have always respected baby gates, and I never have to lock them in position, just lean them. (I think they startle themselves silly the first time the knock them down )

 

[uno]

Originally posted by karens
My guys have always respected baby gates, and I never have to lock them in position, just lean them. (I think they startle themselves silly the first time the knock them down )

Karens,

I was LOL when I read this. We use folding chairs turned on their sides leaning against the walls to keep Dempsey in the kitchen. One time he inadvertantly knocked one over and you should have seen him scoot from the racket it made. Scared the #*@&! out of him.

Jenn,

As you can see all of our dogs are different. Some can be trusted home alone with free reign, while others must be crated, and still others can be confined to an area. Until he was two we always put Dempsey in his crate whenever we left the house. Then we put the chair barriers up and kept him confined to the kitchen/laundry room/powder room area. Recently we tried to give him complete run of the down stairs area which included the above mentioned areas and the living room, family room and dining room, but when we came home he had gotten into a fight with one of the cushions from the love seat. Now he's back to being confined to the kitchen/laundry room/powder room area.

 

[boxer4]

Brandi&Caesar will be 3yr. in august and most of the time they are pretty good and other times they are "TEETH THE TERRIBLE" , once they even got up and ate my computer headphones. They are not left alone much so I blame it on that they aren`t used to being alone. When they do something bad I usually crate them the next time we leave, and then the following time leave them loose to see if they understood that when they are bad they have to be crated. It seems to work, they have been much better. My past 2 boxers were always getting into stuff until they were about 4 or 5yrs they were never crate trained so they were always loose, I wish I had tried crate training with them it would have saved a lot of time and money.I agree it does seem that boxers stay, or at least act like puppies a lot longer that other breeds.

 

[Jenn]

Another thing I am worried about is the howling that my neighbors told me about. This is what I am thinking -- he doesn't have a problem being left alone during the work day. He never howled when we gave him the whole house. So I am thinking that his howling was just related to being in "his room" behind the baby gate for only the second time. I was sort of worried that he was having a meltdown about being alone, but that has never happened before. When we started leaving him alone, there were never any behavioral changes, he's still a happy go lucky love machine, so hopefully the noise has to do with not being used to the new room. I hope! And maybe my neighbors were exagerating...they're retired and make a big deal about the mail coming! (..sorry, hope that didnt offend anyone!!!_