Leaving Alone

[colobean]

Hi there

I just got my boxer about 3 months ago..he is a beautiful boy..He was owned by a family that couldnt take care of him..he rarely got walked, if ever..Now he is having the time of his life, he walks and runs three times a day and has so much love..The problem is Ever since I got Him I left him alone three times near the beginning and he knocked stuff down all over the place..I havent left him alone now since Feb.. Im worried what he will do. I dont really want to do the crate thing as I dont have one and he's not used to it..Maybe Im a sucker but I dont like to leave him, although I know there are times when I will have to..Right now I take him everywhere I go and leave him in the car..Any suggestions?

 

[buddy'smom]

Hi and welcome!
I adopted my female when she was 2 yrs old. At the time of adopting her we were told that Kailee was destructive if left alone in the house. Kailee came with a crate in tow, so we used it for whenever we went out. The first time I left her alone out of the crate was for aprox 10 min while I ran over to the neighbors. When I returned I could not believe the destruction she had done! As Kailee began to feel secure in our home, I once again started leaving her out for short periods of time while I ran small errands, and she was doing really well. These past couple of months we found we were able to leave her free in the house while we went out for dinner etc. This past Saturday she was left with the freedom of the house while we did our groceries. When we returned, the house was fine nothing destroyed, but Kailee was limping. She remained quite sore the rest of the day and into the next Obviously she had been jumping on and off of things and had some how managed to pull a muscle. Needless to say, the moral of the story here is, Kailee will be crated again while we are out, but this time for her own safety. Kailee likes her crate, so I guess the need for her to run free in the house was more my want then hers. Crating is a positive experience if used properly. It also gives your dog a place of their own to go to as well as provide them with safety while you are out.

 

[colobean]

Okay Thanks
I think I will invest in a crate...
We also got our boxer when he was 2...
Thanks for your reply!

Stephanie

 

[debbie knowles]

I made that mistake once!!!

Hello, although I don't really have any woderful word of wisdom, I had to chuckle at your note...because it really took me back to my Hannah Sue's puppy days. Our first boxer was a male which we named Goliath...now Goliath has always been Mr. Manners..Mr. Perfect...Mr. "I wouldn't even think of being bad", so boy oh boy were we in for a surprise when we adopted our second boxer Miss Hannah "trouble's my middle name" Sue. I'm talking the difference between day and night..Hannah was always into something...always!!! Fortunately :D we have a fenced in back yard, so leaving her alone in the house was not a problem....we just had to contend with things like..digging up the cable TV wire...chewing our telephone wire in two and eating three wiring harnesses off our boat trailer....Well the first Christmas eve Hannah spent with us was a night to remember..she was six months old and although we live in the South. it was unseasonably cold that year. We were going to a family party and after all it was cold and it WAS Christmas Eve, so like the trusting fools, and the loving parents we were :eek: we decided to leave the dogs in the warm house, since we would be home late!!!! Do you know the rest of this story??? We came home to total destruction...all the Christmas gifts had been chewed open, a birdhouse that my mother in law had crafted by hand was in one square inch pieces and an entire, yes entire roll of toilet paper had been unravelled from the holder and our home had bits of paper everywhere:mad: Now the funny part of this story is that Goliath met us at the front door...so happy to see us and we found Hannah with nothing but her BUTT sticking out from under our bed,,,just as far under as she could get!!!!:D We certainly did not have to ask who the guilty party was..she certainly told on herself!!! But as the years past she grew up and in so many ways I miss that "baby" meanness. Hannah is now 8 years old and has a degenerative disc problem that has caused her to slowly lose the feeling in her back legs...we have order she a "doggie cart" which should arrive anyday now...so I really hope It will help her to be a wild child again...Good Luck and love that baby inspite if all!!! djk

 

[Fabeth]

Hi! :p We had the same problem where i would take Tysonwith me WHEREVER i went. I had 2 keys for my car so i could leave the a/c on if i went into a store. We couldn't leave him home cuz he would tear up the place. Know what the solution is? We got a female boxer(Roxanne) puppy-all the time thinking"what are we getting ourselves into?Now there are 2 of them to tear up the place!" But i'll tell you that was the best thing we could have done. They are inseparable and they don't mind staying home and snoozing together if i have errands to run. They like the t.v. on and of course all remote controls MUST be off the floor! (Roxanne seems to like knawing on them) but seriously they are like angels together! We are actually going to keep one of her puppies when she has them.Can you imagine,3!?! But i can't wait!lovicon

 

[KarenZnRoxie]

I can only suggest that you do put him in a crate. I'd trained my female boxer (Roxie) that way, and you will be amazed at how much he will like it. It will be like his own little home!
What I do when I am home is leave the crate door open and if Roxie is missing, you can bet she's in the crate sleeping. To me, it seems like a sense of security for her, which might sit better with him now since you haven' t left him much since you first got him. Give it a try! You can find crates in the swapper for cheap. I picked my crate up for $10 (it has no bottom tray, but with a few blankets, its as good as new) and it's 3 feet tall and 4 feet long.

:cool:
Karen and Roxie too!
(Roxie: female fawn boxer born 8/8/99)