One dog, one man, one apartment...

[Emiliano]

Greetings to all members!

I´m a college student, final year of studies, living alone, in an apartment.
I would love to get a boxer, but one thing bothers me.

After going through this forum and many other sites, I am aware of the fact that having a boxer in an apartment means higher responsibility for the owner, and greater exercise needs for the dog.
I am ready to fulfill those needs, as I spend a lot of time at home, and when i go out that´s not for longer than 3-4 hours. I am done with lectures and stuff, so I am at home studying for the next year and a half, approximately.
Thing that bothers me is - if I do provide him regular exercise, and tons of toys,what are the chances that he will provide me some 5-6 hours a day to study? I do not mean perfect silence, or some kind of isolation, just some acceptable quiet time.

Just to mention that in our country, we do not have any regulations regarding how many dogs/what breed you may have in an apartment. I also own the place, there´s no landlord.

 

[samkanatzar]

I think it would be very possible for you to own a Boxer and BOTH you and the dog be very happy.

The key to having a Boxer, or any dog with high energy, is having a schedule and sticking to it. That way, when it is homework time for you (or bed time or work time or whatever) they are expecting it and are fine with letting it happen.

The key to it is making sure that before and after your study time you acknowledge and spend time with your boxer baby. My two boxers sit at my feet at the computer desk when I am doing homework.

5-6 hours of study time is a long time for your babies to be on their own. Play with them before you are ready to study and it is likely that they will take a nap for a part of your study session. (FYI You will have to stop and take your boxer out to potty at least two or three times during that period. Plan potty breaks to match up with your study break time.)

I guess I am just rambling but the point is, lots of owners on here work full time jobs and still have boxers. Your schooling is your full time job but there are ways your boxer can still be happy. (Doggy day care, schedules, dog parks, walks, etc.)

 

[CoraBoxer]

Puppy? Rescue? I'm in a similar situation in that i'm finishing up. When I got my Cora (at 8 weeks) I had a year to go. With a small puppy it was a lot of time spent supervising, attending to the needs (vet $$), of course teaching, socializing, exercise... Like people said you're going to want to have a schedule (dog will love it and so will you), and a crate . Don't ignore the dog and just let it do w/e. They can be stubborn. You're going to want to have the dog get its energy out, and it'll sleep. I have a yard though, so Cora just chills in the sun and falls asleep. But a pillow by the window (in the sun) works too. She retreats to her crate too.

It'll bring you so much relax time though. Have you had a dog before? Seriously its so satisfying, fun and for me (dont know about others) it made me so much more patient/calm. Took mind off the books when I needed it.

Its a responsibility whether you're working or studying. At least in my case, it was good in that I could come home, check up on her, take her for a walk/to the park during the day. I wasn't stuck somewhere for the whole day - was on my own schedule (kind of).

 

[NateBazooka]

One dog, one man, one apartment...

This is my current existence. I have a one year old boxer, and have had him from puppyhood. In my experience, it was difficult/stressful when he was a puppy (although of course also fun and rewarding). He was (obviously) not housetrained, he wasn't crate trained, he couldn't be left alone for extended periods, he barked in his crate constantly, he barked at me when I was eating and wouldn't give him my food, he bit me with his sharp little puppy teeth, I mean he was a terror. A cute, loveable terror. The hardest things were having to constantly structure my day around the dog (was not able to get as much work done, taking extended lunch breaks, etc.), being stressed about neighbors getting fed up with the puppy barking constantly in his crate (my stomach sank every time I came home in the middle of the day and heard him from outside, still barking just as he had been when I left), and having to watch him like a hawk/take him outside constantly/clean the carpet frequently. It was really hard and was basically my main focus for the first couple of months.

But now, it's not that hard. I mean, still a big pain on occasion (need to leave town for the weekend? Guess what it's complicated now.), just like pretty much everything else outside of work and play when you're a single person household, but it's doable, and I would not have any problem leaving my dog alone for 3-4 hours and then later requiring him to leave me to my studies for 5-6 hours (well, not in a row, maybe). I don't know how much of this is just luck that my dog is pretty good, or that I've put a lot of work into training/obedience in the apartment. I do know that my girlfriend complains that she can't study with him, but that's complicated by the fact that she is not at all assertive with him, and he doesn't get to see her that much (and he *loves* her) so he's generally very excited when he's around her.

But, my experience with the dog is that, now that he is crate trained and house trained, I can leave him alone for at least 8 hours over the course of the day (often more, if I have something scheduled at night), and still manage to get some quiet time for myself, provided that he gets a good walk and some play/loving. It also helps drastically if he can get some time around other dogs and some time running at full speed - if he's being left alone/not exercised enough, he will kinda flip out and run around the apartment full speed, but if we just got back from the dog park or from dog class or from visiting friends with dogs or from a walk in the park around a bunch of other dogs etc. etc. etc., he's probably going to walk in and pass out on the floor for 5 hours.

 

[Emiliano]

Thanks a lot on your answers. They are very helpful and assuring, coming from people who had been in a situation similar to mine.

@samkanatzar - I like the schedule idea. In fact, i think i could also benefit from such thing, since i notised I got a bit lazy since my college activities got less frequent, for a year or so.

@CoraBoxer - I have had a yellow Lab when I was a kid (also in an apartment, living with my mother and brother). I remember his puppyhood very vaguely, since I was very young, but I sure remember how much joy he brought us.
As for the Rescue...things aren´t the same in our country, as in North America or Western Europe. Rescues organized in any way don´t exist, at least none that i know of. There are some petitions, but results are very slim.
We have some kind of a rescue in a village near my city, on a private property...and it is truly horrifying. Living conditions are awful. There are 200-300 dogs. It is financed mainly by the big-hearted owner of the property where the dogs are (ordinary people with ordinary incomes), and some individual donations. Minimal or none vet care. As for the dogs, 95 % are mixed breeds. And from what I saw, mainly shepherd mixes, and some hunting dog mixes.

 

[Emiliano]

NateBazooka, I´m sorry I haven´t seen your post at first, that´s because I am a very slow typer...

There´s a park 200 metres from my building, so I would try to use it as often as i can to tire the puppy. I do not see many dogs there however... I also go running some 3 times a week, maybe the dog could join me.

Just one further question - you mentioned crating, and leaving your adult dog for 8 hours alone. Did you mean crated or uncrated?
Also, would you recommend crating a small puppy, lets say 3-4 months, when leaving the house? (Of course not for 8 hrs) First thing that popped into my mind was potential howling and barking when alone and "captivated" as a pup...

 

[NateBazooka]

Yeah, when I leave my dog, I leave him in the crate. I'm contemplating experimenting some with leaving him out when I'm only making a short trip out, now that is beginning to get hot here and I will soon not be able to take him with me and leave him in the car when I do things like run to the grocery store. I did leave him out alone sometimes for short periods when he was younger (and it was before the winter, so too hot outside to leave him in the car on short trips), and I would come home either to a dog who had been peacefully sleeping on the couch or something like a dog who had found a box of tissues and torn them up and then scattered them around the apartment. Generally I'm too worried that he'll chew on some electric wires or somehow find and eat something toxic while I'm gone to leave him alone not in his crate, but some people (and some dogs) have success in doing this.

For a puppy, I would absolutely crate him (in either a crate his size or a crate with a divider so that you can make it just big enough for him to turn around in) whenever leaving him alone for anything longer than a matter of minutes. This will aid in his housetraining, as he will not want to relieve himself in his crate, and so will not usually have "accidents" inside while you are gone. There's some formula that I've seen repeated here but can never quite recall which gives a basic guideline for how long puppies can "hold it" (which would be how long you can leave them alone), something like 1 hour for every month of age after 3 months, perhaps someone else knows it.

The park sounds like a good idea (really anything fun like that were they get to go out and explore new areas with you is good mental/physical exercise). Taking the dog on runs with you might not be a good idea while he is still a puppy - "forced exercise" (running on the leash, really long hikes) can cause damage when the dog is younger than 15 months or so and his growth plates (?) have not yet closed. I don't really know how all that works, but its something I've read here many times.

Like I said in my previous post, it's really hard when they are puppies and you're doing it alone, and can be a little overwhelming - "Oh my goodness what have I gotten myself into". Not being able to leave them alone for very long is tough if you have a job/bills/etc and no one to help you out. I remember thinking that really, my thought process behind getting a dog might have been backwards - I wanted to wait until I was out of college and was at least somewhat established with a job and a place of my own before getting a puppy, but having a puppy might have been easier if I had done it in my last year of college, while I had a bunch of roommates to help out and was in class 15 hours a week instead of at a desk 40 hours a week. But yeah, it's doable, just pretty hard for the first 6 months or so. The most stressful part was the barking in his crate.

 

[Madea]

Emiliano- you will do fine and be fine.
I have had Tyson since he was 8 weeks old. He goes into his crate during the day. One thing that you can do for him while he is in the crate is to fill a kong with some peanut butter or yogurt. I fill Tyson a kong at night and put it in the freezer. Then i give it to him in the morning along with one of his favorite toys that has treats in it, that he has to work to get out. Trust me it will take up alot of his time alone and then he takes a nap. We have all been where you are at. It will work.

 

[Emiliano]

Thanks again for the answers, and for the words of encouragement. In the end, in a position such as mine, it all seems to come down to a bit of courage, persistency, and love for the puppy/dog.
Funny thing – what NateBazooka wrote in the last paragraph, is exactly what my mind is going through. "Should i postpone until I´m done with exams..." However, I also think raising a puppy then would not be such a good idea, mainly because the lack of spare time when i graduate, and begin to work.

 

[maxandtonka]

I say go for it I had 2 boxers in a condo up until 2 years ago and they did great! The good thing about my boxers is they are always up for anything! If I want to lay around on the couch they are happy to also! If I want to go to the park and run around they are happy too! They are really happy as long as I am with them!