Outside Dog?

[Brooke Lane]

We are in the process of getting a boxer puppy, and my husband has voiced concern about it being inside the house. He would prefer it to be an outside dog. I was needing some advise on whether it could be kept outdoors all the time. Thank you for your responses.

 

[Cindy and Lacie.]

could you possibly please repost this to the "boxer ring", you will get many more answers to your questions there.
Boxers are short haired dogs, who in my opinion do NOT do well outside, for a couple of reasons, Number 1 being...... they are people dogs and really want to be part of the family.Number 2...... they have little "fat" on them and this affects how they deal with both heat and cold. My boxer is a house dog , but believe me weather permiting, she spends time outside in her 30x30 foot kennel. Another concern for leaving them outside is that they are a popular breed and it would be devasting to your family to have her stolen. They do not shed alot and Lacie is a wonderful house dog, if your husband is concerned about her chewing things, I strongly reccomend that you crate train your dog as sooon as you bring her home. Keep the questions coming and welcome to the board

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Cindy Corl
Lacie female, brindle, natural ears,7-17-99

 

[buddy'smom]

Dear Brooke Lane,
I am not an expert on Boxers, and so far Buddy has been our one and only Boxer, so I am basing this on personal opinion and what I know of Buddy and his siblings. Boxers tend to need a lot of human interaction, and they seem to need to feel a part of the family. I would wonder if your puppy is going to be an outside dog how much of these two important elements your puppy would get. As well, I find that Buddy tends to feel the cold, in fact in the winter he likes to sleep up off of the floor away from the drafts. If where you live tends to have cold winters, then I think a Boxer would have a hard time dealing with the elements. I know what you are saying about an outside dog as we had them at home when I was growing up, however they tended to be the longer, thicker furred dogs. They also had a barn and straw to go to if it got too cold. In my personal opinion a Boxer is not meant to be an outside dog, they are a family dog and they need to be inside the home, participating in your life as much as possible, and they need the comforts of warmth in the winter, and coolness in the summer. Boxers need a lot of love and attention, and if they get it, they will return it to you 100 times more.

Jean

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Jean
Buddy--Born May 4 1993
Male Fawn
Cropped Ears
Our best friend and companion

 

[MarinaS]

Yes to everything Cindy and Jean said. Boxers are definately not meant to live outside the house. They need much outside activity as they are hyper dogs, anyway they need to have a warm and dry place to sleep. No drafts - as Cindy and Jean mentioned, boxers have small amount of fat and short hair so they can catch a cold easily. For example, because of drafts, my Tina gets cystitis in summers if she sleeps on the floor when it's hot. If you want an outside dog please think about getting a thicker furred dog.
And of course, boxers are very human dogs and they need much attention and care.
And if you decide to take a boxer as an inside dog you won't regret - they are great
Regards,

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Marina
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Tina - fawn, natural ears, born September 1996; sweetie and cutie

 

[Boxerworld]

Moving this topic to the main forum.

Olly