Tearing up the house

[JGilford]

We have an 8 month old male boxer named Hannibal. Up until recently, we have typically put him in his crate whenever we were out of the house. We would eventually like to leave him out of his crate, but on the few occasions that we have tried this, he has demolished the place by the time we returned. We have always own a dog, but this is our first boxer. We know that they are extremely energetic, but is this type of behavior someting that he will eventually grow out of? I would hate to think that he will always have to be confined to a crate. He is already pretty big, and unless we purchase a crate the size of the kitchen, crating seems to be overly restrictive. If continued crating isn't the only reasonable option, please advise!!

Thanks!!

 

[Trish727]

You need to invest in a Kong for sure and things he can play with. I suggest putting yogurt and peanut butter in a xlarge Kong and freezing it over night give it to him during the time your gone and whala he will still be slurpping on it when you get back.
I crate my 3 yr old boy when I go out just for the fact I know he will want to sleep up on the leather and its far too expensive to have him up on it. He does have a Large crate and does fine in it. Good luck keep us posted!


Trish

 

[JGilford]

Thanks Trish,

We plan to go out looking for an extra large crate tomorrow. While I'm out, I'll pick up a Kong as well.


JG

 

[Draymia]

At eight months, he is still a baby, with a baby mentality. He is young and full of energy and gets bored.

I don't let my eight month old kids stay out. I begin testing them staying out when I am going for a short errand and build from there. They are usually 12-15 months before I start testing them.

Have faith, they do well in a crate and when they mature a little they do great out also. But, if you value your curtains and couch, take slow and easy.

Cheryl :cool:

 

[jaimie]

I found that my girls are better now that they are older. But, if given the time they will get into things-the litter box or garbage when I run to the bus stop to get the kids. So, I always crate them (actually it's a metal crate not plastic) when I go places that way I know they are safe when I get back and I don't have tons of cleaning to do! I learned that one the hard way! So, as far as it being a boxer thing I am not sure but I know they sure get upset (or bored) when you leave.
Good Luck

Jaimie

 

[HoyerSt]

Tobey, who's 1.5 yrs, ate a hole in the couch, both pillows and several other things when we tried to leave him out of the create. So to be safe he goes in the creat always.

 

[shellbell]

well i am glad to see i am not the only one going through this .Rocky completely demolished our christmas tree so no he is crated and we have friends that are breeders and they say they went thru the same thing and that they will grow out of it we are hoping :rolleyes:
shellbell & rocky

 

[avts1977]

Mine are ALWAYS crated when we aren't at home.

When we only had Cheyenne, I'd keep her loose if I was only running a short errand. However, I found that she was generally more stressed if I left her out of the crate than she was in it. She'd sleep in her crate, but if she was out, then she'd keep running around to all the windows to look out and see if she could see me and would be totally wound up and nervy when I came back.

Since we got Winston, they both stay crated! These two spell trouble! They teach each other their bad habits and then blame it on the other! (counter-surfing; knocking over the trash can to get the trash; drinking out of the toilet; and discovering that anything leather make an excellent chew toy!)

BTW, Cheyenne is 4 and Winston is 3.

 

[avts1977]

Also, welcome to BW!! Enjoy!

We're almost next-door neighbors! I've never seen anyone else so close to us on here!

 

[Shefra]

Since this is the first time we've done this I thought crating was too restrictive also but we got Quincy the really large crate and friends of ours reassured us that their 2 boxers LOVE going into their crates when they go out - 1. they know its treat time and 2. its their little haven.

We're still waiting for Quincy to catch on to the "crating craze" because quite honestly he thinks its for the birds.:rolleyes:

The kong with peanut butter is a great idea - freezing it is a fantastic idea (I'd never thought of that but it would definitely make the treat last longer).

Good luck with your little guy.

p.s. love the name Hannibal.