Unattended Boxer!

[girls mom]

I leave Mya unattended all day while i am at school and work. It is sometimes 9 hours. She is sitting at the window when i leave and is there when i get home. It is totally a personal choice, but if you choose to try it here are a few suggestions i have for you; make sure that you don't have the trash in puppy reach, and put the remote controls up. Work into it slowly, and you should be fine. They will be mischievous at first, but they will learn. I feel it is so worth it because the reaction when you get home is priceless, they are so happy to see you and greet you at the door.
Good luck!!!

 

[kpdangermouse]

jezebelle also has the run of the house when i am gone...if i work in town, she handles 8 hrs just fine, usually on the couch, where i left her. if i work out of town, i can be gone for up to 13 hours, so i have someone walk her midday. again, no problem. i started leaving her out of the crate around 9 mos..when 11 mos hit, she became desctructive (couch, record, shoes) i was told that 11-13 months is another fear period, so i crated her again until 14 mos. since then, its been smooth sailing....
when i leave, i say "go sit on the couch", and she happilly bounds up there, knowing shes gonna get a big biscuit! (which occupies her as i slip out the door )

 

[Simba]

Well not Simba SHe can not be trusted for anything! :mad: She has totally blew her trust with me. She is not allowed on the couch, While I am home or anything. She gets into everything! We have given her a little space and she trys to take over the home and be boss! Not in my book it wont happen! The Vet said that to give her chances we have MANY then he the vet gave up when we took her in many times for eating things that made her have reactions as well as being sick .(It was all put up, like instant coffee, coffee creamer, nonthing toxic thats locked up) She is our Houdine baby And she gets into everything including turning on water, opening up doors, ect. Climbing on the counter tops. She even got into fish food flakes on day Ate it all :eek: , got sick all over the place Yepp they was put up but she opened the cabniet :( . I leave her in her crate the best thing I have ever got appicon. She is not allowed in the home to move arround when we are not there. She is gonna be 2 in July and has no trust from me to her. She has broke things. Nope no running arround while we are gone !!! Anyone with suggestions for me as well? I love my baby as well as my piece of mind. So i suggest a bench / crate!

Teri and Simba

 

[firedog]

Well we gradually worked Brindy up to being home alone. We started leaving her out at nite while we were sleeping, and she did fine. So we did an hour away from home and so on. Did fine, started leaving her home alone while at work, coming home over lunch about almost 6 hours from leaving her in the morning. The second week, we took a trip to the vet that cost me 250.00 to pump her stomach. She ate the plastic cover to a nite lite. Well we don't know if she ate it or not it didn't show up on xrays. So we crate her again while at work, but she still free roams at nite while we sleep. She does good with this. But this shows you how naughty she is, I went out to clean up her poo piles over my lunch hour yesterday and there was some kind of chewed up plastic baggy in her poo:eek:. Never fails, no matter how many times I clean up the backyard(we live in the county- and are allowed to burn garbage) from things blowing in- she finds it and eats it:confused:
I am planning on leaving my job and going to be staying home to start a family, maybe then we can work on being trusted again by then she'll be 17 months old. Of course some dogs just can't have this kind of freedom Don't feel too bad for her, she loves her crate and she's the only dog I know who has a seally matteress in her crate(mom feels sorry for her being in there for 7 hrs. a day, don't want her to have bad joints!)
Rachel

 

[Amanda22]

Emma isn't crated during the day, but she doesn't have run of the house either. ( i couldn't possibly put everything out of reach.) So, she stays in the kitchen when we're out. I put everything up high and keep the counters clear. She can't destroy anything because she can't get to anything. She has a fluffy doggy bed and blanket in the kitchen along with her food and water. Luckily, my kitchen is rather big so she can zoom around too, if she wants. I also leave the kitchen tv on for her so she's not bored! She gets to watch soaps all day long.

Amanda

 

[FarleyBoxer]

baby gate

I think a good compromise b/t free rein and crating is a baby gate that confines the dog to a certain dog-proof area. As Farley grows, and gets too big for his crate, we are going to do that in our kitchen. This way, you are assured that s/he can't get into anything dangerous and s/he also gets more room than a crate allows. Of course, this could also be a good way to move toward allowing the dog to roam the house, if you are sold on doing that. I just personally don't think I could take away everything in my entire apt. that could be harmful to Farley if he got into it, ie electrical cords, though he is not a big chewer. You never know what will strike them as tasty one day.

 

[kpdangermouse]

I also leave the kitchen tv on for her so she's not bored! She gets to watch soaps all day long.

ha, i do the same thing for jezebelle....exept, i leave on PBS...i figgure, that way she might learn something.

~kelly & jezebelle

 

[Ankendari]

Being that i don't have my furbaby yet, i am only presuming all this, but we have a garage that has been converted into a room, which we call the "time out" room. We would leave our other dog in this room with free access to the back yard, hence if they are bored they can go lie in the sun or something, however in saying all this, it's been a long time since i've had a REAL boxer baby, so wonder if this would suffice. I guess in many ways we are still giving the dog his/her own space, without the crate, but i am taking notes on putting everything up.... Gee, are they really that bad??

Cheers

 

[mom2ash]

We installed a dog door, and that was the best investment!! Bo loves the freedom of being able to go in and out as he pleases. We do have to shut our daughter's bedroom door though cause there have been a few times we've come home and he has dragged a couple of her toys outside. All in all, I think it's great! Most of the time when I get home in the afternoons, Bo is laid up outside relaxing in the sun. He'd probably be content being outside all day, but, for my peace of mind, I like him being able to come inside where it is cooler during the hot days!

 

[Irinikm]

Boxer home alone!

Hello,

I have a 20 month old boxer named Martin. We have been leaving him alone in the house since he was a puppy. At first, he would go wild and do incredible amounts of damage to furnitures and staff. After a while though, and by seeing us very dissapointed when we got home and seeing hell broken loose in the living room, he started to settle down. To this day, we leave him alone for quite some time and he will never break or damage anything. He usually plays with his toys or go out in the balcony and play around, also he sleeps a lot so that he will be vibrant and rigorous by the time we get back.
My advice would be to remove any items that you think are dangerous for breaking or hurting himself and let him take one step at a time. Boxers are really sensitive to what makes their parents happy and will go for that.

Irene