what should i do now?

[blurble33]

last sunday i posted a thread telling u all how excited and proud i was of my girls. we let them stay out of their crate for 3 hrs while we were gone and tey did great. well they stayed out for 2 seperate 1 1/2 hr periods of time on monday-no probs- and on tuesday they staye out for 2 hrs while we were gone with no probs. THAT ALL CHANGED TODAY!! i left for class this morning at 7:30 and returned home at 10:30 (i had to go grocery shopping after class) and they were in sooo much trouble when i got home. They decided to chew up one of our remote controls to the tv (the main one)!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they ate half of it, i am not kidding, it is one of those long controllers and half of it is gone. so not only do we no longer have a way to manipulate the tv/vcr/dvd but i have to worry about the plastic they both ingested and bits of the computer chip inside the remote!!!! OGH!!i am so upset and i called my husband to tell him and he of course is FURIOUS!! he says we can't leave them out anymore, but i don't know if we should go that far or not. we only have 1 crate (its one of the big ones though) but i just hate leaving them in there when we are gone. does anyone else have a suggestion - did your babies ever regress when u first started leaving them out? should they forever be caged, while we are not at home??

~blair, robert, and the very much in trouble: Tes & Buttercup

 

[Vela]

Boxers are just like kids. They can be good as gold one day and the next you are wondering where YOUR dog went and who this dog is in your house. Perhaps as was suggested use a baby gate and only allow them in one or two "boxer proofed" rooms to start. Also, just don't leave anything down within boxer reach in those rooms, or even any rooms as it just invites temptation. Thankfully you can buy a new Universal at the store that should work okay but it sure can be worrisome to think what they ate...mine have done it too no matter how careful I am. I left them out when i took the kids to school, 5 minutes away, and I came home to find my puppy having fun in my backyard with my pillow...

 

[jnlflip]

The crate will keep both your babies and your possessions safe. My vote is to just leave them crated and love on them and play with them a ton when you get home and on the weekends. We tried to leave ours, but they just can't be trusted 100% of the time.

 

[Vela]

Well i crate mine when Im going to be gone longer than say 20 minutes. It's just safer for them and i feel better knowing they aren't getting hurt while im gone. I would suggest crating them also but if you dont want to the baby gate might be a good idea.

 

[blurble33]

vela & crazy4cat~~
we already use a gate and shut all the doors to the bedroom - they only have access to the living room, kitchen, and laundry room when left out. we would like to just keep them in the laundry room and kitchen but the frame leading to living room and kitchen is xtra wide, one of those where u have to buy those really expensive "baby wall gates," so it looks like they are gonna be back in the crate for awhile, hubby is not moving on that descion at the moment but hopefully we can start them back out on being free sometime soon

 

[Scrapper's Mom]

Well, our remote control has bite marks on it....

But seriously, when we first started to leave Scrapper out of the crate, we used the babygate to pen Scrapper into a room we Boxer-proofed. As he got older, we gradually moved the babygate farther and farther along. Now, we don't have one at all. But it took quite a while and I hit my knees and shins a lot of times stepping over that thing...so I was glad to see it go.

And we still close the door to the bathroom because there are just too many things in there that could be harmful.

Good luck. I feel your pain.

 

[matilda8255]

If you care about it move it to a higher place! There is no reason the remote control (a boxer snack!) should have been low enough for them to reach in the first place. Boxers are silly goofy dogs that love to play, if you leave things within their reach even if they are the most impressively trained boxer on this Earth - their is a chance temptation will win them over. I say check out some of Deb's posts on silly Jack Knowles and consider yourself lucky!
Stephanie

PS...Most boxers appear to be well equiped to pass remote control pieces. But if there is any blood in the stool, straining, pacing, or you notice general discomfort I would head to the vet for x-rays.

 

[blurble33]

matilda8255~
yeah i called the vet to make sure, and she said the same thing - so far i have found nothing in their stools and neither one has thrown anything up yet. so hopefully it all will be okay. i liked that line about "boxer snack"

 

[nhbdaddy]

Ha Ha Our youngest pup 9wks pee'd on the floor last night, and after I scolded her, she had the nerve to run off with the pee soaked paper towel!!! Gotta love the little hard heads

 

[Memphis'sMom]

We stuggle with the same issues. Memhis will be one year old this weekend and she can only be trusted for about an hour and a 1/2 before something must be destoryed:rolleyes: . Don't give up on them yet. Just start slowly--I like the moving of the baby gate idea and just start leaving them for say 20 minutes...then 1/2 hour...then 45 minutes....you get the idea.

Good Luck