when can you trust a boxer?

[tans]

We recently left our 7 month old boxer in the living room while we went shopping, and she dug into our very expensive leather couch.
So I guess it's back to crating for her.
I was just wondering how long it took for boxers to be "good" when left alone.
:(

 

[Maniago]

George is 2 and has been crate free since six months. My girls are 1 and 1.5 and are not ever left uncrated, they are very untrustworthy

 

[DI_411]

I think that depends on your boxer. Our Ella is almost 1 year and we could trust her out on her own. The new pup however I don't think we will ever be able to trust him. It's something about his personality that just screams "Leave me alone with nothing to do and I will eat things"

How long were you gone? We started leaving her out for about 15 mins and built on it from there. The longest we have left her was almost an hour.

 

[tans]

We left her for just over an hour, I guess that was way too long. She normally doesn't do anything naughty while we are home even when we are not watching her. Anyhow, I feeld sad to crate her indefinitely, but time will tell.

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

Originally posted by tans
We recently left our 7 month old boxer in the living room while we went shopping, and she dug into our very expensive leather couch.
So I guess it's back to crating for her.
I was just wondering how long it took for boxers to be "good" when left alone.
:(

To answer your question: It takes as long as it takes YOU to train your dog in the proper behaviors when you are not around. That means you must spend the time with "leave it" commands and letting the dog know there are alternate toys and things in which to get into when you are gone, other than items such as couches and chairs, carpets, etc. This is only done by training the dog. You cannot expect a dog who has been crated to know how to behave all at once when he is "set free" in a new unknown experience. You have to guide the dog and let the dog have some freedoms little by little, not all at once. Too much temptation and the dog has no way to "check" such temptations and resist them unless he knows what proper behavior is expected.

There are many threads here on this subject. I would suggest also trying the search engine for further information on how to adjust and train your dog to be able to have free reign of the home when you are gone.

Good luck.

 

[curby]

My Zoe is 6 months old and I have left her in the house since I got her. She is "babysat" by my 8 year old german shorthair, but I have not had any trouble yet. (fingers crossed) I've caught her sleeping on the couch which isn't allowed but she hasnt' eaten it yet. She is a little thief and steals and hides things but doesn't chew. I didn't do anything special with her, she's had free roam of the house since she came home at 8 weeks. I think my other dogs behavior helps dictate hers in that area. When their alone she does what he does. Sleeps!!!

 

[marciafinn]

All dogs are different so it depends on the dog. I didn't leave Mason alone until around 8 months and it was only for about 15 minutes. I used my judgement with this decision and based it on the fact that I allowed him free reign of the house while I was in the shower and hadn't had any incidents. So I tried the 15 minutes and that worked so I just went from there. Mason hasn't been in the crate at all since about a year old.

My family raised golden retrievers and the last one I had, Hannah, couldn't be left out of the crate, at all, until she was almost three. I went through three sets of rugs testing her out!!! Other than that Hannah was great, she taught Mason everything he knows!

 

[VTbxrFan]

Re: Re: when can you trust a boxer?

Originally posted by Tulsa-Dan
To answer your question: It takes as long as it takes YOU to train your dog in the proper behaviors when you are not around. That means you must spend the time with "leave it" commands and letting the dog know there are alternate toys and things in which to get into when you are gone, other than items such as couches and chairs, carpets, etc. This is only done by training the dog. You cannot expect a dog who has been crated to know how to behave all at once when he is "set free" in a new unknown experience. You have to guide the dog and let the dog have some freedoms little by little, not all at once. Too much temptation and the dog has no way to "check" such temptations and resist them unless he knows what proper behavior is expected.

There are many threads here on this subject. I would suggest also trying the search engine for further information on how to adjust and train your dog to be able to have free reign of the home when you are gone.

Good luck.

Can you suggest any specific steps to train for behavior that only happens if I'm not there? I've seen lots of general posts on age when people leave them free, starting with gradual freedom, etc. My dog does seem to know what things he's supposed to chew and what he's not because he never goes for the wrong things when I'm home, but if I'm not home, he still gets into mischief. I adopted him at 2 years old and was able to graduate him from a crate to one room, but I just can't seem to get him to behave if he's loose anywhere else (2 years after giving him one room). Every now and then we try him again and he finds something - fortunately he doesn't destroy furniture or carpet or anything major, but no matter how well we clean up, he will find something we miss. Or counter surf - something else he never does if we are there. I can deal with him having "his room" but someday we are going to need that room to be a nursery or guest bedroom, so I'd like him to adapt to being in the family room. Is there something specific I can do? And can you tell me what the appropriate response from me is if we do leave him free and come home and he's gotten into something? I always here that they associate punishment or praise with their most recent action, so is there anyway to let him know his behavior is inappropriate if I don't catch him in the act? Maybe I'm searching on the wrong words, but I can't get any specific details when I do a search.

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

One dog-proofed room at a time. Take short trips and leave him alone for 5 minutes, many times (for several days until the dog shows no signs of destroying anything). Then extend to 10 minutes. 15 min., etc., etc. Be sure to praise the dog highly and reward him on those sessions in which he behaves properly when you come back inside.

One of the BEST ways to avoid destructive behavior in dogs is to make SURE that they are VERY WELL exercised and tired before leaving them alone. You can dog-proof a room to death but a bored dog with too much energy is going to find SOMETHING to get into, you can bet on that.

As for your reaction: Give the dog NO ATTENTION WHATSOEVER for his bad behavior. If you get upset with him after the fact, he doesn't really understand. Also, giving him such attention is simply that to the dog: attention. He can't distinguish between good and bad attention, it is all attention to him. So when he wants your attention in the future and can't seem to get it any other way, he will destroy things because he KNOWS you always get mad and give him some sort of attention when he does that.

Our book forum has many good training books which can help you with this issue.

Good luck.

 

[VTbxrFan]

Thanks Tulsa-Dan. That helps a lot. I think our mistake is that our "short" periods of time aren't short enough, so we need to start with super-short intervals and build up more gradually than we have before.