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Alright, let me premise this by saying, not only are we new to this forum, but we're also not here to be told we're doing it "all wrong". Yes, we've made mistakes and learned from them or trying to learn from them but it is counter-productive to respond to a post asking for help by telling us we've screwed up and then offer no positive or constructive advice. We are loving pet owners and we would do just about anything for our pups. So if you're just going to judge us by the struggles we are having and leave it at that, you can just spend your time doing that with someone else. We will not acknowledge immature behavior. We are here for advice or realistic solutions.
We have two boxers; one is 2 years old and the other is 1 1/2 years old. Our oldest, Roxxy, is smaller than average, has some separation anxiety but is not destructive; just spastic. She is super timid around people she doesn't know and very attached to us when we are around. She doesn't bark unless she is in a crate and we've had her house broken for almost a year now. When she was just 8 months old, we had someone watching her while we were away and they didn't secure the crate she was in so she took off and was missing for 2 full days...ever since then her anxiety peeks if we crate her so we worked hard and successfully to take her out of that environment. She now roams the house for up to 12 hours (we rarely let her be alone for 8; it's only a couple times now that we unexpectedly have to visit the hospital or something that it's longer. She always provides a surprise of good behavior upon return).
Let me also add that we constantly walk them and let them run, for endless amounts of time, in our large back yard...Roxxy is faster than lightening and while Bentlee likes to run, he gets worn out quickly.
Last fall, we adopted our second boxer, Bentlee who is about a year and a half. He was the pet of my partner's brother and lived in an environment with 2 other dogs, 2 cats, some lizards, a 7 year old, etc. They then had a baby and they, we and others insisted they put that baby as priority and re-evaluate having so many pets in a small 2 bedroom flat. They returned with an ultimatum - either someone they know (us) takes Bentlee or they will not oblige. So we took them, partly because we liked Bentlee and partly because my partner's nephew was a priority.
We originally had him in a crate to ease him into being house broken (they had him in a crate more often then not). There began the issue.
To put it simply; Bentlee is a Houdini…or crate-dini and we've all heard the stories before. We have had to take some extra steps to dampen his magic skills. We had a metal collapsible crate that he manage to pull the wires from, bend one wall, and destroy the plastic tray. We would reinforce it with zip ties and wire but he would figure that out and chew. A lot.
So we returned to the plastic crate we had used with Roxxy and it is plenty big. We reinforced the notches around the outside with double zip ties and just recently have bunjeed the door so that if he were to push it open it would resist more than normal. Now, we had been house breaking him slowly but after multiple shoes, investments in extra storage, one couch, and two dvd players later...we are at our wits end and are returning to day one and working through it with him. Our goal is to get him house broken but he is one stubborn cookie.
We would graciously take Bentlee to the dog park in town to wear him out with other dogs but it is 50% cement and after a couple surgeries and long meetings with our vet, he has even told us not to take him on cement because he has unnaturally brittle nails and we've learned that even 10 minutes on concrete wear them down to the pink, split them, or tear them off. There are no sure supplements that will help...and the ones that would have made him sick. I'm sorry, but I'd rather him be comfortable then in pain or be sick.
Now, so far, he hasn't Houdini-ed his way out of his plastic kennel but that is not to say he hasn't tried. There are chew marks every which way. Before we reinforced it, he would exert enough pressure and bust the door open. We are not stupid - we know this obviously means he hates being kenneled and it's not going to help his separation anxiety. We did the gradual step up system to get him used to us leaving but it’s purely in his nature. It is not a long term solution; we hope to work it out to where he is house broken or really...anything else but destructive.
Bentlee is a loving dog; a little goofy, not the brightest, and definitely needs some work...we learned that quickly...but he is not a bad dog. We do not blame him for his actions or his anxiety and we know it is a fear that we are either not coming back or he did something wrong. We have done the research; we have talked to our vet...multiple vets actually, and we understand that punishing him is not helpful. We don't see our current choice and starting over with the crate a punishment but an attempt at correcting his behavior. When we come home, we ignore his excited behavior until he calms down to let him know that his spastic behavior will not get him rewarded - like man experts and advice columns explain to do.
Did I mention we've tried repellent sprays, no-chew sprays? Etc? They work for about a week and then he realizes that it just tastes bad but doesn't hurt him so no big deal.
Besides the issue of destructiveness; we are also seeing an issue with barking. We currently live in a duplex (not an ideal situation but you take what you can get as a young adult couple with one having a career job and the other still looking). We are moving (knock on wood) into a house next year which has a perfect area for a outdoor kennel run and environment for them to go buck crazy in. But until then, he barks when he’s in his kennel. Not continually, just sporadically. We know this because we rigged my computer to have a Skype open then answers whenever we call from our smart phones. We can communicate with him to tell him “no barking” and “lay down” which he responds to – sometimes well and sometimes not so well. The “nanny cam”, so to speak, may be effective and letting him know we are “around” but I’m not going to hold my breath. We have a bark collar on it and it blinks when it “works” but he barks over it so it either doesn’t work or he’s too stressed to care.
Aside from wearing him out (we do and he is worn out...), aside from seeing a vet to medicate an issue that is simply because he is a loving and attached dog, and aside from being told to go buy a $400 steel welded crate...what are other pet lovers’ suggestions?
Should we try one of those machines that play a tone any time they bark causing them not to bark? I can’t imagine it will be effective but has anyone been surprised that it does in deed work? We get hesitant to try something we haven’t heard any reviews about…so hopefully someone hear has some insight.
Are there any toys that are proven to be distracting for when we leave? We’ve tried kongs and peanut butter but he’s a little pig and has them licked clean in a matter of seconds. We filled bottles with dog food and he loves those but they don’t seem to be distracting…any other ideas?
We are changing our walking/running schedule to be more intense but regardless of that, what other ways can I wear a dog out that can’t really be on concrete? We get down and play with both of them a lot and boy do they play with each other, but since Bentlee gets kind ‘ve aggressive, it doesn’t last long. I know Boxers are an energetic breed – and we work with it. But besides telling us MORE EXERCISE…does anyone have any ideas of different ways to wear them out?
Is there something we're missing? They both sleep through the *entire* night, no problem. We never come home to accidents like peeing and pooping; we "Bentlee" proofed when we do have him out and we're gone...is totally effective except the couches. Is there a secret spray or trick we're unaware of that will get him to stop chewing the couches?If we could find the solution to his desire to to destroy (besides that he's anxious) then we wouldn't need to kennel him so if seriously, anyone has any ideas about to stop his chewing, that would be the cure-all.
Again, I appreciate constructive advice and solutions - don't tell me the obvious "they are energetic dogs" or "don't kennel him if he doesn't like to be kenneled" because that give us no solution for our problem. We are genuinely trying to help Bentlee become more well behaved and either house broken or kennel trained…and we just plea for help. So if you’ve got some suggestions, we are all ears.
You can see a photo of Bentlee and Roxxy here (Roxxy is the fawn one).
We have two boxers; one is 2 years old and the other is 1 1/2 years old. Our oldest, Roxxy, is smaller than average, has some separation anxiety but is not destructive; just spastic. She is super timid around people she doesn't know and very attached to us when we are around. She doesn't bark unless she is in a crate and we've had her house broken for almost a year now. When she was just 8 months old, we had someone watching her while we were away and they didn't secure the crate she was in so she took off and was missing for 2 full days...ever since then her anxiety peeks if we crate her so we worked hard and successfully to take her out of that environment. She now roams the house for up to 12 hours (we rarely let her be alone for 8; it's only a couple times now that we unexpectedly have to visit the hospital or something that it's longer. She always provides a surprise of good behavior upon return).
Let me also add that we constantly walk them and let them run, for endless amounts of time, in our large back yard...Roxxy is faster than lightening and while Bentlee likes to run, he gets worn out quickly.
Last fall, we adopted our second boxer, Bentlee who is about a year and a half. He was the pet of my partner's brother and lived in an environment with 2 other dogs, 2 cats, some lizards, a 7 year old, etc. They then had a baby and they, we and others insisted they put that baby as priority and re-evaluate having so many pets in a small 2 bedroom flat. They returned with an ultimatum - either someone they know (us) takes Bentlee or they will not oblige. So we took them, partly because we liked Bentlee and partly because my partner's nephew was a priority.
We originally had him in a crate to ease him into being house broken (they had him in a crate more often then not). There began the issue.
To put it simply; Bentlee is a Houdini…or crate-dini and we've all heard the stories before. We have had to take some extra steps to dampen his magic skills. We had a metal collapsible crate that he manage to pull the wires from, bend one wall, and destroy the plastic tray. We would reinforce it with zip ties and wire but he would figure that out and chew. A lot.
So we returned to the plastic crate we had used with Roxxy and it is plenty big. We reinforced the notches around the outside with double zip ties and just recently have bunjeed the door so that if he were to push it open it would resist more than normal. Now, we had been house breaking him slowly but after multiple shoes, investments in extra storage, one couch, and two dvd players later...we are at our wits end and are returning to day one and working through it with him. Our goal is to get him house broken but he is one stubborn cookie.
We would graciously take Bentlee to the dog park in town to wear him out with other dogs but it is 50% cement and after a couple surgeries and long meetings with our vet, he has even told us not to take him on cement because he has unnaturally brittle nails and we've learned that even 10 minutes on concrete wear them down to the pink, split them, or tear them off. There are no sure supplements that will help...and the ones that would have made him sick. I'm sorry, but I'd rather him be comfortable then in pain or be sick.
Now, so far, he hasn't Houdini-ed his way out of his plastic kennel but that is not to say he hasn't tried. There are chew marks every which way. Before we reinforced it, he would exert enough pressure and bust the door open. We are not stupid - we know this obviously means he hates being kenneled and it's not going to help his separation anxiety. We did the gradual step up system to get him used to us leaving but it’s purely in his nature. It is not a long term solution; we hope to work it out to where he is house broken or really...anything else but destructive.
Bentlee is a loving dog; a little goofy, not the brightest, and definitely needs some work...we learned that quickly...but he is not a bad dog. We do not blame him for his actions or his anxiety and we know it is a fear that we are either not coming back or he did something wrong. We have done the research; we have talked to our vet...multiple vets actually, and we understand that punishing him is not helpful. We don't see our current choice and starting over with the crate a punishment but an attempt at correcting his behavior. When we come home, we ignore his excited behavior until he calms down to let him know that his spastic behavior will not get him rewarded - like man experts and advice columns explain to do.
Did I mention we've tried repellent sprays, no-chew sprays? Etc? They work for about a week and then he realizes that it just tastes bad but doesn't hurt him so no big deal.
Besides the issue of destructiveness; we are also seeing an issue with barking. We currently live in a duplex (not an ideal situation but you take what you can get as a young adult couple with one having a career job and the other still looking). We are moving (knock on wood) into a house next year which has a perfect area for a outdoor kennel run and environment for them to go buck crazy in. But until then, he barks when he’s in his kennel. Not continually, just sporadically. We know this because we rigged my computer to have a Skype open then answers whenever we call from our smart phones. We can communicate with him to tell him “no barking” and “lay down” which he responds to – sometimes well and sometimes not so well. The “nanny cam”, so to speak, may be effective and letting him know we are “around” but I’m not going to hold my breath. We have a bark collar on it and it blinks when it “works” but he barks over it so it either doesn’t work or he’s too stressed to care.
Aside from wearing him out (we do and he is worn out...), aside from seeing a vet to medicate an issue that is simply because he is a loving and attached dog, and aside from being told to go buy a $400 steel welded crate...what are other pet lovers’ suggestions?
Should we try one of those machines that play a tone any time they bark causing them not to bark? I can’t imagine it will be effective but has anyone been surprised that it does in deed work? We get hesitant to try something we haven’t heard any reviews about…so hopefully someone hear has some insight.
Are there any toys that are proven to be distracting for when we leave? We’ve tried kongs and peanut butter but he’s a little pig and has them licked clean in a matter of seconds. We filled bottles with dog food and he loves those but they don’t seem to be distracting…any other ideas?
We are changing our walking/running schedule to be more intense but regardless of that, what other ways can I wear a dog out that can’t really be on concrete? We get down and play with both of them a lot and boy do they play with each other, but since Bentlee gets kind ‘ve aggressive, it doesn’t last long. I know Boxers are an energetic breed – and we work with it. But besides telling us MORE EXERCISE…does anyone have any ideas of different ways to wear them out?
Is there something we're missing? They both sleep through the *entire* night, no problem. We never come home to accidents like peeing and pooping; we "Bentlee" proofed when we do have him out and we're gone...is totally effective except the couches. Is there a secret spray or trick we're unaware of that will get him to stop chewing the couches?If we could find the solution to his desire to to destroy (besides that he's anxious) then we wouldn't need to kennel him so if seriously, anyone has any ideas about to stop his chewing, that would be the cure-all.
Again, I appreciate constructive advice and solutions - don't tell me the obvious "they are energetic dogs" or "don't kennel him if he doesn't like to be kenneled" because that give us no solution for our problem. We are genuinely trying to help Bentlee become more well behaved and either house broken or kennel trained…and we just plea for help. So if you’ve got some suggestions, we are all ears.
You can see a photo of Bentlee and Roxxy here (Roxxy is the fawn one).
