I sit a problem if we choose to raise a pure working dog as a family pet with agility and obedience training rather than for competition? How would we go about this?

Cindy,

I spoke with Dona today concerning what direction to take in the training of a boxer puppy. My wife and I have no children, live in a house in TN, and both work full time. This will be our third boxer with Kasha passing at 13 in Oct of 2009 and Magnus is 9 and has excellent health. We own several retail furniture stores and Magnus is a regular 'employee' at the stores. I personally trained both dogs using a book that advocated the same techniques Ed uses for obedience and predictably the results were great. I plan to use the same basic plan however our new puppy will come from a strong working line of European boxers and want to take advantage of this drive. Having said that, we choose not to pursue raising a pure working dog for competition but rather a family pet with agility and obedience training. Do you see problems with this? Do we need to go family or working? Ed seems to have an either or mentality on this.

What videos do you recommend to achieve our goals? Magnus will not cross a threshold off leash (thru a door or sidewalk to street without 'ok') and his 'manners' have made him very enjoyable as a family member. I would like to take the training of our new puppy to the next level but do not know what direction to go.

Thanks in advance,
Ryan