Here is my situation. I know very little about dog training. I thought I did from all the reading that I have been doing on this site. I am the proud owner of 5-6 Leerburg videos which I love. I have a 14 week old German Line Boxer, Duke. He is great, very mouthy and energetic. I have a few co-workers who train PSA and really know what they are doing. I plan to Join their club and train PSA when Duke gets a little older. I have not been able to sync my schedule to meet up with any of them outside of work to get any hands on instruction so I am kinda wandering about blindly with just enough head knowledge to be dangerous and almost no "real" dog training experience.

Does anyone with a boxer (or any type of dog with a smaller mouth) have any suggestions for training a proper bite with a boxer puppy? I know I should pick up the training bitework with puppies video but its not in the budget right now.

I am in the process of building a flirt pole which should help. Also, I have been playing fetch with one of the small leather tugs (I think the puppy one) and Duke seems to have trouble holding the tug in the back of his mouth. If I place it back properly he can hold it however if I give any resistance he loses grip almost as if he isn't holding it or doesn't have the strength to hold it.

I know he is too young to play serious tug but I was hoping that I could at least teach him to bite down on the tug while I try to move it around a little. I'll take any direction I can get Thanks!

PS. As soon as I figure out how to and have a few minutes to do so I will post an intro for Duke and I

Those leather tugs are quite tough and inflexible. I have the leather puppy tug and use it for my adult dogs. They are designed to be very rugged (and they are!). However, they are not easy for a baby puppy to hold and tug on.

You can go to a pet store and buy a braided fleece tug (Leerburg sells them also), they are soft, easy to tease the dog with as they move a lot, and strong enough to tug with.

Is one of the Leerburg videos you have the Building Drive and Focus?

Yes, I have the Building Drive and Focus video but I probably need to review it. Its been a few months since I watched it. I got ahold of one of the fleece tugs as well.

I would start with a piece of burlap get him to understand the game. Then try rolling it up. As he gets older you can switch to the standard drive building toys. I've found Boxers like tugs a little more than balls because of the shape of their mouths but each one is different.

Beautiful Sig Pic Luke!

I have started workin with a rag, he gets the game he just won't clamp down when the rag/tug etc is in the back of his mouth. I'm joining a PSA club in my area and hooking up with a great trainer. We will be working the kinks out soon but the club is hosting the PSA regional/national in a few weeks and so its prep time.

For now I can't seem to keep him off my pants, shoes and everything else. He's lost several teeth on my pants. (I'm trying to keep him from tugging on my pants without correcting but he loves the taste of BDU's over anything I try to divert him to) He loves the rag and will chase it all day long. He'll bite and hold on to it with the front of his mouth, he just won't hold it tight in the back of his mouth. At this point, I don't want to push him either because he's teething and I know that bitework and tug at this stage could cause bite inhabition later.

You have the right idea, just be patient. Bite development is just that, development. The process takes time and before they have their permanent teeth you really won't know what you've got. Encourage a full mouth grip by rewarding everytime him grasps fully. Let go and let him win. Once he's a bit bigger and no longer teething you can increase the intensity which should require him to use his entire mouth if he wants to hang on. Just give it some time. Are you a member of USABox? There are some folks training boxers in your area you could hook up with as well. http://www.usabox.org Also, get on the email list at yahoo groups to ask questions and see what others are asking/saying. Good luck!

Great thanks I'll check them out!

Hey, any updates on how the dog is doing?

I care for my sisters boxer that just turned two about a month ago. I just discovered this site recently, and I'm very interested in getting him to the next stage of training.

Diesal (sis boxer) loves to learn. I may have hit the peak of what I can do with him though (Basic commands and just following me around w/no leash). I'm satisfied the way he is, but my sis is a single mom and while Diesal is extremely intimidating, the dog is..... too friendly. I like that he's friendly, but I'd like to get him trained to protect her and her son on demand. Looking the part does go along way, but playing the part would be nice to.

Did the books you invested in help? Were you able to join that club in MD?

THanks!