Just recently, after years of GSD ownership, purchased a German-line Boxer puppy. Can't say he is pure woking line, but he does haved a good amount of SchH titles in his background. Will train him to the best of his ability.

Any boxer owners active on this forum that has anylinks to good info training working boxers?

My baseline is a.) Working GSDs(belgian/czech) b.) the goofy american boxer that I had when I was a kid.

Purchased the boxer due to just-turned teenager and grade school kids and friends around a lot. Want protection/guard but need less sharpness and a dog less on edge.

He's 12 wks and already I see some things very similar to my previous GSD puppies (good prey/play drive...very "mouthy" and with an "attitude") but others (like sleeping on my kids's chests while laying on the floor, and the eye-contact focus...) that never happend with my GSDs.

Anyway... just lookng to do some research as I try to figure out what is going on inside the head of my little fawn clored alligator.

thanks...

Neil

With your baseline, you won't have any surprises training a working lines boxer.

My only serious advice for you is to monitor the health of your boxer closely, especially from a cardiac standpoint. They have cardiac problems so commonly that I'd arrange for a screening echo between ages six months to a year if I was training one.

Will, thank you.

What a different dog... yet the same. When I mean "mouthy" I mean, gets crazy mad wanting to bite..until distracted (which is very, very hard once he's focused on a hand, arm, foot, ankle....yet he seem way more connected to us than our GSDs. Must be around us, when tired, wants to sleep near, on us, very good eye focus when doing marker training etc.

Parents hips and hearts are clear. Pup has been heart tested...GTG so far...The breeder seems to really focus on heart healt..but may do test later based upon your advice. Thanks for the warning.

Damn dog is stubborn. Exhibits behavior like that I've seen out of mastiff dogs...i.e. knows what I want but sits and waits to see if I'm going to insist...(LOL).

Thanks!

 Quote: neil putnam

Damn dog is stubborn. Exhibits behavior like that I've seen out of mastiff dogs...i.e. knows what I want but sits and waits to see if I'm going to insist...(LOL).

LOL That is my mastiff to a T. "Do I really *have* to? Are you sure? (roll eyes) OK, fine.

Good to see some more folks working boxers. What kennel is your pup from? The working boxer community in the states in almost exclusively at http://www.usboxer.org. I would also recommend getting on the yahoo message board, you may be able to find a member local to you to train with. Best of luck with the new pup.

Yeah, a boxer thread brought Luke back!
We missed you!

haha, thanks Will. I check in every now and again. Been very busy with a new edition to the family of the human variety.

Wow, one thread and less than 24hrs and I brought "the boxer guy" out of hibernation, AND got a response from Will, who always provides good info. I figured I'd have to keep this one active for a lot longer before that happened. Too bad I never get bites this fast when I'm fishing!

Ok. where I got the dog: http://www.bigmacboxers.com

Went to the USABoxer site. Followed the links. Many sites had outdated info which is a bad indicator for me. Others had no pups within a reasonable (months) timeframe that we were looking for (needed to get a pup in the summer time while wife, kids and me had most time at home). Also had a price point that I needed to hit. SO, the breeder that we chose shook out. NOT what I would consider a "working" breeder from GSD standards, not by a long shot, but worked for us for this dog. Is exhibiting some good traits so far... the breeder seemed to place a high premium on health, so that was also a plus. Got a deposit in early and campaigned for the most "working" temperment male pup from our litter.

Like I said, we'll do what we can with him. But this is going to be a "different" dog from what we're used to... Crate training for example... took to the crate with less issues than our GSD...but has pooed in the crate and happily layed in it. WHAT??? THAT WOULLD NEVER HAPPEN WITH A GSD...However if left out of the crate in a confined area, and given newspaper, will pee on one section of paper and poo on another AND not destroy the room in the proces.

THis is just one difference... hence my generic question that started this thread. just wondering what I got myself in for at this point.

But, with that said... what an engaging dog.... and great friend to my kids already.

thanks all for the dialog.


Edit to add: And Luke.. congrats on your human addition to your family. That's much bigger news than any convo about a boxer pup.
Neil

First part of advice for a dog that goes in the crate - usually this means that the crate is too large and the dog doesn't really consider it a den.

One way to make the crate smaller is by putting an object into it to take up space - I've had good luck using upside down milk crates for this.

And it's important that you take this step *quickly*, you don't want the dog to begin to think that laying in its own waste is normal, most animals avoid this a reflex.

Hope that helps!

If the dog is already happily lounging in poo, i would wonder about the breeder from which you got him. I've seen a lot of pups that are ok with a soiled sleeping area that were kept crated too long at the breeder's or kept together in pens that haven't been kept as clean as they should.

Definately follow Will's advice on this one. Visit the sections of Leerburg regarding feeding too. Make sure you aren't overfeeding or feeding junky kibble. Those things can all affect how long your pup can hold it. Make sure he's dead tired when he goes in there so all he's interested in is sleeping.