Boxer Talk

hi everyone,maybe someone can help me.i have a 9 month gorgeous boxer named Rocko & he is destructive ,he s already chewed 3 remote controls ,a chair & other objects in the house. all i want to know is if it is normal & if it is how long will it be before i stop correcting him & actually enjoy him
thanx enrico

Hi enrico, my boxer, Mojo has ripped up the kitchen floor as well as ripping up all my flowers and digging holes all over the garden. I am learning the leave command in my puppy training classes at the moment so hopefully i cant start applying it to other objects, have you taken Rocko to training classes if you havent i really would advise it, as i've heard it takes at least 7 yrs for boxers to grow up.
Goodluck, Jade

hi jade we are taking training classes & we are on our 5th class , i havent gotten to the leave command yet but i cant wait to.
thanx jade

Hi Enrico and hello again Jade!

Yeah jade is likely right, the training could help. In fact ask your trainer if they would recommend anything for this behaviour.

It is pretty normal to some extent or another. I assume it's mainly when you leave him home alone Enrico?

In which case it could be simple boredom or it could be separation anxiety.

There are a few tricks and techniques for both and of course restricting where Rocko can go when left alone will mean less to damage.

A lot of people "crate" their dogs when they go to work. Which is a plain physical enforcement but not as cruel as it sounds.

I'd think it better to try some training or distraction ideas first though.

I don't know too much about it and there are likely lots of different ways to try but I found this interesting thread -

http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/showthre­ad.php?t=58785&highlight=seperation

Cop­y­ that link into your address bar there's some interesting ideas on how to cure boredom and keep Rocko amused.

http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/­showpost.php?p=494178&postcount=6

The­ link above is a a training idea to familiarise the dog and give it an associated routine to calm it. It would likely take some while (weeks at least but maybe some improvement almost immediately) for the dog to get something out of it but it sounds a good solid method.

This second idea I like allot but is more specifically for separation anxiety.

As I say I think there will be a lot more things like these two to try out.

Maybe do a search at the place I linked to or on google. If at the Boxerworld board don't give up to easily, try different terms to search for. Message board searchs are often not the best at giving results, you'll need to be a member there to use search but it's a short registration process.

Best of luck Enrico!

If you find anything interesting or want to tell about your successes (or not) with this problem feel free to come back. I'd be interested to hear how you get on.