:help:hiya i have a 5 month old boxer pup and im struggling with him, i absolutley adore him but he is starting to test my patience alot.
I do not have a crate for him as i didnt agree with them, but now wish i had got want at the outset. Anyway when im in the house he will go to the door to get out and do his business been like this for about a month maybe longer now, but if i go out weather it be 1 hour or 5 he will do it in the house. I have a 5 year old staff who is great and been fully trained for years now to, i wonder what the problem is i take all the measures standing outside till he is done etc. I have now moved him over to dried food as i think this may dry him up a bit but he drinks gallons so god knows i only moved him over yesterday so it may still work, im not going to buy a crate it will just confuse him. I dont leave the 2 dogs together when i go out as it would upset the staff as she would think i think she has done the mess but i want to leave them together as soon as hes done. I have tought him to sit, give paw , roll over, crawl and jump so its not as if he is thick, but how do you train them when your not their. ANY BOXER OWNERS ADVICE PLEASE!!:help::help:

there are a number of housetraining threads on the pets group

Its not really a boxer problem its a dog problem, it sounds to me as if your boxer might have some seperation anxiety, at 5 months he is still only a baby and his pooing is a sign of his distress at being left alone.
You need to slowly build up the time that you leave him, it might help if you leave your staffy with him for company... it might not.
I am sure someone will be along to give a fuller answer, you will also find lots of information on the net about seperation anxiety.

Hi im proberly going to get slated for this but when Duke was a pup he used to suffer from seperation anxiety so i was advised to crate him when we went out & leave him with some clothing with our sent on +a old wind up clock for reassurance .We didn`t put the clock in with him but just left it outside the crate & this did the trick:-the clothing gave a sense for presance & the clock to simulate his mothers heart beat ,even though he was totally deaf he went on to be 12 yr old (not bad for a white boxer). My dogs lie in thier crates with the door open of thier own accord its thier den

Hi im proberly going to get slated for this but when Duke was a pup he used to suffer from seperation anxiety so i was advised to crate him when we went out & leave him with some clothing with our sent on +a old wind up clock for reassurance .We didn`t put the clock in with him but just left it outside the crate & this did the trick:-the clothing gave a sense for presance & the clock to simulate his mothers heart beat ,even though he was totally deaf he went on to be 12 yr old (not bad for a white boxer). My dogs lie in thier crates with the door open of thier own accord its thier den

I absolutely think that this is the right thing to do, and so will many others I think you will find.
But don't forget to build him up slowly with a crate tifftifco2, don't just pop him in at 5 months and expect him to like it because the chances are that at first he won't, you need to make the crate a nice place for him first, leave the door open and feed him in there, put all of his toys in there.
When he is happy to go in it by himself start to give him a chew or something and close it for a few mins while your in the room, then gradually while your out of the room but in the house, slowly increasing the time he is in there, then you need to move it along to you going out.... first for 5 mins then increase slowly, you will need to allow a few weeks for this transition.
It might be a lot of work at the beginning but it will be well worth the effort.
You will find that once he is adjusted your dog will love his crate and it will become his special place that he will chose to go in... just because he wants too.
Good luck with him :)

I agree with the advice already given by moonbird and pets@home. The other thing to consider if that as a young pup, he came to live with a grown bitch. He will have bonded with her better than with you I expect, afterall she's his own species and he will feel much safer in her presence.

Then, you leave him and to top it off he's left without his older dog for company. He could well be upset and confused and you may find that leaving him with your bitch is a good way of making him feel more comfortable about your absence. Of course you'll have to get him used to being alone sometimes without your other dog because there may be a situation in which this is necessary but it could be a step in the right direction.

Perhaps try crating him in the same room as your other dog?

I don't think the problem is that he needs to go, I think it's more a separation thing but remember that feeding dry food will make him drink more as they don't get the moisture from the food like they do wet food.

You also say 'whether it's 1 hour or 5 hours' I don't know if this is a figure of speech but this could be where his issues stem from. He should be left alone for more than 4 hours and that should be built upto gradually. If he thinks he's going to be left for a long period (of 5 hours for instance) he'll get anxious and mess at the beginning of that time so you could be back half an hour later but he'll still have done it.

Good luck and definitely follow the advice already given.

hi i also have a 5 month old boxer pup and 2 small terriiers i didnt get him till he was 14 weeks old, he is crated at night and when we go out touch wood he has not been a problem.....had 2 boxers before neither was crated and had quite a lot of chewing from them, they do suffer separation anxiety as well .Best dog in the world though:love: if i can be of any help please let me know ....karen

Oh thankyou so much for your advice, im going to start with trying to leave him with my other dog first and see how this goes, i will then move on to a crate if no luck with this. I have 2 weeks off work soon so i can really put the effort in to building up slowly the time he is left i only work a few hours a day not full time, so if i start now by leaving him with the staff, then if that does not work ill buy the crate and start on the building up the time. He loves his basket and ill start by putting that in their. Thanks so much everyone:)

just an update day 1 of turning the pup around. I left him in the kitchen with the staffy today from 7 while half 2, i know it was a long time but i had to do some over time, anyway usually when i get home it's a right mess poo's, wee's, bin over just a wreck:mad::shakes::nono: NOT TODAY!!!!:banana::nod::clap: 1 poo and 1 wee bin still standing and i could see the floor and he seemed a much happier pup:):clap: REWARD a trip to graves park hope this is the start of success!

We leave the radio on for our Boxer, and we have also always used a crate for him, it has never been closed I took th door off, but he loves it, it's his own personal space and he goes there by his own choice, during the colder months we cover it with a blanket and it's like a little den for him, he loves it.

Parka had exactly the same issue up till about December last year when I finally caved in and bought him a crate. Since that day we have had not one single accident in the house, hes loves his crate and I love the fact that when I get home I can immediately spend time with him rather than chucking him outside and cleaning the mess he has left me all over the kitchen.

In fact one night last week I forgot to shut the door on his crate when I went to bed, Karen woke up and came down to let him out and foundhim on the couch and he still hadnt done anything, so atm, he seems to be cured!