[tylah]

Well I recently got a boxer puppy from my moms friend who breeds them...he is 9 weeks old and has had all his shots so far and is due for more at 11 weeks. Anyways we have been having a few problems with him lately. Well we cannot seem to get him potty trained. A friend of ours suggested buying a crate and using that to train him with, so we did buy a crate. My mom is at work and myself and my sis and bro are at school from 8 until 3:30 in the afternoon...so every morning what I do is I wake up and I go and feed him and give him fresh water and then go take a shower and after my shower I will take him outside...he rarely uses the bathroom outside..and when he does I praise him a lot and rub his head and stuff. When I take him outside (no matter how long I stand out there) he seems more concerned chewing on the bushes in front of our house or just running around like crazy...and he'll eventually get tired of that and he will go to the front door and start scratching to go back inside. So then Ill pick him up and take him back inside with me. No more than 5 minutes after going back inside he will run to his favorite spot in the house (upstairs in my sisters room) and use the bathroom. Anyways so after I pick up the mess and stuff Ill finish getting dressed take in back outside for a few minutes (still no potty) and then put him inside his crate with a toy and some water. Around 3:30 when my sis comes home shell let him outside and hell go use the bathroom but yet he will still come back inside right afterwards and use it in our house. Also the same friend that suggested us getting the crate suggested that we put him in there at night so he wont be able to use the bathroom in our house...we have tried but after a hour or 2 of listening to him cry at night I take him out and hell sleep in the bed with me. Then ill wake up the next morning to discover more "potty" in the house. We dont have any clue of how to get him potty trained. Also he has a bad problem of liking to bite and chase you as you walk around and he likes to jump up on people when they come inside the house and likes to play rough. Hes even caused my nanny and my dad to bleed bc he has bit them so hard. I think the reason he does this is bc my sis likes to get down in the floor and play really rough with him and grab his face and stuff. We also dont know how to break him of all those things. Im afraid he has developed some really bad habits that could cause my mom to wont to get rid of him but hes a really sweet dog...just like now hes laying across my lap sleeping as Im typing this. Im sorry my post has been so long!! Just any help as to what sites to look for information on how to break these habits or any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

[Long Island Dog Training]

Hi Tylah,

I read your story about your puppy Boxer. They are great puppies and even better dogs (lol). First, let me start off by saying, I am a strong advocate of crate training.

The problem you are experiencing can simply be solved by better/more supervision. I am the owner of a successful Long Island Dog Training School, and have ran into many clients that have the same problem as you, you are not alone, as a matte-of-fact you are the majority. In a nutshell...

1. After taking the dog outside, supervise the dog upon return. (go where ever the puppy goes, you know she/he has a propensity to eliminate upstairs, then follow the puppy upstairs, when he beginns to go...INTERUPT it, with a loud "NO", and grab hold (leash/hands) and take immediately outside to finish)

2. If you cannot supervise the puppy, back in the crate it goes.

3. The puppy more than likely will cry in the crate, especially when she/he is used to sleeping somewhere else. It has been my experience to train the puppy in the crate, especially a strong breed as the Boxer, this will help you later regarding a pack leader role.

4. Potty training rules are simple to understand but difficult to follow- whenever the puppy is in the house it needs to be supervised, or it goes in the crate. Your job is two-fold, prevent the elimination and/or catch the puppy in the act. If you don't do either, you are failing, sorry to sound so harsh, but I am a straight forward person. There were times that I failed too. Share the responsibility with someone, it worked for me.

[cigwyllt]

The first thing you have to remember is that a puppy does not have the physical or emotional maturity to be toilet trained before around 12 weeks - any success before that is because the owner has correctly read the dog's body language and not because the dog is "trained".

As the previous poster has said, there is just no substitute for supervision when it comes to toilet training. Your pup needs to be watched all the time he is not in his crate.

One problem that I see is that he is in his crate for a very long time during the day. When my puppy was that age I took him outside every hour - your pup is stuck in his crate for 7.5 hours - that is 7 opportunities my dog would have had in that time. That really is not a good life for a pup. I'm sorry but I would be advising anyone in your situation not to have a puppy and a responsible breeder would not be happy about rehoming selling a pup to live like that.

But I doubt you are going to rehome him so you will really need to work hard on training him. After all that time in his crate he is going to be far to excited to think about going to the toilet unless he is totally desperate - he is just too excited. What you could do is give him 5 minutes to run around then put him on the lead and take him to an area which is ok for him to use as a toilet - you can get various things that encourage the dog to "go" in a certain place - and when you take him there make life as boring as possible - let him sniff but ignore him completely until he goes to the toilet then act as though he has done the cleverest thing ever.

How often do you feed him? He should still be having at least three meals a day and I can't see how you can fit those in if he is in his crate for 7.5 hours?

[Lara's mom]

I'm wondering if the problem isn't that the puppy spends too much time in the crate to begin with.

[cigwyllt]

The other thing I should have added - which again will be to do with him spending so much time alone - your parents should not allow your sister to play roughly with him. He is an excited, crazy puppy. Grabbing his face and playing rough games will make him worse. If you are going to keep him you need to work as a family to treat him properly and teach him to be calm. And it has to start with treating him in a calm and respectful way.