Many problems with me new YOUNG boxer!

[Kim Y]

Some very good advice was given to me on the board last week when we were going through the same thing with Oscar. Put the crate next to your bed----I couldn't believe it but it worked right away! He could smell us and didn't feel abandoned by his "pack" and slept through the nights without any problem. We've now graduated his crate to the permanent location and with the exception of the 5:30 a.m. living alarm (Oscar barking it's time for breakfast!), he sleeps right through the night. Give it a try. Good Luck and have lots of patience--keep reminding yourself she's only a baby.

Kim

[Z's Mom]

It is against the law in some states to sell a puppy before the age of 8 weeks. That is much too young to be taken away from the mother and littermates! Also, it takes time to housebreak a puppy. Mine wasn't fully housebroken till almost 5 months old. I had no problem with the crate though, as I always kept the crate right in our bedroom. Good luck with you new baby and keep us posted!!

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Owned by
Zoey 2 year old flashy fawn female
Spunky 14 year old chubby beagle

[RileyMom]

We got our (now 12 week old) boxer about three weeks ago and were nervous new parents about having him sleep in the crate. We felt so guilty about it and wanted to go running every time he made a noise!

For the first week, we kept the crate in the kitchen but slept on an air mattress in the next room so we could talk to him and take him out often. But he cried a lot.

Then we tried moving the crate into our bedroom and letting him fall asleep with us, then moving him into his crate when he was asleep. He barely opened his eyes and didn't mind the move at all! After a week of that, he's been going into his crate at night on his own when we are getting ready for bed.

He still doesn't like it much when we close the door, and will often place his head down on the door opening so we can't close it without disturbing him, but other than that he's really taken to the crate well.

In fact, when our nieces and nephews were over for a visit, he was a little overwhelmed by the activity and several times went into his crate to hide out! It's his very own little safe hiding spot.

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Riley: born 9/6/00, brindle male, natural ears, spoiled rotten!

[Gerome]

Spanking is human (sadly), not dog. I cannot see how crying is answered with punishment. Grin and bear it, it will cease. Getting her illegally to young (PA, USA) is one cause for her behavior, but nothing here is out of the norm. My baby is 17 months old and every day since I got her at 8 weeks (the best time to get a puppy as determined from scientific investigation into canine psychology) I have slept on the floor next to her crate. I am talking hard wood too and echoing crys at first. Our relationship and her behavior is perfect, and I carried the cross night and day to get it. You have a lot more in store once crying ends anyway. You should consider a different philosophy on what is and what is not an innate problem. The anthrocentric evaluations and expectations are inapppropriate. If you are committed, and I hope you were and are, then read, read, read about Boxers and canine behavior. Every answer can be found but you have to be willing to put yourself second if you want to end up with a truly great adult dog.

[LeahR]

5 wks is young but there are many reasons why a pup that age could be sold ( although not many very good ones). This however is not your fault as you did not sell the pup to yourself so now you'll have to deal with it. As far as potty training goes.... it does not happen over night and as most have said here you will have to take him out every hour or so. Gradually increase the time and in a month or so he should be able to sleep through the night ( At least both my dogs could after 1-2 months). I am not a very good example of the night crating as we let our dogs sleep with us. Aspen stays in a crate when we are not home, Mason was kept in the kitchen until he was 2. The pup will whine but the worstthing you can do is respond cause then you are actually teaching him that if he whines you will come and get him. GOOD LUCK! It will get better but a puppy is a big time commitment and I hope you don't like to sleep very much!

[Rushy]

We were having a lot of problems with Rush and our vet recommended attatching a bell to the door where you would like her to go out to go to the bathroom... and always take her in and out the same door for this training.

Every time we took him out to go potty... no matter how late (often 3-4 times in the middle of the night) we would ring the bell...

like someone else said. it took about 5 weeks or around a month or more before he started to ring the bell himself!!

Now if he has to go to the bathroom he just walks up to the door and pushes the bell (it's a cowbell) with his nose and it rings.

This way there is no scratching the door or barking or crying to get out... it's just a little ring of a bell.