I have a 8 month old boxer, he seems to have a problem holding his bowel movements while I am at work. He is in a crate while I work and all too often I come home to dog **** smelling house and a dog also covered in it. Right now I am in the bedroom reading the web for possible solutions but all the experts seem to think dogs wont do this, well I got news for them. What can I do, short of killing the dog, only partly serious, tired of this **** literally.
8 Months? That means he's pretty big i'm assuming, why not just put him outside? It's not too cold during the day.
Do you take him for walks and make sure he goes to the bathroom before work? How long is he in the crate for usually?
No he doesn't get walks but I do make sure he uses the bathroom before work, he is crated from 7:30am to 5:30pm typically.
so you don't walk/excercise your dog and then you leave him in a cramped crate for 10 hours and wonder why he craps? No wonder why he tries to dig himself out...he's trying to escape! I would too. get your dog some real excercise at least twice a day...please...for its sake.
The problem is that he is in the crate too long. Dogs shouldn't be locked in the crate for more than six hours at a time. Dogs, especially young ones like yours, can't hold their pee and poo for more than 8 hours.
There is your answer right there. No walks and he gets locked up in a cage all day. He'd probably crap on your bed if he could.
yeah i would look up the characteristics of that breed. and then consider how old it is. that doesnt sound like a healthy situation for your dog. unless im missing something.
8-10 hours is usually fine at that age from my experience with a few diff dogs (friends').. though that's right at the beginning, and it might take some getting-used-to-the-timing for him. is the poop, umm.. soft? If it's having trouble making it firm, maybe that's why it can't hold it in.. in which case, I'd recommend this stuff: http://alpha-nutrition.stores.yahoo.net/olewocarrots.html But if it's not a matter of it being too soft, I'm not sure aside from teaching it that it's a bad thing..
disclaimer: you'll be offended Spoiler why get a pet when all you're doing is spending 3-4 hours with it, and lock it up for 10 hours and ignore it for 8 hours(sleep)... selfish, no? give the pet up to someone who's willing to both give and receive companionship
Boxers are high energy dogs and need lots of exercise. If there is a nearby dog park, consider taking him there to run in the evenings. But you need to get up early and walk him before work, even 20 min would be better than nothing. Do you have a neighbor you could pay to walk him midday or can you get home to walk him at lunch? As he gets older, the digging may stop. Also, with the proper exercise, he will be less likely to dig. Small mini rant here, but people really need to understand the needs of the breed of dog they are going to get. Big high energy dogs need attention and exercise. If you don't want to walk a dog, get a breed that doesn't need much exercise. There are great resources out there to help match dog breeds to owner expectations. But it is cruel to get a young boxer and not walk him and crate him all day. /end rant.
I have owned many boxers in the past. Dogs are like babies, they usually defecate soon after eating. Boxers are also very high energy and do need lots of exercise as several posters have said. They are also, from my experience, very temperamental. Mine used to get upset with me when I would leave him alone for too long and not give him enough attention. And it seemed to me like he did some things on purpose just to piss me off...lol Boxers are bred as hunting/work dogs so they need physical exertion to keep them even keel. So here are a few questions: When are you feeding him and how much are you feeding him? Are you feeding him dry food only or the canned stuff? Dry food is best.. you may try this link http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/dogwhisperer/
It is absolutely ridiculous to not walk your dog in the morning if they're going to be enclosed (in a crate, a room or a house) for 8-10 hours. My dog (German Shepherd/Red Heeler mix) gets an hour-long walk every morning before I do anything else (well, I do get dressed first for the obvious legal reasons), and then another 20-30 minute walk PLUS a visit to the dog park in the evening. Even then, she's still full of energy and I feel guilty that I have to crate her whenever I go out. The other problem is that you've allowed the dog to associate its crate with a place to crap. Once a dog has crapped someplace, they often continue to crap there regardless of what you want. What might work is giving the crate a thorough cleaning and disinfecting and then put in a new liner so that he won't associate the crate as his crapping place. Third, I don't know what sites you're visiting on the web, but you need to look a little harder - there are thousands of useful places to learn how to take proper care of your dog. And for God's sake, please do it soon - your poor dog is going to be a neurotic, smelly wreck if you continue to neglect him the way you are currently.
I'll try to answer everyone.. I do not walk him but I have a yard and large house and he runs full bore around both, I also roll around wrestling with him most nights, we play. He gets a "subway" ~24-32 oz plastic cup of food every night and does not pee or poop in the house except on rare occasions. He eats dry food only and no people food. He sleeps in my room in a dog bed on the floor, if I thought it would help his problem I would let him sleep in the crate but he likes to sleep in the bedroom and whines on the occasions I have let him sleep in the crate. Ideally I know he would not want to spend all day locked up but I cannot do it any other way. Here he is, freshly bathed, so I guess I'll go walk him now, any other helpful tips are appreciated.
That doesn't look like a Boxer... look like a pit bull. You need to walk your dog and let him experience the outside world, and meet other people and other dogs. You will have a much happier dog that way. You should take your dog out on a long walk before you crate him. You should limit crating to 6 hours, 8 hours MAX. Boxers and Pit Bulls are extremely high energy dogs. You are likely torturing your dog by crating him without a long walk beforehand.
Definitely walk him right before you leave. I have an 8 month old palmaranian/poodle and this dude could not hold anything. Got him in a gigantic crate and he is fine. He is in there from 7:00am - 3:00am. Sometimes a little longer. I walk him right before leaving for work and right after coming home. He pees and poos both time. I walk him again at least 3-4 more times. Each walk is about 5 - 15 minutes.
