Hello.

I have two boxer dogs. They are both from the same litter but I've only had one since 8 weeks old, her name is Mya and she's wonderful. She's very secure in her role in the family and her behaviour is near on perfect - but I wouldn't want her to be perfect really!

Her brother, Dodge, joined us a little over a month ago from a family who really loved him but financial problems came along and he ended up being left alone all day which made him miserable and started to get destructive.

We have two problems with regards to Dodge's behaviour as basically he is wonderful too.

Firstly, he doesn't know how to ask to go out to relieve himself! He knows that's where he should go and he is very 'ashamed' when he messes in the house. He only does it if I'm upstairs and the door is shut. If I'm downstairs he's always with me so I can see if he needs to go out. He doesn't seem to tap the door, doesn't bark or whine.

I thought he'd follow his sisters lead but hasn't done.

Second he suffers from separation anxiety. As soon as he's left in the kitchen with the door shut he will pull anything he can on to the floor. So far he hasn't been destructive too much but I'm nervous this going to happen.

Both beds are in the kitchen, with water and toys. The kitchen is spacious, light and cool. He just doesn't like to be left. He used to sleep on the bed of the eldest child (10yrs) in his last home but we don't allow the dogs upstairs or on furniture so at bed time he becomes anxious too. The last couple of nights he's jumped at the door and pulled items from the tops etc.

Can anyone give me any tips on how to coax him out of these bad habits?

Hi and Welcome,
I would go right back to basics and treat him as a new puppy,
Crate training him is an option as it can make the dog feel secure,he wouldn't be able to be destructive or pull things over.

We use crates and have done from pups,thats the dogs space and the doors are always open unless we go out and at night they are closed.
The children know to leave the dogs alone when they go in there.

I'm sure someone else will be along shortly to offer more advice.
Good Luck!

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Rooney Rumpus DNA Tested L2/HC Clear

Ellies Babe Genetically L2/HC Clear

ruardeanstaffords

Do you think he'd be ok going into a crate at this age? He's 20mths.

Mya was crate trained and I think it's a fantastic way to train a puppy, but I'm worried it will add to his anxieties?

I don't see any reason why he shouldn't take to it,especially if you make it an exciting place to be,put food,treats,toys, bedding in there etc...

Here's a link to crate training,I know it's for puppies but you could use the same method,
The Crate: What is it? How should it be used?

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Rooney Rumpus DNA Tested L2/HC Clear

Ellies Babe Genetically L2/HC Clear

ruardeanstaffords

Milo had seperation anxiety and we tried crate training him, he loved his crate even with the door closed so long as were there with him, as soon as we were out the room he went mental, worse than he ever was out of it, we perservered for a while but he managed to injure himself so we knocked it on the head.

Not saying a crate won't work for you, just pointing our that it doesn't work for all. I think crates are a great training aid but for Milo they just made the problem worse.

Sallyanne - Was it you that posted a link to a really good website about seperation anxiety on another thread?

We followed simular ideas to that and Milo can be left for hours now without a problem. It took a long time but it was well worth the extra effort.

I think I may have posted a link,
*Off to try and find it*

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Rooney Rumpus DNA Tested L2/HC Clear

Ellies Babe Genetically L2/HC Clear

ruardeanstaffords

we crate ours but cannot close the door, that really upsets him. Something really spoked him when he was a pup and panicked that he couldn't get out.
Took us hours to calm him down

We leave the door open and we regaully find him resting in there or filling it with his toys and remoate controls!!

The rescued lab that we had suffered from separation anxiety. We found that if we put up a childs gate (we actually had two, one on top of each other) he didn't feel shut in and was ok. Also just had to build it up gradually and he had a set routine which also helped.