The Boxer Blog...

Boxers, are a breed with fairly sensitive digestive tract. They tend to do better on Chicken based foods (as opposed to beef, or lamb) to help with "flatulence issues" Boxers are so famous for.

In general, store bought foods (Iams, Eukanuba, Alpo, Old Roy, Purina, Pedigree, Kibbles N bits, Beneful, to name a handful) are poor quality and do not agree very well in general with Boxers sensitive systems. It would be better suited to buy an upgraded variety of foods for best outcome and better stool output.

So you have a new puppy. Number one thing on all new owner's to -do list, is potty training! Boxers, are very intelligent, overall clean dogs, but I will say, unfortunately one area they can be a little "slow" in (compared to other medium/large breed dogs) is potty training. 

Potty training starts the MINUTE you introduce them to their new home. First thing. Take the pup outside and let them get to know their outside surroundings. The second your pup eliminates make a BIG party, praise... using the words "Good POTTY". You aren't praising the pup, it's not "Good girl, or Good Fluffy" use the word Potty. This will begin the process of associating the action of eliminating with the word potty. If you are 100% consistent, before too long you will be able to ask your puppy to go potty and it will trigger the need for them to go when they hear the word. (All my dogs potty on command, whenever, wherever)

Second very important thing is, you must have a dog crate. This is not in-humane. This is a necessity. Your pup must never have un-attended time inside the house. It is an earned privledge to be in the house un-attended, and left for older dogs who have proven they understand the concept of going potty outside. If you are in the room with the pup, watch for sniffing the ground, walking in circles, and walking to the door or whining for indicators she/he needs to go out. If he/she just ate, or just woke up from a nap, will definatly be a time to let the pup out. Be very consistent, and very frequent. If you are unable to be with your pup to supervise, they should be in their crate. 

The "rule of thumb" for how long the MAXIMUM time your pup can "hold" potty, is their age in months (8 weeks =2 months) plus 1. so a 2 month old puppy can hold it a MAXIMUM) of 3 hours. the older the pup gets, the longer he/she can go. It is NEVER o.k to get a puppy and leave it in a crate for 8-10 hours a day. 

Follow these steps, and it will help alleviate some of the "drama" of potty training.

* You can "target train" a dog to go potty in a specific spot, as well as litter box train small breed dogs.*