Posted by "Em" on December 29, 2002, 12:29 pm, in reply to "Re: boxer/pitt bull mixed" First if you want your dog to go outside, my belief is to not teach going inside in the first place. The only exception I can think of this is if you have an attached garage and you paper train a spot in there, out of the actual home/den in the dog's mind. I know a lot of people paper train their dogs with success, but I don't find it practical with a large dog. Just too much pee! To housetrain effectively, you need to be home at regular intervals to let the pup out. A crate also makes a dandy investment for this training procedure and cuts down on accidents. I've never found it necessary to use physical punishment with my boxers, a firm no, no! usually would do the trick. Then outside, on leash or in a fenced enclosure pick a spot for elimination and return the dog there every 3-4 hours, when it goes, you've hit the lottery. You cannot make over the dog enough. And don't forget to use that repetitive cue mentioned by M.C. Our's with the first boxer was "get busy." Once they've pottied, they come back in, play for awhile with plenty of lovin' and then back in their crate until time to go out again. Once this system is established you can increase the time the dog stays out of the crate, until the crate becomes unnecessary. Boxer number 1 took two months to break. Boxer number 2 had a few accidents up to six months, because he simply matured slowly and was very submissive and a raised voice would make him dribble. The most important issue is to treat your pet as a family member, and be patient. The dog wants to please you, but sometimes it takes awhile to work out the communication between human and canine species. I agree with the other poster on the issue of training this dog to be protective. This mix will have plenty of that occurring naturally, and you'd be much wiser to teach obedience to temper the protectiveness with good sense. Less legal hassles in your future that way, and a much more well rounded pet.
65.119.129.5
I am really late here, but would like to add my additional two cents.
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