We are getting a Boxer puppy for X-mas!!

>Hopefull,
>Sorry to hear about GW...wow, I'll have to check about heart
>defects in our boxer lineage. I too love the floppy ears on a
>boxer!Did you crate train GW? For how long? You did say boxers
>are puppies for a very long time and this concerns me. I hope
>our family has the patience for such a long puppy stage. Our
>Cassius will be 8 weeks old when we bring him home...I hope
>this is not too young to be away from his mom..I worry about
>this also. Worry, worry, worry...I am very nervous about the
>whold puppy/training stage. I don't want to mess this doggy
>up! Wish us luck and thank you for chiming in. I hope their is
>another Boxer baby in your future. deb:)


I think boxer's(not all) play like puppies for a very long time. My girl is 6 years old and she runs, plays, has the energy of a puppy. She does not behave like a puppy- breaking, challenging the rules. She has wonderful house manners. Mercedes plays nonstop we her toys. No one has told her that she is considered a "mature" boxer:) She is greying around her muzzle, but that doesn't stop her!

Now my boy Maximus, is LAZY. I swear, he's part hound. He was a handful as a puppy. Mercedes followed rules right away. Maximus challenged me over and over, until he was 16 months old(teen years for a boxer).

Maximus is so lazy and so non-boxer like, I took him to a cardiologist to have his heart tested. They performed an ultra sound and a holter test on him and found a secondary heart block. This is not life threatening, or the reason he is lazy. It turns out that it's just Maximus' temperament.
I love the boxer energy, but it is not for everyone.
 
Mercedes is an early riser. She's not rude. She sits in the kitchen next to her bowl waiting patiently for mom to have her first cup of coffee. Maximus lays in bed until I call him. I sometimes have to call him 3 times before he comes running for breakfast.

Did the breeder suggest you feed your boxer twice a day instead of once? Boxer's have sensitive stomachs and get tummy aches (often vomit bile) if their tummies are empty for too long. Feeding a meal in the morning and one in the evening prevents tummy rumbles. I feed breakfast and dinner, then a nightime snack of yogurt:)
 
Yougurt for a Boxer? Wow...how unusual. Well alrighty then, can you suggest a brand? The twice feeding would fit perfectly into our schedule...since my daughter has a paper route and is up at 3 a.m. and has a light bite before heading out. We could pee him and feed him too!

Thank you for the input. I can never hear enough.deb
 
Rascal gets yogurt on occasion too, usually lowfat plain, since that's what DH and I eat. He loves it!
 
>Yougurt for a Boxer? Wow...how unusual. Well alrighty then,
>can you suggest a brand? The twice feeding would fit perfectly
>into our schedule...since my daughter has a paper route and is
>up at 3 a.m. and has a light bite before heading out. We could
>pee him and feed him too!
>
> Thank you for the input. I can never hear enough.deb


I know. Most people find it strange. I also feed my boxers a raw diet which people find strange too:)


Like Gayle, I stick to lowfat plain.
Oh Lord, my guys got their first taste of nonfat Fage yogurt because I had some that was expiring......I've created yogurt monsters. They love Fage as much as I do!!!

If you read boxer discussion groups, you'll find many feed their boxers yogurt. It helps promote good intestinal health which= less gas.
You can put a dollop in his kibble or save it for a bedtime snack.
There are recipes for frozen paws using yogurt, but I've never tried it. Freezing yogurt kills the active cultures.
 
Cynthia,
How old is your Boxer? Can I ask what you mean by raw diet? Do you mean raw meat? How did you come to decide of this kind of diet for you Boxer? Thanks~deb:)
 
>Cynthia,
>How old is your Boxer? Can I ask what you mean by raw diet? Do
>you mean raw meat? How did you come to decide of this kind of
>diet for you Boxer? Thanks~deb:)

My boxer's are ages 5 & 6 years old.

Raw diet or BARF. I feed a premade mixture from www.aplaceforpaws.com
You can make your own or feed whole which is much cheaper.
http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm
http://www.newcastleboxers.com/diet.shtml

My boy was sick all the time with horrible food allergies. I was rushing him to the emergency vet every other month from bloating. We had scheduled a surgery for gastropexy and had to cancel it because he became ill while waiting for the surgery. Gastropexy is when they staple the stomach to the ribs so it doesn't turn when he bloated. It wasn't going to resolve his bloating, it would remove the risk of death from bloating.
Anyway, while waiting to reschedule the surgery, I tried feeding him this diet. It cured his problems almost overnight. I was astonished by what I saw. His stools that had always been runny- were firm and he wasn't getting sick. It's been almost 4 years since I began feeding this way, and all I can say is that it has greatly improved the quality of my boxer's lives.
It's expensive the way I do it. The cost is nothing compared to the vet bills I was paying out!
 
Deb,
Enjoy your adorable puppy....and fill us in on all the antics! I say this as my Katie, my 7 month old puppy mix, takes a clothe frisbee, wisks it in the air, and makes an atempt to wear it around her waist...hmm. Oh my, do I love that dog!!

Robin:)
 
Never had any trouble house training him. He took to that pretty well, but he went in and out as he pleased. We had a huge fenced in back yard. What I mean by puppy is they are just very boisterous for a long time. They'll chew things up, knock you over etc. Just because they love you so much and can't contain themselves. GW was the CUTEST puppy I've ever seen. I can't remember ever thinking anything outside of that I loved that silly dog. When he was about 9 months old, it was the 4th of July. We were gone and he was in the back yard. The fireworks freaked him out and someway in his panic he got lose. We thought someone had stolen him, couldn't figure out what had happened had a six foot fence, didn't seem like an option. He had bolted in his panic over the gate. It was chain link. Lost a dew claw in the process. We had a reward out for him and someone saw it and returned him. They'd had him penned up for a few days because they thought he was pretty special too. When they saw my fliers all around town they called and we got him back. I remember being just sick about him being gone. I felt like something had happened to one of my kids, couldn't sleep or think about anything else. You will LOVE your puppy. GW was irreplaceable! He was precious with our daughter. She could maul him, torment him, and he would just continue to adore her. We never! worried about her safety when he was around. No one would have gotten near her to do her any harm. Needless to say, they bonded from the start. GW was bigger than the average boxer. Weighed in at about 85 lbs., was a dark fawn with a full white collar, white face and four white socks. Just adorable!!! I have a picture of him on my desk, right along with my other kids. I know it's sappy, but I LOVED THAT SILLY DOG!!!!!
 
Thanks Robin,
I tell ya...I am so anxious about bringing a puppy home..especially a Boxer puppy. Apparently, they can be a handful. I am a professional musician on weekends and am looking ahead at all the gigs I have that are mid week when my kids are not home and in school.I'm freaking out about what to do with him! Thank goodness there are just a few of these in the future, but I hesitate to leave a young dog alone for more that a few hours. What a responsability....and yes, what a joy. Acclimating my life to the idea.

Crate training, manners, socializing him to other dogs, vacations with and without him...on and on. This dog is really my daughters dog...but, the family with bond and fall in love I'm sure. We are driving the breeder nuts becuase we just want to visit him all the time until he comes home. Its a little like havig a preemie baby that is still in the hospital.:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) Thanks for your well wishes. deb

Off topic here: I have read that you have moved to a mostly plant based diet. I too did this in July and loving it! How are you doing so far?
 
Well I'll admit that I haven't read all the responses but I have read most of them (I am being interrupted a lot by DH). I just wanted to say that Boxers are great dogs. I have always had a dog but ever since getting a Boxer I will never get another breed. Mc Kayla's miracle (I didn't name her)is my second Boxer and she is truely my little miracle. Boxers do stay puppies for 2-3 years so be prepared. Well you have gotten a lot of advice already so I'll stop.

Enjoy,
jordan
 
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