traing boxers

Skellington

hey.
has anybody out there got any tips for training a boxer pup? she wasn't trained for from the start (for various reasons) and shes now 10 months, and can be hard to handle when walked. any advise welcome.

SuzyS1972

Where are you based
A few classes in basic dog obedience will be on the cards I'd say !

There are quite a few running in Dublin if you need names and numbers

Sigma Force

List of behaviourists http://www.irishanimals.ie/care/behaviour.html

A Halti would probably work well for your dog also. You can get them in most pet shops and some vets as well. Humane method.

Tabitharose

the rspca dog training book is very good - or like GPR said check out the list on irish animals!

luckat

Get a book called Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor - the best book on training animals there is.

Training on a lead - first train your dog to come to you, first in the house, then outside. It's a good idea also to train your dog to come to a "silent" dog whistle, so that if s/he goes missing, you can have a chance to call her or him back from a long distance without driving your neighbours crazy.

Walk the pup at night first, because busy streets are *very scary* to young dogs. (You may need to wait to do this; the season for fireworks is coming up, and the dog is not going to be happy if s/he's walking and fireworks are exploding nearby.)

When s/he gets used to walking at night, gradually walk her or him earlier and earlier, so the traffic increase isn't noticeable.

If you want to train her to walk nicely on a lead, do it indoors first, with treats and praise when she's nicely at your side. Outdoors, the world is too full of delicious sniffy treats and exciting things for any pup to walk nicely at first - after all, she's only human! But it will come.

Dave!

I want to train my boxer too (she's 8 weeks now), but I've bought her 3 different types of treat and she doesn't like any of them

SuzyS1972

8 weeks is very very young to be trying anything other than toilet training - she's just about old enough to leave mum 8 weeks is the earliest any pup should leave - other than abandoned ones of course- as up until then is the crucial stage in a dogs life where they learn doggy manners from their mum and litter mates.
Really the little stomach won't be able for treats - poo city

Give her a little time to settle in and then when she finds her feet in a couple of weeks you can find what she likes - with some dogs it's toys and others treats - cheese / sausages etc - it's just a matter of trying what works best for you.
One of mine won't touch the food but would do backflips for an old tennis ball

Once she is fully vaccinated at 12 weeks and able to leave the house you can take her out and about and look to some socialisation and training classes.

luckat

One of the main things about treats is that they should be small. My dog loves cat kibble (dried cat food - you know, Brekkies or whatever they're called at the moment).

Eight weeks is *very* young. Bonding is what should happen at that age - learning to adore you and trust you, and you learning the same with the whelp.

10 months, though, yes, you should be well able to train at that age. You're going to have such fun together! At that age, my dog learned things like "Find", where I'd hide something in a room and let her find it, and "Fetch", the basis of lots of energetic (for her) walks.

Dave!

Thanks for the tips people

Just an update: she's now able to sit, stay, and give the paw on command!!! :eek:

Considering what you've been saying, I'm pretty impressed by her We've not been training her too hard or anything, just intermitently; she just seems to be taking to it well (which is reassuring!). I just wish she'd learn to control her bowels and bladder, too

luckat

Excellent!

Tip for now, useful later: when you bring her out, if she crouches to pee, say a particular word or short phrase ("Do your pee, good girl, do your pee", for instance - though you might want to use something more suited to public consumption).

If you do this each time, after a while you can say "Do your pee" (or whatever) and she'll actually scratch around, crouch down and pee for you, if she needs to at all.

Ditto with pooing. Choose a different phrase, and say it whenever the dog's doing a poo.

The beauty of this is that you can then train your dog to poo in a suitable place - for instance, if you bring her for a walk, you can train her to poo on earth near a particular litterbin, and then you'll be able to scoop and get rid of it fast.

Train her for a few places, though - you don't want her to be like Tiny Tim, only able to perform in particular spots.

The initial bladder and bowel control should happen fast enough - I hope you didn't take too young a pup? I got my dog when she was eight weeks old, and despite being an outdoor pup, her mother had already taught her not to soil her own territory. I don't think she ever soiled the house.

peasant

Very good tips there already!

just one more hint: routine, repetition and consistency are the easiest way of training a young dog.

Simple example: you want your dog to back off when you open a door (so it doesn't rush out in front of you). Initially, you prevent it from going out by gently blocking it, you say "back" (or some other word you want to use) and you go first. The first time the dog actually backs off on its own, you praise / reward it. Do that a few more times and "back" is learned. Repeat that word in different locations and use it always ...until it becomes an automatic reaction for the dog to back off once you open *any* door.

The important thing is to *always* use the same word. Not back off, go away, stay there ...just "back" and to train it in many different locations.

Same goes for any other signal.

One where you have to be very careful about using the right word is "come" vs "here"

"come" is usually used in the sense of "come on now, follow me" whereas "here" is much more urgent and usually means "no matter how intersting you think other things are...I need you to drop everything and I want you right here, right now"

Lots of people make the mistake to confuse these things and tell the dog to "come here" ....thus watering down the important "here" signal