Bella, our nearly 15 month old Boxer, is our fourth Boxer, but first puppy. In some ways she has adjusted well, others not so much. She is house broken, loose leash broken, and crate trained. The bad news she eats anything and everything she gets her mouth on, she jumps on everybody, and worst of all, she wakes at 3:00 AM every morning and bounces in her cage till we get up at 5. She barked a few months ago along with the bouncing but has stopped that. We keep the crate in a separate room.
Thank you for your email and congratulations on the recent four-legged addition to your family!
A 3.00 a.m. wake must be really bothersome, I can understand your frustration. What does Bella do all day? Giving her a good dose of exercise and maybe preventing her from going to bed too early may help sort out this problem. The easiest way to burn out a hyper-excitable puppy is by organizing doggie-dates. You arrange with neighbours to have this happen at various places for about and hour or so, each day having a different owner take responsibility to watch the dogs if you don't have the time to dedicate on a daily basis.
As for the other two problems, obedience training (and alpha training if needed) is your solution. Teach her the meaning of the word 'NO' or 'LEAVE IT'. Take her through the basic obedience training course and focus on 'SIT/STAY'. Find out what motivates her most- is it food or is it having people give her attention? If it is the former, give her treats when she does as told. If it is the latter, put her in a quiet corner for 15-30 minutes as punishment and ignore her completely during this time. If you catch her chewing on something you should tell her off immediately and maybe put a muzzle on her as punishment. If you do this often enough she will soon make the association and hopefully think twice before doing anything naughty.
I hope this is helpful. Please do keep us posted on your progress and don't hesitate to write back if you have any other questions. All the very best with training!
Both my wife and I are retired so we walk her daily and play ball in the yard. She gets exercise. She has gone through two obedience classes and was the star both times. She knows all the commands just does not obey. I have started to show her that I am the alpha dog, but it slow going. When she miss behaves she goes on a leash and gets scolded. Bed time is 9:00 but she starts sleeping one to two hours earlier. We did chase her when she grabbed something and ran but now simply get near her and command "drop it" usually she obeys the command. Then we praise her. I actually think we are on the correct path but it very slow going. Any other idea on the waking at 3:00 AM.?
Bella's story is such a Déjà vu! There are so many owners out there who have exact same problem with their dogs: a star at training classes but disobedient at home. This is why we encourage owners themselves to take their dogs through obedience training rather than send them out to a trainer. You are definitely on the right path though, with the alpha training.
As for the 3 a.m. wakes try not to let her sleep before nine, that might be the only way to stop this. Ignore anything she does prior to your set wake up time. Don't even yell at her from your room. For some dogs, any attention is good attention so you need to be firm about not giving her any attention whatsoever during this time.
