[spoiledrottenboxers]

I guess this would be a behavioral problem...maybe separation anxiety, but I'm really not sure.  Anyway, I decided to leave Roxy out of the crate while I went to work.  I had her locked in my room, and I have done this before.  I was only gone for 3 hours and I got a call from my brother.  This is what I came home to:

Ok...so she took a pillow out from underneath the covers, took it out of the pillowcase, and tore it to shreads.  She took my day-by-day calendar off my nightstand and riped it to shreads.  And she broke my lamp, took the lampshade off and tore that to shreads.

Like I said before, I have left her out of the crate before while I was work.  Out of the 3 or 4 times I have done this, only once did I come home to nothing wrong.  This isn't even the worst, she has done a lot more the other times.  I don't know what to do with her.  I do realize that it is safer for her to keep her in the crate while I'm not home, but I'm afraid I will never be able to leave her out of the crate.

 

[Skyboxers]

Awww poor thing, I cant offer much help i have a puppy (15 weeks) so i am going thru the chewing on everything stage. Good luck though.
Samantha and Haven

 

[spoiledrottenboxers]

...i have a puppy (15 weeks) so i am going thru the chewing on everything stage...

Yea, I'm going through that also.

 

[LokiMom]

Dogs will do that for at least the first year until they grow out of that. I went through that with my German Shepard/Chow mix. But after the first year it should be good.

 

[JeanenesBoogerBabies]

This post was edited for stupidity...So sorry Dana...

 

[Honeyec]

In fairness, I can totally understand Dana's frustration - Roxy is almost 2 years old, not a 12 week old puppy who doesn't know any better!

 

[Zhanna]

To me, it looks like she got bored.  Henry gets into stuff he shouldn't when he is bored and I'm almost always here.

 

[nano]

One thing you can do is get an ex-pen to give them more room while your gone (that is if they are housebroke already)  and use that for their pen while your gone.  Make sure you get one tall enough they are not tempted to jump over like a 48 " one.  Start with putting them in while your home to make sure they will stay in it.  Start leaving them in it when you go out for a few minutes and then return.  Give a high value treat to them every time you leave and put them in it.  Or limit it to a room like the bathroom using a gate across the door.  You will have more problems if they can't SEE out of the room (eg:  you shut the door to the room) there is something scary about being locked in a room for them. I have a 15 month old who doesn't tear up things (yet) but practices the bad behavior of playing with my pillow on the sofa and digging into the sofa cushions if I leave her home for very long unattended so she currently stays in an ex-pen.  It is separation anixety or boredness.  It is good to not practice stressful bad behavior so please use a kennel or ex-pen to help comfort her. She looks rather young so you might want to stay with the crate for the time being and graduate to the ex-pen slowly.

Nano

 

[JayJay]

I

 

[sharonL]

Oh my goodness!!!!!  Well it sounds like everyone has already told you most of the things I thought of.  Just know you are not alone.

Fiona will tear something up ANYTIME I leave her alone.  Even if it is for an hour.  Not to this extent hers has been a shoe, a plastic flower, toilet paper stuff like that.

She generally always goes with me if I leave to go somewhere, and at night she is okay if she is left out of her crate and we are home, but I have tried twice to leave her while I run my daughter to school and once while I was mowing the grass and she cant handle it.  I told my husband I think she is just pissed I left her inside by herself.

So, now she either goes or if she cant she is crated..... those are the only choices.

 

[ZaraBoxie]

We would never leave Zara to wander free range of the house or a room, it's just not worth the risk and if something happened we would never forgive ourselves.  I have a fair degree of separation anxiety too and I love to know she is safe at home and content in her box.   We did leave a pen around her crate once but even then she dragged the whole thing around.  Actually the funny thing is, she must remember that it stopped her from getting out because even now we frequently segregate a room off and she will not jump over it (2 feet high).  She is such a good girl at home, never chews anything and will often take herself off to bed (crate) at night or during the day for a nap.  Today I was home to go and pick up the kids from school while my partner was on a call and guess what???......Zara had taken  herself off to the crate because she knows at that time of day that's where she has to go.  Santa is giving the good boxies at our place a new crate this year!

 

[sully]

Wow, thats scary.  Oggie hates his crate and I'm almost at the point of giving up.  But seeing these pictures is making me think twice of letting him stay in a room when I'm not home.

 

[tootsie]

Ah yes...boxer destruction!!  :lol:  I swear one day you will look back at this and laugh! Been there many times! Buster used to chew and sometimes eat my rugs, magazines, tissues, boxes, whatever was out and laying around. Maddie has attacked a couch pillow and got some pork chops but nothing too major.
Maddie is now 2 1/2 and I can leave her out with full roam when I am gone. It took a while to get to this point with her, but she is pretty trustworthy now.
I started out very slow with her. 10-15 minute trips at a time. Gradually increasing her time at home alone. Mostly I think she just plops her butt on the couch by the window just waiting for someone to come home. Now when I come home she rarely even jumps off the couch to greet me. Lazy couch potato! It'll happen for Roxy, just start very slowly.  :wink:
BTW...where do you keep Astro and Jersey?

 

[Kate]

So sorry you have this mess to clean up.

 

[samsonsmom]

Oh my Dana....I don't know if it's just simple boredom or separation anxiety, or perhaps a bit of both! Buck & Tia used to do that and it was more that they were upset that we left them at home....Samson was awful and took me a long time before I felt comfortable letting him out of his crate, Angel still is crated. I'd say you need to keep crating her for awhile anyways and then start all over again...Where are Astro & Jersey? Might help if they all are close by each other

 

[spoiledrottenboxers]

...BTW...where do you keep Astro and Jersey?

Astro is crated in the room across the hall (where my boyfriend sleeps when he is here for 3 weeks out of the month) and Jersey is crated in my room with Roxy.

See the other thing is, that when I sleep at night, I leave Roxy out of the crate.

 

[JeanenesBoogerBabies]

Forgive me Dana...I don't see how I could be SO dense! :roll:  WHY I thought we were talking about Jersey when you SAID Roxy, I don't know? I am very sorry ...it is, of course, a totally different thing when the dog is 2 years old! How incredibly frustrating!!  Yikes...I am not sure when, or if, we will ever leave the dogs out on their own...but, that is because we know someone who had the entire house shredded by a bored boxer he left home...so, we just went ahead and built a huge kennel in the garage for when we are gone for long periods...because we are pretty sure that is what we would come home to...I am So sorry you had to deal with such a mess!!  And I am SO VERY SORRY that you had to deal with comments from someone who wasn't paying nearly enough attention to what she was writing!  

Please accept my apology...I wish I had never said anything!!!

 

[spoiledrottenboxers]

...Please accept my apology...I wish I had never said anything!!!

It's ok Jeanene.  I never took offense to anything that you said.  You don't have to apologize.  Everyone makes mistakes.  I'm not upset or bothered by it.  I do appreciate that you were just trying to help out and give advice.

 

[JeanenesBoogerBabies]

In fairness, I can totally understand Dana's frustration - Roxy is almost 2 years old, not a 12 week old puppy who doesn't know any better!

You are absolutely right, Eimear! What was I thinking? So sorry!

 

[JeanenesBoogerBabies]

[quote="JeanenesBoogerBabies\";p=\"40799":1nqwogsh]...Please accept my apology...I wish I had never said anything!!!

It's ok Jeanene.