Training Management and Leadership and how "I" got there! And how I learned that being really good at the first two "does not" automatically equate to the third!
Boxers are my first luv and my Struddell was the light of my world! Boxers are for the record "not" an easy dog to train! A professional trainer of K9's once said "I can train three GSD's in the time it takers to train one Boxer!"
Pros don't have time to fool around with "Goofy!" They need to turn around a dog fast! I spent many hours trying to find a single (American Line) k9 Boxer in the US! I had a line on "one" but further research found that dog retired!
So I turned to the GSD forum K9 section and asked there and found one! It was sort of a mixed success! Boxer..yes...but it was not an American line it was a Euro! They are bigger and less "Goofy" I guess?? Never met one so I don't know?? Euros are used as K9's in uh Europe all the time so no mystery there! Still not a lot of them...but it counts!
At any rate that Boxer "was" (he passed last year)
Cliff vom Grand Kevin. The point of that for me was finding a working K9 Boxer so mixed results there. After all they are "working dogs" today by and large there job in the US is being a family pet and at that they excel!!!
But back on point the "secret" to training a Boxer is that it takes a certain"touch." I train "tool" free, to me a tool is a filter between you and your dog! So no halt's or Gentle leaders or Prongs or E collars!
A "slip leash collar, your dog and you are all that is required, Train your dog, without a "tool/filter" and you will pay more attention to your dog! "know your dog."that's how you can get there! You will give the same command you've given time and time again with...mixed results but one day you will see the "wheels spin" and in that instant...they get it and from that point on..it's a piece of cake!
Had I been using a "tool" with Struddell I might have missed that moment?? So with her I learned I don't need tools. And the next 8 years it was all about life with my Boxer...pretty much home free!
So life was with my dogs was pretty easy and I "assumed" I was a good leader!

I had training and management down pat but leadership...yeah not so much!!!:cry2:
How I learned that I lacked enough "leadership skills" came in the form of a Working Line Over Size (116lb) GSD with High Rank Drive (Pack Issues) and (to be developed???) Human Aggression aka Rocky! That's how I, learned the difference between Management and Leadership!
With such a beast, if you get your job half way right...he won't turn on you or members of his family....but everybody else is fair game! Me and my other Dominate male Gunther (Bull/Mastiff/APBT/Lab) found this out the hard way after living with Rocky for 7 months without issue!
All of this is important so that you understand, that my GSD is where I learned what "leadership" means!
This dog was turned around and made safe by me with the help of "Who Pets my Puppy or Dog" so...if you want the short cut, you can check out Leerburgh and find that essay there!
If you want the long "course" and "wordy" explanations why that worked and why "I" think that's what you should do..stick around here!
I don't do Click and Treat, I don't use the term Alfa or Positive Only, I don't use Choke chains or Hard corrections!
Before I got Struddell, I had a Boxer/Pitt mix Stewie, he was a brilliant dog, who I sadly lost in an automobile incident,when I put him in a position for which he was 'untrained!" That was in Sept of 2001 and I still regret that to this day! But going forward I vowed that would never happen to a dog I had care of!
But in his short life Stewie taught "me" that a "SIT" and a "Sit" are not the same thing! One day on a walk, I was tired and turned to Stewie and said "SIT," he looked at me like he was going to cry and sat down! I was stunned! After that I realized that with dogs, your voice and infliction's are also a tool and it is a tool that needs to also be used properly! Struddell and Rocky benefited from that lesson!
I started this here:
http://www.boxerforums.com/general-boxer-forum/171298-someone-kicked-my-dog.html
These links... the first is my list of my standard "Dog Park" warnings:
http://www.boxerforums.com/1728673-post37.html
This is from one of the leading experts in the dog world
http://www.boxerforums.com/1729257-post38.html
For my purposes.. I'll 'assume" No dog Parks"...don't make problems for your self you have to "fix!"
But if you do and have a "Bad Day"...well I'll get to "my dog is reactive on leash" further down the road
