Getting a pup after 19 years without one...

Hey guys, I don't get a chance to do personal posts too often but you have been so great to us at Wired2Fish that I consider you part of the family. My wife and I decided to get a puppy since the kids are older now and off doing their own thing and we finally have the time and hopefully, the patience to become responsible companions to a pup. Can't tell ya how excited we are. We have a pretty unique situation too....the pup is part of a litter of 9 Boxers across the street (ours is the biggest one). He is only 5 weeks old but because he is so close we go over and get him every night for an hour and a half or so to help with the transition. It's pretty cool how quickly he (and we) are adapting.

I am excited about him becoming my new fishing buddy next spring. Do have any advise or suggestions on this particular breed? His name is Riley and every thing I have read is nothing but positive. I grew up with always having dogs around. Trained my last one to do the basic commands by hand signals. That was fun.

Why that dog looks like Jim


Nice puppy man!

Great choice for the breed and the name. I'm on my 2nd boxer (both females) and Riley is my father's middle name. Boxers are great dogs, very smart, family oriented, good house dogs but they do shed, and drool/drip alot from the mouth. Lots of wet kisses are coming your way. I have kept my two in those plastic travel crates for about the 1st year of their life. Helps in housebreaking imo, but everyone has their own way. My first boxer Gracie would go and get in her crate when told to or when she was tired and wanted to be alone/take a nap. Roxy, my 2nd one, did not like the crate all that much, but would get in it when told to. They both slept in the crate at night and stayed in the crate during day since both of us worked. As they aged, we would test them by allowing them to stay out while we went out for a quick bite, etc. if they did not mess in the house, they got to stay out more, if they messed, next time they didn't. AFter a year, we have put the crate up and never used it again for both dogs.

Buy LOTS AND LOTS of chew toys, they will chew, and if you give them lots of choices, they will not chew on things that are not their own. They are high energy dogs, so they will want to play, take long walks, etc., but about 3 or 4 y/o, they will begin to calm down some. They are easy to train, very smart, protective of their family unit, so they give the UPS guy hell. They have lots of facial expressions as well, almost like a human, they can wrinkle their forehead and you can almost tell what their are thinking, well, I can with Roxy.

You'll have a friend for life, they love to be with their family.

Great dog Todd....

I'm a little jealous. I miss my best friend still after 2 months without her. The 7 1/2 years we had together were the best of my life (yes, I'm talking about my dog). You will never find unconditional love and loyalty in abundance from anywhere else (other than from above).

I agree with everything TNtroller said too. We crated our pup for the first year and it worked beautifully. I took her to school/training (or was it the other way around) when when she was about 3 or 4 months old. We too learned the hand signals and I never even had to speak to her unless I wanted to. She always did exactly what she was supposed to.

I've considered a boxer for my next dog, but I think my wife will want a say in it when the time comes. Maybe sometime around Christmas....I'll be ready for a dog again.

Take lots of pictures and keep sharing them with us.

BTW....it's good to have personal posts from our wonderful sponsors too. Helps us get to know you as a member of the family rather than just someone that sponsors us (which we really appreciate)

Good luck with Riley....looking forward to meeting him some day. :wink:

Boxers are absolutely great dogs. You will not be disappointed. I have an American Bulldog who is my best buddy. She is about 2 1/2. I really focussed on training her for the first year. Every day we would go over training and she knows me as the pack leader. I only put an agressive hand on my dog one time and I wish I never did. It took a long time for me to earn her trust back and I still think she thinks about it. I would advise you to not as it can make them head shy. I always showed huge praise and rewards for positive behavior and a firm scolding is enough for negative things. They will mess in the house and tear some of your stuff up. They are dogs and they are curious, especially boxers. I guess my best advise would be to train, train, train, praise, praise, praise, We also never used the term "no". We would make a firm sound like "ah, ah". It seemed to work better.

My dog knew every command I wanted her to by the age of 12 months. She is till learning tricks and things but the major things were all learned by 12 months.

Riley will definitely be crated and he will also become a WiredFish dog cuz he will be coming to work with me on many occasions. His moms name is Roxy... cool huh. We've started the potty training and he's 3 for 3 so far. We're finding that he's pretty smart so far.

He'll stay with his siblings for the next couple of weeks for social skills but our time with him will increase a little each day. Thanks for the encouragement. I know what we are getting into and I'm excited to start this!

Todd

way cool on Riley's mom being named Roxy. Potty training, just as soon as he get up from a nap, eating, or getting a drink of water, take him outside, he will get the idea on what he needs to do in a day or two. At night, suggest a sock that has your scent on it (wear it for a day then give it to him )for him to snuggle up with, he's gonna whine and cry but hold firm and ignore him when he cries for daddy.

My daughter has 2 boxers, the male (Jake) is a brindle, and Sadie, the girl, could be a twin for Riley. Both of hers are great dogs and she has an 18 mo old son running loose now.

Awesome man! I have two of them. Be patient for the first couple of years.

They become creatures of habit.

TNtroller said:

way cool on Riley's mom being named Roxy. Potty training, just as soon as he get up from a nap, eating, or getting a drink of water, take him outside, he will get the idea on what he needs to do in a day or two. At night, suggest a sock that has your scent on it (wear it for a day then give it to him )for him to snuggle up with, he's gonna whine and cry but hold firm and ignore him when he cries for daddy.

My daughter has 2 boxers, the male (Jake) is a brindle, and Sadie, the girl, could be a twin for Riley. Both of hers are great dogs and she has an 18 mo old son running loose now.

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I didn't hold firm with my boxer and for my punishment I had a bed cover hog for almost 13 years. lol You'll get really attached.

G2wired, are you going to have his ears done?

What a beautiful kid! Congrats on the new member of the family. Keep us posted on his growing up.

We won't have his ears cropped. We had him for most of the weekend. Potty training is going well. He is a blast to have around. I will be keeping him full time starting November 9 when he is 7 weeks.

Again, congrats, Riley will be a good dog, good choice on not doin' the ears. I like 'em floppy =D>

Both my dogs are floppy! :LOL2:

Here's the little dude checking out the boat.

Now that's my favorite so far. Get him used to that cause if it were me...he'd be spending some time with me relaxin' on the water. :wink:

I know how you feel, although we have always had a dog.

Long story short, empty nesters and we have two Shih-tzus. I take them fishing, camping all the time.
Recently one of them has been finding mice in the yard and sharing them with me. She's so proud of her catch.

Congrats my friend, Todd you going to get him a vest?

shamoo said:

Congrats my friend, Todd you going to get him a vest?

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I'll be getting him a life jacket for sure. He'll be about 6 months when the boat comes out of storage. The little fella turns 6 weeks old today. Last night he learned how to go up and down the steps outside. Cute, cute, cute.

I start to keep him full time next Wednesday. Vet on Thursday. It's amazing how much we are enjoying him!

Todd, you're really making this difficult to resist. I have to start looking for a new pup very soon. :wink: