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i have a 10 week old male boxer. we're going through the wonderful stage of housebraking. and i read in a book in that a couple weeks after beginning to housetrain he should start to let me know when he has to go out. this was true with he previous dog. he used to scratch the door. but georgie won't give me any warning. for me, it's just a guessing game. is there a way i can teach him to give me some kind of signal like scratching the door or whining. i never trained my old dog to do this. he just started doing it all by himself.

also, georgie likes to bark, bite and play with feet. he mostly likes to do this outside. but occassionally he'll do it outside. what he'll do outside is he'll run and tear and then start heading for the feet, bites and takes off. sometimes he'll stop to bark, growl and do a play bow. then he'll start all over again. everytime he starts headin for my feet i tell him no and he won't bite but he'll keep trying and he won't stop. the only thing i can do to get him to stop is spray him with the hose. then he'll run right to the door. is there something else i can use besides the hose to get him to stop this behavior. i dont want him to start thinkinb that going outside is bad because he might get wet. and, of course, i certainly can't do this in winter.

>>i have a 10 week old male boxer. we're going through the wonderful stage of housebraking. and i read in a book in that a couple weeks after beginning to housetrain he should start to let me know when he has to go out. this was true with he previous dog. he used to scratch the door. but georgie won't give me any warning. for me, it's just a guessing game. is there a way i can teach him to give me some kind of signal like scratching the door or whining. i never trained my old dog to do this. he just started doing it all by himself.
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>>also, georgie likes to bark, bite and play with feet. he mostly likes to do this outside. but occassionally he'll do it outside. what he'll do outside is he'll run and tear and then start heading for the feet, bites and takes off. sometimes he'll stop to bark, growl and do a play bow. then he'll start all over again. everytime he starts headin for my feet i tell him no and he won't bite but he'll keep trying and he won't stop. the only thing i can do to get him to stop is spray him with the hose. then he'll run right to the door. is there something else i can use besides the hose to get him to stop this behavior. i dont want him to start thinkinb that going outside is bad because he might get wet. and, of course, i certainly can't do this in winter.

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I hope you're getting set up for training class just as soon as your veterinarian approves your puppy's health to start. Spraying him with the hose to stop wild play? Oh my. Not good. You and he need to work together on a foundation of dog training so that you know how to get him to do an appropriate behavior in place of any inappropriate behavior he might do, such as the mouthing.

Boxers are extremely high-energy dogs, very muscular and active and strong. They need a lot of training. Just punishing him for doing things you don't like is going to cause big trouble down the line.

I don't even recommend teaching dogs to ask to go out. Most of them will figure it out, but whether they do or not, they need to be on a schedule of being taken out rather than being taken out on demand. That can lead to bad and demanding behaviors, as well as causing you not to take the dog out often enough and thus to have problems with housetraining that don't need to happen.

One thing you might do to help your dog use his energy in better ways than biting people is start teaching him the early stages of the retrieve. Instructions are under the article "Retrieving in Play," that you can find on the link under my signature below.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47

i've been obidience training for a couple of weeks and he's really good at it. i've also started leash training, which he's also good at. i have taught him to retrieve, which he does. i do take him out to run around in the evening when it's cool. i just don't want him to run around to much in the afternoon because i'm worried about him overheating himself. so i just prefer to let him run around in the kitchen. he'll just wear himself out chasing his toys around the kitchen. maybe i'm a bit overprotective. and i know using the hose isn't the best idea. but i don't want to run away and have him chase me because i read in a book that that can lead to aggressive behavior and if i chase after him i'm afraid i'm gonna teach him to run away from me. occassionally i'vr been able to sneak up on him and pick him up. but i certainly can't do that when i'm older. i did ask my mom about a training class. but she said no. if i had the money i'd pay for it myself. but then i'd have to no way of getting to the class. i'll have to try explaining it to her again. because i would appreciate the extra help. it's hard for me to raise him on his own. especially when i come across a situation i don't know how to handle.

The way that my puppy learned to "tell me" when he needs to go is that I began to hang his leash near the door. He can see it, and he knows that when I take the leash down he gets to go out.

Through reinforcement and communication your dog will slowly learn what if right and wrong. If you are consistent with your training then he should learn that it is bad to bite at feet. Do you have a crate? That is what my husband and I used when Duncan (my puppy) goes on barking/howeling sprees around the house. We will tell him "no" twice, and then place him in his crate for 3 or so minutes until he has calmed down. He has began to decrease the behavior.

I wish you the best of luck with your puppy, but please dont spray him with the hose. I would probably keep him on a leash until he stops this behavior. When he goes for your feet you should command him to "leave it" (stern tone) and give a small tug on the leash to let him know that this is a bad thing.

I wish you the best of luck!!

Duncan - Jack Russell/Pug