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Boxer Mamas
Hi Ladies.....I'm a bumpie coming over with a dog question.
DH and I have always wanted a Boxer. We didn't have the lifestyle for a dog before kids even though we wanted one (moved around a lot) so we waited. Then DD came along and we put the idea on the back burner. We've now been in our house for a few years and are settled into a routine with our kids. We visited a local reputable breeder in the fall to interview with her, and her dogs are great. She also said that she would feel comfortable selling us a puppy. DH and I were thinking of getting one from a spring or early summer litter. I'll still be on mat leave until next December, so I will be home to give the puppy the attention and care it needs.
Now my questions. DH and I both know that Boxers have lots of energy and require proper and consistent training to have a well behaved pet. We both grew up with Labs, so we're familiar with caring for a dog, but we've been told Boxers can be quite the handful. In your experience with your own Boxers, are we crazy for wanting to get a Boxer with a 4-6 month old in the house? How easy/hard was it to properly train your dog? Are they as mischievous and difficult as everyone makes them out to be? We've got a decent size house and a big fenced-in yard so there's lots of opportunity for play and exercise. We are pretty much set on a Boxer and only a Boxer (we've just fallen in love with them), so if we're advised to wait, we'll wait.
Thanks ladies! 
Re: Boxer Mamas
I wouldn't get a puppy with a baby in the house.
Could you rescue an older dog, like 2 years old? If you get a dog from a rescue, that has been fostered in a home with children, you're likely to get a dog that is housebroken, used to being around kids, trained, etc. Plus, you bypass the insane puppy years.
I have one of the highest energy dogs known to man, so I'm telling you this from experience.
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I don't have any kids yet, but have a 4 year old boxer and a 14ish week old boxer now. I can honestly not imagine getting a puppy with a new born. It would probably be like having 2 new borns at once! She's finally getting the potty training thing down and is letting us know when she has to potty and shes very smart. Just this past week she has been CRAZY! She went from a sweet cuddly baby to a crazy monster doing demon runs and getting EVERY toy in the toy box out and you have to watch them like a hawk to make sure they're not getting into anything. She hasn't been too bad lately, but she's really curious. Maybe when your kids are a bit older getting a puppy would be more feasible. I agree with pp with trying a rescue. They have tons of boxer rescues and you can always find one that is good with small children.
Thanks ladies
The Boxer rescue in our area doesn't have any older dogs they would feel comfortable placing in a home with children. Sadly, they've all had pretty horrible pasts. The breeder we interviewed with does sell her older dogs though, and we have seriously contemplated getting one a few years old. The issue is that the specific breeder we went to is run by a very old couple with no kids around, so I wasn't sure how her older dogs would react to young kids. There is another reputable breeder about an hour and a half away that house raises her litters and she has a family with kids. I know she sells adult dogs as well. Maybe I'll have to bark up that tree instead (no pun intended lol).
Are you sure she was a reputable breeder? They usually have long wait lists for puppies.
That being said, I agree with Katies -- having a 4 to 6 month old and a puppy at the same time sounds . . . hectic.
Have you tried shelters? I know my local shelter gets TONS of boxers. Have you searched Petfinder?
I cannot fathom having a high energy puppy with a baby and another kid too. Maybe you have more energy than me though.
) It might be worth even just visiting a shelter and watching the puppies run around like maniacs to get a tiny feel for it. I mean, we all know what puppies are like, but being there, watching them, while wrangling two little ones might really give you a feel for things that would come.
I ditto a PP with the plea to consider an older dog in rescue. You'll get one with the puppy zoomies worked out, and you could get one from a foster home where perhaps the dog has already been exposed to kids. Basically someone else did the hard work and you get a nice dog. :-)
Honestly? I would wait for awhile. Like a year or two.
Puppies are hard work, and Boxers stay puppies for a few years (think, like, 5).
Adding a new member to your family is a huge decision, and will change your life. Waiting for a bit will allow your kids to grow up a little bit and learn a little more about how to handle dogs.
Boxers are wonderful family dogs! But puppies are very time consuming and you'd have to decide if you have enough time to juggle both. I know for me, working a FT job, making the time to come home at lunch plus walking and training both dogs on a regular basis leaves me with NO free time at all. However, I know when I have kids, having a puppy would not be an issue for me since they are a big part of my life as it is, and an adjustment will be made. This is something only you can decide, since you will be the one most responsible for that puppy (I presume).
We've had Boxers since I was a kid and they really are very smart, personable, expressive animals! Our only issue was in pack fighting-they were great outside the homes, but had some pecking order issues in house. My parents now have one with 4 other herding breed dogs and she is the best natured one we'd ever had.
All breeds come with their health issues, but a couple health related issues to go over with the breeders are: hearts-have both parents been tested to have healthy hearts? Degenerative Myopathy-my folks lost two to this AWFUL disease and after the fact learned it was in their pedigree (young stud dog that later on developed and died from this disease). And of course cancer is very common in Boxers, but no way to test for that beforehand. Good luck!
To answer your question, I would not get a new dog with a four month old baby, no way, no how. I really wouldn't consider a four-legged addition until the youngest was at least two, personally. Toddlers are so demanding, and puppies are so demanding, and keeping track of everyone is a huge challenge.
I was pretty set on getting a puppy vs. an older dog, because of my children. It is a lot more work, for sure. Having a puppy is like having another child, and between the house-training, teaching basic manners, and the fact that they will use your child as a chew toy at any possible opportunity, you may find yourself tearing your hair out at times. But it was important to me that I be able to properly socialize the dog around kids from a very young age. This is obviously a matter of opinion, and I'm probably in the minority with my thinking, but I'm not sorry we went the puppy route.
My boxer is three and we still cannot break her habit of licking babies/kids in the face. Sounds cute, right? Imagine her knocking over a toddler so she can better get to their face. We are planning on trying to have kids in 2013/2014, and my number one concern is how very careful I am going to have to be with her and my baby. I got her as a three month old rescue, so I don't know if a PUPPY puppy would be any different. It's not a violent thing, or a jealous thing, its an utter excitement, cannot contain themselves thing. I had labs growing up as well, and while they calmed down, but continued to chew, my boxer quit chewing, but has not calmed down in the slightest. My mother has a five year old boxer who is much of the same way. They also are every bit as stubborn as you hear, and more. Tonks (my boxer) somedays refuses to sit if she's mad at something (we didn't share dinner, usually), but will lay and follow all of her other commands. They require firm training, but like any dog, they want to make you happy (so long as they feel like it that second). You know what you are capable of, what your schedule is, and how much free time you have, and what you can handle. You're probably the best judge.
My two cents, anyways.
: )
Ditto PP on making sure your breeder does health testing (it's called OFA testing for hearts/hips in the US; not sure if it's different in Canada). While there is no test for cancer risk, a good breeder will document cases of cancer in the pedigree. My breeders had several generations of cancer-free dogs, so it was a good indication of health!
As far as getting a puppy now or waiting: with such a young baby, I'd probably wait. When we brought out pup home at 8 weeks, we were up with her twice a night for potty breaks. If your little one still isn't sleeping through the night, you might end up getting up with LO, then with the puppy, then with LO, etc etc etc and before you know it, you've gotten NO sleep. That wouldn't be fun. Although being home on maternity leave would certainly be an advantage with being around constantly to housetrain.
As for temperament: I swear, we got the most mellow Boxer in the history of Boxers when we brought our gal home. She's got a phenomenal temperament and LOVES to snuggle with us. She certainly has her I've-gotta-get-into-everything moments, but they're blessedly few and short-lived. Training her has been a cinch (she's the first dog I've ever owned/trained for myself); she's incredibly smart, but highly excitable. It's hard to get her to do ONLY what I ask her to before her meals; she gets so amped up for food she just starts doing everything at once, hahaha! She's definitely got energy that will keep her going for hours on end at the dog park, but as long as we're paying attention to her at home, she can somehow put all the energy away and just be with us.
Long-story short. No matter what you do (get a puppy now or wait), MEET any potential puppies, because while breeds have tendencies, each dog is an individual and may or may not be typical to the breed. I know some incredibly dedicated breeders even do temperament testing on their puppies to determine which homes they'd fit best in.
Oh, and as for breeders selling older dogs (not just puppies): I'd questions them carefully. Why do they have these older dogs, for one? Our pup's sire's breeder rehomes her older females when they reach about 6 years, I think, because she won't breed them after that age, but she rehomes them for free after questioning potential families just as she would for her puppies. Be wary of breeders with older dogs they're looking to sell. Sometimes I know they have show/breeding aspirations that don't work out (because the dog matured differently than expected, for example), and that's an understandable case for having an older dog to sell/rehome. But having older pups that were "leftovers" from litters that just didn't get purchased can be a red flag that they're breeding without lining up homes beforehand.
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I would absolutely NOT get a boxer puppy at that time. I wouldn't even get a two or three year old boxer. Our boxer is 3 and still a complete ball of energy. Don't get me wrong, he's sweet and a total good ball/clown, but he needs a lot of exercise (running around in a fenced yard doesn't cut it). I bike with him several times a week for half an hour to an hour. During that time, he is in a canter, so to speak.
We do not have children, we have two other dogs that he plays with, and he still needs a LOT of exercise. I would look into a dog that was 3 years or older, or I would wait several years until your kids were older and you were in a set routine. Our guy really thrives in a routine, and is stubborn. Once he learns a command, he really gets it, but it can take him a while to learn the command.