Even though Boxer Dogs are unique among dog breeds for a lot of reasons, obedience commands are still the smart place to start their training.
The main goal of obedience training is to teach your Boxer Dog to respond to simple commands like sit, down, stay, heel, and come. You should begin obedience training in a young dog or beginners training class, but practice and reinforce at home.
Its smart to start training at around 8 weeks old if you have a new puppy. Start with the simple commands and work up to the harder ones. Once your Boxer dog has sit and down mastered, add stay, then heel, and finally, come. Training periods should be short in length, but frequent. Two or three 5 to 10 minute sessions a day are better than one 30 minute session every two days. Boxers are easily bored and distracted, and you want to make training fun, not a chore. Have training sessions when your Boxer is somewhat tired and a little hungry, such as in between meals and after play sessions. Boxers that are wound up or have a full belly are much less likely to pay attention.
No matter what command you are training, the basic steps are the same. Get your Boxer to focus on you, say its name, and then speak the command. Next, entice or gently guide it into the position of whatever command you are training. Reward the position with praise and treats immediately, and repeat the process. Look for opportunities throughout the day for your Boxer to practice and show off the learned behavior, and reward it every time.
When speaking your Boxer Dogs name and commands, be sure to use a friendly, calm tone of voice, and be very gentle when you are guiding your Boxer into position. If you become impatient, or your Boxer begins to struggle with you, end the training session. You should never use obedience commands in conjunction with or as a means of punishment, even if you are using them stop undesirable behavior.
Some Boxer dog owners train Off and on in conjunction with the five basic obedience commands, but use them sparingly. Boxer Dogs love to jump on everything, and a Boxer wouldn't be a Boxer Dog if it wasn't somewhat mischievous! Be wary of focusing too much attention on what your Boxer dog does wrong. Boxer dogs are independent thinkers, and they tend to block out reprimands given too often, or do what they want regardless of them. Reprimanding is a form of positive reinforcement, just as giving praise is. Your Boxer Dog will learn that it gets what it craves your attention - for the wrong behavior. A much better approach is to end the undesirable behavior by replacing it with a desirable one, and rewarding the replacement behavior.
Once they are learned, be sure to practice obedience commands with your Boxer Dog in a many places, with increasing levels of distraction. Use them to help socialize your Boxer Dog, and as a tool that lets it to enjoy more freedom.
