I wish I could speak dog... Cassie is having problems, what should we do?

[Freedom]

Some of what you wrote it typical dog, some is typical boxer. In other words, there is nothing "wrong" with Cassie!

Dogs learn who is caring for them, looking out for them, and when that person is "missing," if they worry. If there are 2 or 3 folks caring for the dog, they won't miss the "key person" as much. But it sounds like Cassie's world revolves around you. Now you are gone back to school, she doesn't know who is going to feed her, play with her, give her belly rubs, all those important doggie things. So you have major separation anxiety happening.

Dad and I were caring for all 5 here, though I did most of it. In the past year, Dad's dementia has worsened quite a bit, to the point that even if a dog barks to go out, he forgets and just hollers, "QUIET!" Now, I go out grocery shopping and the dogs are a wreck, cuz they don't know how long I'll be, if I'm coming back, what if they have to eat, etc. It is hard to work with.

Slobber, well, boxers DO that. She is just getting into it big time, and the anxiety likely makes her drool even more.

Boxers have short attention spans. Proper training schedules for a Boxer are short 5 minute stints, multiple times per day. (Unlike say, a Golden, who can have 2 half hour sessions per day). Even where I take my flock for training, where sessions are one hour per week, Boxers and one other breed (I forget just now) are allowed to attend for half an hour over 2 sessions for the price of one session, because they are KNOWN to have this short attention span. (It is a group class, so the dog isn't "on" the entire half hour.)

Training is not a one time and done deal; it is for life. So the 'lost' leash training may be due to you starting school, getting busy, and forgetting to keep up with her on this. So she decides it really doesn't matter. This is dog, not boxer-specific.

Getting into the pine cones may be boredom or may be anxiety. Cassie has had a huge change in her life routines and it is troublesome to her.

If you are the type who learns from reading, you will find some of Patricia McConnell's books helpful. Of course, then you still have to do the work and practices. If you go the trainer route, group classes are the way to go as one on one is extremely costly, and will only work as long as YOU absorb it all and do all the homework and practicing, something you will need to do anyway.

Good luck!

[ToBeEvergreen]

Some of what you wrote it typical dog, some is typical boxer. In other words, there is nothing "wrong" with Cassie!

Dogs learn who is caring for them, looking out for them, and when that person is "missing," if they worry. If there are 2 or 3 folks caring for the dog, they won't miss the "key person" as much. But it sounds like Cassie's world revolves around you. Now you are gone back to school, she doesn't know who is going to feed her, play with her, give her belly rubs, all those important doggie things. So you have major separation anxiety happening.

Dad and I were caring for all 5 here, though I did most of it. In the past year, Dad's dementia has worsened quite a bit, to the point that even if a dog barks to go out, he forgets and just hollers, "QUIET!" Now, I go out grocery shopping and the dogs are a wreck, cuz they don't know how long I'll be, if I'm coming back, what if they have to eat, etc. It is hard to work with.

Slobber, well, boxers DO that. She is just getting into it big time, and the anxiety likely makes her drool even more.

Boxers have short attention spans. Proper training schedules for a Boxer are short 5 minute stints, multiple times per day. (Unlike say, a Golden, who can have 2 half hour sessions per day). Even where I take my flock for training, where sessions are one hour per week, Boxers and one other breed (I forget just now) are allowed to attend for half an hour over 2 sessions for the price of one session, because they are KNOWN to have this short attention span. (It is a group class, so the dog isn't "on" the entire half hour.)

Training is not a one time and done deal; it is for life. So the 'lost' leash training may be due to you starting school, getting busy, and forgetting to keep up with her on this. So she decides it really doesn't matter. This is dog, not boxer-specific.

Getting into the pine cones may be boredom or may be anxiety. Cassie has had a huge change in her life routines and it is troublesome to her.

If you are the type who learns from reading, you will find some of Patricia McConnell's books helpful. Of course, then you still have to do the work and practices. If you go the trainer route, group classes are the way to go as one on one is extremely costly, and will only work as long as YOU absorb it all and do all the homework and practicing, something you will need to do anyway.

Good luck!

Relief to at least hear it isn't really abnormal behavior. I have been kind of high-strung lately due to my other dog's struggle with separation anxiety. Came home one day to the house torn apart, gate down, feces everywhere... and the water wasn't working, making it hard to clean, so I had a bit of a breakdown , though it's better now and she is doing crate training.

It's too bad about what's happening with your Dad . You've got a big group there too.

Bahaha, she does have an incredibly short attention span. I usually can train her for about 20 minutes at a time, and otherwise do little bursts of teaching her new tricks throughout the day.

Actually, I am training her more during school, since I'm giving less household chores then. I made it a habit to go with her at 5 o clock pm every day, starting my second week. Before then I was going infrequently to train her.

I love reading, any reading recommendation is welcome ^_^. I'll have to look into that, along with the harness. I don't mind reading up on it. I bought a book about boxers when I got her, by Shiela Webster Boneham (The Boxer). Helped a little when we first got her.