Hi guys,
I picked up a boxer puppy who is now 12 weeks old, and being a first time pet owner I'm having a few issues that I'm not sure are just puppy phases or are real problems. I picked her up at 6 weeks, and was told by both my vet and the breeder that this is fine, however other people have said that they shouldn't be taken that early and they are likely to develop behaviour issues as a result, so now I'm not sure. I'll list out the problems I have and hopefully someone has experienced similar and knows the best way to correct the issue.
1. I started a home-based business, (which is why I finally bought a puppy) so I am home all the time and usually only go out for 2 - 4 hours in the morning to do errands and whatever else I need to do. I've found that my puppy is now destroying everything she can while I'm away, and when I come home my place is completely trashed and things have been pulled off bookshelves and torn up, and she has gone to the toilet multiple times and spread it everywhere. Yesterday I had to go out for 2 hours and so I put her in the bathroom with her bed, toys, food and water, and when I came home she has gone number 2 and spread it on every wall, all over the bath, put it in every nook and cranny, put it as far up the walls as she could reach, and completely ruined her bed. It was so bad I got professional cleaners in to sort it out and even now it's still unpleasant to go in there. I'm guessing because I've spent so much time with her since the day she came home, she can't deal with me leaving even for short periods. Even if I go to the toilet she starts getting anxious and pulling things off the shelves. She has plenty of toys so I have no idea what to do about it except spend hours cleaning everything up once I get home.
2. I walk her twice a day, but she is a very very outgoing dog and thinks every person or dog she sees is her best friend and goes absolutely nuts. Even if she sees someone 100m away she starts pulling towards them. I would love to take her to the beach and she would love it even more, but there is no way I would be able to take her off the lead because she would be gone in a second running up to everyone jumping up on them trying to lick them and get pats off them. I've got no idea how to correct this so I can get her to the point where she sees someone or another dog she just ignores them and doesn't care.
Other than that she is a lovely dog who loves nothing more than to spend every second she can with me no matter what I do. She can go from a deep sleep snoring her little heart out and as soon I get up to grab a drink or something she's sitting by my side. I just need to get the two major issues above sorted out, and puppy preschool was no help as it was just about sit stay and lead walking. If anyone has experience similar issues to the above and can give some advice on how to correct those problems, it would be much appreciated.
