Can boxers live outside? It’s a common question that both existing and future owners ask. This article answers the most important FAQs on this topic and raises crucial points owners must know.
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Can Boxers Live and Sleep Outside?
Boxer dogs are not well-suited to living outside.
Having a short coat as well as being a brachycephalic breed means they struggle with breathing and regulating their own body temperature. They’re also highly social which again doesn’t suit living outside.
While they technically can live outside, it’s not recommended.
3 Reasons Why Boxers Should Not Live Outside
The following are the three most important reasons why a boxer should not live or sleep outside.
1. Boxers have short single layered coats
A big part of living outside, throughout the seasons, is the fluctuation of temperatures. For some breeds, this isn’t an issue, but for a boxer, they don’t do very well in either hot or cold temperatures. Here’s why.
Boxers have a super short single-layer of fur. This is an instant strike against their ability to remain warm when the weather starts to get cold. This would make living outside very hard for several months of the year depending on where you live.
You may be thinking “ahh but I live somewhere warm where the temperatures don’t drop”. Firstly, I envy you! Secondly, your boxer probably doesn’t tolerate the hot weather very well either.
Boxers are a brachycephalic breed, or more commonly known as a “flat-faced” breed. This affects their breathing and their ability to remain cool in summer.
As you can tell, living outside where it’s either going to be too hot or too cold will not be ideal for your boxer.
It goes without saying, the temperature will be much more stable and suitable for your boxer inside.
2. Boxers are family orientated and crave attention
If you don’t already know, boxers LOVE their attention, and not to say this is a bad thing, but it is true.
Part of living outside undoubtedly means spending more time alone than he would otherwise if he lived inside the house. This is kind of a problem…
Boxers are a highly social breed and they crave having the company of their human family and owners. It’s a very important part of their life and without it, they will always suffer negative effects.
Dogs who are family-orientated like boxers will eventually suffer from some level of stress, anxiety, behavioral issues, and disobedience if they spend too much time alone.
Some may argue that “they will still be allowed in the house throughout the day” And that’s great. But all in all, it’s still not enough for a breed that craves being in the physical company of their family as much as boxers do.
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3. Living outside will negatively impact a boxers temperament
Boxers are known for being a family-orientated, friendly, loving, and kind breed.
I mentioned this in the last section but it’s important to clarify it.
The temperament of an outside dog ends up being very different from those who live inside with the family.
It’s like they become “wilder”. Your connection to them will be somewhat weakened and you couldn’t expect an affectionate family dog, from one who lives his life outside. That just isn’t going to happen.
In fact, what will likely happen is the dog that lives outside alone (more times than not) will develop temperament changes and will become unstable, aloof, very territorial, and even aggressive. Is that guaranteed, well, no. But it’s very likely.
Can Multiple Boxers Live Outside Together?
If you have more than one boxer or a pack of boxers, you may be wondering if that helps their ability to remain happy and content living outside as they have each other.
It would certainly help the situation, no doubt. And it has been proven that dogs are happier in pairs or more (same breed or not it doesn’t matter). So that’s one thing.
But it still doesn’t solve the problem of weather and temperature, and the fact that they will spend less time with their human family.
One of the main reasons people get their second dog is to keep their first dog company. But unfortunately, it doesn’t actually happen like that and in the end, you just end up with two dogs waiting for their owner to come back from work, instead of just one. It will make the first dog happier in all other times, but it’s crucial to know that a dog will not replace us.
And this would be the same if you have two or more boxers living outside. In the end, they will just be waiting for you or your family to visit them, regardless of how many they are.
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Here’s What Boxer Owners Have to Say (who have tried it)
In preparation to write this article, we scoured as many forums, boxer communities on Facebook, and boxer subreddits as we could, in the hope that we’ll find out information from real boxer owners who have actually tried doing this.
Here are all the key points that were mentioned: (some points surprised us!)
● Most boxers either tried to escape or successfully escaped at least once.
● Most boxers became uncontrollable when their owners went to see them (jumping up)
● They became very disobedient and simply unresponsive to their owner’s commands
● Some of them became ill, likely due to not tolerating the temperatures
● Many boxers ended up getting sunburn when they stayed outside in summer
● In about half of the cases, the boxer became more aloof around new people or dogs
● Mosquitoes and ticks were a big problem causing illnesses and worms
● Barking at random things became a frequent problem
And the list goes on, but these were some of the most common points we saw.
Honestly, we didn’t see a single positive thing said about anyone that had tried having their boxer live outside.
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To Summarize
The boxer dog is a family dog that should spend his life inside. Some breeds are well-suited to outside living, but this breed isn’t one of them.
Boxers crave human interaction, hate being left alone, get cold in winter, and are too hot in the summer. This isn’t helped by their short nose and difficulty with breathing.
In order for your boxer to live their best life, he should remain inside the home.
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