boxer behaving badly

Question
Hi Dale,
I have a boxer, almost a year old who is refuses to go outside without me leaving the door open for her. If I leave the sliding glass door open, she's fine and will go in and out. I have an infant and need a couple hours a day to let the dog out for a bit so I can get things done. When I put her out and close the door, she barks and jumps at the door so hard, I'm afraid it's going to break. What can I do?? I need her to be outside sometimes....

Answer
Unfortunately, dogs hate isolation.  Instead of isolating her outdoors, consider crate training her.  She can be within sight of family activities, perhaps even gnawing on a stuffed Kong toy, yet not bothering you as you work.  Then, once you and she are comfortable with that, you can go about training her not to be obnoxious in the house while you can't be paying attention to her.  Call a positive reinforcement trainer, or visit www.clickerlessons.com for some suggestions on general training (a trained dog is less anxious in many situations, because they expect the human to be in charge, and the environment becomes much more predictable).
Addendum:
Make sure your dog is getting enough exercise, and consider exercising her just before you need her to be quiet so that you can get things done.