Thanks!
Here's a few good tutorials:
http://www.cgarena.com/freestuff/tutorials/harshvideos/
http://www.3d.sk/tutorials/Modeling_a_foot_in_Maya.htm
If you don't have it yet, you'll also want the awesome "divide loop" plugin:
http://www.supercoldmilk.com/ac3dplug/divloop.html
Box modeling takes practice to do well, but the concept is pretty easy. You start with a box, turn subdivision on (optional), and then keep extruding over and over to make it into the shape you want. Each time you extrude, you adjust the shape a little until eventually it starts to look like what you want. The most important part is not to add too much detail too soon. Block out the basic shapes first, even if they are pretty coarse, and then go in and start sculpting in all the little things only after the basic shape is right. A 3x3 cut in half or a 4x4 box is good to start with; don't start with a 20x20 or you'll have a difficult time with it. Keep it low-res until you absolutely need an edge, and then use divide loop to add them.
Here's the workflow I used for the dog: