Living with Boxers for Twenty Years

Hello, my name is Diana. I am a 61 year old widow, a surgical RN, and a Boxer rescuer. I live in the country in rural MN on a dead end dirt road. All my neighbors have dogs and they all get along pretty well. We have no leash laws, but still, only one neighbor lets her dog run free without being with him. The rest of us always supervise our dogs when they are outside. I am the only one with a fenced in yard. I have two acres fenced--plenty of room for three Boxers to run and play. In fact, I have invited my neighbors to let their dogs exercise in my yard, for the dog's sake as well as to get my own dogs tired.

I hate to see dogs tied up. I would rather they play and run in my yard than to be tied to a tree and cry because they want to be free. I have a poster on my front door that says, "Friends do not tie up their friends."

I have explored Dogsey and have posted a few times now, under the heading of rescue, but I think blogging will be my main forum for emoting about dogs. Sorry, I have not posted photos of my three yet, as I can't understand how to do it, but am waiting for my neighbor to come over and do it for me.

My Boxers include Rocketdog, a blind (no eyes at all) rescue who was hit by a truck four years ago. I have had him for just over a year, and he has recently passed his Therapy Dog International test.

I also have Sarah, an eight year old female who has been with me for two years. She is a glue dog. She is a fawn Boxer with natural ears that look like fruit bat ears. They stick up all the time, as if she had some GS in her blood, but I was given her AKC papers when she was surrendered to me.

Lastly, I have Roscoe, a 7 year old flashy fawn boy who is very sweet and energetic. He came to me from a bad divorce, and he has not been traumatized by life. He is very well trained 90% of the time.

I take my dogs everywhere I go in my Jeep. I believe they would prefer to wait for me in the Jeep than stay at home. Of course, during hot weather, I wouldn't let them bake in a car. In fact, when the temperatures rise, I often call 911 to report a dog locked in a car outside of a store, then I ask the store to announce overhead that a dog is baking in a red (for example) Ford.

I can also leave the windows all the way open as well as the back window in the rear of the Jeep. My dogs know better than to jump out. There is always the fear that someone would dog nap them, but Roscoe, my alpha male, barks and growls if someone gets to close to the Jeep.

I do live in the country, remember, and if I travel to the cities of St. Paul or Minneapolis, I would not leave my dogs susceptible to strangers who might hurt them with the windows open.

Since this is the country, I can count on no one wanting a Boxer, as the most popular breeds here are Labs, Retrievers and other hunting dogs.

I was given my first Boxer in 1984 while I was in nursing school and raising a teenager--the child of my first marriage which ended in divorce. I didn't want a dog, as with working and school and a teen, life was full enough. But, I couldn't refuse, and thus came Ginger into my life.

Ginger lived to be 12 years old, and she was the best dog. I had never trained a dog in obedience before, and she was well trained. She knew more about dog obedience than I did. When I married my second husband, Ginger was already up in years. When she became sick, my husband half seriously said, "All it takes is a 5 cent bullet." He was against me spending lots of money on an old dog. But, I reminded him that I had married him knowing he had two children to put through college and he had better never say another word about how much money I was spending on Ginger.

But, to make him sound better, I must tell you that he was the one to find a 4 month old puppy to purchase after Ginger died. Then, not long after that, we adopted a three legged Boxer named Spikey. Spikey was his dog, and when my husband died suddenly in bed one day ten years ago, Spikey, laying on the floor next to the bed, raised his head and howled.

Spikey went on to become a therapy dog and was inducted into the MN Dog Hall of Fame a couple of years after Jim (my husband) died.

There have been many Boxers in my life, as I usually take the older dogs or disabled dogs to keep with me as no one else would want to adopt them. There is a lot of heart ache when one can only love a dog for two or three or four years before they die. But, it makes me happy that I have probably given them the best years of their lives, and of course, my late husband, is there to meet them as they cross the Bridge, along with Ginger and Spikey and Maggie, the young pup we bought after Ginger died.

I do have stories about all my dogs. I would love to share them with you, as well as what daily life is like with three Boxers. I hope you enjoy my blog, and please feel free to write to me privately or via Dogsey. My private email address is dlboxerdog@msn.com. I do know how to send photos to private email addresses.

Best regards, Diana Lynn of Sunrise River Boxers, a rescuer, not a breeder

Nice to hear all about your boxers past and present.

Loved reading your blog

Hi Diana It was lovely reading all about your boxers. Thanks for sharing your blog.

Lovely reading!

Hi Diana - great read - looking forward to hearing mmore about you and your boxers.

Diana,
What a wonderful, heartwarming 'blog' it's rare indeed to find such selfless devotion to dogs in this modern day world. I wish you luck with all your dogs in future.