Meet Rose

This is Rose. We call Rose "our troubled child". Rose is Maxine's daughter. When we bought Maxine we agreed to be a brood home. (we agreed to breed her) We've had Rose since the day she was born. We used to call her Miss Piggy. Because she was the puppy in the litter that always found the best nipple. She's the one that shoved in for food first. And she was HUGE. There were 2 girls in the litter and they are both dominant personalities. And we could see it within the first week of their lives. Amazing how early the personalities begin to form within the pack. Rose also immediately bonded with John (my husband). Well... perhaps I should say, she almost immediately lay claim to him. She's gone through a good part of her life thinking she owns him. We, especially John, worked with Rose for a long time teaching her that she does not own him, but he owns her & he's "master", not "slave". She used to be very jealous of other dogs playing with John and it was then we began to see the dark side of Rose.

As I said, she's a dominant personality. She also has fear issues. Thus resulting in fear aggression issues. The aggression is usually targeted at other dogs and almost always excitable dogs. Excited dogs really bother her.

We've learned a lot since Rose came into our lives. I trust her 100% around children: from infants to teens. She has the patience of an angel when she's around children. They can bop her on the head, pull her tail, try to ride her back, pet her, love her.... she just goes along. As a very young puppy, still with her littermates, we had a few "puppy parties" where the puppies were introduced to many people at once, young, old, men, women, all in an effort to give these puppies a positive experience of all people.

We've noticed that Rose is cautious around new adults, however. She will not approach them. As a matter of fact, sometimes she runs away & keeps quite the distance between them. (Maxine on the other hand will crawl right up into ANYone's face & give kisses) Rose keeps her distance, observing, watching. She won't growl. She watches. Her tail wags. She waits to see John's or my reaction to the person. She's very affectionate & friendly once she's gotten to know a person, however. But that may not happen in the first meeting. It may take a couple meetings. But once you're in her favor, you are a friend for life.

Rose also LOVES to go for rides in the car. Probably because as a puppy, every car ride meant going to a dog show or obedience class or the park or somewhere fun. She gets very excited when she sees up preparing the car for a ride.

I'll continue more at a later time. Time for me to get back to the real world & get some things done!

Meet Maxine

This is Maxine. She's our "perfect dog". She's become the ambassador for the Boxer breed and for dogs in general. She has a wonderful, calm, even-tempered nature & very sweet personality. She is an explorer, however, so we used to have trouble with her wandering off to visit the neighbors. Thankfully, we have neighbors who adore her, and I would have to say, she's been welcomed into all of their homes when she'd show up at their back doors looking in. She's the dog I use for children and adults who are afraid of dogs to introduce them to dogs and teach them the best way to approach dogs. Our neighbors' children, who were very afraid of dogs when they first moved here, now have a dog of their own. And Maxine and Rose are invited over to their house every day.

We are a bit concerned about Maxine now, though. She collapsed last week when running. Neither of us knows if she lost consciousness at all, but we fear she might have cardiomyopathy. An unforunate heart disease rather common in Boxers.... and a killer. So, we're going to have a Holter monitor placed on her to check her heart to see if indeed that's what's going on.

I can't help but feel a bit annoyed at this. She's only 6 years old. She's the second Boxer we've owned. Our first Boxer, Roxanne, got thrombocytopenia at the age of 8 and dies 2 sick years later. I say "sick years" because she was on meds & had blood transfusions and all kinds of problems those last 2 years of her life. It was actually because of that experience that we found Dr. Jeff Feinmann (www.homevet.com) and that we decided to go the homeopathic route for healthcare. Our Rose also has a genetic issue going on. She has small kidneys.

So 3 Boxers and 3 health issues at early ages. Let's face it. Pure breed.... small gene pool. Every mutt I ever owned lived 15 to 17 years and NEVER saw a vet. I'm not kidding about that either. I never brought my dogs to vets. They ate table scraps, never got shots and lived long healthy lives.

My problem is that I'm in love with the Boxer breed. I absolutely adore their personalities & vitality, expressions, the way they look, the short fur.

Well, let's see how Maxine does. Maybe this is just a glitch and she'll still be around for a long time. At least that's our goal!

Introducing Maxine & Rose

Maxine & Rose: mother/daughter Boxers.
Maxine is a brindle Boxer, born July 13, 2001. Kennel name: Mitch's Tribute to Jackie-O
Rose is a flashy fawn Boxer, born August 31, 2004. Kennel name: Kendal's Fancy Pants

Maxine & Rose live in Connecticut. This is a blog about their health & well-being. We'll be keeping track of their health, emotional state, personalities and anything else realted to their health & well-being. We subscribe to homeopathic care. We feed them a raw diet. Our goal is to have healthy, well-adjusted, calm, happy dogs through homeopathy rather than the "usual veterinary" care most dogs receive.

This is Maxine & Rose's diary.