The Dog Who Wanted a Boy

We have had dogs in our lifetime.

We had a dog named Copper.  She was a lovely fawn boxer with a great personality.

                    (Sorry, no digital pictures of Copper)

And I thought she needed to be an outdoor dog when no one was home.

And she ate everything in the backyard, EVERYTHING, sprinkler heads, hibiscus trees, drip lines, bushes, you name it.

So, at about age 6 months, when she was fully potty trained but a major chewer, my sister offered to keep Copper for us until she got a little older.  She had an unlandscaped backyard at the time and figured there was nothing for her to chew up.

But it turned out that she lived indoors with the family, and the family fell in love with Copper.  So there was no way we were ever going to take her away from her new family.

The amazing thing was that she never, ever chewed anything.  Apparently boxers get really bored when they are not around their family and that was the cause of her mischief.

When Copper was 2 years old, my sister and her family took a 3 week vacation and Copper vacationed at our home.  I was amazed at how well behaved she was.  She protected our home and was absolutely no problem.  In fact, she made me feel safer, somehow, just knowing she was there to watch over us.

So we entertained the idea that we would get a dog again.  One just like Copper.

So we started a search and found a sweet brindle boxer girl and brought her home.  We named her Bailey.  And we endured puppyhood knowing the end result would give us a great dog.  And Bailey was an easy dog to train.  She wanted to please her family and we learned a valuable lesson, let the dog be in the house with the family.

And we enjoyed 6 wonderful years with Bailey but in the end, she suffered from kidney failure and poor Bailey was just too sick to remain here on this earth.

After a while, we felt like something was missing in our home.  We brought home Millie, another fawn boxer.  Millie was hyper and crazy and nothing like Bailey or Copper at all!  But she had a sweet disposition, however annoying her crazy antics were.

 But we have had bad luck with boxers and health.  Copper, it turned out, had terrible allergies and her life was cut short for my sister due to prolonged use of steroids to keep her allergies under control.  Bailey had failing kidneys that caused her to vomit constantly, drink constantly, and basically starve herself to death.  She developed a rotting smell.  Poor dog.  And Millie, by six months, had already been diagnosed with failing kidneys and valley fever.  She had to be on constant anti-fungal medications for the valley fever.  She never seemed to be able to kick it.  And her kidneys began failing her as well.  So we made the decision not to let her kidneys go on as long as they had for Bailey because it was so sad to see her suffering, and Millie's life was a short 2 years.

Millie with her hives and diagnosed with valley fever

Now it has been two years in a dogless house.

And I can honestly say that the house has been cleaner and there has been less clutter.

But this Christmas, Chris wanted a dog.  And we could think of nothing else to get him.  And so our search for the perfect dog began.

The dog he has always wanted, for as many years as I can remember, was an Olde English Bulldog. He used to visit pet shops with his friends and they would text me pictures of him with the bulldogs they were playing with in the pet stores.

The cost of these dogs is prohibitive. At least I think so. But Chris found an ad for a dog that was calling out his name and we made the hour and a half drive to go see her. And the dog loved the boy and the boy loved the dog and next thing I know, we are paying the breeder and saying Merry Christmas to Chris.  (He helped pay for her as her cost exceeded my Christmas budget)

And about an hour after getting home with her, I wondered what in the world we had gotten ourselves into again!

And an Olde English Bulldog has a totally different personality than a boxer and I was not sure what I thought of that. A boxer wants to please their master, but a bulldog wants their master to please them!  ha ha ha

But a month has passed and she is growing on me.  And she is really a sweetheart.  And way LESS hyper than a boxer.  And she adores her new boy!

(But the best part of all is that when the boy moves out, so goes the dog!)