Marimat
Boxer Expert<br><img src="/forums/images/modpaw.gi
It's funny the things that leave an imprint on us.
In April this year, after my relationship breakdown, I had to find myself new accomodation. This I did surprisingly easily as it is hard to find a landlord that allows dogs in Australia. But the first house I looked at not only seemed ideal but also I had permission to take dogs with me. On top of that the real estate agent is a girl who has grown up with boxers as her mother was a former breeder.
So it all fell into place nicely, except for one thing, I only had little Mac from Sabines litter to bring as I still had him after knocking back his potential owners.
Kay had taken Chloe and Axl with her, our two youngest, so I was in a bit of a bind, half a bind kind of as I knew I would be away with work for long periods of the day and wasn't prepared to have a young puppy home alone all day long waiting and getting into mischief.
Then out of the blue, friends from the country rang and said they had some money issues and that they didn't think they could keep one of my dogs they were looking after for me. This was Martine, one of the exciting new Belgian connection I had decided to pursue in my breeding program.
So off I drove into the country, 12 hours round trip to retrieve Martine who had grown into a beautiful young lass and who was in possession of the most easy going demeanour I've known in a boxer.
Anyway, Martine & Mac, spent day 1 in the new house playing gleefully and seemed to hit it off brilliantly. I was pleased and happy. That first night though, little Mac met with disaster when he got his little leg caught in his crate. His howls woke me and I brought him to bed with me till I could go to the vet in the morning. X-Rays confirmed a broken leg and I knew he was in for a long recovery which was going to need supervision, which again, with my work commitments I doubted I could provide.
So Mac went to Mum and Dad's for his rehabilitation leaving me and Martine alone. But luckily old Barney was at Mum and Dad's and this in itself was a problem to them as Barney is not very male dog tolerant and in time him and Mac would not work. So I was reunited with Barney. He came home with me to the new house and got to know Martine, the two of them quickly becoming a pair. I had decided earlier that these 2 would be mated, wherever they were, so this actually made for an ideal situation.
There was never any dramas with these 2. They played happily together all day, slept inside with me on the bed at night, ate together with no cross words (amazing with Barney involved) and were indeed inseperable.
Martine had one vice though. She was a food thief. Somewhere along the way my housemate was added to the equation to share costs. He's called Bluey, and quickly the dogs took to him and he to the dogs.
Now me and Bluey are a bit like Oscar and Felix. Bluey is Oscar!
He's always leaving things around. One thing in particular is that he has a habit of leaving the butter out of the fridge when he has used it. Invariably it is left on the edge of the bench, right in range of any thief boxer that may lurk in the wings waiting. I swear that on at least half a dozen occasions I'd get home and go for the butter only to be told that Martine had eaten it all. As sure as Bluey would leave it out, she would steal it and eat the whole tub. I don't know how it never made her sick, but it didn't, and she just kept taking her chance whenever she knew it was for the taking. She'd actually steal any food that was left in an unwise place but had a real liking for butter, that was her favourite.
This was her only vice though. She was gentle and loving, never one to go overboard with the greetings, prefering to kidney bean around on the ground rather than jump all over you in excitement. She'd spend her inside hours following me around, sitting next to me near the TV, or behind me if I was on the PC. She never destroyed anything and was always clean. She used to rest her head on my shoulder from behind when I was at the computer, and fall asleep.
Yesterday, some time in the afternoon, I came into our kitchen and saw the butter out on the bench. I refused to put it away, instead reminding Bluey to do it. Bluey's doing it tough with asthma at the moment, so I didn't end up saying anything. Instead I took Barney for a walk by himself. I got back and the butter was still out.
In fact that butter stayed out all day.
There was no Martine to steal it. The previous day she had found a way out of the property and was hit and killed by a passing vehicle. I found her covered by a blanket in the front garden on my return home from work. There was no blood, there were no deformities so my prayer is that she was killed instantly with no suffering.
I feel sorry for Barney. He was not himself at all that first night without Martine. He didn't sleep, wouldn't settle and kept going to the front door. He didn't eat that night.
I have some options as to how to deal with Barney being alone after my days off, but am still tossing them around.
There was a lot of room on the bed the past 2 nights.
The butter is still out.
Matthew
In April this year, after my relationship breakdown, I had to find myself new accomodation. This I did surprisingly easily as it is hard to find a landlord that allows dogs in Australia. But the first house I looked at not only seemed ideal but also I had permission to take dogs with me. On top of that the real estate agent is a girl who has grown up with boxers as her mother was a former breeder.
So it all fell into place nicely, except for one thing, I only had little Mac from Sabines litter to bring as I still had him after knocking back his potential owners.
Kay had taken Chloe and Axl with her, our two youngest, so I was in a bit of a bind, half a bind kind of as I knew I would be away with work for long periods of the day and wasn't prepared to have a young puppy home alone all day long waiting and getting into mischief.
Then out of the blue, friends from the country rang and said they had some money issues and that they didn't think they could keep one of my dogs they were looking after for me. This was Martine, one of the exciting new Belgian connection I had decided to pursue in my breeding program.
So off I drove into the country, 12 hours round trip to retrieve Martine who had grown into a beautiful young lass and who was in possession of the most easy going demeanour I've known in a boxer.
Anyway, Martine & Mac, spent day 1 in the new house playing gleefully and seemed to hit it off brilliantly. I was pleased and happy. That first night though, little Mac met with disaster when he got his little leg caught in his crate. His howls woke me and I brought him to bed with me till I could go to the vet in the morning. X-Rays confirmed a broken leg and I knew he was in for a long recovery which was going to need supervision, which again, with my work commitments I doubted I could provide.
So Mac went to Mum and Dad's for his rehabilitation leaving me and Martine alone. But luckily old Barney was at Mum and Dad's and this in itself was a problem to them as Barney is not very male dog tolerant and in time him and Mac would not work. So I was reunited with Barney. He came home with me to the new house and got to know Martine, the two of them quickly becoming a pair. I had decided earlier that these 2 would be mated, wherever they were, so this actually made for an ideal situation.
There was never any dramas with these 2. They played happily together all day, slept inside with me on the bed at night, ate together with no cross words (amazing with Barney involved) and were indeed inseperable.
Martine had one vice though. She was a food thief. Somewhere along the way my housemate was added to the equation to share costs. He's called Bluey, and quickly the dogs took to him and he to the dogs.
Now me and Bluey are a bit like Oscar and Felix. Bluey is Oscar!
He's always leaving things around. One thing in particular is that he has a habit of leaving the butter out of the fridge when he has used it. Invariably it is left on the edge of the bench, right in range of any thief boxer that may lurk in the wings waiting. I swear that on at least half a dozen occasions I'd get home and go for the butter only to be told that Martine had eaten it all. As sure as Bluey would leave it out, she would steal it and eat the whole tub. I don't know how it never made her sick, but it didn't, and she just kept taking her chance whenever she knew it was for the taking. She'd actually steal any food that was left in an unwise place but had a real liking for butter, that was her favourite.
This was her only vice though. She was gentle and loving, never one to go overboard with the greetings, prefering to kidney bean around on the ground rather than jump all over you in excitement. She'd spend her inside hours following me around, sitting next to me near the TV, or behind me if I was on the PC. She never destroyed anything and was always clean. She used to rest her head on my shoulder from behind when I was at the computer, and fall asleep.
Yesterday, some time in the afternoon, I came into our kitchen and saw the butter out on the bench. I refused to put it away, instead reminding Bluey to do it. Bluey's doing it tough with asthma at the moment, so I didn't end up saying anything. Instead I took Barney for a walk by himself. I got back and the butter was still out.
In fact that butter stayed out all day.
There was no Martine to steal it. The previous day she had found a way out of the property and was hit and killed by a passing vehicle. I found her covered by a blanket in the front garden on my return home from work. There was no blood, there were no deformities so my prayer is that she was killed instantly with no suffering.
I feel sorry for Barney. He was not himself at all that first night without Martine. He didn't sleep, wouldn't settle and kept going to the front door. He didn't eat that night.
I have some options as to how to deal with Barney being alone after my days off, but am still tossing them around.
There was a lot of room on the bed the past 2 nights.
The butter is still out.
Matthew
