[lostinvast]

I haven't poked around too much yet, but was wondering how the members here obtained their boxer pups? I had first looked on rescue websites, but saw none young enough, and wanted our boxer to grow up right alongside our brand new amstaff. I then looked into breeders, but didn't like the idea of having my puppy sent to me on an airplane. I thought it might traumatize him/her.

So...passing by a pet shop after dinner one night, my boyfriend and I decided to go in and buy some treats for Sasha. And there was Ophelia, peeking out of a cage with this sad look on her face. We hadn't planned on taking any dog home that night, nor did we plan on buying from a pet shop (especially the one she was from) but she was a no-brainer, we'd have been crazy to pass up such a sweetheart. She bounced right up and was more concerned about kissing us than anything else. We brought her home that night....was quite expensive!

The first two weeks of owning her, she was under-weight, and had a terrible cold and cough. The pet shop reimbursed us for the charges. A week after we brought Ophelia home, that pet shop was on the news for buying from puppy mills, and was shut down.

You can see how thin she was in this video, and you can see on her face (in the puppy pic I posted on the introduction board) just how sick she was.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfdw0-SKWE8

Even though I was dead-set against buying a pet from the pet shops in my area, I just could not pass this lovely girl up. And I am so happy to have her....

How did you get your pup?

 

[JessiesMom]

Jessie is from a BYB!!!  But i love her none the less, and you would never guess with her temperment and personality that she isnt from a top breeder...

On the other hand, Maggie is from a very reputable breeder here in NY, and she is a loonie... She tore my sisters house to pieces...

 

[southerngirls]

Chloe(the pup i had when i first joined) was from a BYB. She was the best though, never would have guessed. Savannah (whom we have now) we adopted through a breeder. She was not able to be bred, so she was found a home as "pet" only. No matter to me since i wanted her for her, not what she may have been able to give me (i.e puppies )

 

[AbbyandBrady]

Both our boxer, Abby and our cocker, Brady, were rescues. Abby was the first and we did actually seek a younger female through the resue, we were looking for under 3, preferrably under 2 yrs.  That was us being greedy in wanting the "puppy" experience as this was the first dog my husband and I were to have together. I would never hesitate to take an older dog though...Abby is such a cuddly love though, I love the opportunity to see her as a baby! We were fortunate in being able to be connected with a younger female quickly...within a couple weeks we got a call saying a 5 month old brindle female needed a home so we jumped at the chance for a younger puppy.  We never expected to get such a young puppy.

With Brady, we did again seek a younger dog so that energy levels would be compatible. A senoir dog won't have the energy of a 6 month old puppy and I didn't want either to be miserable. Brady is about 1 or 2. For him, as cockers were one breed we were seeking, we were willing to go a bit older because the typical life span is longer so the puppy energy sticks around longer before they start running out of steam. We figure given their ages, they will have a nice life together.  

We chose the rescue route...we aren't interested in showing or breeding or anything like that, so the perfect example of a boxer was not necessary to us. Given that, rescue served our purposes and theirs.  We will probaby always rescue...I suppose when we are seeking new dogs though, I will just have to stay out of pet stores because they are just sooooo adorable, you want to bring every one of them home!

 

[mom2scoutandgunner]

Scout was from a BYB but he is the best dog.  Very smart and very handsome.  Quite the little lover boy too.  

Gunner we rescued from the "Wicked Witch of the South"  I say that because we travelled 4 hours South of here to get him.  We found him in a mud pit with his mama.  He was covered in fleas and left out to the elements at all times.  He was such a mess when we took him.  You could see the fleas walking all over his body when he was laying in the box on the way home.  She already had someone to take the mama and brother or I would have taken the brother too.  We could have cleaned him up and found a friend to take him in (another boxer owner who is looking for a puppy).

We weren't looking for another one that was quite that young but couldn't pass up the chance.  They have grown up as brothers (6 mos apart in age).  At first Scout was a little skeptical but he soon warmed up to him and they are now the best of buds.

 

[samsonsmom]

Good topic, you beat me to it actually. I was also curious how everyone had gotten their boxers....I have had 4...My first was my beautiful Visions of Timbuktu that I gave to my ex as a gift. I thought I was doing everything right, checked out boxers thoroughly, did all my research before we met Buck...He comes from champion lines, but now that I know more, I believe he was  byb also...Tia we got as a companion for Buck and I went thru Boxer Rescue...When I moved to Bama, I contacted my nearest rescue and Samson came into my life...Thru my meetup group I met Rhonda, who sold us the lovely Angel...She's my thorobred and a hellion....Lol ...All the decisions I made, I'd do again, cos every one of them has made my life so much more interesting.

 

[BoxerMom07]

I got Gus from a byb that had them in a pick-up in the Wal-Mart parking lot. We got lucky on this one, he was no blue light special (paid a good penny for him) but, so far no problems health wise . He is our first boxer and love him to death. The house has more spunk now , even my border collie / sheppard mix who is 10 this year has got more zest in her step since Gus came around. And I got my mix female when she was 10 wks old thru a rescue.

 

[lostinvast]

ok....now I could just do some research, or I could ask....what does BYB stand for? All I keep thinking of is college frat parties with "BYOB!" written on the invites lol

 

[boxersaige]

My 10 year old boxer died I was so depressed, called dog trainers and rescue centers, adverts all you can think of than I found one puppy from a breeder in 3 days time it was the first one I

 

[Mastray]

I had to look it up myself... it stands for Back Yard Breeder... unless some one wants to correct me on that?

We got Odin from a BYB... we would go to Petland and look at their boxers and other puppies cuz' we definitely wanted a puppy... but after finding out they wanted $1600 for one... we decided to look else where. Came across Odin... love at first sight, even though we wanted a dark brindle... and he was less than a 1/3 of $1600 so made us all happy!![/b]

 

[Honeyec]

I always think it's mad that you can buy a dog in a petshop in the US!  Petshops in Ireland are not allowed to sell dogs or cats, they are limited to small animals like fish, birds, rabbits etc., and some shops specialise in reptiles.

Don't get me wrong, though, because puppy farming is a HUGE problem in Ireland.  We are notorious for it throughout the EU.  Up until recently, breeders were not regulated in any way (unlike in the UK, where their animal welfare agencies are far better resourced than ours) and there was a huge amount of puppy farms where the dogs were just kept in appalling conditions.  I've seen pictures of bitches who were bred so intensively that their wombs collapsed.

The goverment recently brought in new regulations that any breeder with more than 5 breeding bitches has to register with his local authority, but how much difference this makes remains to be seen.  The sad fact is that most local authorities have no dedicated animal welfare officers, and the voluntary groups receive no funding whatsoever other than what they can raise themselves.

It shames me to say that Ireland has a despicable record when it comes to animal welfare.  I think a large part of it has to do with the fact that we were almost purely an agricultural country for a very long time - farmers definitely see animals as property rather than sentient, feeling beings that can and do suffer.  Even now there is still a huge urban/rural divide in how animals are perceived.  In Dublin last year, 67% of all dogs that ended up in the 4 local authority pounds were rehomed.  In Limerick, every single one was destroyed.  Isn't that just mind-boggling???  Not one single dog was rehomed in Limerick in the whole of 2006.  There are major socio-economic factors at play there, but it still hits me for 6 every time I think about it.

Anyway, sorry for the epic post, but as you may have guessed, it's something I feel very strongly about.

 

[tootsie]

Buster was a Christmas gift from my DH, who bought him from a pet store in the mall. So, yes he was a mill dog. In the 6 1/2 years of his life he had nothing but health issues. He came home to me with kennel cough, intestinal parasites, worms, and ear mites. He was a mess, but my hubby said he just couldn't leave him in that cage. We got him healthy and then by nine months he was diagnosed with hip and knee dysplasia. A couple years later he was diagnosed with boxer cardiomyopathy. He later started having seizures and eventually went totally blind.    I get so angry thinking of pet stores and what they are doing just to make a buck!   :aua:
I loved Buster like I didn't know I could ever love an animal. It nearly killed me to have to help him to the bridge and end his suffering. I swore I would never ever again step foot in another pet store that sells dogs and cats again. I haven't, and whenever I see someone even going close to the door of one, I pull them aside and tell them my story and explain to them about BYB's and puppy mills. Most of them leave right away. I know it's hard to leave those cute little puppy's in the cages of these stores, but if we keep buying from them the demand is still there and they will keep breeding these poorly bred animals just for money.
When I was ready for another boxer, I went through a rescue and adopted Maddie. Any other future boxers I will get from rescue also. I think rescue dogs are so eager to please their new families, depending on what their circumstances were prior to ending up in a rescue.  I know Maddie is happy to be with us, and I feel like I actually did some good by going through a rescue and taking her out of her previous living conditions.  

 

[boxer2crazy]

k.c came from a woman who couldnot keep her, she i bought her.little bit came from a breeder in arkansas. buckus came from a shelter from new orleans where they sent all the lose dogs since the hurricane katrina.

 

[jeanathanh2o]

Ginsy is from a BYB.   I have a friend who has been looking for a boxer for the last year and a half.   She had been watching the rescues,  petfinder and craigslist.   she wanted a young  flashy fawn male to rescue.

One night she called me all excited,  she had found a lady on craigslist who had a litter of flashy fawns and they were driving out to see them.  on her way home she called me and told me they had gotten two because they couldn't decide which of their two favorite they wanted.  I told her to let me have the one they weren't keeping :lol:

So she had both puppies for a few days while they made up their minds and went back and forth about keeping both of them.  Then she called one morning and told me I could have the female if I wanted her and I jumped all over it.

 

[Docsmom]

I have had 3 previous boxers in my life before the 2 current ones and they came from breeders, they were good responsible breeders and pretty much healthy dogs.  

6 years ago I had to beg my new husband to get a boxer.  I begged for months because we already had 2 big dogs, I just felt like something was missing.  We found a wonderful breeder and went to look at the puppies only to be picked by Doc.  He just climbed up in my lap like "OK mom, lets go home."  When Doc was about 2 I started looking into Boxer rescue and I just knew if I ever wanted to get a boxer that I would do rescue.  I feel that I know the breed well enough and was a strong pack leader that I could address any behaviour issues that the rescue might have.  

So when the search got serious in the past 3 months I went to petfinder.com to help me find a new girl.  I started with Boxer rescue sites but I also looked in shelters around my area.  Thats when I found Brinn in a Oklahoma kill shelter (I am from Arkansas.)   She was a "troubled" dog and everyone thought she had some issues.  She had been brought back twice from families.  This really didnt deter me because I have a friend that has rescued pitt bulls and one of them is a perfect dog that was actually brought back to the shelter because he was shedding.  (Can you believe that??!?)

Finally I did get to meet her and I immediatley knew that she was for us.  I havent ever seen a dog so grateful.  It brings tears to my eyes every time I think about her 4 months in and out of the shelter.  She is truly a wonderful dog, housetrained, easy going and loves everyone.  I dont understand what those other 2 families were thinking.  She is the most well behaved dog that I have ever seen.  

I do encourage all of you to do research.  I understand wanting a puppy, I loved having a boxer puppy.  You have to make the most informed decision that you possibly can.  I also understand the feeling that you get from going into a pet store.  I can remember seeing a boxer puppy in a pet store 15 years ago and it still haunts me that I didnt get her home into a better place.  

Just open your hearts to the possiblility of rescue when you are doing your research.  Look at your local sites and the profiles of the dogs.  Most of them are in foster care and have been in homes like yours and are already housetrained, crate trained and know most commands.  Sometimes you can even get puppies and younger dogs,  Brinn is only about a year old.  If you do decide to rescue but there are not any dogs available...wait because there will be some.  I always want to go out that day and get a dog and its the hardest thing in the world to wait to meet your future boxer. Its soooo worth the wait though!

I loved reading all of your stories and hope to read some more.