MEET OUR NEW PUPPY NAMED PENNY

We just welcomed a new puppy named Penny into our house. She is a Boxer and we based the name on how her fur's fawn coloring resembled the shading of pennies.  Penny had been living with the family who owns her mom and dad until the puppies in her litter were old enough to be separated from their parents and had received their first check up and shots from a vet.  My kids had been counting down the days until it was time to bring her home and they are so excited to have their very first pet dog.

Penny is a very affectionate dog who loves attention and being played with.  She's an inquisitive and friendly puppy who has been adapting well to her new surroundings. My son and daughter of course have been having a lot of fun with her. 

Owning a dog isn't all fun and games though.  We have to get her house trained so she isn't pooping and peeing inside.  She actually hadn't gone potty outside before until we brought her home so training her to want to go outside is a big priority.  We have a few more veterinarian visits over the next few weeks as well to get all her medical requirements done properly. I'm also looking at signing up for a puppy obedience class to help get us off to a good start with this new addition to our family.  Hmmm....why don't they have obedience classes for toddlers? That sounds like it might have come in handy when my twins were the equivalent of being puppy aged!

Not familiar with Boxers? Here is some trivia on the breed from the American Kennel Club:

• Boxers emerged from a massive sized dog known as Bullenbeisser that were used across Europe for hunting bear, deer, and wild boar. Bullenbeisser eventually became extinct through cross-breeding but the Boxer emerged as a result.  Boxers are a mix of Bullenbeisser, British Bulldog and Great Dane and originated from breeders in Germany.

• Boxers were used by the German military during World War 1 as attack and guard dogs.  American soldiers discovered the breed while fighting overseas and brought the dogs back home with them.  Boxers didn't began to grow in popularity though as pets across the United States until the 1930s and '40s when the dogs began winning dog shows.  Boxers won Best in Show at Westminster in 1947, 1949, 1951 and 1970. Now they are consistently ranked as one of America's Top 10 favorite dogs.

• Despite being cross bred from dogs that were known for hunting and fighting, Boxers are very social animals with an intense attachment to people.  They are protective and patient with children making them an ideal family pets.  These dogs also are energetic, clownish and love to sit on people's laps.  In fact, Penny is sitting on my lap as I'm typing this. 

Stay tuned for more updates and stories about my family's experiences as we delve into life with a pet dog.

A New Addition To The Family

It was an exciting weekend as we added a new addition to the family.  We bought a 2-week old Boxer puppy.  It will still be awhile until we bring her home though.  The puppy will be staying with her mom until she is 8 weeks old before coming to live with us as part of our family.

There are a few reasons we chose a Boxer for our family's first dog.  First they have a reputation for being very loyal and loving as well as great with kids.  They're also short-haired dogs that don't require a lot of grooming making them ideal as a house pet.  The dogs are also very playful, patient and protective in nature.

While not overly aggressive as a breed, Boxers are very protective of their homes and the families they live with making them great watch dogs.  Male boxers can grow on average to be 65 to 85 pounds so we picked out a girl who should probably end up being somewhere between 40 and 50 pounds.  Small enough to be manageable by my kids but yet big enough to be intimidating to a home intruder.

Here are some facts about Boxers from the American Kennel Club:

• Boxers are descendants of the Bullenbeisser, massive big-game hunters bred by German nobles during medieval times to run down and catch bear, bison and boars on vast estates.
• Changes in the times and needs of these dogs led to the Bullenbeisser being bred down to what is now known as the modern-day Boxer in the 1800s.
• Since a Boxer named Bang Away won the Westminster Dog Show in the 1950's, Boxers have continually reigned as one of America's top ten dog breeds.
• They are highly intelligent and excellent problem solvers.
• Boxers excel in a wide range of canine sports including obedience, agility, and herding.  They also perform brilliantly as service, assistance and therapy dogs.
• A boxer tends to be a very clean dog and its short, shiny coat needs very little grooming

Our new Boxer puppy is supposed to be for the kids but my wife has warned them there is a good chance it will become daddy's dog.  That probably is a good possibility!