Some time ago I advertised my Boxer dog Bruno's services as a stud on an internet dog site because he is such a handsome and adorable chap that I wanted his puppy so that his character could continue and we'd have something left of him when his time comes.
The vet told us that as a "white" boxer, he would have a very short life span because, apparently, they tend to get struck down with all sorts of horrible diseases like heart problems and tumours and so his life span was set at 8 years old.
However, he isn't strictly "white" as he has brown skin pigment and brown and black patches over both eyes. I'm happy to say he is 8 this summer and in very good health but when I posted the ad, I got hate mail from a breeder who was very abusive and wouldn't back off until I threatened I'd report her.
A complaint was also made to the Our Dogs site so they withdrew my advert on the grounds that you should never mate "white" boxers so Bruno - who is kennel Club registered and has papers - was paired up with a sassy brown and white boxer about five years ago and the result was a healthy litter of five.
We kept one puppy Toad who has lived with Bruno happily since and we love him to bits.
We were recently approached by a couple with a brown and white boxer, Rosie, who asked if either Bruno(AKA Batty) or Toad could do the honours. Toad wanted to play but Bruno again performed after spending the night away.
The result was the birth of four puppies, all bitches, including the two pictured, an all white pup and a white pup with one black eye.
Sadly things with the pregnancy didn't go well. Rosie began to abort and had to have an emergency caesarian. The vet said the first puppy had to die to ensure the others lived. Three of them did well for the first week but then another one died leaving just two healthy pups.
As much as I would love to keep one and have a little clone of Batty who I love dearly, three boxer dogs are just too much to manage so I'll keep the photos to remind me of these new additions to our extended family.
I am sure they will end up in homes where they will be loved just as much.
Meanwhile, I did ask both Batty and Toad what they thought of this new academic study that claims it is insulting to call animals pets and we should be calling them companions and ourselves human carers, but both dogs just wagged their tails and grinned as Boxer dogs do before coming in and cuddling up for a snooze.
