Boxer Life is Grand!

Just when the thought crosses your mind that perhaps (and I use the word perhaps very lightly!) you're spoiling the boxer too much, something happens and you start to think that you're neglecting the dog. ( I am by nature a worry wart and an incurable perfectionist- I worry that I'm feeding her too much, then I worry that I'm not feeding her enough. Oh, no maybe she doesn't have enough toys, or it's cold outside, and she's shivering! You get the idea!)

This morning, Lucy and I had a "private" appointment with a trainer at K9 Kingdom in Wexford. I took a lot of heat this morning getting ready to go this private appointment. Appearantly, my fiance finds it funny that Lucy and I were off to meet with a trainer! Heat be dammned, I was determined, and would not be derailed! I was very eager to suck up as much information as possible and take back my leadership role as "Lucy's Human". As it would turn out, there really wasn't much need for panic or concern over the "state of Lucy". She's just a puppy, a very young boxer puppy, and we're well on our way to having a well behaved little boxer. Relief of all reliefs, she's just being a boxer! I did get a lot of valuable information, and Lucy and I will be dilligently working on our homework for the next couple of weeks. But, it's going to be okay, there's no reason to call in a dog whisperer or send Lucy off to boot camp... Whew!

You're wondering where the spoiling part comes into all of this. Afterall, spending an hour with a dog trainer when you've got a puppy isn't off the wall- lots of people do it. The off the wall, spoiled, out of the world part of this whole thing is the doggy daycare. I was, and am still (2 hours later) astounded by the amount of dogs in "doggy daycare". I understand as well as the next guy- dogs are children and not dogs. But, I honestly thought that was a luxury reserved for celebrities and the ultra wealthy. I guess I'll never get it because I have the luxury of being able to bring Lucy to work with me every single day.

Speaking of bringing the boxer to work, a furniture store is a fun, although somewhat mine filled place to bring a boxer puppy. There are so many places to hide and it's like a maze in here. She is also quite capable of getting herself very stuck, which results in some pretty funny moments.

However, when she starts running around at breakneck speeds, and it only means one thing, the furniture store is not the place to be. Sometimes I don't get much warning that my little one needs to poop. She can be calmly lying next to me, when all of a sudden, completely and totally out of the blue, she's running like her tail is on fire. All of this would be humorous except for a couple of facts. The first fact being, accidents need to be avoided at all costs and two acrobatic skills are required in this store (which is filled to the gills with furniture) in order to catch the "just about to poop puppy!". Sometimes, even an "America's Funniest Home Videos" worth dive across 3 desks, and a bed does not yield a caught puppy. I will say that I am getting faster, but so is she, so it's pretty much a wash.

Our last trip to Petco, which was 3 days ago (gasp!) yielded 3 things in addition to the many new friends. The green gator which has the most amazing 2 squeakers in it, a round rawhide rope which Lucy proudly carried to the cash register herself (although she did not pay for this item herself- but she did manage to elicit several "oh my God, what an adorable puppy" comments) and a big bag of chicken chew strips. Since we've acquired those chew strips, my little boxer baby has only had one thing on her mind, and try as I might, I cannot get the message across that we need to pace ourselves when it comes to consuming those chew strips. (Note to self: Does Costco sell these in 100 lb bags?)

Last night, as I was busily uploading photos to my computer, the little darling managed to grab that very bag of chew strips and take off like a bolt of lighting. As I have a tendancy to do, I grabbed the camera. I was curious to see if my smart little puppy would figure out a way to get the bag open or if she would just play with the bag. She was determined, but she did not get the bag open, the bag however, did not remain intact! I wish I could have caught her running with the bag in her mouth, she was so proud of herself for getting out of my office with it!

About 5 minutes into our little game, she did realize however, that her best bet for getting one of those chew strips was to make sure that her human knew that she was sorry for stealing the bag, and she put on her best "I'm a guilty puppy" face, settled down, dropped the bag and waited calmly for me to take a picture and open the bag and give her the much desired chew strip! My little boxer can be so reasonable.

One of Lucy's favorite past times at the store, is trying to get the "faux" basset hound puppy to play with her.

Several times a day, she will walk up to the little hound and paw at it, talk to it, and sniff it. These are Kodak moments if I ever saw them. She wants this puppy to play with her so badly! But, no matter how much she kisses it or talks to it, it just won't play with my little boxer baby!

Lucy's Grandma & Grandpa Emery came for a visit on Wednesday. Lucy was so excited to see them, and even more excited to show off all of her new toys! Grandma had a wonderful time playing fetch the gator with Lucy, and they played until Lucy was completely worn out. She fell asleep on Grandma's lap- and even though Grandma's arm fell asleep holding that darling, wrinkly boxer butt, she would not let me take the puppy! It's official: Grammy is hooked on the little boxer!