Our Boxer life began with the purchase of our first Boxer, Abby, from a local pet store, a few days before the Christmas Holidays in 1998. My husband had wanted a Boxer for over 2 years, but I didn't want any more dogs in the house. We had had dogs all of our married life. Now, with our son grown, I thought it was time to do the things that I wanted to do in my life.
Little did I know at that time that buying Abby would open a whole new world for us. Abby came home and immediately wormed her way right into our hearts. She and our Miniature Schnauzer played all the time. However, only a little over a year later, he became sick and died.
Now our Abby was all alone. Until one day when my husband suggested that we get another Boxer. He also suggested that we look for one to show. A show dog…? Now what did I know about a show dog other than watching them on TV? But I decided to start looking.
Finally, about eight months later, I was referred to a breeder in Maryland. My husband and I drove about three and a half hours to see a male Boxer. Upon arriving, I kept watching this brindle male for a few hours, but by the time we were leaving, another brindle male had decided that he was the one that needed to go home with us. It was another two weeks before we went back for him. So BJ (Sandstar's Hand Delivered) was the one that would start us in the dog show world.
We started going to handling classes, and I was referred to an all breed handler. I decided to call and set up an appointment. By April of 1999, BJ was entered in his first dog show (Western Pennsylvania Kennel Association), and then we were hooked.
During BJ's career, I decided to get another Boxer. This time it would be a bitch so that I could start thinking about my breeding program somewhere down the road.
Once again, it took some time before I found what I wanted, and then Gabrielle (now Champion Scenicvu's Iridescence DOMC) came into our lives.
Once Gabrielle came home, it was like the missing part of the puzzle had arrived in our Boxer life. She was a joy to watch with the other two, and did she keep us on our toes!
Gabrielle started her show career and went on to become our first AKC Champion. What a thrill it was to see this happen in our lives!
Now our next journey was about to begin with Gabrielle. She was bred to Champion Raypat's Bit O Honey on March 30, 2006, and produced a beautiful litter of puppies on June 3, 2006.
I would like to thank Pat Kisselovich and Lisa Holden for their support and mentoring during this period as I don't think I would have made it through this litter without them.
This experience brought a new meaning to breeding to me. It was so exciting, and loads of work, but oh so rewarding! Gabrielle took on the role of mom, and what a great mom she was to her babies!
All of our Boxers are house dogs and are certainly a huge part of our life. They are also our pets first, and the winning they have done is just the icing on the cake.
