The Boxers Back

There has been a Boxer shaped hole in our lives for just over a year, when we lost the love of our lives, Dottie. There’ll never be another Dottie, but a couple of weeks ago, Tilly arrived, and we have another Boxer in our lives. And indeed in Mabel’s life, which has taken her by surprise.

Tilly is skinny, wiggly, chewy, and as bonkers as only a Boxer can be, with a face like a gremlin, and paws like a lion. Sarah has been in training for a year now, with the amazing Brian at LoveK9 ). The consequence of this is that her dog owner, Mabel, has been able to instruct Sarah on the best way to accustom herself to a new dog in the house. And the training has paid off brilliantly. Mabel explained patiently to Sarah that it would take a lot of work to get Tilly properly trained up, but she needed to start by not allowing Tilly to become a bedroom dog. This is in Mabel’s best interests of course, because Mabel is a bedroom dog. The second most important thing Mabel instructed Sarah on was the need for plenty of training treats, especially for Mabel, so she could show Tilly what they were for and how to eat them. This has worked extremely well, and Mabel will be going on a diet shortly.

The other important thing, Mabel says, is that Tilly does exactly what she tells her to do.  If Tilly doesn’t do what Mabel wants, Mabel gives her a very thorough face wash.  Tilly isn’t very good at doing what Mabel wants her to do.  So Tilly has a very clean face at all times.

Mabel says that so far as us humans are concerned, our main job is to ensure plenty of the right kind of food, ample cuddles, lots of treats, several walks a day, tummy rubs, and a lot of praise. After that, we can turn our attention to the puppy. But not too much attention.

Tonka is not impressed. But then it’s very hard to impress a tortoise.