AABR Boxer

SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO SEND THESE PICTURES. I AM SENDING YOU 3 PICTURES, 2 WITH JAKE AND LUCY AND 1 OF JUST LUCY. LUCY IS A HANDFUL, AND WORTH EVERY BIT OF IT!

SHE IS ENJOYING LIFE TO THE FULLEST, JAKE LOVES HER, ITS LIKE THEY WERE TOGETHER ALL THEIR LIFE. I GET A KICK OUT OF WATCHING THEM. WHO EVER GAVE LUCY UP, IT IS THEIR LOSS AND MY GAIN.

Lucy is doing great! All she needs now is a loving forever home! A perfect home for Lucy would be a family with someone home all or most of the time, an active doggie play mate, and a dog door to a nice secure fenced in yard!

We have great news about Lucy! With just a change in diet, her kidney levels are getting closer and closer into the normal range! This is not to say that Lucy's kidney's have healed, they can't, but it means that as long as her diet is carefully monitored, Lucy will continue to enjoy her life. The only medication that Lucy requires now is one pill a day for high blood pressure - a typical result of dogs with kidney disease. But her ailment does not stop Lucy for one single second. This girl wants to play and play and then play a little more. I haven't been able to locate her 'off' button yet. Lucy's in foster care with Louie, another of AABR's puppy rescues and can these two go - running, jumping, boxing, making the most awful noises (Boxer play noise). Because of her medical condition, Lucy must drink more then other dogs and therefore, the right home for Lucy will have someone at home most of the time AND she really would do best in a home with another dog. With her energy level, I don't think there's a human out there that could keep up with her!
Lucy is sweet and funny and smart. She loves to learn and she picks things up very quickly. One of the cutest things that Lucy does is to find sticks and carry them around on her walks. I can't tell you how many people have stopped their cars while we're crossing the street just to laugh at this silly puppy carrying the biggest stick she can find and prancing and dancing along the way.
Again, we must let you know that even though Lucy has a chronic medical condition, with proper diet, love, exercise and 'sticks', Lucy will bring love and laughter and energy into your home. If you think Lucy is the dog you're looking for, please contact us - we'll answer all of your questions about Lucy and allow you to understand her condition. If you would like to help us with Lucy's medical expenses, that would be great too. In order for Lucy to be properly diagnosed, she had to undergo many expensive tests, including an ultrasound.

I wanted to tell you a story about love and kindness and how amazing these rescued dogs are. A friend of Lucy’s foster mom adopted Mikey, a boxer/bulldog mix and another of AABR’s rescued dogs. We don’t know anything about Mikey’s past, but what we do know is that Mikey is terrified of everything except his adoptive dad and Lucy’s foster mom. When confronted by his terror, Mikey will hide in a corner and if another dog gets too close, Mikey will snap at the other dog, telling it to go away.

Lucy met Mikey and his reaction to her was exactly that, he snapped at her, and jumped on his dad’s lap. Lucy seemed to understand Mikey’s fear and gave him the space he needed – she stayed on the floor, playing with her toys. Mikey’s curiosity got the better of him – he wanted to see what Lucy was doing, so he jumped on the floor to observe from a distance. Lucy saw Mikey on the floor, picked up a soft pull toy, brought it over to Mikey, dropped it at his feet and laid down in a very non-threatening manner. Mikey picked up the toy, and slowly Lucy took the other end of it and within seconds, they were playing tug toy. Nothing could have prepared me for the emotion that I felt. This little girly, all of 7 months old, just knew that Mikey needed a friend to play with and she was willing to allow him the moment he needed to lose his fear.

Once again, I’m forced to face the reality that we humans are the ones that get the credit for rescuing these dogs, but given half an opportunity, these wonderful, loving dogs will rescue each other.

You’ve read the earlier write up on Lucy and are familiar with her medical condition – with this update, we’d like you to get to know the puppy. Lucy is not a normal puppy, there is no doubt about that, veterinary specialists have confirmed it. But Lucy is also feeling wonderful. She’s a playful, loving, sweet boxer puppy and that’s what we’d like you to focus on. When I first met Little Lucy, she was full of boxer wiggles and lots of kisses – she rode home in the car as happy as could be.

Once in the house, she met the resident cat and was fine with him. And then she spotted the toys; balls, hard bones, pull toys, squeaky toys, soft toys and in her puppy mind, all for her! She stalked them, jumped on them, growled and wrestled with them, hid them, found them, buried them and started all over again. She finally wore herself out and then she did something that I’ve only experienced with one other dog before. She climbed up in my lap, turned herself onto her back, pushed her sweet face into my neck and fell asleep – to be honest, I was in heaven.

So that’s Lucy – a typical boxer baby that is full of silliness and fun one minute, and dreaming sweet dreams the next.

Lucy is housebroken – she will eventually need more access to the outside then many other dogs so a home with a doggie door would be great. Someone or a family where there are people around for a fair amount of the day would be just as great.

We know that adopting a dog that has something that may affect her lifespan is scary. But we also now know Lucy and we know how much love and fun she will bring into your home. None of us are guaranteed a perfect life and it would be a shame if we denied ourselves so much joy because of fear of the unknown. Please consider bringing this truly special girl into your life.

Here is the story on Lucy. She was born with a congenital kidney disease. Her kidney's are not formed normally. We had a board certified specialist perform an ultrasound to diagnose this condition. I am not sure if Lucy ever had a bladder infection.

She is a happy, playful, puppy looking for her forever family. Lucy will not live as long as a normal dog, but she deserves to have a home for the years she has. How many years? No one can guess. Her kidneys are compensating very well now.

I received an email from her original family. They had brought her to the shelter to be euthanized, because their vet told them Lucy would not get better (without a specific diagnosis). Her owners did not want their children to see Lucy get sick when her time came...

To me this is such a terrible lesson for children. When you buy a dog from a breeder like this family did, she is yours. There are no guarantees in life. Anyone of us, or our pets, can get sick tomorrow. If this family wanted to put Lucy to sleep, a kind thing would have been to take her to their veterinarian and hold her while she left them. Instead they dropped her off at a shelter and told them to euthanize Lucy. What would her last day have been like? I cry just thinking about it.

So now Lucy is in rescue. We are looking for a long term foster home or an adoptive home for this puppy. I will post better pictures of her tomorrow.

If you can help with Lucy's care (the ultrasound was $175), our veterinary laboratory donated the cost of her blood and urine tests

Lucy is the sweetest 7 month old female boxer going. She is super with other dogs. I had her here in foster with 3 other dogs and she just loves hanging out with them. Lucy would do best in a home with kids over 8. She is very energetic and would not want to share her toys with the little ones.

Lucy is spayed and up to date on shots. Lucy is getting the housebreaking thing but she is still young and has had a lot happen to her in her short life. Ending up in a shelter is very stressful on any dog. Lucy was dropped at a PA shelter after a string of bladder infections. The owner tried to return her to the breeder but the breeder would not take her. Lucy deserves the best. She is a super boxer girl. We did a urine culture and urine analysis and are scheduling a full work up with Dr. Meadow to see what's going on if anything. More to come.

If you are interested in adopting this dog, please fill out an online application first. Then e-mail the contacts below. Be sure to include your full name, city, state, and area code in the subject line of your message.