Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Mutant Monster Boxer Puppies!!

I had a couple of my German Boxer puppies running outside and playing in and around our trout ponds the other day, and, as usual, I was snapping away photos of them with my Nikon DSLR camera. They are typically very photogenic, and terribly cute. But later, when I reviewed the shots I had taken, I had to laugh when I saw the one you see here! Caught in mid-flight, these three Boxer girls have the funniest and contorted facial expressions! Add some flying ears and they look like a monster movie in the making! Just had to share!

Happy National Dog Day!

Today is National Dog Day!

Give that special four legged friend of yours a big old hug! Better yet, take them for a nice long walk, go for a run in the park, or treat them to some great one-on-one time with the most important person in their life!

Pool Party Puppies!

The dog days of summer are upon us, and with the heat and humidity rising today, the puppies and I had a pool party. Their favorite pool activity, (besides drinking the contents of the pool), is bobbing for toys, as this picture of some of the partygoers illustrates. The frog toy is popular, because he floats, and when gripped, squeaks. Once a toy is grabbed, the winning puppy leaps from the pool, followed by the others in chase, and then victory laps are done all around the yard, frequently involving scaling patio furniture. The whole group then ends up back at the pool, where they leap in and start the game all over again.

Tails! You win!

Wow! Things around here have been busy, busy, and it has been quite a while since I posted! More puppies have left our German Boxer nest since then. Speaking of puppies, a number of people have asked why our latest pups have been left with tails intact. There are several reasons why we chose to not dock this time around.

Because our dogs are of European descent, the ones we have imported in the past 10 years have had tails. Much of Europe bans both tail docking and ear cropping. Although it seemed strange to us at first, we have now become accustomed to our long tailed Boxers, and actually like how expressive the tails are. It is very easy to "read" the dogs' mind set by their tails. And who knew how much a happy Boxer (and they are almost ALWAYS happy) wags his tail!! So when you see a tail on a Boxer, it can denote their European heritage, opposed to American breeding lines. And because some of the people that acquire dogs from us compete internationally, having a tail on their dog will not limit their ability to compete in docked tail "banned" countries.

Another reason the tails were left on is, frankly, because docking them has always been a pain, literally AND figuratively. Regardless of whether we had them stitched, superglued, or stapled, the Momma dogs just never could leave those stump ends alone, and invariably chewed the ends open on one or more pups, meaning more trips to the vet and the threat of infection. Not to mention a few pups ending up with Rottweiler stumps as the Momma dogs chewed the already short tails even shorter!

But there has been a lot of resistance among some potential puppy buyers. In fact, several people have passed on one of these exceptionally talented young Boxers simply because of the long tails! That's too bad, because these are some of the finest puppies we have produced in our 20 plus years of breeding German Boxers. But their loss is someone else's gain.

So will I leave the tails on next time I breed a litter of German Boxers? That remains to be seen.

Another Happy Home

This weekend yet another of Cliff's and Sofia's German Boxer puppies left Bachbett Boxers to start a new and happy life! Frank and Kim picked up their boy on Saturday, and he joins their female Boxer Tes. Kim reports that the new boy, whose call name is Samson, is the hit of the neighborhood.

Dog Days of Summer

It's hot, hot, hot! But German Boxer puppy Vargus von Bachbett, aka "Gus", knows how to beat the heat. He and his French Bulldog roomies had a sprinkler party. Here's Gus with one of the Frenchies, a 7.5 month old puppy named BAM. Thanks to Gus' new owners, Sheryl and Lisa, for sending me pictures of the party!

Berry Bad Boxer!

One of our German Boxer boys, Sabiye, came with me on a berry picking walk yesterday. As I picked the juicy red wild raspberries and dark blue "black caps", I was transported back to an earlier time, another place, "BB" (Before Boxers). I picked berries then as well, with two dogs at my side, Liebchen, my Miniature Schnauzer, and Ellie, my Brittany. Ellie was particularly interested in my activity, and watched me carefully for several trips. Then one day, I noticed she was grabbing the wild blackberries from the bushes lining the woods, eating them before I got to pick any myself. Berry picking trips soon became a competition to see which of us could eat the most, the fastest! And sometimes, even when I had not been picking berries myself, I would notice the telltale evidence of Ellie's indulgence in the sweet morsels, with smudges of blue stains on her white muzzle.

So today, when Sabiye and I climbed the hill to the berry patch hidden among the weeds and woods, I was not surprised to see that I had once again trained a dog to hunt out berries! Here is a picture of Sabiye "caught in the act," snatching berries from a bush before I, the birds, or a bear, can make them our own!

Fourth of July a Real Blast!

The Fourth of July weekend saw two more of our puppies go to their new homes! Charlie H. drove down to see us Saturday morning and picked up his U-V-W litter puppy whose name is "Udo Josef." Josef bonded to Charlie immediately, and when we went into the kitchen to do some paperwork, the little brindle boy quickly found a comfortable spot perched on Charlie's legs, and promptly fell asleep! Here's a picture of him- how cute! Saturday evening our fawn T litter girl, Tawny, was picked up by her new owner, Warren H. It was love at first sight for that pair as well, and we know they'll be very happy together in the years to come! We still have a few puppies available, with at least one more leaving us next weekend!

Party Animals!

Two of Sofia's puppies enjoyed attending a family graduation party last weekend. The two brindle girls were the hit of the party, and they really loved all the attention they got!

All of our Bachbett Boxer puppies love people and seeing new places. They are real social butterfilies!

First Puppy Gone!

Yesterday the first of our UVW litter pups went to her new home! Lisa W. picked up Ursa Mukki von Bachbett, and they are headed home now. That's Mukki posing in the mailbox. It's always sad to see the pups go, especially the first one from a litter, but it is great to know that she is going to such a super home and will have a happy life! Bye little Mukki!

I Can See Clearly Now

The rain has gone! It's gonna be a bright, bright, sunshiney day! After more than a week of dismal, drenching rainy days, the sun has reappeared and the working German Boxers von Bachbett are happy campers! The puppies in particular are enjoying the bright, warm sunshine and clear blue skies. They run and romp and play all day and try hard to make as much mischief as they can! In fact, I had to take a break from writing this post, because the Cliff and Sofia U-V-W litter of puppies had pulled part of the tarp over their pen down into it, and were playing "trampoline" on top of the suspended tarp! The picture on the left is one of the girl puppies snatching treats I was using during a photo session yesterday. They all have great noses, and this girl smelled the meat from across the yard and made a mad dash for it! They are eight weeks now, and will start going to their new homes next week. I miss them already!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

It seems like we haven't seen the sun in a week now! It's toughest on the puppies, who like any youngsters in the summer, would like to be outside romping all day long!

But every time there is a break in the rain, out we all go, and then it's time for some fun. Here's a picture of George playing tug with some of K9 Cliff's and Sofia's 11 pups yesterday. We work with them every day, and it is so much fun to see them getting more agile and "in drive" all the time! Normally we only have one or two on the tug, but these guys staged an escape from their pen when they saw the tug come out!

Weekend Launches

This weekend marks the launch of our totally revamped Boxers von Bachbett website. This new blog is being launched as well. It will be the place for you to come to for all the latest news from us and our working German Boxer family.

Be sure to check out the links on the left side of our blog. They'll take you to some of our Boxer webpages, (we have two beautiful litters on the ground right now, so check out the puppy page!), as well as links to our video channels around the web.

So do like Eicke, (seen here on the left), and sit, stay, and join in!!

www.boxersvonbachbett.com