TANGO

(10.27.10) Tango is doing well. He has become best friends with Athena (pictured here). He can sit on command and is working well on the shake command. He loves playing with his toys and loves to go for walks. In fact, he tore the insides out of his duck and he still carries it around. Thanks for all you do and we are glad we adopted him. He is a very spoiled member of our family.

TINK

01.03.11
Hi HBR!!!
The little trouble maker you guys named Tink aka Whiskey has become the center of our family. She & I take our morning walk to put my son on the bus and then in the afternoon, she has to go with me to greet him. She is training off her leash and has great manners. She goes on trips to grandma's house with us and is spoiled rotten. Grandma even lets her get on the bed. She has lots of animal friends, including a little kitten that she sort of took in herself. When we ask her to "talk pretty" or "tell a story" she will start to howl, yelp and generally make noises like she's singing. She wants to talk to us and let us know what she wants so badly- if only she could speak English! She learns a command now within about 2 times of hearing it, such as "no tree"- which tells her to stay away from the Christmas tree......she likes to take showers and she really likes bananas. She's pretty spoiled- right now she's curled up next to me on the couch, snoozing. We are all pretty pathetic in how in love with her we all are- I mean my entire family, neighbors, friends, anybody who meets her adores her. I don't think she will ever understand the concept that she is too big to be a lap dog, but we don't mind. We have no complaints whatsoever- I even like it when she tries to steal my socks off my feet. She is the best girl. :)

(7.20.10) We found a little abandoned kitten a month ago & brought her home. The first night, she crawled up with Whiskey & pretended to nurse on her. My husband did not want a 2nd pet but Whiskey looked up at us like, "can I keep her?" Eva & Whiskey are the best of friends. Whiskey is amazingly gentle with her as if she knows she could smoosh her. She licks her & they sleep together & the 2 of them along with my 5 year old are quite a team. Whiskey amazes us with her intelligence. Without training her to do so , when we ask her if she wants to "go for a ride" she throws her neck back, does a dance & howls with pleasure. She hops into the driver's side of our truck every time & waits for us to tell her "that's not your seat" before she will move to the passenger side. She is a hoot!!! Whiskey was fixed at the Humane Society 3 weeks ago today. She has all of her shots, heart worm & flea preventative & has been micro chipped. She weighs in at an incredible 45 lbs already. She is the joy of our family. She has been very well socialized with all kinds of animals & people. She is friendly with everyone & is already a favorite in our little neighborhood. We get stopped several times a day on our walks by people who know & love & her & by strangers. Every where we go, people go & on & on about how beautiful she is & what a well mannered little lady she is becoming. She has a stubborn streak of course, but it's not nearly what I thought it would be- maybe she's chilled out since being spayed. Either way, she's so intelligent it's uncanny. And I think she's so agreeable because we have an enjoyable daily routine, we are always together & we make sure to wear her out. My husband bu ilt a sandbox for our son & Whiskey likes to play in it too. I will forward pics. :) We will probably look to give her a Boxer sibling with in the next year or two. ---Thanks again HBR!

TREY

(11.29.10)

Dear Houston Boxer Rescue Volunteers,

Here is a little update on "Trey", (now "Franklin") adopted May 27, 2010:  

When we first met Trey, and learned about his history, it was suggested that he was a bit pushy with Children - even to the point of possibly being dangerous to have in a house with little ones.  Also, we were warned that he probably didn't do well with cats. By this time, though, we had fallen in love with Trey through the pictures and personality profile, and we had a gut feeling that given a loving home and lots of structure would be good for a dog like Trey.

So, that first week was difficult.  But, we knew pretty much what we had gotten involved with, so we stuck it out.  Our kids, aged 10, 6 & 4 were troopers.  Our previous dog was extremely gentle and obedient, and so they certainly weren't used to a dog that they had to be afraid of.  The problem was that Trey believed that EVERYTHING was a play opportunity, and he took advantage of every toy left within his reach, even if it didn't belong to him!  He seemed to be unaffected by the hours we spent in purposeful play with him.  We tried everything to attempt to wear him out, but he just kept coming back for more!  There seemed to be no end to this dog's energy.

Hands and feet became highly guarded in our house after many run-ins with Trey's teeth!  He didn't really mean to bite them...he just saw each human extremity as four different ways to play with a person!  So, we had to teach the kids to stand like statues around Trey, because if they moved their hand or jumped or ran, they may run the risk of being chewed on!

After the first week, with twice daily walks, plenty of play, plenty of structure, dog-park time, and lots of love, Trey was finally showing signs that he was understanding his place in our  home, and was starting to get better about not gnawing on our hands and feet.  In that second week, he slept A LOT!!!!   I think he was so worn out from the first week's energy!

Over time, he dropped the biting, mostly, and began to even treat guests properly.  The kids slowly felt more secure about him, and eventually stopped asking us to "give Trey back"!  The cat was the last one to come around to seeing things Trey's way, but several months later, and the cat and dog are now good buddies.

Trey spends a good part of his day looking after kids.  From the minute we wake him up in the AM and he goes into each of their rooms to "check on" all three of them (or, for some reason the kids call this being woken up with a wet tongue)!  After that, he waits to play with the older child who has specifically bonded with Trey because they are both adopted!  And, as the kids do school in the school-room, Franklin sleeps with one eye open on the window bench seat where he can see what's going on in front of the house.

I hope you will enjoy seeing how Trey (and his tongue!!!) have fit into our family!

Thanks,
Amelia Blanco

TANA

(11.6.10) Tana is doing great! We all love having her in our family. She is such a wonderful dog. She is still very leary of new people and warms up to people very slowly. It took her several months to even be comfortable with Brian. She loves to play but is very gentle. She also loves treats - I think she has trained me to give her a treat when she sits by the pantry. Overall, it has been a fairly smooth easy transition. We are so greatful to have her! Thanks for all your help!

TICA

(1.30.09) Tica is doing beautifully and has more love and attention than she needs. The only family member she needs to beg for attention from is our other dog, Max. He has been very sweet and loving with her and helpful in her training. She follows his lead to see how she should behave in most situations. At night she is still either sleeping in a human bed or sharing a bed with Max (her choice). She's almost ready to begin sleeping in her own bed next to mine. She is very attached to our house and yard. It is her safety zone and she doesn't much like to leave it. We walk to the school bus every afternoon, but she would much rather just stay in the yard. Once she has completed all her shots we will work on more socialization outside of the family. The vet decided to complete her shots in increments instead of all at once. So she won't be completely immunized until mid March. Thank you so much for letting us adopt her. She's been an priceless addition to our family! (10.4.09) Tica, who we call Olive most of the time, is fabulous! She's a real character. She's a combination of so many things it's hard to know where to start. She is loving, bossy, thoughtful, smart, protective, funny, shy, lazy, energetic, cute, a silly little girl, one tough cookie & spoiled by the kids. She's everything we could have wanted and more. The kids often say you need to come back over to visit her. Her unique personality doesn't transfer well to film. She's much more fun in person. Of course you are welcome anytime. I've included a few pictures. I hope they don't scare you. Believe it or not, she actually loves to get dressed up. She loves the attention and it makes her feel special.