Why should you follow this blog? What makes it unique? Well that is an excellent set of questions. We try to post some fun stuff on the blog and lots of pictures of Lucy (the title character of the blog) and an occasional video or two. We write about things that matter to dog lovers and especially boxer dog lovers. So, here are the details of who Lucy the White Boxer Dog is...

Lucy the white boxer dog has been in our family for a little over six years now. She is not truly white but rather what is referred to as a "check boxer" due to her spots. She is not an albino! She has brown eyes and splashes of black on her in addition to her spots. She is a full blooded boxer. She is also extremely healthy with the exception of having a sensitive stomach.

Want to learn more about Lucy and the things we write about her, follow her blog. Better yet, check out some of the older posts. There is a lot of information on the care of boxers and dogs in general... We look forward to see your comments on some of the posts... Happy blogging to all!


Monday, July 27, 2009

Went to the dog park today...

Lucy and I went over to the dog park at Shelby Farms Park today. It was warmer today than it has been and the humidity was up just a bit. Shelby Farms Park has a specific dog park area where you are allowed to unleash your dog. There is a pond for the dogs to swim in and just stay cool. This is so much fun for Lucy!

I can't believe how socialized Lucy has become. Even with all that was going on by the lake she never lost her focus on what the trip was about. Sure she was there to play, but she was also there to get good solid exercise.

Once we set off away from the other dogs she was on voice command and the time I've put in with her has paid off. Even with the distraction of other dogs she payed attention to what I commanded. I think she knows that I am commanding her for her own safety and she responds.

One example of good solid behavior occurred while we were on the hiking trail when we ran into some other folks with three dogs. Lucy introduced herself and then we started off again and one of the other folk's dog decided she wanted to follow Lucy.

Well Lucy had headed up the trail from me about fifty or so yards and the other dog went running after her. The other dog's owner was calling and calling for his dog to come back with no response. To remedy the situation I went into my call position and called for Lucy to come to me. She returned instantly and held in place until the other dog owner was able to retrieve his dog, standing next to Lucy! To say the least I very proud of my Lucy! The other owner looked at Lucy and I and said thank you. I released Lucy and we proceeded down the trail.

What a great outing...

Friday, July 24, 2009

A pleasant evening...

What a pleasant evening in Memphis last night. We have been experiencing some really great weather here in Memphis over the last week or so. We’ve been experiencing mild weather with temp in the daytime around 85 degrees and cool evenings in the 70s. What’s really nice is the fact that the humidity has been relatively low for this part of the country.

What made last evening especially nice was the way that Lucy and I spent our evening. Lucy and I spent most of the evening setting outside on the balcony. There were very few lights on in the neighborhood and the music of the crickets was playing very genteelly in the background. We were caught in a moment together just sitting there! It was one of those moments that only an animal lover can appreciate. We must have been out there for a couple of hours but I can’t say for sure. I lost all track of time! A perfect evening with a great friend… the only thing that was missing was conversation, or was it?

I’ve come to love my adopted city and the many great things that Memphis and the surrounding area has to offer. Last night was just one more gift that this great place where I live, with my wife and Lucy, has to offer.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Comes a time...

To our family! Thank you for the memories and good times!

How to travel with your favorite critter…

This is a subject near and dear to my heart. How many times have you seen people driving down the road with a dog in the back of a pickup truck or perhaps hanging out the window of a car? I get really irate when I see this!
The proper way to travel with a dog is with it securely inside the vehicle. If you have ever witnessed a dog falling out of the back of a pickup truck, and I have, it is not a pretty site. The damage is incredible!

When travelling, Lucy has her own spot in the car. If she isn’t in a create, she is securely placed in her own space in the rear of my vehicle. I don’t allow here to hang out the window or roam about the car, period, end of discussion. Allowing a dog to hang out the vehicle is asking for trouble. The potential for injury from flying debris or falling out is enormous. It’s okay to open the window a bit to allow the dog to take in all the great smells in this world but it is not okay to allow them outside the safety of the vehicle.

I would even make a case for car restraints for your dog. There are some really great systems on the market for restraining you pet. To find one, all a person has to do is look! Try this out, type in “dog vehicle restraint “ in your Google search window, I’m sure you’ll find one that will work in your car with your animal. End of rant!

Monday, July 20, 2009

No more about my travels...

After thinking about it for a bit, I'm not going to write about my trip to Europe any more. It doesn't fit this blog's theme and I've been critiqued by my wife that I should stay on topic in this blog. So, here's what I'm going to do, I'm going to put together a few articles on travel and post them to my website under the topic of "Travel". If you would like to read about The Netherlands you'll be able to access that information over on my website in a couple of weeks. I'll be back on topic with this blog in a couple of days. Thanks for putting up with my rants about my trip.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

My trip to Holland and Germay


The beginning…

The trip began with a nine hour flight on North-Worst Airlines. Toons and I met up at the airport with the appropriate amount of time to check in for the flight, exchange some money at the airport and stop in at one of the many pubs to be found at Memphis International Airport.

Our flight to Amsterdam was uneventful, although I barely fit in the seat that I was assigned back in coach. The hardest part of the trip was the flight. Nine hours on an airplane in an uncomfortable seat with only three hours of darkness total is hard to take. Flying out of Memphis to Amsterdam you lose seven hours travelling east in the summer. Jet lagged at landing to say the least.

Okay, so we arrive in The Netherlands with plenty of time to spare to catch the train to Maastricht where we are to join up with the rest of our business group and then travel to Brunssum where we are to stay for the week. Confused by the train schedule, I almost started an international incident when I asked an attendant if this was the train to Utricht, the place we were to change trains. The attendant informed me that this was not the train I wanted and then asked me what time my train was suppose to leave the station? I told her 12:00 noon and she looked at me angrily and informed that it was not 12:00PM yet and turned around and walked off. This clued me in real fast that you don’t ask questions as to the time a train is to run. The trains run on time in Holland and Germany!

So, the train showed up on time and we began our trip. We met our connection in Utricht and began our journey to Maastricht. The train made an intermediate stop during our trip to Maastricht. The conductor came on the interphone and made an announcement in Dutch and started to countdown. Then the train continued its journey with Toons and I on it. We were suppose to arrive in Maastricht at 14:32 and I had learned to follow my watch and look for the station signs. Guess what, we didn’t arrive in Maastrict, we ended up in Heerlein, which is about 30 kilometers from where we wanted to be. You see, when the conductor made his announcement and started counting, he was identifying that the train was splitting in half with one half going to Maastricht and the other going to Heerlein. Luckily for us there was another train that arrived five minutes after we got off in Heerlein that was bound for Maastricht. This added about an hour total to our time traveling on the train to Maastricht.

To make a long story short, study the train schedule when traveling in Europe and don’t trust that you understand anything that is going on around you…

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Just got back...

Well I just got back from Europe. My business trip was successful and our customer is happy with the new course-ware that we delivered. The next couple of posts will be about some of the things that I did while over in Europe and not working. I trust that no one will mind if I write about something other than Lucy. Although I must tell you, since I've been back she has not left my side for a moment when I'm at home. I guess she missed me? I keep telling Terri that Lucy is her dog and I'm Lucy's dog. The hierarchy of the pack is well established!