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!


Friday, September 28, 2012

Pet Adoption


Are you thinking about obtaining a four-legged friend? Check out dogs looking for good homes through adoption. Adoption is the first best place to find a great dog. The ASPCA has a national database that will allow you find what you are looking for. Our Lucy was an adoption pup!

Some people shy away from adoption because of special needs or perhaps behavioral problems of some of the dogs. I can honestly say that we would adopt again in a minute. With love and attention, an adopted dog can become a valued family member.  When we first received Lucy she was under weight and very shy. It took a bit of time but she got into a routine and never looked back. She is one of the best-socialized dogs I know. All we did was offer her support and attention and she blossomed.

The dogs in the national database need your help and support. Please at least begin your search for a new dog through an adoption organization. There are literally thousands of dogs that are up for adoption and some do not have much time to find a new home.

If you are interested in a particular breed of dog, you can probably find it at an adoption organization. Just today I was up on the ASPCA site and found Jake CI 1864 (a full boxer in the database). Jake is part of the Prison Trained K-9 Companion Program here in Colorado. He is spayed and neutered, fully vaccinated and wormed for internal parasites, and best of all he is fully trained and ready for a great home. The prison program is not a tax-funded program and therefore there may be some expense incurred but it is well worth it. The program serves society and dogs looking for great homes at the same time.

There are many other adoption routes to take, all you have to do to find one is type into your web browser “adopt a pet” and you are sure to find one near you. Please begin your search for a new four-legged friend through an adoption agency.
Thank you.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Helping a Boxer with a Sensitive Stomach



Through the years I have written articles about Lucy’s sensitive stomach issues. I’ve informed you of how Lucy actually eats three meals a day and how this manages to keep her tummy issues at bay. Some may be thinking that I’m overfeeding her. The truth is, she rarely gets more than one cup per serving of her favorite dog food. In addition, she gets no more 1 to 3 treats on any given day but this is another story to tell later. This method of multiple feeding works only because of the quality of the food she receives.


Over time her dog food has changed. When we first brought Lucy home we were sold on Science Diet products. She did well with this food as far as the sensitivity goes but she put on weight. So we went exploring and experimenting with different foods. We tried all-natural foods from the health food store and several others as well. Some would cause weight gain, some would cause weight loss and some an excessive need to go poo. Some foods had too much filler and others perhaps not enough. Some so-called sensitive stomach foods actually magnified the sensitivity problem.

One day she got sick and kept getting sick on a regular basis. We took her to the Vet and had her checked out. She was healthy but had a sensitive stomach issued said the vet. The Vet recommended we feed her nothing but rice for a few days. The problem remedied itself very quickly. We asked the Vet to recommend dog food that would help us with our problem. I was expecting to have to spend a great deal of money on this recommended dog food but was pleasantly surprised with his recommendation, He recommended Purina One Rice and Lamb (Sensitive Stomach) dry dog food. Don’t worry, I don’t own stock in Purina nor am I advertising the product for any type of profit. I’m simply offering up a solution to a problem many dog owners run into.  Besides, the food has been fantastic for Lucy. No more sensitive stomach and she possesses abundant energy and displays all the signs of a healthy dog.

Lucy is eight years old now and has a lean body, strong bones, and strong muscles. She is rarely ill so her immune system must be strong as well. Her digestion is excellent and she rarely has a problem of throwing up like she used to do. I might add that she is quite regular as well.  Her skin coat and eyes are still as stunning as when she was a puppy. And her teeth are in good shape but like many dogs, she probably could use good teeth cleaning and perhaps something for doggie breath on occasion. With all this said, I would have to conclude that the food she is on now is a good one.

For those of you who have a boxer with a sensitive stomach, you might want to check this dog food out. Listed below are the ingredients along with the guaranteed analysis that Purina states concerning the product.  All I can say is that it has worked for Lucy and it may work for your boxer as well.

Ingredients:
Lamb (natural source of glucosamine), brewers rice, corn gluten meal, whole grain corn, poultry by-product meal (natural source of glucosamine), oatmeal, animal fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols – a source of vitamin E), lamb meal, animal digest, potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate, salt, caramel color, L-Lysine monochloride, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, ferrous sulfate, vitamin E supplement, manganese sulfate, niacin, vitamin A supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, folic acid, vitamin D3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), sodium selenite


Purina’s Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude protein (min.) 26%, crude fat (min.) 16%, crude fiber (max.) 3%, moisture (max.) 12%, linoleic acid (min.) 1.4%, calcium (Ca) (min.) 1%, phosphorus (P) (min.) 0.8%, selenium (Se) (min.) 0.35 mg/kg, vitamin A (min.) 13,000 iu/kg, vitamin E (min.) 250 iu/kg, glucosamine* (min.) 400 ppm, Omega 6 fatty acids* (min.) 1.6%. *Not recognized as an essential nutrient by the AAFCO Dog Nutrients Profile.

If you know of a better dog food that works as well as this one does for Lucy, I would appreciate it if you write a short response to this post for more options in helping a boxer with a sensitive stomach.

Thanks and Ciao for now…

Friday, August 31, 2012

Beer and Its Contribution to Humanity and the Creation of Modern Society

Beer has been around for quite some time. Some think that the production of beer and bread derived from grain cereals containing certain sugars are directly responsible for the development of civilization. Here’s my view of history, beer and civilization and how they have contributed to the development of modern society.

History records that beer has been around for about 7,000 thousand years now. Scientists have uncovered ancient stone tablets with depictions of beer brewers from Samaria dating to as far back as 6,000 years. There are also many depictions of people drinking beer from a bowl with straws (This is an interesting concept and one in which I have tried to emulate on many occasions while attempting the ancient Scottish tradition of playing golf. You need to try this some time.)

Other significant evidence of beer contributing to civilization as a whole comes from the likes of the Egyptians, and central Europe, dating back as far as 3000 B.C. and many argue that beer and bread production directly led to the development of technology and civilization. In fact, ancient prayers have been uncovered concerning beer, bread and onions. Why the inclusion of onions is present is a mystery to me, but I do like them on hamburgers from time to time.

It is a widely held understanding that in ancient times, the best and probably only brewers of beer were women. I have some thoughts on why this is probably true. Women are crafty and never do anything without a purpose. The purpose for brewing brew is straightforward; women were tired of following all those crazy male hunters around looking for game. It was time to settle down and what better way to get a man’s attention than to brew up a batch of beer. Instant success on the woman’s part I would say! The women’s influence on technology can’t be over stated either, they needed better pots to brew the beer in and men were happy to oblige!

History indicates that people overall were not always monogamous in their relationships. The concept of marriage came about because of beer. Let me explain. Since women were brewers of beer and men like beer and most prefer to drink the finest of the delicious nectar, two things had to happen. First, the man needed to establish a permanent domicile and second they had to capture the best brewers of beer and keep them. This led to what we know of today as the family domicile and the invention of marriage. The line in the marriage vow “until death doeth part” can be directly attributed to the production of beer. You see men of the time were quite selfish and didn’t want to share their best beer or lose their best brewers of beer, so they came up with the idea of marriage and thus the institution we have today. I told you women were crafty, brew some beer and capture the hunter of her dreams!

Now with all this said, you may be thinking "Isn't this blog about Lucy the White Boxer"? Yes, but sometime I just have to lighten things up a bit and discuss more important topics such as beer and its contribution to humanity. Until next time, Cheers!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Lucy's Leisure Time


Now this is one spoiled critter! Lucy loves her leisure time, this picture depicts the comforts that she has come to expect. I shot this photo with some old black and white film in my Nikon F4. We had such nice, defused light coming through the window in the front living room window. This was a moment in time with a great friend. Her expression is priceless... I wish everyday were like this!

Nikon F4 Kodak 400 B&W film, ISO 400, 1/15sec, f4.5 @70mm

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Just an update!


Well it's been a while since I last posted to tell everyone how Lucy and the family are doing. The picture you see here was taken this weekend during a snow fall in our back yard here in Colorado. Terri took the picture and it happened quite by accident, or did it? But that's another story and you'll have to wait for just a bit for the rest of that one. To sum it up, Lucy is doing great. She's still funny as ever and very high spirited at times. She loves her new home and has settled into a great routine.

We have Mule Deer here in Colorado Springs that reside in the 800 acre natural park which our property is adjacent. They wander through the yard, cleaning out Terri's bird feeder in the front yard on an almost a daily basis. Lucy loves to watch them roam through the yard. She has a silent bark she uses to let us know that they are around. Checkout the picture of the bird feeder bandits. My sister-in-law suggested we get a deer feeder for the birds! And yes, it was a snowy day when the picture was made!



I don't let Lucy out by herself here. I spotted a mountain lion up on the ridge in the park the other day and also saw him again running through the hillside above our house on another occasion. Mountain lions have been know to attack and kill dogs as prey. I guess mountain lions have to eat too, but I don't want this one enjoying a Lucy steak any time soon, so I monitor her outdoor activity fairly closely. Just one more reason not to have a deer feeder, they attract mountain lions! I don't want the deer hanging around more than they do now.

As for me, I'm doing fine. I managed to lose a little weight. Terri has me on this supplement drink that is helping me out in that department. It's working, I've lost 10 pounds in two weeks. If this continues, I could be back below 200 pounds in a couple weeks, which would make everyone I know and love very happy. If you know someone who's looking to lose weight, drop me a line and I'll let you know what I'm doing. It may help... I'm also very busy these days with work and my hobbies. I would rather talk about my hobbies than work, but that's another story!

Well that's about it for now. Oh yeah, I was going to tell you about the picture of Lucy. The picture was taken with Terri's I-phone! Here's the story... We went and picked up fire wood on Saturday and found a piece of wood with a hole in it. Terri came up with the idea that we should try to take a picture through the whole. We used every digital camera we have to take the picture (photography - one of my hobbies).

If anyone knows anything about photography, there's this little thing called depth of field, that preclude you from having two objects in perfect focus at the same time. You almost have to settled for one object or the other unless you can shoot in a fairly narrow f-stop from the right distance and that is completely experimental. Well, the piece of wood was only about 4 inches wide. I could do it from a distance but when I blew up the photo it would blur. To make a long story short, while Terri and I were conducting
our experiment Lucy just happened to come in view in the background. The picture is the result. Fun stuff! I really like the picture for a couple of reasons technically but yet again that's another story...

Hope you enjoy the pictures and I wish you peace. Thanks for stopping by.