Rescue Stories

Bertie was handed in to NBR in April 1999. He was only 15 months old, brindle and a small amount of white. His family had two very young children and the wife could not cope with Bertie, so put him in the garden during the day to keep him out of the way. He had had little or no training, and was rarely taken for walks. Of course, boredom set in, so Bertie decided to train himself at the High Jump, and soon he was good enough to clear the fence and take himself off to find amusement. This did not please the neighbours and assorted local dogs, who could not cope with Bertie's boisterous advances.

We found out just how good he was at the High Jump in our kennels. One day he decided to visit the Labrador in the adjoining pen and the kennel staff were amazed to find him and the Labrador grinning at them together! So Bertie had to be moved to a pen where the wire went right to the roof, but undaunted he tried again and on a couple of occasions had to be "peeled" off the top of the pen wire in case he fell back and hurt himself.

Luckily he didn't have to wait long. A lovely family with two boys came along and fell in love with him straight away. They were warned of his high flying activities and spent a whole weekend raising their already more than adequate fencing (for a normal Boxer) to a dizzy height. Bertie moved in, made himself at home, and has not even tried once to escape. In fact he has decided that the High Jump is no longer really his scene, he much prefers football with the boys. He's a great goalkeeper, and an excellent dribbler!

After about a year, when Bertie had also learned to behave as a good Boxer should, both at home and out on his lead, a lady Boxer called Milly came to join him, also from Boxer Rescue. They took to each other straight away and are now inseparable. Both dogs love the kids and play with them for hours, they go for long walks together and are adored by the whole family, to whom Boxer Rescue owes a great debt of gratitude and we wish them many, many happy years with Bertie and Milly.