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Give a Dog a Home.

 After the sad loss of our first puppy, I vowed that I would never go through the pain of having and losing another dog again.

My first dog was a Brindle Boxer which died from a heart condition that Boxers are prone to. He went through extensive tests to determine what was wrong with his heart and it turned out that it was more than likely due to too close breeding. I had an open dispute with the breeder who would not admit any liability.

That was when I turned to Boxer Rescue for their help and input. They helped me understand about the heart condition and the heart scoring that Boxers have to have in order to become good breeding stock. Their heart has to have a score of 0 or 1 to be eligible for this. My puppy turned out to be a 5 when he was scored, which is extremely high.

After a few months of conversing with the friendly voluntary staff at Boxer Rescue, a red Boxer needed re -homing. I was very nervous about it all. I had just lost a puppy and now I was being asked if I would take on a 22 month old dog with slight behavioral problems. I talked to my husband and we decided to give it a go.

One of the volunteers came round, vetted us, the children and the garden. She told us that we would have to make a small donation to the charity and the dog would then be our responsibility.

We went to visit our dog and took the children, who immediately fell in love with him. We brought him home, settled him in and haven't looked back since. We have had no problems with his behavior, he is a fantastic companion and absolutely adores us all.

For the sake of a small donation, we have a beautiful, fun loving, adorable dog with an excellent pedigree.

Before you go out and spend a lot of money on a puppy, consider this article first. Not all rescue dogs are bad and you will be giving a loving home to a dog that wasn't wanted.

Article by Tracey Aldous