Last Sunday morning, as I was quietly meditating on my chair Veronica burst in, greatly disturbing my aura; “Felicia, c’mon, we’re going to a race”!

What?? Hello there; it’s SUNDAY and I am MEDITATING!

Veronica forced me up, “Felicia, NC and MBC are running and Indya’s coming, it’ll be fun”. Oh, in that case…I HAVE to come. (If not she’ll just brag about the cool stuff she did.)

Turns out we were tricked! A race is THE most boring thing ever! Nothing cool here!  You’d think we’d be able to run, to jump and actually have fun. But no! BORING!

We started off acting like two well behaved Boxer girls. Looking at the crowd, expectantly waiting for the fun to start.

It got old and we decided “observing” passing dogs would be entertaining, in a very civilised way I may add, well, “Boxer style”.

“Boxer style” was no hit. We were “too agitated” so they split us up.

Indya, with MC, started her “morning routine”. Yes, she has to stay in shape.

Me, snuggling and playing with Dennis

That’s when things got really bad. I frankly don’t understand what we did wrong…

…because they suddenly tied us up to the gate!! Yes: THE GATE!!! And WITHOUT blankets. Very unfair!

Were we expected to lie down on the cold stone?? Never in a million years!

Racing seems to be a family thing.  I think it’s because of VH, he’s a real pro and does all the very difficult stuff like running up and down mountains.

Now they all do it, well not the mountain thing. I think Indya’s secret dream is to race with him.  VH:  PLEASE DON’T! (I’d NEVER hear the end of that story!!)

Here’s something really weird; they run smiling!!

MC smiling!

ZC smiling!

Are they having fun?

And of course Veronica is always there cheering! Watching with tears in her eyes. I don’t understand why? What’s her problem?

It was MBC and NC’s first race.

There she was, looking very concentrated and focused. Everybody started cheering and screaming. Obviously we joined in.

You’d think Veronica would be happy that we participated…but NO. She got irritated and lectured us about “Proper race behaviour and attitude”! So they can jump and cheer and we have to be “quiet and calm”. No logic here!!

On the plus side as soon as we were “quiet and calm” Veronica threw treats at us to search for. That kept us busy for quite a while.

And there he was, my NC, running and smiling!!  VH was running with him as a coach. There went the cheering and the screaming,

Despite the “Race dog rules”, we joined the enthusiastic fans with happy barks. NC loves me and always plays with me, wish I could run with him… for a while…a few meters or so. (Remember, I’m more of a sprinter)

There is quite a lot of competing in the family.

Veronica’s niece, PS is a horse addict. Here with her Contez. They won plenty of medals and ribbons. Veronica’s a fan, she even went to a few shows. She would stand next to the course with tearful eyes. (She really has a problem!)

I have to say they look very elegant and classy, PS and Contez.

I’m no big Horse fan, not that I’m scared. I just prefer to keep a certain distance, and anyway there is no other option. I have to follow Veronica’s “Horse rule” (Sit down at wait for the horse to pass)

Then we have Veronica’s friend VT, she is an Agility champ with her Boxer Gilda. They both love it!

Happy Gilda.

YH, who owns three Boxers competes with THEM ALL!!

Lux

Mojo

And Havannah.

Just look at them! They’re so concentrated and perfect. (I might be a little, only a little jealous here.)

I think Swedish Boxers are different! That’s why!! Surely they have Obedience genes. Me, my Father is Italian. It’s a well known fact that Italians are warm blooded!

Lego competed….of course!

I’m not that interested in any kind of competition (I’m like EC, he’s laid back and more of a geek). I mean what’s the point? You have to work and work and train and train and all that focus! For a whole trial!! No, not for me!

I have a theory, I think Veronica secretly never liked it that much!!

“Felicia is way too distracted, she has real trouble focusing”! Yeah, yeah blame it on the sweet innocent Boxer girl…

See what a mean, lame excuse! I could compete if I wanted too, I just don’t feel like it!

Question: Do people actually like competitions?  Do they enjoy it?  To me, there seems to be an awful lot of pressure.

Before the D date everyone’s nervous and tense. After the competition they stress!! Beats me, you’d think they’d be relieved its over.

No! Here’s it how it goes:

“I’m not very satisfied with the result, I could have done better”…”What was your result?”…”What did he do?”…”What did the number one get?” …and so on…

Hey guys, it’s over!!  Chill!

I guess for some mysterious reason, people love it! And the whole “result circus” is part of the deal. Apparently the aim is to run faster, jump better, get higher points…I, personally, don’t think results are important.

Veronica did enter me into the Big Swiss Boxer show. Andy was my handler and I won first prize in my category!! The judge said I was very beautiful, well of course! I have a great talent: to pose!

Andy and Jacky were very proud.

I loved my distinctions! They made me feel good and happy! I know what you’re thinking; I might be contradicting myself by enjoying my achievements but this is totally different, apples and oranges!!

The day ended quite well. All athletes went home, happy, Veronica and MC felt we needed a reward (we certainly did). They took us to the lake for a swim. We had so much fun, and what’s more;

…there was no winner!!!

 

I’m a little older now, still as cute though! Just look at that adorable little me, sneaking into the car, making sure Veronica wouldn’t leave without me.

Less cute were my taped ears. For “my own good” so she said… nevertheless making me look really silly!



I loved and respected Lego, keeping the boundaries. She needed peace and quiet during her meals.

She was my everything, my surrogate Mom, my security blanket, my friend, my mentor and I miss her so much.

I graduated to “Big Puppy school”, so cool (Apart from my ear style). No more Kindergarten baby games.

This was only for the Big guys! I made new friends and we did loads of very difficult stuff.

Like heel work. Very hard! Especially since neither Veronica nor I really like it…though Eva  showed us how to make it fun, or less boring! We did our very best.

At the end of each lesson there was a little Agility. I love Agility!

Jumping, playing, running and plenty of treats, what’s not to like? Don’t I look cute there  (apart from the ears)?

Now, of course, I’m nearly an Agility pro!

I grew taller, which gave me a few new options, like checking out the irritating, barking  neighbour dog.

That black Lab is so full of herself, Veronica thinks she’s sweet. Sweet??? NO she’s  provoking me…all the time!!

I could taste Veronica’s lunch. Easy!!

It’s common knowledge that puppies have ideas and explore the world. Veronica should know this considering I’m her fourth Boxer!

And frankly nobody just leaves the Vegetables on the front porch.

Yeah, that’s very silly.

Sometimes things just happen. How was I to know the Mug would explode? I wanted to see what it contained.

And if some doors are left open when I’m alone and bored… I keep myself busy.  I had no idea my toy would rip that easily. Ok, it wasn’t “technically” mine, I took it from EC’s room. It felt like mine.

Lego was very upset. Veronica too (seems it was kind of difficult to clean)

Then there was the Book incident…quite embarrassing as a matter of fact.

Apparently Veronica had forgotten all about Dog education and Puppies. She needed to be guided by books! ( Pathetic)

Joël Dehasse, is a Veterinarian animal behaviourist, just like SPS (Veronica’s sister). Veronica bought nearly all his books.

I got tired of all the reading and the theories. So I…

… took matters into my own hands or rather teeth! Lego was outraged! (She refused to help me.)

What I didn’t know was that Veronica had an an appointment with Joël to help her deal with certain aspects of my personality.

OMG!!! The Book… HIS BOOK!!! Was she going to rat me out??? He might be super strict!! I mean he’s famous and all! I didn’t even know the guy and the plan was NEVER to meet him!!

Turned out Joël is super nice and very cool. He gave Veronica great advice. Told her not to worry. She always exaggerates; she needs to CHILL

(No mention of the book, Phew)

I loved the sofas and sneaked up as often as I could,  I especially loved jumping  around  all the cushions! Boy, did Veronica lecture me.

“Felicia these are very nice “Svenskt Tenn” sofas, and that material is fragile, NOT for dogs” (She’s such a spoilsport).

There were a few more, very small, “incidents”, really not important,  I won’t bore you; so let’s move on!

Corinne held her annual Agility completion. Supposedly I was “too wild” to compete and had to be held on a leash…ridiculous!

I was NOT too wild. Just expressing my inner happiness and joy to be able to compete next to Lego.

Lego won of course, she always did. She was such a “I want to please Mommy” kind of  Boxer girl, always perfect!

Not sure I’ll ever be perfect… I just hope to stay as fit, she’s twelve here.

I played a lot down by the lake, trying to catch the waves-

Indya came over all the time. Even then she made a big fuss over her being a little older. Just look at that,  chewing that stick right infront of me?  Provoking me.

She always does that!!

But I do love her. We’re BFF’s and we have loads of fun. (Even though she runs faster AND is older AND always ends up with the good toy)

Look at that; three Boxers! Just like Veronica’s friend YH, she has three…all the time!!

In Veronica’s home with three Boxers order rules, nearly military order I’d say: Lego eats first, Indya second and me (of course!) last… very frustrating.

Lego was entitled to privileges, but Indya?? I don’t think that six months qualify as “Older”.

That’s when MC gave me  my very embarrassing  winter coat! Remember THE coat? Veronica was thrilled ” Wow! Look at you Felicia, you look very fancy, this is a Barbour coat”

I was mortified!!

(Don’t EVER make me wear that at Corinne’s!!!)

I still felt very much like a little Puppy at times, wanting to cuddle. As a matter of fact I still do, and often climb up on everybody’s knee.

Not always appreciated, and frankly I don’t understand why? Who wouldn’t want to have a cute Boxer girl on their lap?

Rumor has it I’m too big and I slobber… that’s SO not true! And 29 kg is NOT too big! Great Danes are much heavier.

NC and EC NEVER push me away! Yeah! They adore me!

GM didn’t mind! See: ON HER LAP! (Ok I’m a puppy here, but still)

With Veronica we cuddle all the time!! Well yes! We love each other.

My first Birthday came. And my first big  “Birthday Talk”;

“Felicia you’re one year old, it’s time to behave, like a big Boxer girl!”

I didn’t feel like a “big Boxer girl”, still don’t. And you know what, I have NO intention of growing into one…

…EVER!

 

Intersting reading:

Joël Dehasse

http://www.joeldehasse.com