My husband and I had each grown up with a myriad of dogs. I had grown up with various breeds from Maltese to Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, with a Beagle, Collie and Lab mixed in for good measure. While we always had a family dog around the house and while I certainly provided my fair share of walks, poop pick-ups and feedings, I never bonded with any family dog to the point where I felt they were my best friend. Each dog that came into my life did so either when I was leaving for college, moving in with another parent or bonded with another family member. They were never my dogs but wonderful family dogs. 

 

Fast forward to college graduation, I had just received some money to invest in an IRA and had worked my way up the retail chain to be a store manager at a very young age. Life was great but my apartment felt lonely, I missed our family dog. Every day I would drive into work and pass this statuesque beautiful flashy fawn male Boxer that would stand on top of the stone wall surrounding his house. One day I decided to stop to visit him and that was the day I sealed my fate.

 

The once austere looking Boxer approached me cautiously and I was a bit nervous. A mere second later and he dropped into a play bow, ran over and grabbed his jolly ball and presented it to me. Before I knew what was happening I was rolling around in the front yard with this dog, eventually his owner came out to see what was going on. We got to talking, found out we had gone to the same college and clearly had similar taste in dogs. He described how his Boxer Cassius, was in behavior, temperament, care etc. We talked for a while and I knew as I learned more and more about the Boxer breed that this was the dog for me. 

 

I had contacted a breeder and was in line for a puppy but it all fell through when the pup in which I had interest turned out to be show quality, and at the time I was not a show quality home. In 2002 with the Internet still fairly new, I found a Boxer puppy online and in my impulsive haste I bought him.  I realize now, that his breeding was less than stellar, his health checks few and far between but I loved that dog so very hard, he became my heart and soul. A neighbor with a female boxer approached me and loved Tank so much that he wanted to breed his bitch to him. 7 puppies later began my next love with Dozer. Health testing was unknown to me and I still had so much to learn, still do. My heart was only to be broken when Dozer started to limp from a disease called degenerative myelopathy. At 8 he was gone and soon to follow in his footsteps was his father, my soul dog, Tank.

 

While DM is only 1 of MANY health issues this breed can have, I made the very conscious decision to make it my life's goal to improve as many as I can. Heart, cancer, DM, temperaments etc. I had met Boxers with all these issues and since we as humans developed this breed, I decided it was our job to fix it. My journey is only beginning, 13 years in is early and I have plenty more to learn. This is one story among hundreds just like me that want to preserve what we cherish so much. I promise to do my very best and with the support and help of my husband, we both thank you for taking the time to read our story and enjoy our Boxers, who are our best friends.

 

P.S. Why Sinnott? My very dear Great Aunt Josephine Sinnott (maiden name) showed Norwegian Elk Hounds in Westminster and had hundreds of stories about the various dogs in her life. My favorite being that she smuggled two Dachshunds from Germany when she served in WWII. She gave them sleeping pills and would walk them up and down the bridge of the ship late at night as not to get caught. They were named Hansel and Gretel. It is an honor to name my kennel after such an amazing woman who represented so much love for dogs in my family.