4/25/04 - We have had Penelope for over a year now…Where does the time go?  Ellie is the easiest boxer I have met.  She loves to play but if you ask her to stop, she immediately jumps in your lap for some love.  When my niece stays over (she is 3) she always picks Ellie to sleep with her and Ellie waits
until she lays down and then puts her head across her legs as if to make sure she doesn’t get up.
Ellie is having some trouble with her arthritis in her back and limping on her hind legs…We have seen the vet multiple times with many x-rays and they still are not sure what it is.  We give her Rimadyl on her hard days and that seems to help.  We have an appointment next week with a new vet so hopefully he will be able to give us some answers.
We love this girl more than anything and feel so lucky to have her…She is our little Jelly Belly!!

6/11/03 - Penelope has been with us for over 3 months now and I cannot say enough wonderful things about my girl. We live down a 2 mile dirt road and my dogs go for a walk with me every day. Because we are in the woods, they get to go off leash and they all are so great. If I need them to come back, I just call them and all 3 coming flying over and sit on my feet. I am teaching my horse to drive and they love following along. Jack and Ellie still play non-stop and when they finally do crash, they pile on top of each other to sleep. Did I mention that Ms. Ellie loves the water? She loves to be sprayed with the hose and she also likes to stick her head in the shower and lick the water as it hits her face. We love this girl and we are so lucky to have her in our family.

5/23/03 - Penelope (Ellie) has been part of our family for 2 months now although I honestly can’t remember life before we had her. She continues to be such a sweet girl and just melts your heart when she looks at you. She has turned into my third shadow and so many mornings when I am getting ready for work, she will look up at me and rest her head on my leg, just wanting to be pet a little more. She is scheduled to start her obedience classes next week and has already completed 2 agility classes. She joined the class late and the others had already completed 4 classes. At her second class, my Ellie girl was used as the example! She does it all off leash and absolutely loves it. She has not hesitated at anything and thinks the A-Frame is soooo much fun. She gets so excited when she is done with her course and her kidney bean dance makes everyone laugh. We hope to continue going through the summer. My husband and I are expecting at the end of November and we know she will be so great with our baby. She plays so well with my 2 year old niece and my niece loves to put her leash on walk her around. We have found that Ms. Ellie is allergic to something (possibly horse feet) and breaks out in hives. She has done it several times but some Benadryl for a couple of days seems to clear it out. We love our girl, and can not imagine a better dog for our family (and Jack agrees too).

3/24/03 - How lucky are we? That is what Tim and I keep saying. Penelope is the most wonderful, cute, lovable, sweet, obedient beautiful girl. She has fit in at our house since the first day she was here. Her and Jack (our other boxer) have been playing non-stop since she got here. They sleep together, drink together and even share their dinner with each other. Penelope is such a happy girl and I cannot believe how well she listens. I took all 3 dogs for a walk in the woods the other day and they had so much fun splashing through the water, racing through the woods and smiling the whole time. Today we tried something new with Ms. Ellie. We went for her first trail ride. She was so great. We took Jack, Penelope and my neighbor's dog and our horses and off we went. My girl was so great. She stayed right with us the whole time. One more quick note, Penelope has been so good with our cats. She licks them all over when they let her get close enough. We could not be happier with our girl. I think that fate is an amazing thing and I do believe that fate brought this girl to us. I can't believe how lucky we are. Thank you to Karen and her family for spending so much time with Penelope and loving her. All your caring really shows.

3/9/03 - Penelope has been adopted.

3/8/03 - Penelope is pending adoption.

3/4/03 - Have I mentioned yet that Penelope likes shoes? Now I'm not sure that she would actually destroy them, but I did catch her and Poppy playing tug of war with my daughters shoe. And then there was the time she started nibbling on the toe of my boot---while is was on my foot. I said "Nellie!" with all the surprise I could muster, and she hopped up onto my lap quick as a bunny and started give me crazy kisses. Then she put her head right on my shoulder, like a baby. She is just the most adorable, endearing little girl.

3/1/03 - Penelope went on a home visit to a potential adopting home yesterday, and did just great! My daughter said that she was very good with the two young children of the house, but did seem to be puzzled by the lack of another dog! She just likes for her playtime. She adores cuddles with people just as much, so we need to find her just the right combination of people-love and playtime, and she will be happy as a clam. We haven't had any accidents at all this week! I think we found the problem and the solution---when Penelope isn't able to hang out with her family, she needs to be crated for accident-proofing. She is perfectly content dozing in her crate as long as she gets enough playtime, inside and outside, in between rest times. She is such a good little girl. She is one of those dogs who is so trusting--she cuddles with her whole body, and rolls around with her legs waving in the air, loving those belly rubs. She is looking pretty good too! Those ribs are just about covered up now, although the process of gining weight has been a little slow as she "plays" it off so easily. Oh well---she is the picture of health and happiness---that's all she needs!

2/28/03 - Well, we are very proud of Penelope this week. Twice she has had the opportunity to go after a cat, and both times she was able to pay attention to our orders to "leave it!" What a girl! Luckily, our cat refused to run, no doubt feeling more secure looking down at Nellie from the counter. I think we would have had a real struggle to keep Nellie from the thrill of the chase if the cat ran. This girl is so full of life!

2/22/03 - Poor little Penelope---she just couldn't stand the taped ears! She shook her head constantly and scratched at her ears until they bled---we took pity on her and removed the tape. The slim chance of straighter ears just did not seem worth putting her through such discomfort. She is a happy girl now! Boy oh boy, I have never seen a dog who loves playing with other dogs so much. She keeps Poppy rolling around on the floor until poor Poppy just collapses, exhausted. When Penelope is absolutely sure that Poppy will not be roused to play some more, then Penelope will take a snooze herself. She blends in so nicely with our dogs. The cats have learned to stay upstairs when they see the baby gate across the bottom of the stairs. They know that Nellie is out and active, and they wisely give up the first floor to this pupster. If you want a playful, lovable pup with good energy and great snuggles as well, Penelope is your girl!

2/18/03 - Little Miss Penelope wins the all time best in show award for the Best Boxing Boxer! She stands up on her hind legs and waves her front legs in front of her---boxing Poppy. At first, Poppy took one look at her and ran under the dining room table, but then she quickly figured out that Nellie-belly is all about playtime. Well, Poppy is no slouch in the play department either, and they have been going at it for the last hour. They box, they jaw, they roll around on the floor in each others arms---legs--happy as kids in a sandbox. Opps--they crashed now---sprawled out, sound asleep. Oh, in case you've been wondering---Penelope is not a snorer Boxer girl---she sleeps quietly and loves to snuggle up like a baby. She is a "dry mouth" Boxer girl--no drooly, slobbery kisses---she's very delicate and gives little dry flicks of the tongue kisses. Just in case you're wondering. One thing I need to mention, as it has not improved, is that Penelope does not like to be left alone in a room. We need to keep her in the kitchen when we are not around, as she will chase the cats. She lets us know that she misses us by immediately going to the bathroom on the kitchen floor. Now, she is definatly potty trained---we have never seen her do this. She only does it because she's mad that she can't be with everyone else. If she were allowed to hang with everyone else, we'd probably never have an accident. Also, she does not go in her crate. So, keep that in mind if you want to adopt this sweet little girl---either you need to have a little patience with her toddler stage, or you need to make her 100% part of the family and let her be where she wants to be---by your side. I truly love this girl. She is so extra sweet. She has this way of gazing into your eyes with love just oozing out---it all shows in her pretty little face.

2/15/03 - Little Nellie girl is now spayed and ready to go to her forever home.  The nice doc took pity on her poor little ears and taped them up for us at the same time. He said it's worth a try---but too much of the base of the ear was cropped when she was a pup, and the taping may or may not work.  Well, it doesn't seem to matter to anyone who meets this adorable and extrodinarily sweet and lovable little girl.  She is soooo happy to be back home.  Right now, she is all cuddled up on my daughter snoozing on the couch.  Our two dogs keep sniffing her taped ears and giving her little welcome home kisses.  She's a doll baby!