Jet518


	Age & Sex: 1 1/2 yr. old Male


UTD: Yes


	Weight: 44 lbs.


Other Dogs: Yes


	Color: Flashy Fawn


Cats: Unknown


	Ears: Natural


Children under 5: Unknown


	Tail: Natural


Children over 5: Unknown


	Neutered: Yes


Microchipped: No


	Shelter Surrender


Location: Boston, MA

Adoption Donation $300
Obedience Training Mandatory

4/24/07 - Jet has been with us for a year and a half now; it has been a year and a half of pure fun. Jet still has his exuberance, playfulness, speed, and most of all his love. He is just so sweet and affectionate. Everyone who comes into this house falls in love with him. (Granted that not everyone loves that he has to crawl in your lap and give you a kiss!) Jet goes to doggy day care once a week for socialization. He is a favorite there and we have been told that he is the best trained dog they have. Of course, this is similar to the fact that your children tend to behave better with others than with you! The doggy day care also does training and whenever they are training a dog, Jet follows behind off leash doing all the commands. He has gained some weight but is still on the slim side at 57 pounds. His tail seems to have toughened up and doesn’t split open anymore from wagging, but it sure does leave bruises on all our legs. When Jet does the bendy, his body wiggles from his ears all the way down to the tip of that very long tail. He also has progressed to have full run of the house while we’re out. We still can’t leave the windows open though as he gets way too excited if another dog is passing by. It’s just a teeny price to pay for having this wonderful dog in our lives. Thank you BAR once again for uniting us.

12/6/05 - Well Jet has been with us for three months now. It seems like he has been with us forever. He is super comfortable and obviously at home with us now. So much so that now we get to see the craziness of him. Every now and then you'll start hearing a growl and he decides that it is now at that time that you must play with him. If you ignore him, he jumps up on you, nipping, mouthing, going ballistic. We have tried tackling him to the ground, spraying him with the water bottle (he now just attacks the water bottle), saying no, screaming no, screaming stop, etc. We now ask him if he wants to go to his crate for a time out. At first we used to have to bring him, now just saying the words seems to be working. He's just WACKY!! Every day he seems to discover new things which makes us realize how young he is. He learned to play soccer with acorns. Most recently with the wind knocking the leaves off the trees, he took to chasing, capturing and eating the leaves. That was fine until he started chasing the leaves while they were ON the trees. I said to myself, Oh my God, he's going to start climbing trees now. We've been letting him run at the park. He really just goes around in a circle (like a race horse hence a new nickname Jet-Biscuit) to whatever size area you are letting him run in. While running he will always leap a few times in the air just because he can! My son started doing a thing with him we call reverse limbo. He holds a blanket up through a doorway to see if Jet can jump over it. He's AMAZING. And you would thing all of the above would get him tired. NO WAY. I remember one Sunday I took him on a walk on the trails in my neighborhood. I came home and said well now Jet will be tired and take a nap. He immediately went and got his favorite squeaky ball and proceeded to run through the house, up and down the stairs, squeaking away. He only rests when HE wants to rest. Now the Christmas tree is up in our house. I have been dreading this for about a month now. We have only put lights on the tree and not any ornaments yet because his tail is going to knock all of them off anyway. He doesn't understand that he's not supposed to go underneath the tree. All in all, Jet is like a new baby in the house, learning new things every day. He is spoiled like a baby but also loved like a baby. Thank you BAR for uniting us.

9/4/05 - Well it has been a week since Jet has come “home”. I must say that I don’t believe there was really any
adjustment period on his part. He just became the youngest member of the family. He loves each one of us differently.
I don’t know how this happens every time but my husband ends up being the master pack leader. I end up being the
Mom, aka softie. The kids become the one he looks to to REALLY horse around with.

At night we just bring his bed into whomever’s turn it is to have him in their room. He settles right in. In the morning he just waits for that signal that “someone” is awake. Then the kisses begin. I cannot get over how affectionate this dog is. He has settled into his morning routine. While I take my shower, he goes down to his toy basket and gets a toy to play with while he’s waiting. Actually, he manages to amuse himself with his toys quite well. He throws them up in the air, runs with them up and down the stairs, kicks them so he can chase them, etc. He is just so much fun to watch. When I throw a ball to him in the kitchen, he has even learned how to “slide” so he doesn’t slam into the wall. He is ALL puppy.

I had never seen a boxer with a tail before Jet. Well, Jet has some severe tail wagging problems. His foster mom, Sandy had told us that he had cut it twice at her house from wagging and she had resorted to keeping duct tape on it. The minute he got into our house, he started wagging away and his cut opened. Basically, he hasn’t stopped wagging his tail and unfortunately, we can’t seem to get his tail to heal. FORTUNATELY, he doesn’t seem to mind it one bit. The funny part is trying to watch four of us trying to hold his tail still to bandage it up. He just thinks we’re all coming at once to give him one big massive family hug and wags it all the more. We’re getting used to the duct tape and it comes in so many colors, we figure we can decorate it differently for each season. 102 uses for Duct Tape!

Yesterday we took him to the park. He acted a tad bit tentative at being off leash. Perhaps this is how he lost his owner or how his owner decided to lose him? He wanted nothing to do with his balls or toys which he loves playing with at home. My son did eventually get him to run with him but I anticipate it will take him a bit longer with us to really enjoy the park. Later last night my sister brought over her miniature schnauzer, Samson, to introduce to his new cousin Jet. Well poor Jet. Samson was not very hospitable and Jet just kept talking to him all night long trying to get him to play. Samson wanted nothing to do with him even though Samson was rolling over on his back trying to get him to play.

All in all, it’s been a wonderful week with Jet. Although we were looking to adopt an older dog, having a puppy again keeps us laughing and young. We just love his antics and his exuberance for life.

8/28/05 - Jet has been adopted by the family he volunteered to do a home check with for BAR! (with his foster mom along as chauffeur) It wasn't expected, but they just fell in love with him during the visit! (Jet working his super powers?) His forever mom has already sent out "It's a Boy" announcements to 40 email addresses of friends and family (including me)! Now, those are happy and proud parents! This is one, super family, destined to meet Jet the SuperPuppy, to form a super match!

8/23/05 - Jet the Super Puppy has been here for just over 5 weeks, and everything is still great with him – and us! Still, not even ONE accident in house or crate, no matter how long it is in between trips outside – amazing for a little guy found on the streets! Even last Saturday night, his last trip outside was very early (~8:30 pm), yet he was waiting quietly and patiently for me to come downstairs in the morning even tho I had overslept to 6:45 am! We went to the vet on Saturday to get another scraping and fecal test, and both were negative!! Yay! He is on meds for mites for another 3 weeks and then another scraping (standard procedure, I am told), but we all expect that to be negative, too. The only bald spot he had when he got here was about the size of a nickel, and the fur had grown over in the 3 weeks he has already been on the mites med. Guess he is not stressed here!

Jet is now 50-1/2 lbs, and is looking just about right (see new pix from home check). He is back up to 2 cups twice/day, but he is not going to put on much more weight with all the running and playing he does, and I guess he needs that much food to continue the
running and jumping. I still do not know for sure about kitties. He still wags his tail like crazy when he sees one of them, but he can play rough, although he is super with the baby Boston who is now about all of 5 lbs (see new pix). He does “mouth” her, but so gently! I take him out front after dark for his last duty tour before bed (do not want to chance a skunk in the dark back yard) and one night a big fluffy cat was walking by (yeah, it was a cat). It was so startled, it took off like a shot and if Jet was not on leash (he always is when out front, tho), goodness knows where he would be by now! Chase is SO much more fun than running in circles by oneself – although that is
fun, too!!! Knowing how fast he can run, I do think he would have easily caught up to the cat, even as fast as it was running (outside cats have to run fast!). He has yet to bite down hard on anyone or anything, except the other end of a tug-of-war toy, but if Jet had pinned the cat down, I think he would have been on the losing end of that game!

I took Jet to a home visit with me on Sunday, and he was just great! It was almost an hour ride (I did go the wrong way for about 10 minutes), and he is marvelous in the car, as always. He behaved really well, and the mom and son actually got down on the floor to play with him and brought out some of their late Boxer’s toys for Jet to play with. (Super family!) After a bit, Jet was lying down playing with
one of the toys when he saw himself in the dark glass covering the fireplace opening, and I heard him talk for the first time! Soooo funny – thought I had Scooby Doo with me for a couple minutes, there! He has seen himself in other things (like a blank TV screen), but he had never talked. Must have been the way this particular reflection looked. He still wagged his tail, thinking it was another dog to play
with. He will bark the first minute or so he does see another dog – with tail going as fast as he can get it to go, but if he does not get to go over to that dog, he does not get overly upset. (I waited for a man with two dogs to come out of the vet office before going in, as it is a very small waiting area – storefront-type clinic, and Jet did try to get over to them before they crossed the street, but when I did not let him, he just sat down next to me.) I think any first introductions to other dogs – like at an off-leash park – should be controlled for a few
minutes until you can get a feeling for the situation, as it should be with any new “event” in a rescued Boxer’s life (okay, maybe I am an over-cautious foster mom).

The family I visited even took pictures of Jet playing with their 15-yo son to show their 17-yo daughter, who was out when I got there. The mother was nice enough to send me the pix the same day! As it turned out, the daughter came home just as I was pulling out, so
they asked if I would stay a few minutes more to let her see Jet, too (they were so nice, it was easy to say yes). Jet apparently had a good time, because as much as he wants to get into a car to go riding, he was hesitating to get in when I finally was leaving! He was so tuckered out from all the playing, he slept the 45-minute ride home (I did not get lost, this time), and for a couple of hours in his crate after that!

I do not know when it almost stopped because it was not a big "problem" to start with, but Jet does not seem to whine very often at night any more – just here and there if he is not tuckered out enough to go right to sleep. He will also whine a bit if you put him inhis crate and walk out of the room, but stay in the house, because he wants to be with you, but it does not last long. He has given a couple of barks three or four nights (not in a row) maybe 15 or 20 minutes after everyone has gone to bed, but I think it is because he has heard something outside (I have once seen a man walking his dog fairly close to the front of the house where the room Jet’s crate is in is located; the man should not be walking down here, and no one else does it as it is a fenced dead end, but that is another story). Jet loves to try to catch flying bugs in his mouth, too! Especially those little white “butterflies.” He really makes an effort to catch those, so you need to have a good grip on the leash! He will pull to get at them more than anything else. There are so many to select from at night, he usually just waits for them to get close enough to chomp on! He walks well enough on leash, although I do not go far with him – he does not seem to be a puller, in general; if he tries to go where you do not want to go, he can be brought back to you quite easily. Jet also loves to graze on grass and yank leaves off bushes and low-hanging tree branches. I do not know why; the girls will eat some grass, they do not particularly care for leaves. It does not seem to have an adverse affect on Jet (or the girls) at all (and now the Boston is eating grass – learning from the girls?), and there just does not seem to be any stopping Jet, so since it is not the worst thing he can try to eat while outside, I leave him to it.

I would love to see Jet be part of a family who can give him more freedom than we can – such as let him sleep in a bedroom (or on a bed) and be loose in the house all the time they are home. Someone is almost always in the computer/foster crate room, so it is not like he is alone when we are home, but with our four kitties (all ages 5 and 7 – too old for constant games of chase), Jet is basically restricted. When he is loose, he is great, tho. Has not tried to get on furniture, although he probably would with some encouragement. Jet is very much still a puppy at 1 yo (says the vet), and almost everything is a “game,” so I think he and his forever family would greatly benefit from some training. He is a “super” Boxer now, and can only get better with the right training – no bad habits to break (so far, anyway), just good ones to learn, and he is a quick learner, as are all youngsters, skin- and fur-type alike. Being wonderfully housebroken is a major plus to start from, for sure!

I did not mean for this to go on so long, but I DID miss a week! Once I start writing down everything, I guess I cannot stop, especially when there is just SO much to tell – and I would hate to leave anything out! (Although I feel as I have, but I will just include it next time!)

7/29/05 - Another week with Jet, and all continues to be good. We took a trip to the vet last week, and Jet was super in the car. He is so funny; he leans his back into the corner and rests his bent foreleg on the armrest just like a person would, sometimes also resting his chin on the window “sill” (window is up, of course). He was pretty good in the vet’s waiting area, too. There was only one small fluffy, female dog, and they got along great. They both wanted to play, but Jet was so much bigger than the other dog, we all kept the “meeting” controlled. Jet is very gentle with the Boston puppy at home, so we weren’t too concerned that he would hurt the little dog.

After checking out Jet’s teeth and gums, and discussing things he does and doesn’t do (e.g., in 3 weeks, he has yet to lift his leg to pee), the vet thinks Jet is no more than 1 year old, if that (so we gave him a birthday of July 4), and she said he was in very good form (high narrow waist, deep chest, great fur, all kinds of good things). She said he hasn’t even started to fill out, and being very young is part of the reason. He has put on about 5 pounds, and it really makes a difference. The skin isn’t sinking in between his ribs, although you can still see all of them, it’s more like other young Boxers I have seen (and thought we underfed, but weren’t). He had a small “bald” spot on the side of one rear leg, so the vet did a scraping and found just two mites, and he does have internal parasites, both of which can be caused by stress (he was on the street and in a NYC shelter). He is on liquid meds for both (she said the mites could just go away by themselves, but the treatment is just to make sure) and he is expected to be clear of both very shortly. He also broke out in some kind of allergy Sunday, but a couple days of benedryl has cleared that up. Since he had been here for 11 days before that happened, and there was nothing new introduced to him, the vet thinks maybe he got stung by an insect. Jet is so easy to give meds to! Quite different than what we’re used to with our girls!

He is not eating all his food in one “sitting” any more, so I’ve cut back to 1-1/2 cups 2xday. His being on the thin side is part of being a puppy, I guess (and the vet agrees, although he was very thin when he came here). If he continues to leave some food in his bowl, I’ll just go to 1 cup each feeding. He still whines for 5-10 minutes when first in his crate for any reason, but it’s not really loud and he doesn’t bark. I tried giving him a kong with pb and tiny cookies one time to see if it would stop the whining, but it didn’t change – no shorter, no longer. If you are out and about, he wants to be with you, although he doesn’t get manic about it. He did have a really good time with the kong in the end, tho, and continues to play with it, even empty. He wasn’t much interested in chew things (rawhide, greenies), but he’s getting there. His fave thing to do still seems to be flying like the wind around the yard and “real” boxing with the girls. He also mouths the heck out of them AND the 11-week-old Boston (she is so small – maybe 4 pounds? – so that’s a trip to watch!), but there is not even a hint of biting. Definitely ALL rough-and-tumble puppy play with the girls. And since he got here, still not even one accident in house or crate!

He’s still just looking like he wants to chase and play with the kitties, as opposed to eating them (do 1 year olds even know about going after small, furry “things” for nefarious purposes?). When he sees them come down the stairs, they get his attention, but I can divert it from them, too, so he’s not zoning out on them. Sometimes his tail wags or he tilts his head (trying to figure out what they are?), but there’s not been any growling or hackles raised or crouching. They don’t come down to the first floor much since he got here, but they don’t seem afraid of him, either (they will sometimes sit at the top of the stairs and stare at Jet behind the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs; not the nicest thing to do, but they are kitties, after all! lol). Jet is so gentle with the Boston baby, I don’t expect that he’d hurt them, either; the thing is, the puppy runs TO him to play where the kitties usually run the other way (as they do with the girls when they sort of chase, and as kitties are wont to do, unless it’s their decision to stop and give you the time of day), and I think that adds a measure of excitement to the situation.

Jet is a very happy boy who loves to be loved/hugged/patted/talked to and played with (vigorously)! It would be really good if Jet’s forever family includes active adults/children, or has a young “playmate” for him. We are not overly active adults, but our girls are 4yo, but Harley will play with Jet for a long while (SoBe not as much) - she's always been very active. However, if one of us has Jet in the yard alone, he will play bow at you, and a quick movement from you gets him running as fast as if he were doing it with Harley, and he will chase sticks, so he still gets his energy release. After 3 weeks, I’m still amazed at how fast he can run, and how smoothly he can soar over anything in his way (e.g., Harley). We have the higher fence back in place, but he never did try to get over the 4-ft temp that was there, so even tho he seems to have steel springs in his legs and can jump straight up, in place, his head shoulder height on my son (he’s 6’5”) and sail effortlessly over other Boxers, I don’t think he can clear a 4-ft fence, at least on his own initiative. With encouragement from the other side (of course, we didn’t give him any) and a decent “runway,” he might want to try it.

7/21/05 - We are into week 2 at Boxer Airport! Jet continues to live up to his name and fly around the yard. This little boy loves to run, chase, leap, and box big time! Yet he can stop all this instantly when told to. Harley is willing to do a lot of running and boxing with Jet (they’re both tall, although Harley has 15+ pounds on Jet, and it is “standing up on hind legs and throwing jabs-type” BOXING!!!), but SoBe is not anywhere near into it, especially being smaller (and a diva! – she usually just barks on the sidelines during the matches), although Jet is persistent in trying to get her going when Harley isn’t right there. SoBe gets a bit(!) irritated at this, so I eventually have to stop him, which he does. He’ll even give us Boxer bows trying to get us to play when the girls won’t. It would be great if Jet could run full out a couple times a day (or even more) in a fenced yard, not just walked on a leash, although he does that well enough. He will slow down after 5 6 minutes of circling the yard and then going a few rounds with Harley, although he doesn’t stop entirely unless you tell him to, or take him in the house. It’s not that he goes nuts in the house if he doesn’t get rid of his energy (like on a bad, rainy day), but he seems to so enjoy releasing all that energy, it wouldn’t really be fair to him to keep him calm and quiet all the time (which he basically is when inside the house) or just going for walks when he’s such an active boy. He will probably be happy with less exercise at some point in his life, just not right now.

He still has not had one accident in the house or crate! This boy has amazing control! No matter if his last trip outside is before 9 or at 11 p.m., he goes through to around 6 a.m. And 9 out of 10 times we take him out, he will poop, sometimes twice! He’s getting 2 cups of Iams twice a day (some seems to be starting to “stick” to his ribs) so that is probably why he is pooping so much. I expect that will slow down once he is up to normal weight and eating normal amounts of food. They all go out regularly, so Jet really hasn’t had to “ask,” but I’m sure he’d let us know somehow, if necessary.

I did give him a bath, and other than he was a tad reluctant to get into the tub, once in, he was a gem. His fur is sooo soft! He also let me clean the inside of his ears after his bath. He’s on penicillin for his neuter, and he even takes that well. I need to slightly pry his mouth open, but there’s no pulling away or fighting me and once it’s open, I can put the pills at the back of his tongue, no problem.

Jet loves people! He gets really excited to see you if he hasn’t for a while, especially in the morning. He can get jumpy (although in the morning, he just wants to see that back door open up!), not necessarily ON you but in front of you, although he will put his front paws on your chest and stay there if you let him (he is learning “off,” but hasn’t grasped it totally when it comes to people). He doesn’t seem to care who you are, if you will pat him you’re his new best friend! The girls go ape when someone is at the door (barking, trying to see out the window - Harley always has, and she promptly taught SoBe what to do), but Jet doesn’t make a sound! Just waits at the baby gate to see if whomever came in comes in the computer room to see him, too, and he is ecstatic when they do! Jet does bark when he’s play bowing (NOT during actual boxing) trying to get someone to play back, but I don’t think I’ve heard him bark at any other time.
Jet is a really happy boy, and unless he’s lying down or sleeping, his tail is constantly going, which might cause some consternation to anyone who’s face is only tail high, like very small children.

He does NOT seem to beg for food, even as thin as he is. I brought a slice of pizza into the computer room with me (just as a test, don’t you know!), and while the girls stood on the other side of the gate looking like they hadn’t eaten in days, Jet basically ignored the fact that I had food right under his nose. He looked at it because he was sitting right by my leg, but only in a cursory way. They all got a small piece of dry pizza crust in the end, as usual. I did this again with something else a couple days later, and he was the same way, even knowing he would probably get a little something eventually (a cracker or some such). He sat next to me (as he usually does, food or not), but after a glance, just lay down on the floor. I can’t remember the last time any of my “kids” acted that way around human food, even tho none of them have ever had more than a infrequent “treat” of something small. The girls don’t get all over you to get atsomething you have, but they do sit as close as possible and drool and stare and make you feel like a bad mom!! Jet doesn’t even seem to care. At least, right now.

Jet does love his loving, too. When I’m at the computer, he’ll put his front legs across my lap and put his head down and just stay that way for a long time while I scratch his ears and talk to him. He still whines for 5-10 minutes when we crate him for the night or before going to work, but he doesn’t get panicky or anxious (or destructive) about it. Like he wants to be with you, but is not afraid/worried to be away from you? He will go into the crate easier now, too, like he’s learned that going in doesn’t mean never coming out. He’ll even go in it to sleep when you’re in the room with him and the gate is open. If no one is in the room with him, tho, he wants to be where the action is and will climb over the gate to go be with people.

I think with a little time living with the same kitties, Jet would probably be okay with them, although at first he would have to be watched, just because he is so frisky and strong. He will walk right by them, if they are lying or sitting around, or sit by me a couple feet away from a kitty, but if they are walking around, he wants to feint/play/chase, which the girls do with the kitties now and then, too,but Jet is a bit rough about it, yet, as puppies are wont to be. On separate days, he chased one to the foot of the stairs and stopped when I sharply said his name, but he caught up with another one in the kitchen and that one got a bit of a tap dance done on himbefore I could do anything, as did a third by the front door, who didn’t really run away afterwards (the one he kissed under the gate). The fourth we “introduced” in a nose-to-nose, and nothing from either her (our don’t-touch-me-unless-I-say-so tuxedo kitty) or Jet. So, he does not seem to want to eat them, which is a positive thing, although he is still be a bit rough for me to give him free rein with them!

Jet is a really good youngster all around (doesn’t seem to have any issues), but a youngster nevertheless, and would like a family/someone who understands that and has energy – and LOTS of love! - to give back to him (active adults and/or children or a playmate for him; I don’t know about male dogs, but Jet doesn’t even bark at the Chow mix next door when he barks; he’s so young he may not have yet formed any opinions about them). He gives love 24/7 and has a ready-when-you-are type energy. Jet is crated for 4hours twice a day during the week without any problems, but the energy is there at the surface for any time the opportunity to let loose presents itself. My son says Harley was almost exactly the same between ages 1 and 2-1/2, as Jet is now at 1-1/2 – wild and crazy for playing and people, and at 4yo now, Harley is much calmer “adult,” although she still gets super excited for several minutes when family and close friends come to visit. However, I don’t recall her being as agile and high-jumping as Jet is. We have a temporary 6-ft span of 4-ft fencing (the rest is about 7 feet), and Jet has not tried to jump over it. I don’t know why not, but after watching him, I wouldn’t want to bet that he couldn’t jump over it, although he might not actually do it without some coaxing and we’re not about to do that! (We don’t let him out in the yard unsupervised because of the shorter fence.)

7/14/05 - My second foster arrived Monday from a NYC shelter where he was taken after being found wandering the streets. He is a beautiful flashy fawn little boy (with a tail) that we’ve named Jet. It wasn’t visible to me in his shelter picture, but he is so skinny, that when I first saw him, I thought he must have been on his own for a long time! However, it may not have been all that long, even tho every bone in his body protruded. After just four regular meals, he seems to already be “softening” out. I’m starting to think he may be of the thin, muscular type Boxer; for all that he is skinny, he has strong, solid legs. I have seen a couple of Boxers like that; slightly different Boxer genes, I guess.

My son named him Jet after taking him out in the back yard when he first got here and watching him “take off” running around the yard super fast, and jumping very high, straight up (he leapfrogs Harley and can pass her running (the times he doesn’t go over her), which is saying something – she’s fast); he is extremely agile! Jet actually seemed to respond to that name quickly, so maybe the sound is similar to whatever his name was before. He gets over the baby gate although his back legs get hung up (he doesn’t “clear” jump it, and sometimes he climbs over), but he is so lightweight right now, and it’s not all that high, and with those legs, it’s not difficult. Putting a bit of weight on could hold him down a bit. At this time, it’s hard to tell what size he’ll end up being, but he’s a little taller and weighs more (even skinny) than Harley did at age 2, and at 4 yo, she’s at about 65 lbs or so now and just slightly taller than Jet; our girls are on the not-so-visible-muscles side. If he’s going to be a “muscle-boy” type Boxer, maybe he won’t grow in relation to Harley’s growth, or maybe he’ll be bigger by age 4. So hard to tell this early on.

I have been testing various things with him. He loves to have his ears played with, you can play with his lips, and even pull his tail. As hungry as he seems to be, while he’s eating (at a regular pace; didn’t vacuum it up like I expected) I am able to take his food bowl away, and I can pat him on his face, head and body with no reaction (other than a tail wag). He takes cookie treats very gently, too. He loves to sit next to you and put his head in your lap while you scratch behind his ears (he starts to drift off to sleep like this), or sit and lean against your legs, or lay at your feet using them as a pillow, just so he is near you. He is overjoyed to see everyone! He will bounce into the air do all kinds of antics for several minutes after you come in the door. As bony as he is, he will go to sleep on the hardwood floor
next to me when I am on the computer (he lays down very slowly and gently). He tries to lay on his back so I can rub his belly (or where it would be if he had one), but with his spine and hips sticking out and no padding on his back, he can’t quite do it, so his kind of twists the top half of his body to be on his back, and leaves his thigh flat on the floor. A little contorted, but it works for him!

I think Jet would be great with kids who would play with him and help him use up his puppy energy. He would be great for active adults, too, he is so fast and agile! He doesn’t really seem to know what to do with most toys, although Harley is teaching him and Jet seems to be a quick learner; they have played tug-of-war already. Like all puppies, he should get at least basic training. He does know sit, and he did a sit-stay for about 30 seconds while he could see me (when I went into another room, he stood up), he’s learning “off” (he doesn’t jump on folks – or hasn’t yet, but he puts his paws on top of the baby gate, so I figured that’s a good place to start teaching him that one). We did a couple blocks of leash walking (to bro-in-law’s and back), and he will tug a bit here and there, but it’s definitely not a pulling thing; you tug back and he stops. He has such a cute, jaunty walk, but it is really funny to watch him lope after a ball in the house on hardwood floors, he doesn’t seem to realize one is supposed to RUN after a ball to be the first one to get it. Right now, I think he goes after it only because he’s following Harley going after it.

I would say he is housebroken. No accidents in the house or the crate, and I am amazed at how much water he can hold in until I take him out in the morning! He most times needs a little nudge to get into the crate, but he does go in. He does this mournful whine for 5 or 10 minutes when first put in the crate for the night (and before we leave for work), but quiets down after a couple of “stops.” I don’t know that the “stop” quiets him, I think he just gets tired on his own. So far, he has slept through from 9-ish p.m. until after 6:00 a.m. I can see he’s awake as I come down the stairs, but I don’t hear anything out of him while I’m moving about in my room before I go down. I have a feeling he would love sleeping in someone’s bed with them – child or adult, or at least on a doggie bed in someone’s room. He does give kisses, but not overly so.

He doesn’t seem to want to eat our cats. He is curious about them – tilts his head when he sees one come down the stairs, but he got to touch noses with one of them below the baby gate, and no growls or hisses were issued (Jet wagged his tail a bit), and no one seemed to “want a piece” of anyone else. Last night the same cat was off to the side of the front door when we came in (Jet was on leash), and Jet – a bit startled - got to pounce on her somewhat before she ran away. He didn’t seem to try to bite, and there was no growling or hackles raised. The cat just ran to the other side of the room instead of upstairs. She was in the kitchen this morning, but I could walk Jet past her (holding his collar) without a struggle. So, I don’t know yet if Jet is a definite “no cat” Boxer, or if he will get used to them at some point, after seeing them every day. It was suggested we try the spray bottle training method and see if it deters him; if it doesn’t, he probably isn’t a cat “person”! He is so extremely playful – Boxer bows and all. I think he just wants to play with whomever or whatever is willing to play with him. I am not letting him be free in the house without someone being in the same vicinity (it’s a small house, but we do have two levels and a basement), but even then, as fast as he is, the cats are faster, and he can’t get real good traction on the floors. Most of the time, the cats seem to be staying out of his way (upstairs) on their own, just because he is a very active newcomer and they all just like to quietly lie around.

SoBe (my BAR baby) gets a bit (okay, a LOT) diva-ish when (bouncing) Jet gets up against her in tight quarters (like our small hall between outside and inside doors – not built for three Boxers and one adult!) and usually has something to “say,” but they are all good together, overall. SoBe just avoids being near him as much as possible, snooty little thing that she is. It’s funny, because they look a lot alike marking/coloring wise. It’s only been a few days, but I haven’t seen anything I would call “bad” behaviors . . . yet. I plan to give him a bath before my next update and see how that goes.