10/1/07 - hi everyone,  i want to give you an update on kobe. we have recently adopted him, and we couldn't
 be happier.we have officially changed his name and we now call him Watt.  named after a tremendous
 man and good friend.  Watt and our other boxer jess were getting along just great until.........
      he and i left to attend a 6 wk training course at the national k9 learning center in
 columbus ohio.  he is kickin' butt here.  as anyone who followed this guy will probably know he was a
 little timid, well after just 3 wks here he has passed  his basic obedience training, conquered most
 of the objects on the utility course and as i write this he is working on soft mouth retrieval for
 assistance or service dog training.  we are also training him off leash now. in another week he
 will also begin scenting and tracking work. 
  i must say it has  been a challenge and a pleasure training and working mr Watt.  but the best
 part of all is that i get to spend my entire day with this dog.  how lucky am i?  we have three
 more weeks to go and then we will reunited w/ our lil' miss jess, but for now there are 15 other dogs
 going thru the program with us and he has made a lot of friends.  for now it's back to working
 and soon he takes his canine good citizen test.  we will be in touch and next posting i might even
 have some pictures.  thank you to everyone at BAR once again for making Watt a part of our family

9/07 - Kobe has been adopted

8/20/07 - Kobe is pending adoption

8/19/07  - Sorry for the delay about keeping everyone informed about mr kobe. in the three weeks he
 has been with us he seems to be a completely different dog. his confidence level has grown in leaps
 and bounds. he comes when you ask him, knows how to sit (especially when treats are involved) and
 voluntarily goes into his crate. Kobe and our cat are getting along pretty well.  Basically she
 ignores his attempts to play and eventually he gives up.

he has settled into a nice routine since he's been here. every morning he wakes us up before the
 alarm clock sounds and wants to get an early start to the day. he comes over to me and will lick my
 face as if to say "good morning now come on i need to go outside" we let them outside to do their
 business then back to bed to get that 30 minutes of extra sleep. he waits patiently knowing that
 we are going to go on our morning walk soon enough. he has made tremendous progress walking on
 lead. kim barnett came over last week and gave us more than a few pointers to help us with his leash
 training. he's almost a complete gentleman on the leash now.

after our walk the other morning we stopped by the school near our house to let them stretch their
 legs an low and behold we found a soccer ball that someone left behind. kobe went absolutely
 crazy for this ball. it was as if he found a long lost friend. the joy he got from playing with the
 ball brought a huge grin to my face. he pushed it with his nose and batted it with his paws and
 didn't want to let it out of his sight. we brought it home with us and he continued to play with it in
 the back yard until he popped it. it had shape but no life to it anymore. i immediately went out
 to find an "indestructball" but all the pet stores were out of stock. as fate would have it 2 days
 later i found another soccer ball while on our morning walk. this one was a nice leather one with
 a a nike logo on it. i picked it up and we walked back to the house. when we got home i let him
 play with it . he eventually popped it but since it was leather he was able to carry it around in
 his mouth. the ball went  everywhere with him that day. when he would drop it he would look at it
 and whine as if to say “come on and play with me.” As I write this he is sleeping in his crate
 with it.  

8/5/07 - Kobe has adjusted to his new surroundings just fine.  He is quite the morning dog.  He starts stirring around 6 a.m. unfortunately my alarm doesn't go off till 6:30 so usually my alarm is shut off before it rings.  He circles the bed a few times which we have learned means "hey come on I got to do some business"  shoes on and its out the door for our morning walk.  Jesse had gotten into the habit of sleeping in, but not w/ Mr.. Kobe in town. both dogs start off the walks a little slow, but after a few minutes they're into a good groove.  The walks usually take about 45 minutes and end at the school around the block from our house.  the grounds are completely fenced so we can drop the leashes and let them really stretch their legs.  The nice thing about going out early is we don't run into anybody else except for our neighbor around the way who walks his pitbull mix
 like clockwork every morning. just like us I suppose.  We always seem to pass each other at the exact same spot on the street give or take a few feet. Anyway when these guys get to run, they run hard.  We throw the ball and they chase it to the location but don't fetch it.  They start to run side by side all the way speaking  the language of the boxer.  If only I were bowlingual.  Mr. Kobe is like a freight train.  When he starts running he is a little slow but once he gets going look out.  It seems like he needs 100 feet of open runway just to stop his massive body.  fter the walk we let them settle down then feed them breakfast.  Kobe is very polite while we prepare his food, in fact he knows the catch phrase "are you hungry?" no food aggression what so ever.  I have stepped in during his feeding w/out any problems at all.  he eats rather quickly and is always done before Jesse.  While she is still eating he gives us a look like "hey can I have some more?"  sorry pal only two cups in the morning.  Kobe is looking very strong and toned. His coat is a little dry so he gets to eat eggs a few times a week on top of his kibble. I used to give eggs to just to touch on Kobe's after effects from his heartworm treatment.  He is a ball of energy.  You would never know that he had any health issues. He plays w/ the energy and enthusiasm of a young
 boy, and why shouldn't he because that's what he is.

8/1/07  sorry for the long wait for kobe's update.  we recently had kobe come to us and boy what a sweet guy he is. I know you have read this before but it's so true.  he is very timid and shy, but within a few hrs he warmed up to us and our 2 1/2 yr old female.  they have been playing very well together.  i love to watch boxers play.  no breed plays as hard and seems to have so much fun as this breed. 
kobe needs to learn how to walk on lead with out pulling, but we have been working every day with him and with a little leadership on the other end of the leash he does settle down a little.  i don't think he ever really had long leash walks before and if thats the case he is doing great for a beginner. kobe seemed to be apprehensive about alot of things in our home such as entering different rooms and going down stairs.  after a few tries he conquered the stairs, and with a little guidance from jess he soon had the grand tour of the house. kobe met floyd the cat and seemed uninterested at first, but within the next few days he has started to harass her and now we must always
 be one step ahead to make sure there is no problems. we will continue to work on this issue to assure that they can both be together under the same roof.  as the days go by kobe is feeling more sure of himself and he is a joy to have around for us and jess.

7/7/07 - Hey Everyone!! Kobe just passed his 6 weeks...!! Thank God....for his HeartWorm "treatment". He came thru it like a trooper/ His energy level has increased, he is a COMPLETE Boxer baby! Thankfully, he has not
experienced any outside re-actions! But, I do keep him outside for very little periods of time, not only because I worry about him getting stung by "whatever" that gave him such a reaction last month, but because, he also doesn't want to be outside for any length of time by himself. Kobe "tells" you when he needs to go outside (other than his routine) by whining & prancing around, but he does not want to be out by himself.  So Kobe is now ready for adoption
Sorry to say.........but Kobe is a chicken.....in many ways. Not what we would all hope for  but, it is who he is......for now. Kobe has shown SOOOO much progress since he has been with us! Kobe was basically unapproachable when he came to us. It was VERY apparent that Kobe was abused. He ducked when I raised my arms, ducked when I opened the kitchen cabinets.......RAN for cover...when I opened the dishwasher!
Kobe "hit the deck" when anything was "new".   Sad to say that a 2x Owner Surrender was in such form!! Kobe has made such progress  since then.
Kobe is a lovable soul........VERY loveable.....sweet lil' kisses when I wake, sweet lil' kisses when I come home and sweet lil' kisses when we are all just hanging out. He is absolutely COMICAL with his toys.
But, Kobe is still frightened by EVERYTHING! If Kobe "thinks" it's going to rain outside, he is ducking. The 4th of July holiday weeks have not been kind to him. Kobe is scared to death of the booms. We have had some pretty severe storms come our way this past week and it has not been a good thing for Kobe. He tries to become "velcro" to me, even as much as climbing on top of me last night when the storms started.  I don't  play into his fears and I basically ignore this behavior.......as a pack leader would "not deal" with this. He responds very well to this  but, he stills is Omega.
Just a boy that doesn't necessarily want to rule the roost......but ABSOULUTELY loves other dogs.........he is the sweetest creature you EVER imagined with Porche! He takes all her nonsense & shares EXTREMELY well with her. He wakes us every morning with sweet kisses....like it has been forever since he seen you  lol....even tho' you just spent the night with one another in the same bed!
This is a boy that needs another Alpha with him.........human or canine. He just wants to belong.
Thank you for peeking at this boy! We are enjoying every moment learning and being able to teach him.....what "The Angel's" are all about!
But.................Kobe, still remains........scared of many things in life.

6/23/07 - Hey All! Kobe is doing real good in his HW treatment process. He has responded (physically) very well. He had no terrible reaction to the injections, other than the initial first 2 days when he was hurting and very quiet. It has been difficult to keep this boy down. He felt better within 2 dayz and he has just wanted to carry life on as if everything were just normal.  Let's get on with this stuff! I feel just fine!  But, of course we had to keep him quite, for his own good. Kobe just wants to play with his toys..which by the way!!! Has he discovered that he likes toys!! Kobe is especially fond of balls! He also likes squeaky toys. Kobe has this hamburger, rubbery thingy and he is hysterical with it! He carries it around in his mouth...for hours! Kobe is very good with his toyz, he doesn't dig  the squeaky thingout. Traditionally, a squeaky thing doesn't STAND A CHANCE with a Boxer!! Kobe has a small, 1/2 dead basketball that he loves to "find" when we are walking around the back yard. The looks on his face when
he is playing with this ball is precious, no other word to describe it! I have been teaching Kobe 1 2 3 Catch! as he would just let it hit him in his mug before and wonder...What the heck just happened??
Kobe is doing real well with his training. He is still hesitant to come...as he thinks he is going to get hit, but each & every day gets better with responding to the Come command. Kobe does real well with the Sit command. He responds to NO when he wants to be rambunctious with Porche. He responds well to NO also when he decides that he must be the policeman  along with the Police Girl Porche, when thedoors & windows are open. We are working on him sitting when it is time for feeding. Kobe has a tendency to look away & try not to obey this but ummmmmm..Mama Lady (me) doesn't ease up. I don't care if it takes 15 mins. to make him sit before I serve dinner..and he is "getting it". Kobe is also "getting" that he cannot eat until I say that he can. Kobe needs a strong leader. Kobe stills shows us fearful behavior and it is difficult to "keep" his attention when he is in fearful mode. I just don't accept that behavior and keep him focused.
Kobe is a good boy in the house, as long as you are in sync with his signals. I have to be  aware when he paces, he needs to go out. After he eats...immediately after, he has to go out. When Kobe gets"afraid", for whatever reason it might be, he has to go out. When he is in fearful mode, I have to get him on a leash and bring him out with me. He does his business and then he wants to be right back inthe house. This keeps him from peeing  in my house, which he will do, especially when he is scared. Kobe is scared of loud noises, thunder & lightening (altho I have never owned a dog that wasn't fearfulof this) rain (yes, rain :o0 )  and darkness. *shrugging my shoulders....what can I tell ya??! It's not really a bad thingy...just Kobe.
Kobe has shown so much growth & so much learning to trust. He is a wonderful Boxer baby and he is showing more of that wonderful Boxer personality every day! He is a love bug that just wants someone to scratch his butt and let him share his kinda long NUB. It is docked but it is one of the longer Nubs that I have seen on one of these babies! You certainly KNOW when Kobe is happy! :o)
Kobe is waiting for his Forever Family. One that does not have younger children (even up to 11-14), Kobe still wants to nip and play rough. Kobe is GREAT with other animals, he is very attentive and caringtoward Porche. He just needs someone that he can trust to be the leader. If you feel you have what he needs...don't miss out! I experience SO much love and devotion from this boy! And, it could all beyours!
Thanx for peeking on this fine Boxer boy! We are enjoying every minute with Kobe!