Freckle & Ceilidh’s Blog

Ask any Boxer owner and they’ll tell you—Boxers are clowns! They love to make people laugh and they’re good at it. They can be downright goofy and the harder you laugh, the goofier they get.

All of our dogs have also smiled. Our first Boxer, Bridget, would loll on her back and look up at us with an enormous smile on her face. And Ceilidh… if you rub her tummy or scratch her neck, she’ll lean back with a big smile on her face… lips curled up in a “U” shape just like a smiling human. But it was only a few days ago that the sound we’ve always called “happy pant”—the panting sound that all three of our Boxers have made when they greet us in the morning or when we come home—is really the sound of them laughing. Who knew?

The other day I was mulling over a blog post idea and decided to Google “laughing dog” just for the heck of it. Guess what? Dogs laugh!! I’m not sure how I missed this, but in 2001, an animal behaviourist in the US named Patricia Simonet, discovered that dogs actually laugh! If you don’t know what you’re looking for, a dog’s laugh sounds like they’re panting, according to Simonet. When they recorded dogs laughing while playing in a park and analyzed the recordings, Simonet and her team discovered that the panting/laughing sound consists of a much broader range of frequencies than regular panting from exertion.

In an article by Bill Roberson called “Have You Heard the One about the Laughing Dogs?” you can listen to 42 second clip of a dog laughing.

Still unconvinced? In 2005 in a dog shelter in Spokane, WA, staff played a recording of dogs laughing over a loudspeaker to the din of 15 barking shelter dogs. Within 60 seconds, every single dog stopped barking! According to Simonet, the sound of dogs laughing has a soothing effect on other dogs.

After I read these articles and listened to the clip of a dog laughing, I was laughing myself! I ran into the other room and said to Mary Doug, “I have incredible news! You know how all these years we’ve been listening to “happy pant?” She looked at me with an odd look on her face. “Uh huh…..” But once I explained, she was laughing too.

There is so much still to learn about the creatures we invite into our homes and hearts. Somehow, knowing that Freckle is laughing every morning when she does “happy pant” makes me extraordinarily happy. It’s like listening to anyone laugh … it’s hard not to join in.

We’re working on a photo… but so far, Freckle laughs so hard that all we get is blur! See what I mean? 

Sassy on her way to her forever home in Vancouver, BC

In 2002, we adopted our first rescue boxer from Tracy Hon of Chico Boxer Rescue. Though many boxer rescue organizations don’t adopt their charges to people living outside their province/state or region for a variety of reasons, Tracy was willing to take a chance on us giving Sassy a loving home. A home visit was arranged through Boxer Rescue Canada, and once we were approved, we made arrangements to adopt this wonderful boxer girl. We drove the 7 hours down to Portland from Vancouver, BC, to meet up with Tracy and Sassy, who had driven the 10 hours from Chico, CA, to do the “hand-over” in person. Tracy was also meeting up with local boxer rescue workers to try to make more formal ties among them for dealing with the overflow of boxers needing homes from northern California to Washington in the Pacific Northwest.

Imagine our shock when we heard the horrific news last weekend, that Tracy had been attacked and severely mauled on June 7th by one of her rescue dogs – not a Boxer, but an American Bulldog-Bulldog cross. This woman, who has one of the biggest hearts you can imagine, has spent the last week in hospital, valiantly fighting for her life. Both her legs and one arm were shredded, her face was torn up, and her trachea was nearly severed.

The Boxer community and Tracy’s many friends world-wide have stepped up to the plate to help her out, both emotionally and financially. This wonderful woman is a self-employed American without any health or disability insurance, meaning she could be in serious debt for the rest of her life from the expensive hospital and specialist care she’s received, and the continued specialist and rehabilitation care she’s going to need for a long time to come.

The financial support organized by her friends in the Boxer community is of two kinds:

1. Direct donations to the Tracy Hon Medical Fund organized by Dr. Liz Grauer (Dr. Liz as she likes to be called), a veterinarian practicing in Vancouver, WA, and active in Boxer rescue. There’s information on Dr. Liz’s website at http://www.geocities.com/eagevsdoc/tracyhon.html on where to send a cheque and a button link to make donations by PayPal or credit card.
2. A raffle organized by the Boxer Rescue Foundation for a beautiful Danbury Mint Boxer Stained Glass Clock designed by Simon Mendez and donated by my Boxerdom friend Debbie Cauble. Direct link to the raffle page is http://azboxer.com/tracyhon.html. Your raffle tickets will be mailed to you in time for the draw on July 15^th

This show of support, kindness and outpouring of thoughts and prayers for someone most of us have never met and know only through the Internet is the kind of thing that keeps my faith in human beings alive in a time when pettiness and meanness seem to have become the norm.

(Good news update: Tracy is back home again as of June 15, 2007. Updates on Tracy can be read at Dr. Liz’s website at http://www.geocities.com/eagevsdoc/tracyhon.html.)

Shelley, Freckle-Lexi, Ceilidh and I wish Tracy a speedy recovery, and express a huge thank you to her for allowing us to adopt one of her cherished charges.

Posted by Mary-Doug aka boxerpug

Sassy, Shelley, and Ceilidh on the way from Portland to Vancouver, BC.


Sassy ever hopeful that one day she’ll catch a squirrel.

Ceilidh and Sassy at the community gardens.

Sassy with a favourite toy.

This post was suggested by Mary Doug. She is pretty much an expert in this area—having just the other day asked me if I’d seen her “water bowl!” I said, “Your what?” She just looked at me as if I was being far too picky and continued wandering around the apartment looking for her mug. Of course this isn’t the first time that Mary Doug has exhibited symptoms of this nature. Our first Boxer, Bridget, had cardiomyopathy—a common heart problem among Boxers. She was doing very well on Sotolol. One day, Mary Doug–in her early morning fog—inadvertently took Bridget’s heart medication instead of her own medication. As is usual when taking medication that you didn’t intend to take—she realized just as the pill slid down her throat! “Oh my gawd! I’ve just taken Bridget’s Sotolol!” She called the pharmacy in a panic and her regular pharmacist was on duty—and laughed and laughed! Fortunately, Mary Doug was not in danger of sprouting another heart or anything else.

As we were laughing about how our dogs are completely woven into our lives, we wondered if others had similar stories. How do you know when you’re spending too much time with your dog or dogs? [Not that we suggest you do anything BUT spend time with your dogs, of course!] But spending time with these creatures is definitely a source of funny stories! Visit the poll (on the right of your screen) and tell us what happens when you spend too much time with your dog. We’ll summarize in 2-3 weeks.

P.S. Of course it could always be worse … check out TamaraLyn Young’s blog. She lives in the Yukon with 24 dogs, 8 cats (and a husband). She has a post called “You know you spend too much time with your vet when…”

Those Boxers sure know how to have a good time! Freckle attended her first Boxer Meet-up last Saturday night at Vanier Park at Kits Point. It was a beautiful evening and we were expecting up to 16 Boxers! Sadly only five showed up but we had several Boxer wanna-bees (see the Frenchie and the Pug below). The folks who showed up were very enthusiastic and everyone had a terrific time!

When we arrived, Freckle was greeted just beyond the parking lot by Harlem—a beautiful one-year-old boy—who is “reverse brindle” … meaning that he looks pretty much black—very unusual for a Boxer. Then we ran into Gracie—a petite little brindle girl who is very sweet. At the beach we met Tonga. Tonga is a gorgeous little fawn Boxer who seems to think that she’s a Golden Retriever. She spent most of the evening chasing a ball whenever she could convince someone to throw it into the ocean. Tonga swims like a fish and reminded us of our Bridget—who was also obsessed with swimming.

Harley is a senior citizen (10 years) and lives with Spock, the French Bulldog. Harley is such a sweet and gentle guy… didn’t get too involved with the athletic antics but enjoyed the outing nonetheless. Just as we were leaving, we ran into Presley—a young (10 months I think) dark brindle girl. We’re hoping that we can spend more time with Presley at the next Meet-up.

The Boxers were all pretty much into checking out the beach, digging in the sand, chasing balls into the water, or just watching those who were brave enough to swim waaaay out to get the balls (like Tonga). Freckle found that the beach to be a treasure trove of new smells after hosting hundreds of dogs most likely since her last visit. After an hour and a half, Freckle’s lip began to droop a little like it does when she’s really tired and we decided that maybe she’d had enough partying. We came home and had a rest and a snack. Good times!