In Defense of the Brindle

I think some people have gotten the idea, mostly from my facebook status updates, that the Brindle is a bad dog. I want to dispel that notion. The Brindle is not necessarily bad, he is however a prime example of the mischievous and somewhat devious nature of the true Boxer.

I remember many years ago when I was attending puppy kindergarten class with my first Boxer, the Princess. The instructor asked me why I was there and I responded that I had never had a dog before and now I had this wee brindle monster that was literally bouncing up and down in front of me. I needed to learn how to make her a polite, well mannered member of dog society. The instructor's eyes got big and she said "You never had a dog before and you got a BOXER?!" Then to the rest of the class, "Boxers slow down when they die or go into a coma, whichever comes first." She wasn't wrong. The Princess is nearly 12 and last I saw her she was still a little fireball of energy and toughness, just take a look:



Bless her wee brindle heart.

But the Brindle... he's a Boxer of a different stripe. The males just tend to be goofier and he takes even that to a whole new level. He will be five in August and shows no signs of being a grown up any time soon. He just likes to be busy and if that means that if he needs a milk carton or a loaf of bread behind the hedge, well he's going to find a way to take it. If it means that he needs to tuck a bar of soap or a tube of toothpaste into his bed, he'll be taking that too.

As I pointed out to my friend this week, for all that he is a kleptomaniac he has never (touch wood) destroyed anything of value. As for this being a new hobby. The fact is that at the old house if he attempted these sorts of thefts I would have heard him. This place is so big that if he and I are at opposite ends of the house I really have no idea that he committing another theft.

Is the Brindle a well mannered member of dog society? In a way. He doesn't know how big he is so he tends to be a bit rough with other dogs. He's also protective of me around other large dogs because he senses that I'm nervous around them. But he does know his basic commands, sit, stay, down, leave it. He will pee on command, a wonderful tool for travel. He walks well on a leash with only the occasional reminder to keep the leash loose and even that is only when the good smells get to be too much for him. He is after all a dog.

So all in all I really don't want people thinking he's a bad dog, he's not at all. He's simply a silly, irreverent, wonderful example of the male of the Boxer species.

And besides, how could you not love this face: