My Red Boy

My red boy is Rubin Carter. We found him online at the RSPCA website. We were taken with his big cheeky grin. We drove down to meet him and were confronted with 30kgs of boisterous, licky boxer. He had been kept solely in his backyard by his previous owner. He was never house trained, walked on lead, or let inside. He was left at home alone for days on end with only a bucket of water and a bucket of dry biscuits. Dogs are pack animals, leave them alone for long enough and they will serach out a pack of their own. He was impounded by the council on numerous occasions. Eventually, his previous owners got fed up with posting his bail that they surrendered him to the RSPCA for rehoming. Apparently nobody wants an escaping boxer. He had no manners and jumped all over us. We fell for him immediately. He was two days from being destroyed as literally nobody wanted him. He was too much of a dog for most people...except for us. To us he was a boxer who needed a home. So we spent almost three hours doing some training with him and introducing him to our other boxer, Paisley and ensuring that they did not want to kill each other. By the end of training session he was walking beautifully on lead next to Paisley and they were more than the gorgeous couple stepping out on the town with their owners. We had lots of family´s wanting to meet with our dogs and sold more than one family on a boxer for a suitable family dog.

Funnily enough, Rubin is no longer an escaping boxer. He never leaves our sight when we are out and about. He never runs off of our property. He loves being with us. When we go out he simply falls asleep on our bed with Paisley. Neither of them chew things or play tug or war with anything. They are both confident that we will return to them...and they are right. So they sleep soundly knowing that we will return to them.

He is a changed boxer. He is included. He sleeps in our bedroom with his sister. He wakes up when we wake up. He falls asleep when we go to bed. He never runs away as he knows that the grass is not greener on the other side. He plays with Paisley and he plays with other dogs. For a boxer who has led a very sheltered and excluded life, he now has the best of every world. We love our red boxer and cannot imagine life without him.

Please do not discount adopting an older dog from a rescue shelter. All of these animals deserve a second chance, but please bear in mind that they may come with some excess baggage. We have found Rubin to be the most loyal companion. The rescue dog may need some extra training and extra attention, but it is all worth it in the end. Rubin is a firmly established part of our family.

Rubin Carter, we love you.