The Humane Society of Tampa Bay

Dear Humane Society,

With heavy hearts we made our way to Armenia with our beloved boxer Lucy in the car with us for her final ride. Knowing we were doing the right thing for her we had to face the fact that her time had come to travel to the Rainbow Bridge to wait for us. The staff was so caring and made our deed as easy as possible for us.

We were asked if we had met Mr. Hansel and my husband and I both had the same thought cross our minds, who is Mr. Hansel, a grief counselor? When we said we had not met Mr. Hansel one of the attendants went to check if Mr. Hansel was still there. She then proceeded to take us to the kennel building to meet him. At that point we still had no idea who we were going to meet. As we entered the kennel area, she stopped at a cage and called Mr. Hansel out to meet us. To our surprise, Mr. Hansel was a beautiful full grown fawn and white boxer. We instantly fell in love with him and wanted to go outside where we could interact with him. If ever a match was meant to be, we had just made the connection. He was wagging his tail and covering with as many kisses as he could. Even with his slobbery kisses he won our hearts over in a matter of minutes. Without any discussion, we knew he had to go home with us.

As we walked back inside to do the paperwork for his adoption, the gal bringing him in was almost dragged back inside when he got to the door and could see us. While we were doing the paperwork he already was making himself at home at my husbands feet and showing how proud he was to be the “chosen” one of the day. Having always had a boxer in our lives since 1988, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to love and care for Mr. Hansel. I guess he felt the same as he still couldn’t stop with his slobbery kisses.

As we drove home that day, we were so overjoyed at being able to give him a new home and life. As the little we knew about him was that he had been rescued from a high-kill shelter and had been at the Humane Society for a few weeks, we had no idea how he would act in the house. He had to check out all the rooms and settled right in, being able to look out the windows and door at the outside world. As the TV played, he seemed to be watching with interest then the phone rang, up came his ears and he would cock his head to one side then the other. It almost seemed as if he were remembering different things from his past. When it came time for a walk after his dinner, my husband got in his power chair and out the door the two of them went with Mr. Hansel (who now was getting acquainted with his new name Rocky), walking along like a perfect gentleman.

Rocky is a joy to have in our lives, being a little older, we have such fun discovering all his little habits and likes and dislikes. He loves to sleep on the bed with us at night, his favorite food is chopped chicken dinner, he wants his water changed twice a day and lets you know when he needs a potty break. He knows his basic commands and after a couple days his memory was jogged to remember them. He doesn’t care too much about toys except a yellow bus that plays “Wheels on the bus” when you press the button and believe me he knows where the button is. The other toy he has taken to is a stuffed gorilla that plays a song when you squeeze his foot and Rocky soon discovered which foot to step on to make that play too.

The only dislike we have found he has is for cats (imagine that, a boxer that doesn’t care for cats). He would love to get outside to chase them but is content to watch them from the door. We like to think he would only like to “play” with the cats but not sure that is entirely what he has on his mind.

When sitting in my chair, I quite often find a head nuzzling in my lap and while being petted, Rocky soon will be falling asleep standing up. His hind legs will start to go weak and it will wake him momentarily then back to sleep he will go. He follows my husband around the house like he can’t let him out of his site or he won’t be there. Oh and I can’t forget to tell you about his “alligator crawl” he does. He lays on his belly and scoots himself across the carpet using his hind legs to push himself along. It reminds me of a scene from a movie where a soldier is crawling under a barbed wire fence. We chuckle every time we watch him do it.

Only time we have heard him bark was at a person walking down the street that he evidently sensed something about that he didn’t like, as people walk past all the time and he doesn’t react. He is very alert to noises and listens intently to any strange noise he hears.

Having no small children of our own, we did have a 3 year old visit recently and Rocky was a very gentle boy with the little one. There was no trying to jump or push the little boy around so we were very pleased with seeing that side of him too. There is just so much good to say about Rocky that I could go on and on. Of course, he is a boxer so I would probably defend any action that someone else might find undesirable anyhow.

If ever one of the worst days of our lives could be turned around to be one of the best, it was the day we met “Mr. Hansel”. Thank you all at the Humane Society for introducing us.

Rocky’s Humans,
Jan and Breck Bowdish

This is Troy, formally known as Dale. The best thing I’ve ever done was to go in and grab him. Big pup with a bigger heart.

All he wants to do is cuddle and be by my side. He is friends with all; the most popular dog at the dog park and beach. The funniest pup in the whole family dog group.

~Angie

Hello!! I wanted to share an update on our dog that we adopted from you guys on April 14th. Her name was Lucy when she was there, but we changed it to Zoey to avoid confusion since my cousin’s dog is name Lucy! First off, everyone there was extremely helpful and patient with us as we took half of the dogs out to meet them! Our first stop upon leaving there was the pet store, where Zoey picked out one of everything.

It was a very busy first day, so she went to bed early. There was some confusion about who the crate was for also.

Zoey was a little scared at first of her new world. There were two mean cats (they seemed so much bigger when hissing and growling at her!) and a lot of weird smells. She would cower and wasn’t very hungry. We introduced her to the bay and the lake near our home, but she was terrified of both of them. Her fear of water did not last very long though! Now she won’t stay out of it

The Wednesday after we picked her up we decided to take her in for a trim and a good cleaning. She wasn’t a fan of the clippers but she really liked the attention. After that she went for a walk on Bayshore to show off her new style and ate dinner with some friends in downtown Tampa.

She got to spend her first full weekend at my cousin’s beach house, just relaxing with her new parents. She loved it!! We practically had to drag her back inside and she loved walking around the little town and smelling everything. And I mean EVERYTHING!! And watch out if she sees a squirrel, it’s all over then!! =]

She is doing SO well now! She gets super excited when you grab her leash. Most days she goes to the dog park and plays at the lake near us, she adores the water now! She is so quiet and well behaved. And she’s the sweetest dog we’ve ever met. We’re so glad that we got her, even the cats think she might be okay. Thank you so much and we will be sure to keep you updated on her. She goes everywhere with us and is still getting used to it. Sometimes it’s tiresome being a puppy!

xoxoxo,
Mark, Skye & Zoey

P.S. Here area couple short videos of her playing at the lake