Every dog, like humans have their own quirky personalities. Bentley is the fourth boxer dog who has lived with us and is certainly no exception. Barbara Boxer, Lacy Boxer and Bob Boxer all made us laugh with glee and sometimes run out of the room holding our nose. Yes, they toot!!! Bob was the biggest tooter ever but Bentley can certainly let’em rip too.

The personality of boxers are unique.  If you have ever lived with a boxer you already know this first hand. They are silly, funny, loveable, naughty, loyal, energetic dogs. Not sure how I fell in love with this silly breed of dog. We mostly had cats and horses growing up so its not like I grew up with them.

Bentley is a Boxer in a Labrador suit… he has always loved to run and play ball. Play, play, play ball…. almost OCD play ball. He also loves to play fetch pine cones… I spent many an hours in my friend Jane’s backyard tossing pine cones for his amusement.

Boxers can definitely be high energy…. okay, excitable, animated and playful too. They party until they crash or you make them stop (kind of like a toddler).  Boxers make toys out of everyday things (ropes, couches, hoses, each other, you).  They zip around and around and around with inexhaustible energy especially when they are young. We got Barbara and Bentley as puppies so we have experienced the puppy energy too. Bentley came into the Oregon Humane Society where I was the Director of Operations, I know, who surrenders a purebred boxer puppy to a shelter?? I conned Wally into coming to see the black boxer puppy (the color is not typical for this breed). Then I guilted him into agreeing we needed another dog by whining about how this puppy was my last chance for a baby at 50. Can you believe he fell for that??

Boxers jump, bounce, chase, slide, wrestle, wiggle, dance, and entertain.  They pretty much do anything to get the attention of others.  Boxers are very comical and thrive when their people watch, play, and laugh at them.  Bob Boxer came to live with us at 1.5 years old and he was a wild man. Poor buddy had lived in 5 homes, had been kept in a crate and had crate sores when our friends rescued him. He also hadn’t been well socialized with other dogs and didn’t thrive with our friends other unneutered male dog, so off to our house he came! He was a perfect gentleman with our Mini Schnauzer Chauncy and boy did those two party like rock stars!!! He also had a best friend named Sam and those two could play until they couldn’t stand up anymore. Bentley is a multi-sport guy…he can run like the wind, leap in the air to catch a ball, swim like a drunk sailor and party with a good bottle of Heineken or a snowball or a stick or a rope or a football.

Boxers love being with their family and seem to love a good adventure. Bob Boxer loved boating… we introduced him to our first boat right after we bought it when he was around 2.5 years old. He was so excited that he did a HUGE poop on the dock, luckily before we got on the boat. I was almost that excited too!!! We acted mortified and scolded him… he never had an accident again on the dock or on the boat. Big seas no problem … we think Bob Boxer was a merchant marine in another life. Bentley however, doesn’t love the boat as much and tolerates it because his people are on the boat. He does love riding on the bow of our dingy that we tow behind the big boat. Dinghies go to shore and Bentley likes going to shore!

Boxers can also be very good with children. I suspect most of our boxers have been disappointed that there weren’t any little people living at our house. Bob Boxer once saved our friends little boy Jackson (who had a life jacket on) from falling off a dock. Bentley however would have pushed the kid right off… he is scared silly of little people, especially little girls in pink!

Boxers are smart and have great problem solving skills.  Bob Boxer loved to figure out how to get pineapple upside down cakes and bread off the counter. He also once figured out how to open three cans of dog food by puncturing holes in the sides of the can with his teeth and then squished all the food out by crushing the cans down with his jaws. Of course, all this happened on our white carpet, when we weren’t home. Barbara Boxer was also a good problem solver and could handily open the refrigerator and freezer to treat the other dogs to all the goodies inside. She could also open doors and was especially good at fixing those pesky childproof locks on the cabinets in the kitchen. One day I came home from work and found all of our kitchen knifes laying out by the dining room table. Yep, that totally freaked me out and of course all the dogs had gone through the doggie door and were innocently lounging outside on the deck. Thankfully, Bentley isn’t quite as good at problem solving. I honestly can’t think of one time when he did anything really naughty in the house. He once told a friend who is an animal communicator, when I asked her why he never played in my office at work, that he was afraid he would get in trouble… So how smart is that!!!

Bentley is our sensitive boxer… but like other boxers he can be a bit stubborn when he takes a notion to something. The first year we were on the road and staying in Arizona we bought him hiking booties. The cactus thorns and briars were hell on his paws when we went hiking. He took to them very quickly but also decided later that year that hiking wasn’t his cup of tea… well unless he was off leash. That isn’t always possible so now he refuses to go for walks and hikes now. What he does love is running and stick hunting in the desert, off leash with his man, with his hiking booties on. Wally found a large undeveloped tract of land near by us in Palm Springs so that is where they go for man time everyday. We call him our desert dog!

Besides the desert, Bentley loves the beach, laying in the sun and lemons. Yep, lemons… it is a recently acquired obsession that he discover when we bought our RV lot with a lemon tree in Palm Springs three years ago. The first time he grabbed a lemon that had fallen off tree and pranced around with it in his mouth I though he just thinks it a ball. UNTIL he started zesting the lemons… YES, zesting. He cracks us up… he plays with the lemons, growls at them, pounces on them, woofs at them and fetches them if I will toss them. Eventually, he will lay down on his bed, under the shade of the lemon tree and start zesting. We love his lemon fresh breath!!!

I am constantly tossing Bentley’s “used” lemons in the trash. If there aren’t any lemons outside, he will stare at the tree and make this noise that sounds like “Uahhh”. So of course I get him a lemon. Guess he has me trained, so Maybe he is a good problem solver!!

Sometimes lemons even make their way into the coach. Not necessarily to play with or to zest but just to have around or maybe to sleep with.

Bentley is definitely unique and quirky. Last night he entertained us as we sat sipping wine on the patio by chasing bugs, watching birds and zesting an orange. WHAT…yes, an orange. There is never a dull moment when you live with a boxer dog!!!