About The Madison County Boxer Meetup Group

The Madison Boxer Meetup Group was established to bring Boxer owners and their Boxer buddies together to enjoy the company of this unique breed and make new friends. To maintain the free memberships, Maximus Boxer Products, Inc will be our sponsor. So please help support the Meetup Group by supporting the web site. You can find goodies for you and for your boxer. A percentage of all sales is donated to our local chapter boxer rescue. Rockin P Boxer Rescue

Maximus Boxer Products, Inc.

---

We ask parents of extremely aggressive boxers who would actually bite, attack or harm another boxer to please keep their boxer on a leash during meetups.

---

Boxer Dog Information

New sister web site to Maximus Boxer Products that I have created thinking it would be a good idea to put all the information I have found on the Internet on one web site.
It has Boxer Rescues along with videos that Rescue Organizations have given me permission to use on the site, Boxer Forums, Boxer Photos where people can send us their photos to be posted and other informative info. Additional information will be added periodically. Ideas of new web sites to be added to the site will be welcomed.
Also, check out the photos since I will be adding some of our Boxer Meetup photos to the site for everyone to view.




New Link:

I have started a professional pet sitting service along with working the Maximus Boxer Products, Inc. web site. If there is any pet sitting, dog walking or pet taxi service needed, please consider Petz Sitter.



Petz Sitter

---

---

Meetup for the dogs
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 By SUZANNE CROW HAGGERTY For the Madison Spirit in Huntsville Times suzanne.haggerty@gmail.com

Online group lets boxer owners get together to socialize

The morning before Easter, nearly a dozen boxer owners braved unseasonably low temperatures to give their dogs a chance to frolic with other boxers at the Indian Creek Greenway in Madison. Chasing tennis balls, flying discs and one another, the dogs didn't seem to notice the cold.

Members of the Madison County Boxer Meetup Group gather on the first Saturday of the month to share breed information and let their dogs socialize with other boxers.

Madison resident Donna Patterson founded the group at www.meetup.com with her husband, Mike, after Maximus, their 5-year-old boxer, died of a brain tumor in September.

"He was the closest thing I had to a best friend. He was so human," Patterson said. "I truly wanted his short life to have purpose and meaning."

After Max died, she visited a group of boxer owners in Nashville, and the leader told her how to start her own club in Madison. The local group has more than 30 members, some of whom don't attend the gatherings, which are called meetups, but like to chat online with other boxer owners. Patterson said people also contact her about boxers needing rescue, while others are looking for boxers.

During the April meetup, the Pattersons' three boxers, McCoy, Mindy and Dakota, served as canine ambassadors, taking the lead in greeting new dogs. They tussled with 5-month-old Kota, who Huntsville resident Jim Reece brought to the gathering "to learn how to be a dog," and a couple of boxers quickly learned who was most likely to pick up a wet tennis ball and throw it across the field again and again.

For a while, the center of attention was Gus, a deaf white boxer belonging to Katie Riggs, a Madison resident and senior at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and her parents, Robin and Van.

Gus, one of the biggest and fastest dogs at the meetup, ran full speed in circles around the park as the other dogs surrounded him, barking and trying to keep up.

The Riggses, who also have a boxer named Maggie and a black lab named Ellie, adopted Gus after a woman in Albertville found him and contacted Patterson. The only identification Gus had was a collar that said "I can't hear."

After Katie heard about Gus, she looked up deaf dogs online and decided her family could handle the challenge.

"It was never really an issue," she said. "The other dogs treat him just like anybody else. He takes a lot of cues from the other dogs."

Patterson also runs an online boxer merchandise business, www.maximusboxerproducts.com, which sponsors the meetup group. She said she doesn't want boxers to become a trendy breed purchased by people who aren't prepared for them. "They're not for everyone," she said. "They're people-type dogs. They want to be with their owners all the time."

Angie Persch, executive director of the boxer rescue group Rockin' "P" Rescue in Jacksonville, said her group's volunteers try to match the personalities of their available boxers to potential owners. An active family, for example, would be well-suited for a very energetic 2-year-old boxer, while an older couple may be looking for a more laid-back dog.

The group, which lists available boxers and shares information about the breed atwww.rockinprescue.org, prefers placing boxers in homes with fenced-in yards, though Persch advises against leaving the dogs alone outside all day.

"Boxers are very people-oriented. They will become destructive if left alone in a yard."

© 2007 The Huntsville Times. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.