Going to battle for boxers

COEUR d'ALENE - Gazing down the line of bedded kennels, Steve Ducommun had a story for each of the boxers peeking through the chain link.

None of the narratives were heart warming.

"These two are from Preston, Idaho. The sheriff seized them. They were chained to a fence with no shelter, no food or water, a mud hole to sleep in," Steve said, nodding to two creamy white pups with pink hued snouts.

Both deaf, they gazed out of the cage with dark, baleful eyes, neither making so much as a whimper as folks reached in to stroke them.

"They're very good girls. They're nothing but gems," Steve said of the silent pair, their name placards reading Sugar and Snow White.

Steve cooed to the dog in the next pen, a sleek pup with a coat splashed brown and white.

"Easy there, Bones," he said.

The name was a simple to pick, he said.

"Bones here came as a skeleton with skin," the Coeur d'Alene man said.

Dark pasts often accompany the boxers taken in by North Idaho Boxer Rescue, run by Steve and his wife Dana. Kill shelters from across the region tip the group off about unwanted boxers, and a network of volunteers transports them to Coeur d'Alene.

The group adopts the dogs out to permanent homes, after carefully scrutinizing applicants.

Steve expected to add to the 68 adopted out last year, he said, with a meet-and-greet on Sunday. By mid-afternoon, 100 people had already stopped to look over potential new family members at Paws and Claws Pet Resort, which often holds boxers for the organization.

"It's exploded," Steve said with a smile. "Some fill out applications (for adoption), some don't."

The resort's big-dog room, replete with framed dog paintings, saw a constant stream of families and couples fawning over the gentle canines.

"Can we take that one home today?" asked 3-year-old Pyper White, pointing to chestnut-colored boxer Gunner.

Her father Tim chuckled as he squatted beside her to rub the dog's head.

He wanted Gunner just as badly, confided his wife, Bailey.

"We lost our boxer three weeks ago. We're trying to find somebody to come back into our home," the Post Falls woman said. "When we first got married, we got a boxer. Ever since, it's the only kind of dog we can give our whole heart to."

Soon after, 8-year-old Wyatt Shepherd was glued to the outside of Gunner's pen, too. His sister Cody, 12, peered over his shoulder.

The family had been referred to the rescue organization by a friend, said their mother Misty.

"My son really wants a boxer, and my daughter has also fallen in love," Misty said, adding that the visit was worth the drive from Sandpoint. "(Boxers) are very sweet, and have a good temperament so they can play with little boys. And I really love that they don't have a huge tail."

She smiled as her son stroked the dog's head.

"I don't think we will be leaving anytime soon," she said.

North Idaho Boxer Rescue, which can be found on Facebook, currently has 14 adoptable dogs. Steve said. Nine more will soon be transported from southern Idaho.

The rescue group conducts a background check of those who apply to adopt, he said. Homes are also checked to ensure a dog-friendly atmosphere, and the group follows up after adoptions.

"Boxers are very sensitive dogs," Steve said. "Seeing them abused really hurts."

Steve was inspired to save boxers because of his own childhood boxer Mike, he said, who he recalls as the quintessential family dog.

"He was just a companion," Steve said. "When I was 3 years old, we used to ride in the car and he would put his chin on my head."

Paws and Claws, which also offers a carpeted room for small dogs and a cat room complete with scratchable walls and bunk beds, is an ideal spot to keep the boxers, Steve said.

He is grateful to owner Tudy Gilbert for housing them, he added.

But Gilbert said Steve does all the work, coming in early to clean the kennels and exercise the boxers outside.

"He helps me a thousand times more than I help him," Gilbert said.

'I do it because I like it," he told her.

"I do, too," she said with a smile.