J. Dara's Boxers began with "Mugsy" in 1982.  He was a plain brindle male; with very little white markings, just a bit of white on his chest and the tips of his feet. But what a dog! He was obtained mainly as a pet, and he certainly had those qualities down pat. He was smart, loyal, very protective; all the things you want in a pet.  Soon we were looking for a companion for him and the quest for more knowledge about the breed had begun...

Somewhere along the path of trying to find a companion for Mugsy,  we decided that we would get a female who was well-bred and try our hand at breeding. I had no clue at that time what all would be involved, but luckily, I was put in touch with someone who had been in boxers, breeding and showing, during our search.

About three years into my search for Mugsy's companion, I got a call from Nancy Wilson of Wil-Nan's Boxers. I had contacted her earlier looking for my female boxer. She had good news! She had bred her stud, "Wil-Nan's Sambuca", (who was the son of the now famous "Champion Marquam Hill's Traper of Turo" SOM LOM), to a female owned by a friend of hers. There were puppies on the way! I was so excited! Finally we had Mugsy's future wife in view.

The puppies arrived in March of 1988. We got our brindle female, which we named "Mugsy's First Lady", call name "Bootsie". She looked a lot like our Mugsy in coloring, but was built differently. She was more elegant and a bit taller when she was full-grown that Mugsy was. What a pair they made!  He soon took over raising her, teaching her all the tricks of the trade. You know, tearing up pillows and hiding shoes! He tolerated all her puppy antics;  patiently waiting for her to come of age.....

We whelped our very first  litter out of Bootsie  by Mugsy in 1992. Bootsie was almost 4 years of age, and Mugsy was then nearly 10 years old! They had 6 puppies, 4 of them flashy! Who would have thought? I still had a lot to learn about genetics and recessive genes where boxers were concerned!  Looking back, I realize that I was very lucky with this litter of pups, as all but one survived and became great pets for friends of ours that had long admired Mugsy's personality.  I remember just being "awed" at how beautiful they were! We kept a male pup out of that litter, a brindle male named J. Dara's Sir Bogart, "Bogie"; and later we aquired his sister back to the fold, a brindle female named J. Dara's Amber Dot, "Dot".  The prefix, J. Dara's,  was from our 18 month old daughter's name, Jasmine Dara, shortened to become our kennel name.

After breeding Bootsie to Mugsy, and having such great luck with the puppies, we decided that in the future we would look to improve on our breeding by choosing a stud for Bootsie in the future that complimented her conformation, and a more careful study of the pedigrees involved. The next and last two breedings we did with Bootsie were to champion males, and took us a step further in our involvement in both breeding and eventually showing. See our Pedigree Page to see the ancestory and pictures of boxers in our lines.

Through meeting and conversing with other dedicated boxer breeders around the showring, we learned the importance of not only researching pedigrees and breeding boxers that were to the standard, but also of the importance of health testing in our breeding program. We have since  dedicated our breeding efforts to include all available health testing on our breeding pairs, in order to do our part to eliminate some of the deadly diseases that plague our breed, and to require spay\neuter contracts on ALL puppies sold as companions.

A SPECIAL THANKS to Nancy Wilson for our beginnings and for our introduction to the Eastern Boxer Club of which we are now members, and to all the kind folks that are a part of the boxer fancy who have been there to answer questions and help us grow in our knowledge; and to our niece, Dawn Ward of RedDawn Boxers. Dawn has helped me whelp almost every litter , and acquired her first show hopeful,  "J. Dara's Rienzi" "Z", out of our third litter, which was a mating between our girl, Bootsie, and CH Failte Leprechaun O'Burks, which produced 10 puppies!!! Several were shown out of that litter, but as we were trying to show our own dogs, and still had much to learn about ring savy, etc., none were finished, but did become a part of our continued efforts to improve our breeding program and to learn our way around the showring.  Dawn handled most of my dogs in conformation  from that litter in 1995 through about 2001; and we also ventured out with a couple of Professional Handlers in 2000 and 2001; again pointed, but not finished.  (See Show Results)!!

One of these days, I hope to be able to announce our first champion, but in the meantime, we have found it to be a rewarding hobby and have greatly enjoyed all the people we have met on our journey!

Sincerely,

Rebecca A. West

    Click here to E-Mail me with any questions or comments!

 Picture is Mugsy at  6 years & Bootsie at 1 month.

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