Success Stories
Being involved in any form of animal rescue, but specifically that of our beloved boxer breed, is both heartwarming and heartbreaking.
Heartwarming when we succeed in rescuing a dog from a life of misery, neglect, abuse and cruelty and ultimately see him or her safely rehomed with a caring, forever family surrounded by love, happiness and respect.
Heartbreaking when the next case immediately presents itself and off we go again, driven by a ruthless commitment to the welfare of animals and a loathing of despicable acts of cruelty that we witness on a daily basis across many parts of Spain.
We all love happy endings, especially when they stem from such hopeless beginnings and we would like to share with you some of the success stories of the dogs who have found themselves in our care and whose lives have been significantly transformed through the work of Boxer Friends Spain and our network of supporters since we formed as a group just over a year ago.
We would not have been able to facilitate the rescue of almost 50 dogs without your ongoing financial support, be it through a regular Standing Order, one-off or monthly payment through PayPal, your donations through shopping on-line via Easyfundraising.co.uk or the fantastic fundraising events some of you have organised throughout the year for our benefit.
Nor would we have been able to re home our rescued boxers without the commitment of our foster families both in the UK and Spain and, ultimately, those of you who have welcomed one or more into your homes on a permanent basis through our adoption scheme.
Please continue to help us help those vulnerable boxers out there for whom we are often their only source of hope.
Thank you.
When Adonis – now shortened to Adi by his forever Mum and Dad – first came to our attention in July last year, the sight of his emaciated little body covered in open, infected sores broke our hearts and we all instantly fell in love with him.
He had spent his entire life tethered outside by a 1 metre chain in a yard near Valencia, with no shelter from the raging Spanish sun and rain, abandoned without food, water or human contact for days on end.
His rescuers cut him free in the middle of the night and placed him in temporary foster care with Carmen Marti who soothed his sun-damaged skin every day using a special shampoo. His legs were weak from not being able to move for so many years and he was severely dehydrated and anaemic.
After 10 days he was taken into Mercedes’ care and had surgery to remove a number of benign tumours that had developed on his skin as a result of him being exposed to the elements for so long.
Despite the neglect he had endured for the first 5 years of his life, Adi is a sturdy little fella and was declared medically fit to travel to the UK for adoption in November. His foster family Julie and Russell and their own boxer Forrest fell in love with Adi’s amazing, gentle character and offered him a permanent home straight away.
And how his life has been transformed. Not only does he feature as Mr January on our 2015 Boxer Friends Calendar, he now lists his hobbies and interests as chasing rabbits across the Yorkshire Wolds, playing with Forrest, motor homing, anything that involves tripe, sleeping and fundraising to help raise money to help all his other Spanish boxer friends in need.
This truly is a happy ending for Adi.
Rosie, a one year old beautiful, red pup who was advertised for sale by someone who breeds from a pair of boxers kept in a barn in central Spain. We managed to secure Rosie and wanted to take Mum as well but, unfortunately, the owner refused.
Rosie was fostered in the same boarding kennels as Ron and Chato and Ringo and Bailey. Her Foster Mum described her as ‘very sociable with other dogs and really people friendly’.
Rosie was spayed, fully vaccinated, micro-chipped and had her own Pet Passport so she traveled to her new forever home in the UK.
She is now loved by her new family in sunny Yorkshire. Happy forever home sweetheart xxxx
Rehomed in the UK
Monty now has a wonderful new family in the UK. Rehomed Christmas 2015
Bruno arrived into the uk in Dec 2016 and is doing very well in his new home.
Rehomed in Spain
Kiara was one of the 12 puppies (along with Leo) who were saved from certain death after being found in a bin!
After lots of TLC and some great foster parents these puppies have thrived and all gone on to wonderful homes. We asked Kiara's new mum why she chose Boxer Friends Spain to adopt her new addition.
"We were recommended Boxer Friends Spain from someone on a Boxer facebook page, as we were looking for a puppy to fit in with our 2 spaniels, but wanted to rescue. We saw the beautiful puppy's on the page and fell in love immediately! We applied and were homechecked, and then the next thing we know we were accepted! It was all a really quick process, and being able to track her progress from Spain to our doorstep was wonderful. The excitement in the house when we could see her in the same city as us was unreal! Boxer Friends have done such an amazing job with her, and the rest of her litter. She is such an amazing puppy, really confident and clever, and such a lovely temperament with adults, children and other dogs"
Thank you to Gabby and her family, Kiara's going to have a wonderful life with you all.
This handsome red boy, now known by his Spanish name Dima, found happiness beyond his wildest dreams when his lovely foster mum, Jools Pocknell, decided to adopt him almost the minute he stepped out of the vehicle onto her driveway at the end of his journey to the UK from Spain in February this year.
Jools had followed Dima’s story from the time he first came into our care in October 2014 as a young, frightened 2 year old who had been dumped in one of the worst killing stations in Spain. We saved him from being put to sleep and arranged for him to be fostered in the UK, pending permanent adoption.
Dima is now a permanent and much loved member of the Pocknell family, completely at home with their daughter Samantha, numerous fur brothers and sisters and a dozen rescued chickens.
Dima often meets up with his Boxer Friends Spain buddies Adi and Snoop who live locally, and he shared his home with Buddy and Georgie for a short while before they went off to their respective forever homes.
He loves to socialize and recently attended the Bridlington Boxer Beach Meet and helped raise funds at our tombola at the Yorkshire Tearooms in Malton where he is a regular visitor.
He also features as our Mr August on the Boxer Friends Spain 2015 Calendar.
Another perfect ending for one of our rescued boxers. Thank you Jools and your family for opening up your home and your lives to this lovely boy.
Rehomed in the UK October 2016
Rehomed in the UK August 2016
After arriving in the UK in July Turco has found his forever home with his foster family. Turco is a beautiful boy and deserved the kind of home only Scott and his wife Yennie. Even the cat quite likes him now.
Thank you for giving this wonderful boy a home. Happy gotcha day Turco
rehomed in the UK in September 2016
Found her Forever Home
When we were first introduced to Georgie, a 10 month old red pup in November last year, we all instantly fell in love with her. Not only is she playful, loving and adored by everyone who comes in to contact with her, she is absolutely stunning, a real beauty.
And just like all the boxers that we feature, Georgie has been through a difficult time. She was found wandering and whimpering, frightened and confused, after being thrown from a moving car on a roundabout in Spain.
Well those days are well and truly behind this puppy now.
She was taken in to our care, brought over to the UK in February and adopted by Tania Dodds and her family. Needless to say it was love at first sight by all parties at their first meeting, a perfect match in fact.
Tania describes Georgie as ‘amazing, placid and loving’ and tells us that she walks brilliantly on the lead, is super friendly with people and other dogs, gets on great with the children and, not surprisingly, is building up a bit of a fan club in her local town.
As you can see from the photos, Georgie loves her fur brother, Tye. They like to cuddle, or should we say Georgie likes to sit and lie on him. Oh and she snores like a trooper, how unladylike Georgie!
We love to see this girl so safe, secure and loved. Thank you Tania and your family for offering her the best forever home Georgie could possibly wish for.
After finding herself at the pound aged 8 Maggies future didn't look so certain until BFS found her a fantastic foster home where's he received treatment for her Leish and she started on the road to recovery. In June 2015 Maggie found her forever home here in the UK with one of the Boxer Friends Spain team. She's one lucky lady to have landed at the Boxer Retirement home with Alison and her family. Happy forever after Maggie xx
Found his forever home.
Beautiful Bailey went to his new home in July 2016
Bobbie found his forever home in the UK in January 2016. He now lives beside the seaside! Lucky boy
Found her forever home.
Found her Forever Home
Hughes recently left for his new home. Rehomed January 2016
Rehomed in the UK
Gala has found a lovely new home in Spain with a wonderful family. Enjoy your forever after Gala xx
Let’s start with some of those boxers who have been rehomed in the UK. Who better to kick off with than the very handsome Boss, currently featuring as Mr March on our Boxer Friends Spain 2015 calendar.
Boss was our first rescue, found abandoned, tied to a skip at only 5 months old. When we were contacted and asked to help him, we arranged for him to be taken to Mercedes for safety and learnt from there what steps we need to take to bring a dog to the UK for adoption.
Boss arrived in the UK in May 2014 and was adopted by his foster family who tell us he enjoys playing with all his boxer friends and going on long walks so long as he’s wearing his thick woolly coat!
Adele has found her home in Germany with a wonderful family. Rehomed January 2016
On the 13th June Lottie (named after Princess Charlotte) arrived in the UK to go into foster with Stacey and Mark. The plan was to help Lottie acclimatise to living in a home environment with a family prior to her finding her forever home.
I asked Stacey why she decided to foster for us.......
"We originally decided to foster after seeing the amount of dogs unnecessarily dumped in kill shelters in Spain. We are avid dog walkers and I have a 15 year old rescue dog that has lived his whole life with me and wanted to open our home to another dog or dogs in the same way. Archie (the resident old boy) can be a little grouchy with other dogs and i also have two young children and right from the start Boxer Friends Spain matched us with a few possible foster dogs (I decided to foster so we could help as many dogs as possible) and Lottie ended up being the first one assigned to us.
The journey over was excellent we were able to track her journey from Spain to our doorstep (it was almost as exciting as tracking Santa on Xmas eve!!) And she came to us safe and sound late on a Saturday night.
Right from the start she fitted like a glove into our lives. Gentle and well mannered but as daft as a brush. She is excellent with the children and even the grouchy Archie likes her! She even tried to save him from supposed drowning (though he was quite enjoying his swim at the time) by tugging his lead back to shore which was very funny to watch"
On the 13th June Lottie (named after Princess Charlotte) arrived in the UK to go into foster with Stacey and Mark. The plan was to help Lottie acclimatise to living in a home environment with a family prior to her finding her forever home.
I asked Stacey why she decided to foster for us.......
"We originally decided to foster after seeing the amount of dogs unnecessarily dumped in kill shelters in Spain. We are avid dog walkers and I have a 15 year old rescue dog that has lived his whole life with me and wanted to open our home to another dog or dogs in the same way. Archie (the resident old boy) can be a little grouchy with other dogs and i also have two young children and right from the start Boxer Friends Spain matched us with a few possible foster dogs (I decided to foster so we could help as many dogs as possible) and Lottie ended up being the first one assigned to us.
The journey over was excellent we were able to track her journey from Spain to our doorstep (it was almost as exciting as tracking Santa on Xmas eve!!) And she came to us safe and sound late on a Saturday night.
Right from the start she fitted like a glove into our lives. Gentle and well mannered but as daft as a brush. She is excellent with the children and even the grouchy Archie likes her! She even tried to save him from supposed drowning (though he was quite enjoying his swim at the time) by tugging his lead back to shore which was very funny to watch" needless to say Lottie has stayed with her foster family who fell in love instantly! Happy forever ever after Lottie xxxx
Rehomed in Spain
Rehomed in the UK September 2016
Rehomed in March 2017
Our beautiful Rebecca went to her new home in the UK recently and is doing really well.
Rehomed in the U.K. In March 2017
Nala is now settled and living in the UK, lucky girl xx
Rehomed January 2016
Kiara
Another of our Golden Oldies, Kiara was dumped in Córdoba dog pound by her owner as she was old and at the time sick. When we found her she was depressed and didn't want to come out of the corner she found comfort it. She's had too many litters for her owner before being dumped and we couldn't say no to giving her a chance of a wonderful retirement home.
She is now in a forever foster home in Spain and is thriving x
Whilst we always try and keep our page and website up to date occasionally we have a dog come into rescue that matches a family we already have on our wait list.
Holly was one such dog. Joe and Harvey knew that they needed a girl in their lives but she had to be a special one as Harvey had never shared his dad before.
Then holly appeared. She was young and full of fun and needed a big brother to teach her how to play tug and the bonus.....she gives the best snuggles ever!
So to the UK she came.
The meet and greet went so well that after just 5 days in foster she was able to trot off to her new life. She now has a new dad that adores her, a big brother that lets her share his stick! and the most important thing.......a chance to thrive in a home environment.
She's one of lucky ones. She's found a family that will love her forever.
Enjoy what life has to offer little lady. We'll all enjoy seeing you thrive
Izzy is now enjoying her new home in Spain
Jena found her forever home in Germany in December 2015
Here's one of our new girls Luna, aged 18/24 months, sweet loving red bitch.
Not quite ready for rehoming just yet as Luna's newly rescued and needs to be assessed.
Rehomed In the U.K. In March 2017
The lovely Leo was one of the 12 puppies we were asked to help that had been found in a bin behind a restaurant! At only days old we were faced with huge task of weening these little pups and making sure they survived. And survive they did, Leo was able to gallop off to his forever home at just 4 months old.
Gemma and her lovely family live in Benidorm so this lovely boy has everything he could possibly want. A new family and a brother to play with...what more could you need in life Leo? Xx
Rehomed in Germany 2017
You will all remember Ron, our handsome 6 year old brindle who spent 4 years of his life caged in a tiny concrete enclosure, 24 hours a day with very little food, no bedding and little, if any, interaction with his owner who was planning to give him away as he simply doesn’t like boxers.
Ron’s feet were in a terrible condition and his chest hard, pink and sore due to him having to lie for so long on wet concrete. His skin was dry and flaky and his coat dull. He was filthy and smelly and, needless to say, very thin and hungry.
However, after a few weeks in boarding kennels where he is receiving and enjoying a lot of care and attention, regular meals and plenty of exercise, Ron is now flourishing and his overall health is much improved as you can see from the recent photos of him below.
He has a lovely temperament, is friendly, inquisitive and playful and now that he has put on weight, is developing in to a stunning, strong boy.
Ron has now found himself in the most wonderful home. Happy forever day Ron xxx
Rehomed in the UK
Rehomed October 2016
rehomed
rehomed in 2016 in the U.K.
Rehomed in Spain
Rehomed October 2016