Lily was a tiny puppy – once, for about 30 seconds. She is shown above at the age of three months. The picture tells the story to come. Lily, the energetic, curious, playful and slightly mischievous youngster wants a piece of the house plant slightly out of reach. She is balancing on her giant paws to figure out whether or not she can sniff, lick, or pull a bit of foliage. We worked over those seemingly endless early months to keep her from digging and eating plants, and fortunately those lessons worked because our grown up Lily is very disciplined. In those early days, people often commented on those giant paws: “what a cute boxer,” they would say: “she is going to be a giant one day.” Well, she is indeed a gentle giant – eager to please, ready for affection, and playful yet respectful of our moods. It is hard to believe that our memories of Lily’s blurry festival of boxer puppy action are slowly fading now that she is three and fully mature (so to speak). MM & RY 2010
