Ruff Boxers - About Us

About Us

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Hi! We’re Keith and Denise Fry from southern Louisiana, and we are new to the show ring, but not to our wonderful friends, the boxers. We may be just getting started with our kennel, but, as in life and work, we believe if it’s worth doing - it’s worth doing well. We believe in QUALITY, not quantity.

Previously we shared our home with our pet boxer, Roxie. Tragically, in June of 2001, she crossed the Rainbow Bridge too soon. I was devastated, losing her at the young age of 5. After a period of time grieving for Roxie, I finally told my husband I was ready for the sound of boxer paws and sloppy kisses. We went on a quest to locate our next boxer family member. We wanted a healthy puppy so we contacted our local boxer club for the name and telephone number of a local breeder who had puppies available. We were given the name of a local breeder who had a litter available and traveled to see the puppies. We picked out a puppy, and placed a deposit down. A week later, we received a call from the breeder that the puppy we had picked out had died. The grieving for Roxie and now the new puppy came back in full bloom. It was a sad time for me. The breeder told us she was planning two breedings later that year, and we could pick one of those puppies. The Canadian champion, Sabre, would be sire for one of the litters.

We looked up Sabre’s website and fell in love. What a gorgeous dog! We had to have one of his puppies. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for us to adopt one of the local Sabre puppies. We wanted a flashy female. There was only one in the litter, and the breeder was keeping it. So I started searching for other litters sired by Sabre and located a litter up in Tacoma, Washington. Bolduc Boxer’s had a litter whelped on June 6^th, 2002, between Sabre and Miss T Moon. There were five puppies, three females and two males. We immediately contacted Mikki Bolduc regarding the puppies. And, yes, our luck had changed. She had one family picked for a show quality female, she had one family picked for a pet quality female. We told Mikki that we would accept show or pet. We were just interested in a healthy puppy, and we had fallen in love with Sabre.

We placed our application in order to be considered for one of the females. Keith and I would go to the website to check for updated pictures for the litter. We kept our fingers crossed. After a couple weeks, we finally got our answer that we had been approved. (or I just wore Mikki down with my calls and e-mails) I felt like a proud expecting mother. Now we just had to wait to see which female we would be receiving, and if it would be pet or show quality. The female that Keith really liked was nicknamed “Feisty” for her attitude. After the litter was judged regarding show or pet, we had our answer, we would be getting Feisty/Diamond, and she was judged to be show quality.

The breeder, Mikki Bolduc delivered Diamond to us in early August. It was through Mikki’s Internet friend, Michelle Schroll that we located our future handler, Ike Liotto. Since that time Ike has become a dear friend and mentor. Keith and I were inexperienced in regards to conformation/show ring, hence we came up with the name for our future kennel, Ruff Boxers, and named our first show bitch Bolduc’s Diamond in the Ruff.

We were invited to attend the September dog show in Mandeville and to bring Diamond so Ike could look at her. It was our first dog show, and we were a little overwhelmed. Ike liked what he saw in Diamond, and we agreed that he would be her handler. Ike and his wife, Tammy encouraged us to join the Louisiana Boxer Club, where we have been welcomed with open arms and warm hearts. We have made many wonderful new friends there, especially Carole Sutter of Ruffian’s Boxer. Carole has been a dear friend and mentor, too. We are learning so much from Ike and Carole. Keith is a quick study with a good eye for detail. In fact, that’s how we came to purchase our second show boxer.

Ike had a brindle male from his special, Gavin. Keith was immediately drawn to Pete, but Ike said Pete wasn’t for sale. During the October boxer club meeting, Keith told me, “I just love Pistol Pete, and someday he’s going to be mine.” Ike was firm that Pete wasn’t going anywhere, that the puppy wasn’t for sale. But after a month or so, Ike started warming up to the idea of Pete coming to live with us, so now it was two against one (me). Since I’m the SAHM and primary caretaker, I vetoed the idea. I have never had to care for two puppies at one time, plus we had our pet Lab, Boo, and I felt I had my hands full. Keith was disappointed but finally accepted that Pete would never be a part of our family. Ike said, “That’s fine, Pete’s not going anywhere, and he’ll be here if you change your mind.” BUT Ike had a plan…at the shows in Mississippi in January, he always placed Diamond and Pete in the same X-pen and discussed how well they played together. That weekend, Keith was in heaven playing with “His Petey”. I knew what Ike was doing, but I finally caved in and accepted that Pete would be joining the family. In secret, that weekend I told Carole and Ike that I was thinking about buying Pete for Keith. And Ike was so slick, “Pete’s not going anywhere, and he’ll be here when you want him.” After that weekend, and with Valentine’s Day coming soon, I made the deal for Pete without Keith knowing. We arranged for Pete to be Keith’s Valentine present. What do you give to a man who gives so much to everyone around? I wanted to give him the gift of boxer hugs and kisses, PETE’S hugs and kisses. So on Valentine’s Day, Ike drove down to our house and we placed a big red bow around Pete’s neck. We drove to Keith’s office and while I distracted Keith, Ike came to his office door and said, “HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!” Keith was so shocked at first, he didn’t see Pete. When it dawned on Keith that Ike was there to present Pete to him, he had the biggest smile on his face. Pete was finally his!

So now Keith and I both have our babies to love, Pete and Diamond!