'Big' Brother

Copper Hill’s Sardonyx of Kyler’s Atticus out of Copper Hill’s Shalimar... But you can call me Dill.

Now that we've established some sort of a baseline here on the blog, I think it's safe to bring in some outside breed perspective. Pictured above, is Dill, in all his glory. He is a recently turned two year old Boxer, Brindle in color with white markings. And no brain. Why, you may ask, is he now prominently featured on this, a blog of Ridges? Well because this dazzling specimen happens to be the future Cortana's big brother.

I assure you, the novelty of this... Sibling concept... will be absolutely lost on him.

Since Dill projects as being a significant contributor to Cortana's progress once she comes home, I felt it was time to introduce him here onto the blog and to brief you, the readers, on his particulars...

I almost said 'on what makes him tick'... Can you believe that? Surely one look at the photo above and you can safely assume that there is no ticking what-so-ever going on in that thick skull of his.

Dill carries with him some European blood from his Sire, but he hails from far-away Alaska and we do our best not to hold that against him. He is every bit the Better Half's puppy, and falls to pieces faster that a celebrity diva when she leaves the house. I suppose that adoration is to be commended, though. He *is* a Boxer after all. Here's a couple shots of the two of them:

Here we are on our way home from a vacation out east. This particular stop found Dill facing down his first elevator ride... Ironically, it was also his Birthday and he was introduced to the wonders of room service leftovers as a special treat!

No one is quite sure how this particular injury occurred, but during a playdate with one of his best buds, the uber-beta Boxer known formally as Phineas, he somehow lost a bit of skin on his back paw. Courteous as always, he had no intention of breaking up our friendly bar-b-que by letting anyone know there was a problem, instead opting to leave blood stained paw prints wherever his carefree romp took him until someone called for the two medics enjoying their brew downstairs.

While we do have a running gag about his lack of a brain, Dill did just turn two, and lately he has been showing signs of finally starting to grasp some concepts that have been consistently eluded him most of his brief puppy life. Problem solving skills flash and disappear more elusively than comets, but we are working on that.

One issue we've spent some considerable amount of time on is a mysterious, late developing form of Leash Aggression. We aren't at all sure what brought this on. (there is some suspicion that perhaps while he was still showing and with his handler, that maybe he was set upon by another dog while on leash and was unable to get away/properly respond)  For all intents and purposes, Dill is an absolute Beta of a dog. He and Phineas often have little sub-fights about who is the biggest wuss before they start playing, because neither of them wants to take charge. Dill is a lover, not a fighter and if he is off of his lead he has no issues or qualms about much of anything...

(Except the wind, of course, his mortal enemy, the wind monster, is always one step behind him... with the blowing, and gusting, and whistling, and taunting.... Above you can see me, the author, attempting to console him while he is coming under attack from said monster.)

So yeah... that's pretty much Dill, in all his glory and none of his decency. We're all looking forward to watching what happens when Cortana arrives and begins developing. Dill has shown that he is very good with puppies, but what we're most curious about is whether Cortana, or Dill will become the Padawan...

To be revisited...

-Vague