This is Astro, Sugar Hill Carmel Delight. He is a fawn flashy boxer. We bought him on July 6, 1999 from Nancy Wiles of Sugar Hill Boxers and Austrailian Shepherds. Astro turned 1 year old this year, on April 6. Astro is VERY sweet and (usually) very gentle. When he gets excited he does the 'Boxer Steam Engine'. He gets to running really fast and jumping in the air, and if anything is in his way he runs (or should I say flies?) over it. He has been known to run into fences and trees.

This picture is of Astro right after we got him, when he was about 3 1/2 monthes old. Ain't he cute? You can see from this picture that his ears were taped. In the U.S. boxers cannot be shown in conformation without their ears taped. They also must have their tails docked. This is done when they are only a few days old. I'll tell you a little bit more about boxers. They are originally from Germany, where they were bred to do police work, and sometimes sheep herding. Boxers come in two colors, fawn and brindle. They have a black mask, but some have some white on them. The only places this is allowed is on their feet, neck, chest and muzzle. The white can only make up 1/3 of their overall body color. If you want to read more about the boxer you can go to the ABC (American Boxer Club) site.

This summer when Willow came in heat I decided I would need another dog for Junior Showmanship. For about a year I had been really interested in boxers. Then, I suddenly changed my mind. First, I decided I wanted a Labrador Retriever, than a German Short-Haired Pointer, and again I canged my mind, this time to a Weimeraner. Luckily, I hadn't been able to find a puppy of any of these breeds. One Monday Nancy Wiles brought Astro to dog class. At the time he was only about 2 1/2 monthes old. I fell in love with him on site and made my mom call Nancy. It took a long time to convince my dad, but I finally did, and bought Astro when he was 3 monthes old.

This is Astro's brother, Cobra (Sugar Hill King Cobra). He is a brindle flashy boxer. This picture was taken at a show in Anchorage on November 14, 1999. This was Astro and Cobra's first show. At this show I only showed Astro in conformation, as I decided to show Willow in Junior Showmanship because Astro wasn't trained very well. Astro took Best 6-9 Puppy Dog at that show, over Cobra. Since that show Astro and I have attended two more shows together, one in January and one in March, both located in the Egan Center in Anchorage, Alaska. In January I showed Astro in Junior Showmanship both days. The first day we took a first, which gave me my third first in Novice Junior. The second day we didn't place, but hey, I was happy with him!

Astro's dad, Rico (AM/CDN CH Mephisto's Dauntae Impressario)

A few weeks ago my family got a package from our grandparents. In that package were about 5 tapes full of recorded tv shows (my grandparents live in California and still get such shows as California Gold and The Andy Griffith Show, so they record them for my dad). I was reading through the labels, looking for any shows I might be interested (Mr. Ed in particular) and I came across one that said 'Dog Frisbee Tournament'. So I popped the tape in the

VCR and found the recording of the tournament, which just so happened to be the Alpo Canine Frisbee Dog Championship. From the moment I saw the first team of dog and owner performing tricks with those frisbees I was hooked. So I did lots of research and learned how to train with the frisbee. Since the time Astro and I started playing frisbee, Astro has gotten stronger and quicker. I highly recomend playing frisbee with your dog if he lacks muscle, or if you just want to have fun with the dog. Astro loves it!

Astro's mom, Snickers (Sugar Hill Bit-O-Honey)