Whelped 12-10-2008
Ch. Weston's Cry for Freedom x CR One Hot Mama
Pedigree

Better one byrde in hand than ten in the wood.
~John Heywood, Dialogue on Wit and Folly, c. 1530

After losing both Hugo and Linus within a few weeks of each other, we were without a male Boxer in our home for quite some time, and sorely missing it! We had a houseguest for the summer, Cole, but he was always meant to be a temporary resident and soon enough was needed at his new home. We had long planned on keeping a male puppy from Emma's or Evie's first litters (or both!) but a series of missed breedings had us feeling pessimistic about the whole thing. At about the time that we'd found out that Evie's breeding didn't take, and we weren't yet sure if Emma's breeding did, Rick and Cindy Walunas at CR Boxers offered us a male puppy from their Abe-Lily litter.

After some discussion and reflection, we decided to accept their generous offer, figuring that we'd be foolish not to take an exceptional puppy that we knew was available, and instead wait perhaps another two years before we had one from our own breeding to keep. Hunter has fit into our home with ease and has that typical "Abey-baby" temperament that we so love! We're very excited to see how he matures - Hunter is from a repeat breeding of Ch. CR Belle of the Ball, who won her class at the ABC National her first time in the ring (at six months, four days old) and finished her Championship with two Specialty majors just out of the 12-18 class, so he's got some pretty big shoes to fill!

Of course Hunter's registered name pretty much chose itself - a "Bird in the Hand" decision if ever there was one! We have had some questions about the name, as some have interpreted it to imply we were "settling". Nothing could be further from the truth! If we hadn't thought Hunter was an outstanding puppy, it would have been easy to wait for one of our own. We do have a sort of history of "tongue-in-cheek" names; after all, Hugo was named "Coals to Newcastle", a phrase which describes something that is completely unnecessary (and obviously, we didn't acutally feel that way about Hugo!). Hunter's call name goes back to some of the suspected origins of the phrase, as a caution both to those who hunted for birds and those who hunted with them.

Hunter is co-owned with Cindy Walunas and Ginger Johnson.

Hunter's Win Pictures
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	Georgia Boxer Club September 17, 2009 Best Junior Dog Judge Mr. Jason Starr
	Muncie Kennel Club August 15, 2009 Best Puppy in Breed Judge Mr. Robert Moore
	Mahonig-Shenango Kennel Club August 2, 2009 Reserve Winners Dog (From the 6-9 Puppy class) Judge Mr. Everett Dean

16 weeks