A friend passed last night, and it made me remember back nine years ago when we first met him.  We had gotten a few emails on an adolescent male boxer that was living in a crate in the middle of a small pet shop / bodega in Brooklyn.  They were persistent and said they would meet us there.  We learned that day about a secondary trade in older pet shop dogs that either didn't sell as puppies or were returned.

The boxer in the crate was standing with his back almost touching the top.  He stood on the wire bottom and under him were dirty newspapers.  After some negotiations, the boxer was ours.  He walked meekly out of his crate, looked at us, and wagged his tail a little.  We lifted him into our car, and drove him towards his new life.  As we turned onto the Expressway, we started to discuss his new name.  The first exit sign we saw was for Maurice Avenue, and that was it... his name would be Maurice.

Maurice quickly worked his way into his foster families heart.  He  had to learn to go outside, and for a long time had issues with men, but he was great with the young children in the home and with his foster sister, a beagle named Tasha.  They adopted him, which was great for me because Maurice got to come with his mom to the office and play with my boxers.  Maurice was quite a character and would run circles around the conference table to instigate play.

Maurice recently got a new sibling, Molly, a tiny Shih Tzu pup. At ten years old it was a bit of a shock for him, but he started to relish the little antagonist and the games they played.  He was lucky to have her, as she was to have him.  And as we all were to have him.

The Maurice Avenue sign has always stood for more since that day.  It represents the new life we give to so many dogs, and the new life they give back to us. 

We will miss you Maurice.

Thank you to his family and to all the families and friends of the dogs of AABR.

02/28/04 - Maurice 

Maurice was rescued from a real bad situation.  At 11 months old, and almost fully grown, Maurice was still in a dirty pet shop in Brooklyn, in the same crate he called home since he left the puppy mill.  He was purchased from the pet shop and turned over to rescue so that he could feel freedom for the first time in his life.

He is not in bad shape considering he hardly ever left his crate.  He was filthy and made to pee and poop in his crate.  We allowed him to run for awhile in the yard and introduced him to our three male Boxers, which he immediately got along with.  We then gave him a bath and he seemed to like it as 11 months of dirt went floating down the drain.

As you could expect, Maury is not housetrained.  He also will need training and lots of loving.  He didn't have much of a childhood.  But he has been very gentle in everything from eating to walking on leash.  He is a great guy and today he started to live.

If you are interested in adopting this dog, please fill out an online application first.  Then e-mail the contact below.  Be sure to include your full name, city, state, and area code in the subject line of your message.

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