Lana Burgulis – BURGULIS

It is an honor for me to become a part of the ABC's Lifetime Membership group. I wish I could get out photos and dates to document this little write-up, but they are all packed away in boxes and soon (next week) to be moved to a home we are buying here in Hollywood, FL. I will just have to "wing it!"

I have had Boxers my entire life - even when we were kids growing up in Iowa. My first Boxer as an adult was one that I rescued from the Animal Shelter in Dayton, Ohio. Her name was Brandy and to this day I cannot think of her without believing that God gave her to us as a very special gift! She was followed by several others -- all sweet, funny, endearing and 100% typical of our wonderful Boxer breed.

Back in the 80's we bought a lovely ACK plain brindle Boxer named Pepper and decided to breed her. We lived in Dayton and by then I was a member of the Miami Valley Boxer Club, where I was fortunate to meet Linda Huffman, Avalon Jackson, and some other terrific long-time Boxer people. We bred Pepper to Linda Huffman's CH. Huffand's Nice Enough “Norman”. Our first litter produced 8 beautiful; puppies and I credit Linda and Jerry for getting Burgulis' Boxers off to a wonderful start.

We eventually bred one of those puppies to CH Bremhaven's Mr. Roberts, owned by Coleman Cook in Columbus, Ohio. That litter produced two champions -- they were brothers -- CH Burgulis' Rae Of Luck “Lucky” who Coleman kept, and our heart and soul dog, CH Burgulis' Rae Of Sunshine “Sunny”. When we lived in Ohio, Sunny was shown by Linda Huffman and after we moved to Florida, he completed his championship shown by Elliot Federman. Many thanks to both Linda and Elliot!

Once we moved to Florida, I expanded my world of Boxer club friends. Member of the Southeast Florida Boxer Club and after moving to St. Petersburg, became a member of the Tampa Boxer Club. We have produced several more champions over the years here in Florida and most were handled by

Danielle Butler (Henry), with the love, help and support of her mom, Donna Butler and Dr. Jackie Royce. I am proud to say that Danielle's very first champion as a little junior handler was their incredible "Joey" who was out of a Sunny daughter bred to Virginia Zurflieh's CH Scarborough Hotel California.

There are just no words to explain much happiness all my years owning and loving Boxers and my lifetime Membership In the American Boxer Club have meant to me. Many of my best friends are Boxer people and I have enjoyed serving the local clubs I have belonged to in a number of different offices and on various committees. My Boxers bring incredible joy to my husband, Tom, and me. We now are the proud owners of just one awesome, sweet, funny wonderful female Boxer named

"Fudge" (Burgulis And Bullet's Oh Fudge!) I will close with a picture of her that just says it all about our Boxer breed --"They are beautiful, loving, sweet and they absolutely melt my heart!

Patricia Healy – RYZINGSTAR

I became involved with Boxers when I teamed up with my now current husband Howard “Butch” Engel. We have known each other since the early 80’s when we both belong to the same kennel club. I started showing a Boxer for Butch and the rest is history.

We have breed or owned 3 DOM and 1 SOM. Our SOM, CH Holly Lane's Wild As The Wind, was in the Top Twenty 2 years in a row shown by me. I originally started in Dobermans and I have had 2 Top Twenty bitches and Winner Bitch at a DPCA National.

I’m a lifetime member of the Greeley Kennel Club. I’ve been a member since 1978 and have held every office and done almost every show committee position.

There have been so many and all of them have brought great pleasure to me. CH Holly Lane's Wild As The Wind SOM “Willy”, was our first big winner. I put him in the Top Twenty 2 years in a row. He had multi group 1st and Specialty wins. Ch Ryzingstar Trouble Maker DOM “Kapri”, was shown in the breed twice. Once the day after she finished where she went BOB over 7 male specials including the number one male in the country at the time. The second time was as a veteran at the BCOC specialty where she went BOB over a number of specials. CH Ryzingstar's Last Call “Lennox”, was my heart dog. We lost him to BCM at the age of 9.

My kennel name before Butch and I got together was Solitaire and his was Starlight. Butch came up with the name Ryzingstar (spelt a little different) and I liked it so we went with it. Under Ryzingstar we have breed and shown over 60 Champions. We have breed and shown Boxer, Dobermans and Beagles, most of them breeder, owner-handled.

I have been AKC Judge since 2006 and currently have 17 working breeds and 1 hound breed.

I’m a lifetime member (1978) of the Greeley KC, member of the Doberman Pincher Club of America and the Boxer Club of Colorado. I’m currently on the Board of Directors for the ABC and hold the Vice President position. I hope to continue to serve the ABC in any way I can.

We still continue to actively breed and show and will do so as long as I can. Now that I’m retired, I would like to explore other activities with my dogs like barn hunt and rally.

Tracy Hendrickson – SUNCHASE

Tracy grew up in a family with Boxers, her parents owned, showed and bred them. Her 90 year old mother still has them today. Tracy grew up in the Tulsa area and now lives on three acres in Broken Arrow. She titled her first Boxer in obedience at age 13 and was hooked. Tracy's first conformation champions were out of her first litter in 1984. SSShhhh.....Tracy's first boxer was a fawn.

Tracy opened her own Veterinary Laboratory in 1981 to provide laboratory services to

veterinarians in all 50 states. An outgrowth of this was a canine blood bank. She sold the lab in 2006 and now has the Companion Pets Animal Blood Bank. Her Boxers and several belonging to other breeders in the Tulsa area, being universal donors, have saved the lives of thousands of dog in the surrounding area. The blood bank donates a percentage of the profits to Tulsa Boxer Rescue Association.

Founder of American Boxer Rescue Association and Tulsa Boxer Rescue Association in 1990. Tracy was president for 12 years and is still a major contributor. Tracy has served for several years on the Obedience Performance Awards Committee. She is a member of Boxer Club of Oklahoma, serving as Show Chair for Performance at the 2008 ABC Regional. Tracy has been a member of the Tulsa Dog Training Club and Companion Dog School of Tulsa since 1980.

Tracy has competed in force at every ABC trial since they were reinstated in 1995 with Jud Streicher judging. Anyone that knows Tracy knows it's all about performance and having fun - each dog being a team with her. She competes and trains extensively in Obedience, Agility and Rally -- both AKC and UKC. She has put over 500 working dog titles on her dogs (Lure Coursing, CGCA and Herding too) -- all of whom are her breeding (with the exception of a rescue Labrador Retriever). These titles also include Schutzhund, Herding, and Therapy dog work. She has been invited and competed numerous times to the National Obedience Invitational, representing our breed. Tracy has also bred several title holders owned by other top competitors such as Peggy McConnell and

Larrie Moody. 4 of the 6 Boxers to attain the coveted OTCH (Obedience CH) title are Sunchase Boxers. Writing is also one of Tracy's talents. She has shared her knowledge and has written and published many articles on the health, training and socializing the Boxer. Many breed books contain her dog's famous group pictures with 10 or more dogs at complete attention. Tracy has also judged numerous conformation sweepstakes and obedience fun matches and hopes to continue to judge more in the future. She also has been an agility and obedience instructor for over 30 years at her local dog clubs.

Tracy's Highlights: 13 home bred Champions Recipient of the 2003 ABC Good Sportsmanship Award. Recipient of the 2014 ABC Unsung Hero Award. Recipient of the ABC Lifetime Achievement Award. Recipient of 3 ABC Performance Dog of the Year Awards. Recipient of 13 ABC Top Obedience Boxer Awards (collectively under Sunchase name). Recipient of 24 ABC High in Trial Obedience (collectively under Sunchase name). Won 4 Individual AKC National Rally Obedience Classes I am honored to become a Life Member of the American Boxer Club.

Frederick & JoAnne Krieger – HIDE-A-WAY

We have had boxers for over 35 years. We got our first boxer, Beason, in 1976 from Jo Thompson of 5 T's Kennels. He was a son of CH Benjoman of 5 T's, who had a fantastic pedigree. Beason was a terrific dog that we loved very much - of course we loved them all. Jo encouraged us in the boxer world, and encouraged us to join the local club which was the Central Indiana Boxer Club, which we did. Eventually Fred served as President of the Club for several years. And we are still members of the club. Jo, along with Bob Phillips, sponsored us for membership in ABC.

How we chose boxers is a story within itself. We didn't choose them as much as they chose us. Jody always had dogs growing up, while Fred did not. After serving in the USAF for four years, and returning to civilian life we purchased a house in 1974. Jody wanted to complete our family with getting a dog, which Fred wasn't too keen about. About that time, we visited friends from the USAF for several days. They had a boxer and Fred and that boxer totally bonded. So, Fred agreed to get a dog, as long as it was a boxer. And eventually, we found our way to Jo Thompson, and the rest is history as far as our love of the breed.

In 1986 we moved from Indianapolis to the country (still a suburb of Indianapolis) and purchased several acres. We were surrounded by corn fields and woods - it was like our own hide a way. And that is where our Kennel name, Hide-a-Way Boxers, came from.

When we lost Beason we got a bitch, Kelly, from Dot and Jerry Bryant. Like Beason, she was a pet and not show quality. We did show Kelly at a few shows, just for fun. Kelly was out of CH Interlude's It's About Time and Enclave's Thanque HoHo Mana Kachina.

Dot and Jerry thought we should breed Kelly. After seeking several opinions on who to breed her to, we settled on Avalon Jackson's CH Raja's Chairman of the Board "Hogan". So, our first litter was born on April 1st, 1989, and from that litter came CH Hide-a-ways Touchdown "Rickey" . We asked several boxer people if any puppies in the litter were show quality and all said Rickey was show quality. We asked CIBC member Bob Phillips, to be our handler, and away we went on the show circuit. We never thought showing could be so much fun. It seemed that Rickey won just about every event we entered. Well, not really, but it seemed that way. He finished by the time he was about 16 months. We were told by several boxer friends to enjoy what we are doing, because this is a once in a lifetime experience for most show people…to have a flyer like Rickey as your first show dog. Only later did we understand what they meant as we were really a novice at showing at that time. We took Rickey to ABC in New Jersey twice. The first time he placed in his class before he finished, and the second time was as a special.

We have had several litters and many boxers over the years, but not another Rickey. So, we were blessed to have Rickey. In fact we have been blessed to have all of our boxers. We are now retired, and have been so for some time. When we lost our last boxer Mitzi, we decided to do some traveling, and we knew that if we got another boxer it would tie us down somewhat. So, we no longer have dogs. We miss having a boxer so much. We now have cats, and how that came about is a story for a cat club. We are both members of the Central Indiana Boxer Club and Fred is a Board member of the Hoosier Kennel Club.

We would like to thank; Jo Thompson for helping us get started in boxers and for her help and advice along the way; Velva Kelsey who also gave us help and advice along the way; and of course our handlers Bob Phillips and Jerry Bryant who handled Rickey to his Championship and beyond. We miss them all very much.

We have had a great journey with our boxers and they have given us much love and memories over the years - and we miss each and every one of them.

Joyce Peckham – MO/KAN BOXER RESCUE

I had a boxer as a child and when I bought my first home as an adult, I got another one named “Phaedra, that was in 1974. I have not been without a boxer in my home since. In 1982 my family moved to Manhattan, KS so that my husband could go to Veterinary College. We decided it would be lovely to have boxer puppies and that is how I met Elvinia Heldenbrand, of Heldenbrand Boxers. She introduced me to the world of conformation. We bred some beautiful boxers including my first champion CH. Peckham Emperor Titus “Titus”. I met Eileen McClintock of Holly Lane Kennels, and these two ladies became my mentors.

I also met Fran Davidson, Liz Phillips and “Silas the Rescue Boxer” and became hooked on boxer rescue. “Silas” was responsible for the start/creation of the ABRA ER Fund. Liz and I have been the coordinators of Mo/Kan Boxer Rescue for 20+ years; I have been both the secretary and was a long time president for the Heart of America Boxer club.

I do not have a kennel but have been blessed to have both owned and bred some lovely boxers. I have not had a show dog in quite a while, but as retirement approached from my demanding job as a perinatal sonographer in a high risk pregnancy clinic, I decided it was time to get one.

In 2014 I saw a beautiful flashy fawn bitch (my favorite) and decided she was the one. Her name is GCH Midnight Sky's Endure the Payne “Payne”. It has been a lot of fun to be back ringside. She is co-owned by her breeder, Linda Bammes, Becky Arce and myself. We had an exciting month with her when she received both her Championship and her Grand over 4 weekends, including 3 Best of Opposite Sex. My plan now is to continue to have fun with my friends, both with conformation boxers and rescue boxers. Additional Champions: CH. Hollycrest Farm Hand CH. Heldenbrand’s Kansas Trail Twister

Nancy Sue Wainwright – HI-HAT

Lifetime member of Boxer Club of Western New York and she works tirelessly for The Boxer Rescue Foundation.

Susan D. Williams – STAR HAVEN

I have been involved with Boxers for about 30 years. Not counting the years that I spent growing up with them. In that time, I had 4 litters of puppies. One of them became out first home bred Champion, owner handled. I started teaching obedience and began exhibiting in obedience, CGC and conformation. I spent several years doing rescue, both from animal control and people needing to find another home for their dog.

My husband and I evaluated Boxers for the Alaska Kennel Club for conditioning and attitude to show boxer owners how

to train their dogs/bitches. Through the Alaska school district, we got involved in a program that they called “Dogs Can Bite”. We would answer questions that the students may have and then give them the opportunity to interact with our dogs. Through the years we were able to get friends from other dog clubs to participate in the program with us.

AM/CAN CH Caymans Sweetdream Come True “Dream”, received a Certificate of Award for Bitch winning Most Best of Breeds for the years 1994 and 1995 through the East Bay Boxer Club. Dream, received her AKC Championship at 13 months old, she was owner handled.

CH Caymans Mac O’Neill CD “Mac”, received a Certificate Award for Dog Winning Most Best of Opposite for the year 1995 through the East Bay Boxer Club. Mac received a group placement in the 12-18 month class at the 1993 ABC Regional. Mac was pointed in the Canadian Kennel Club.

CH Caymans Texas Lawman CD

“Gunner”, received a Certificate of

Award for Dog Winning Most Best of

Opposite for the year 1996 through the

East Bay Boxer Club. Gunner was pointed in the Canadian Kennel Club.

Susan’s Lone-Star Lucky Penny CGC CD “Penny” (pictured at 14 years old) received a States Kennel Club CD. She also attained her AKC CGC and CD. She then became a Demo Dog in my husband’s obedience class.

CH Stevenstars Summer Sunset CD CDX “Solar”, received his Championship at the States Kennel Club show, he also received his CD at another States Kennel Club show. Solar was a Demo Dog in my husband’s obedience class. He was also an International Therapy Dog (TDI) and was working on his UD when we lost him to cancer.

I had grown up with Boxers and I love the breed, so when I decided to get into exhibiting dogs, I naturally chose Boxers as my breed. After doing research about the breed, I decided I want to start my own line. I never knew I would be so lucky as to find a breeder that not only would be my mentor, but my very best friend, Sydney Brown of Cayman Boxers. When her next litter was born, she helped me choose what she felt was the pick of the litter and boy was she right. I fell in love with Dream the first time I saw her. In fact, I flew from Alaska to California to get her.

When I took her to her 1st Puppy Class, there was a professional handler at the class. After class, she came over and examined her. She looked me in the eyes and told me that you can take a nice dog and make it a show dog, but there are few BORN show dogs. She told me that Dream was a born show dog. She didn’t know how right she was. Dream loved to show. We would go to dog shows and judges would call me over wanting to examine her, know about her wins and of course, her pedigree.

Although she was in fewer shows than the rest of her litter, she received her Championship before any of the rest of them. This includes her brother, CH Caymans Black Bart. The highlight to Dreams career was when she received an invitation to the Westminster Kennel Club. Dream was special in so many way…she was my Soul Mate. When we went on trips, she would sleep under the blankets with me. She understood what I said to her and she had no problem letting me know what her thoughts were. She followed me everywhere. She helped me get through the loss of both my Father and Mother. I lost Dream on Christmas Eve, one month after losing my Mother. I have trouble talking about her without crying, I still miss her so much.

Our kennel name is Star Haven. We got the name by putting two words together. Each of our 4 legged babies are stars in our eyes. Haven can be defined as a place to provide protection and safety from danger.

In the years that we have been involved with dogs, I have belonged in numerous dog/boxer clubs. They are the Alaska Kennel Club, American Boxer Club; I am a charter member of the Midnight Sun Boxer Club, and a lifetime member of the East Bay Boxer Club. We were also members of the Dog Obedience Club of Anchorage.

I have several interests and activities that I enjoy doing, but my most important one is enjoying boxers. The time I spend with them daily brings me so much joy and contentment. Additional Champions: CH Abby-Rose’s-Irish Flair “Flair” CH Star Havens Dream Winds “Tia” (1st home bred, owner handled Champion)