Written by Lesley Donnelly
Professional photography by Tania Cholwich Photography
Luke Skywalker joined our happy home on the 20th of November 2023. He was named Chippy when we first spotted him on Boxer Rescue South Africa’s Facebook page. We changed it to Luke Skywalker for two reasons. Firstly, the name Luke means light or of light. We needed some light or lightness in our home after the sad loss of our beloved white Boxer, Ares, at the end of 2022 due to lymphoma. Secondly, Skywalker was apt because Luke flew all the way from George Airport to OR Tambo to be with us. Of course, he’s also our own Jedi knight (for all the Star Wars fans).
Luke stole our hearts from the first moment we saw him, still crated, and exhausted after a long, tedious, and delayed flight from George. His gentle, non-confrontational nature assured his easy integration into our home. His companions currently are Pearl, our designer dog featured on Happy Tails January 2020 with Ares (https://www.happytailsmagazine.co.za/muttmix/the-story-of-the-pearl-and-the-boxer/), Benji, a feisty 11-month-old Biewer Yorkie who’s Luke’s best friend (all 2kg of him), and Maya, his other small Yorkie companion, who mostly stays out of his way.
We all assumed that Luke was a Boxer cross. It was difficult to judge the lineage of this gorgeous white pup from photos posted on the Boxer Rescue Face Book page and from all the WhatsApps that we shared with Boxer Rescue whilst arranging his adoption. He looks a lot bigger on photos than he is in real life. He weighs around 18kg and doesn’t really have the obvious physical characteristics of a Boxer. He’s just turned nine months old and is a playful and adorable pup, so eager to please and full of love.
We’d used MuttMix before to determine Pearl’s DNA when we rescued her in 2019 and were therefore eager to find out just who Luke is. We had all sorts of ideas, from Bull Terrier, Pit Bull, Boston Terrier, Boxer – we couldn’t wait to get the MuttMix results of Luke’s DNA.
Luke’s MuttMix Results:
Level 1 Boston Terrier
Level 4 French Bulldog
Level 4 Irish Setter
We weren’t too surprised at the Level 1 Boston Terrier results, because we see a lot of Boston Terrier in Luke, and even the French Bulldog influence is visible. The Irish Setter is a surprise, although MuttMix has said that this is most likely the reason why he’s bigger than a Boston and a Frenchie. No sign of Boxer!
It doesn’t matter; Luke has brought light, life and plenty of laughter to our home and he shows us every day the power of gentleness. We love you, Luke Skywalker, and look forward to many happy, love-filled years with you. Thank you for coming to live with us.
A big thank you to Debbie, Jacquie, and Astrid from Boxer Rescue South Africa for all your support and effort throughout the adoption process of Luke. If you never posted his beautiful pictures on Boxer Rescue, we’d never have known about him! Thank you to Boxer Rescue South Africa flight sponsors who ensured that Luke could come home to us. Thank you to Sandra from the Community Animal Rescue Society in George for taking Luke to be neutered and vaccinated. Sandra also fetched Luke and saw that he was safely crated for his flight to us. You’re an earth-angel. Thanks to Gloria from Cemair who assisted us so compassionately when Luke’s flight was delayed and we were frantic. She ensured that Luke was safely delivered into our car and into my arms.
Thank you, Happy Tails, for publishing Luke’s story. This is Chapter One.
