Thinking Inside The Box

Clownish and energetic, yet devoted and trainable, boxer dogs make an entertaining addition to the family–if you don’t mind a bit of drool. Katy Birchall learns more about these former police dogs

- Katy Birchall

BOXER dog Biff is something of a celebrity. After landing the role of Buster in the heartwarming John Lewis Christmas advertisement in 2016, Biff became an overnight sensation—the two-minute spot, which saw the exuberant boxer bouncing up and down gleefully on a trampoline, was the most-watched Christmas TV advertisement worldwide on YouTube that year, gaining more than 20 million views. Within minutes of its release, ‘Buster the Boxer’ was trending higher on social media than the US election results, announced the day before.

‘Biff loves the attention,’ reveals owner Jan Patten, who has three boxers in total: Biff, Betty, and Darcey. ‘He’d never done anything like that before. We only auditioned because my agility trainer saw the advertisement and suggested we go along. It was three years ago, but he’s still sometimes recognized—he’s been asked for so many photographs that, now, whenever he sees someone holding a camera, he sits and poses.’

Playful, energetic and silly, boxers are natural comics—the perfect star for an advertisement designed to make people smile. Then there’s the matter of those lovable faces. ‘They’ve got such expression,’ says Mrs. Patten. ‘That’s what sets them apart. They can look so different from one minute to the next. They’re real clowns, constantly making us laugh. You have to have a big sense of humor to own a boxer—the biggest sense of humor, perhaps, but once you live with one, there’s no other dog.’