About Us

Hello, and Welcome!

Ardenvale Boxers was founded in 2006 by my husband and myself, although I have had boxers for much longer than that. I got my first boxer in 1981 when I was sixteen.

Currently we reside in Northern California, in the beautiful Bay Area near San Francisco.

The name Ardenvale comes from my imagination. I am an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy, and fell in love with stories such as Tolkein's Lord of the Rings. To my mind Ardenvale sounds like a name the elves would have named a stronghold of theirs in some of the stories that I have read. Ardenvale is comprised of two real words. Arden, meaning "wood" or "wooded" and Vale which means valley. So Ardenvale also means Wooded Valley. Which brings to my mind the image of a beautiful mountain valley.

We strive to breed top quality dogs with flawless temperaments. It is our hope that our dogs will compete successfully in the conformation ring, as well as in performance venues.

We have a preference for dogs that have correct natural ears, and we are striving to bring that into our breeding program from the start. We are not against cropping, and feel that this is a choice that should be left up to each individual, we just like the softer look that a boxer has with natural ears. That said, however, we will not send a puppy to a home that wishes to crop, if that home does not already have experience in posting ears. Since we do not crop, we do not have the expertise to assist or support in this venture, and there is nothing worse than seeing a beautiful boxer disfigured by a failed or poorly executed crop.

We raise our dogs on a combination of home cooked food and biologically appropriate food. In other words, we feed a diet that consists  of raw meat and bone, as well as our own home cooked stew. Our dogs have thrived on this diet, and we feel that it is in the best interest of the dog to feed him a diet that is not based on over processed kibbles and canned foods with questionable ingredients.

Preference will be given when placing puppies to homes that feed an appropriate diet, performance homes, and show homes. This doesn't mean that if you don't feed a specialized diet or are you are not interested in performance or show venues that you would not be considered for a puppy, however. It simply means that those homes are given precedence.