Videos Boxer Breed Information
Alternative names - German Boxer, Deutscher Boxer
Country of origin - Germany
Classification and breed standards
FCI:|Group
2 Section 2 #144|Stds
AKC:|Working|Stds
ANKC:|Group 6
(Utility)|Stds
CKC:|Group
3 - Working Dogs|Stds
KC
(UK):|Working|Stds
NZKC:|Utility|Stds
UKC:|Guardian
Dogs|Stds
Developed in Germany, the Boxer is a breed of stocky, medium-sized, short-haired
dog. The coat is smooth and fawn or brindled,
with or without white markings. Boxers are brachycephalic, and have a square muzzle,
mandibular prognathism (an underbite), very strong
jaws and a powerful bite ideal for hanging on to large prey. The Boxer
was bred from the Bulldog and the now
extinct Bullenbeisser and is part
of the Molosser group.
The Boxer was first exhibited in a dog show for St. Bernards at Munich in 1895, the
first Boxer club being founded the next year. Based on 2006
American Kennel Club
statistics, Boxers are the seventh most popular breed of dog in the
United States—a position they have held since 2002—with
approximately 35,388 new dog registrations during the year.
.
1. Quick Facts
Boxer Quick Facts
Weight: | 60-70 pounds (27-32 kg.) |
Height: | 22-25 inches (56-63 cm.) |
Coat: | Shiny, close-fitting
Activity level: | High
Learning rate: | High
Temperament: | Happy, high-spirited, playful, curious, energetic,
highly intelligent, eager, quick to learn, stubborn, sneaky, loyal,
affectionate.
Guard dog ability: | High
Watch-dog ability: | High
Litter size: | ~6
Life span: | 11-14 years
2. Appearance
The head is the most distinctive feature of the Boxer. The breed
standard dictates that it must be in perfect proportion to the body
and above all it must never be too light. The greatest value is
to be placed on the muzzle being of correct form and in absolute
proportion to the skull. The length of the muzzle to the whole of
the head should be as 1:3. Folds are always indicated from the root
of the nose running downwards on both sides of the muzzle, and the
tip of the nose should lie somewhat higher than the root of the
muzzle. In addition a Boxer should be slightly prognathous, i.e., the lower jaw should
protrude beyond the upper jaw and bend slightly upwards in what is
commonly called an underbite or "undershot bite".
Boxers were originally a docked
and cropped breed, and this tradition is still maintained in
some countries. However, due to pressure from veterinary
associations, animal rights groups and the general public, both
cropping of the ears and docking of the tail have been prohibited
in many countries around the world. In the United States and Canada
as of 2007, cropped ears are still
more common in show dogs. In
March of 2005 the AKC breed
standard was changed to include a description of the uncropped ear,
but to severely penalize an undocked tail.
Boxers are either fawn (middle frame) or brindle (bottom frame), with or without white marks, which, when excessive are conventionally called "white" Boxers (top frame).
Boxers are either fawn (middle frame) or brindle (bottom
frame), with or without white marks, which, when excessive are
conventionally called "white" Boxers (top
frame).
2. 1. Coat and colors
The Boxer is a short-haired breed, with a shiny, smooth coat
that lies tight to the body. The recognized colors are fawn and
brindle, often with a white underbelly
and white on the front or all four feet. These white markings,
called flash, often extend onto the neck or face, and dogs
that have these markings are known as "flashy".
"Fawn" denotes a range of color, the tones of which may
be described variously as light tan or yellow, reddish tan,
mahogany or stag/deer red, and dark honey-blonde. In the UK, fawn
Boxers are typically rich in color and are called "red".
"Brindle" refers to a dog with black stripes on a fawn
background. Some brindle Boxers are so heavily striped that they
give the appearance of "reverse brindling", fawn
stripes on a black body; these dogs are conventionally called
"reverse brindles", but that is actually a misnomer -
they are still fawn dogs with black stripes. In addition, the breed
standards state that the fawn background must clearly contrast with
or show through the brindling, so a dog that is too heavily
brindled may be disqualified by the breed standard. The Boxer does
not carry the gene for a solid black coat color and therefore
purebred black Boxers do not exist.
Boxers with white markings covering more than one-third of their
coat - conventionally called "white" Boxers - are neither
albino nor rare; approximately 20-25% of all Boxers born are white.
Genetically, these dogs are either fawn or brindle, with
excessive white markings overlying the base coat color. Like
fair-skinned humans, white Boxers have a higher risk of sunburn and
associated skin cancers than colored Boxers. The extreme piebald
gene, which is responsible for white markings in Boxers, is linked
to congenital sensorineural deafness in dogs. It is estimated that
about 18% of white Boxers are deaf in one or both ears, though
Boxer Rescue organizations see about double that number. ,
In the past, breeders often euthanized white puppies at birth;
today, most breeders place white puppies in pet homes with
spay/neuter agreements. White Boxers are disqualified from
conformation showing by the breed standard, and are prohibited from
breeding by every national Boxer club in the world. They can
compete in non-conformation events such as obedience and agility,
and like their colored counterparts do quite well as service and
therapy dogs.
2. 2. Size
An adult Boxer typically weighs between 55 and 70 lbs (25 and 32
kg). Adult male Boxers are between 23 and 25 inches (57 and 63 cm)
tall at the withers; adult females are
between 21 to 23½ inches (53 and 60 cm).
3. Temperament
The character of the Boxer is of the
greatest importance and demands the most solicitous attention. He
is renowned from olden times for his great love and faithfulness to
his master and household. He is harmless in the family, but
distrustful of strangers, bright and friendly of temperament at
play, but brave and determined when aroused. His intelligence and
willing tractability, his modesty and cleanliness make him a highly
desirable family dog and cheerful companion. He is the soul of
honesty and loyalty, and is never false or treacherous even in his
old age.
~1938 AKC Boxer breed standard
Boxers are a bright, energetic and playful breed and tend to be
very good with children. Boxers have earned a slight reputation of
being "headstrong" or "stubborn", which can be
related to inappropriate obedience training. Owing to their
intelligence and working breed characteristics, training based on
the use of corrections often has limited usefulness. Boxers often
respond much better to positive reinforcement techniques
such as clicker training.
The Boxer by nature is not an aggressive or vicious breed, but
needs socialization to tolerate other dogs well. Their
sometimes over-protective, territorial and dominating attitude is
often most intense in males. Boxers are generally patient with
smaller dogs but can be dominant with larger dogs of the same
sex.
Boxers appear more comfortable with companionship, in either
human or canine form. They are very active dogs which require a
great deal of exercise.
4. History
The Boxer is part of the Molosser
group, developed in Germany in the late
1800s from the now extinct Bullenbeisser, a dog of Mastiff descent, and Bulldogs brought in from England. The Bullenbeisser had been working as a
hunting dog for centuries, employed in the pursuit of bear,
wild boar, and deer. Its task was to
seize the prey and hold it until the hunters arrived. In later
years, faster dogs were favored and a smaller Bullenbeisser was
bred in Brabant, in northern Belgium. It is generally accepted that the
Brabanter Bullenbeisser was a direct ancestor of today's Boxer.
In 1894, three Germans by the name of Roberth, Konig, and Hopner
decided to stabilize the breed and put it on exhibition at a dog
show. This was done in Munich in 1895, and the next year they
founded the first Boxer Club, the Deutscher Boxer Club.
In 1898 was born the historically important Meta von der
Passage, a brindle and white parti-colored bitch, from which
almost all Boxers today can trace their origins. The Club went on
to publish the first Boxer breed
standard in 1902, a detailed document that has not been changed
much to this day.
The breed was introduced to other parts of Europe in the late 19th century and to the
United States around the turn of
the century. The American Kennel
Club (AKC) registered the first Boxer in 1904, and recognized
the first Boxer champion, Dampf vom Dom, in 1915. The Boxer Cross Great Dane and Akc Modern-day
English Bulldogs.
During World War I, the Boxer was
co-opted for military work, acting as a valuable messenger dog,
pack-carrier, attack dog, and guard
dog. It was not until after World War
II that the Boxer became popular around the world. Boxer
mascots, taken home by returning soldiers, introduced the dog to a
much wider audience and it soon became a favorite as a companion, a
show dog, and a guard dog.
4. 1. Early genealogy
The German citizen George Alt, a Munich resident, mated a
brindle-colored bitch imported from France named Flora
with a local dog of unknown ancestry, known simply as
"Boxer", resulting in a fawn-and-white male,
named "Lechner's Box" after its owner. This
dog was mated with his own dam Flora, and one of its
offspring was a bitch called Alt's Schecken. George
Alt mated Schecken with a Bulldog named Dr.
Toneissen's Tom to produce the historically significant
dog ''Mühlbauer's Flocki. Flocki was the first
Boxer to enter the German Stud Book after winning the
aforementioned show for St.
Bernards in Munich 1895, which was the first event to have a
class specific for Boxers.
The white bitch Ch. Blanka von Angertor, Flocki's sister,
was even more influential when mated with Piccolo von Angertor
(Lechner's Box grandson) to produce the predominantly white
(parti-colored) bitch Meta von der Passage, which, even bearing
little resemblance with the modern Boxer standard (early
photographs depicts her as too long, weak-backed and down-faced),
is considered the mother of the breed. John Wagner, on his
The Boxer (first published in 1939) said the following
regarding this bitch:
"Meta von der Passage played the most important role
of the five original ancestors. Our great line of sires all trace
directly back to this female. She was a substantially built, low to
the ground, brindle and white parti-color, lacking in underjaw and
exceedingly lippy. As a producing bitch few in any breed can match
her record. She consistently whelped puppies of marvelous type and
rare quality. Those of her offspring sired by Flock St. Salvator
and Wotan dominate all present-day pedigrees. Combined with Wotan
and Mirzl children, they made the Boxer."
4. 2. Breed name
The name "Boxer" is supposedly derived from the
breed's tendency to begin a fight by standing on its hind legs
and "boxing" with its front
paws. According to Andrew H. Brace on his "Pet
owner's guide to the Boxer" this theory is the least
plausible explanation. He claims "it's unlikely that a
nation so permeated with nationalism would give to one of its most
famous breeds a name so obviously anglicised".
German linguistic sciences and historical evidence date from the
18th century the earliest written source for the word Boxer, found
in a text in the "Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch"
(The German Dictionary of Foreign Languages), which
cites an author named Musäus of 1782 writing "daß er aus
Furcht vor dem großen Baxer Salmonet ... sich auf einige Tage in
ein geräumiges Packfaß ... absentiret hatte". At that
time the spelling "baxer" equalled "boxer".
Both the verb ("boxen") and the noun
("Boxer") were common German language as early
as the late 18th century. The term "Boxl", also
written "Buxn" or "Buchsen",
in the Bavarian dialect means "short (leather) trousers"
or "underwear". The very similarly sounding term
"Boxerl" is also Bavarian dialect and an
endearing term for "Boxer". More in line
with historical facts, Brace states that there exist many other
theories to explain the origin of the breed name, from which he
favors the one claiming the smaller Bullenbeisser (Brabanter) were also known
as "Boxl" and that Boxer is just a corruption of that word.
In the same vein runs a theory based on the fact that there were
a group of dogs known as "Bierboxer" in Munich
by the time of the breed's development. These dogs were the
result from mixes of Bullenbeisser and other similar breeds.
Bier (beer) probably refers to the Biergarten,
the typical Munich beergarden, an open-air restaurant where people
used to take their dogs along. The nickname "Deutscher
Boxer" was derived from bierboxer and Boxer could
also be a corruption of the former or a contraction of the latter.
"Boxer" is also the name of a dog owned by
John Peerybingle, the main character on the best selling
1845 book The Cricket
on the Hearth by Charles
Dickens, which is evidence that "Boxer" was commonly
used as a dog name by the early 19th century, before the
establishment of the breed by the end of that same century.
The name of the breed could also be simply due to the names of
the very first known specimens of the breed (Lechner's
Box, for instance).
5. Health
Boxers are prone to develop cancers,
heart conditions such as Aortic
Stenosis and Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy
(the so-called "Boxer Cardiomyopathy"), hypothyroidism, hip dysplasia, and degenerative myelopathy;
other conditions that may be seen are gastric dilatation and
torsion (bloat), intestinal problems, and
allergies (although these may be more
related to diet than breed). Entropion is occasionally seen, a malformation
of the eyelid requiring surgical correction, and some lines have a
tendency to develop spondylosis deformans, a fusing of the spine.
Responsible breeders use available tests to screen their
breeding stock before breeding, and in some cases throughout the
life of the dog, in an attempt to minimize the occurrence of these
diseases in future generations.
Boxers are an athletic breed, and proper exercise and
conditioning is important for their continued health and longevity.
Care must be taken not to over-exercise young dogs, as this may
damage growing bones; however once mature Boxers can be excellent
jogging or running companions. Because of their brachycephalic head, they do not do well
with high heat or humidity, and common sense should prevail when
exercising a Boxer in these conditions.
6. Uses
Boxers are friendly, lively companions that are popular as
family dogs. Their suspicion of strangers, alertness, agility, and
strength make them formidable guard
dogs. They sometimes appear at dog
agility or obedience trials and
flyball events. These strong and
intelligent animals have also been used as service dogs, guide
dogs for the blind, therapy dogs,
police dogs in K9 units, and
occasionally herding cattle or sheep. The versatility of Boxers was
recognized early on by the military, which has used them as
valuable messenger dogs, pack carriers, and attack and guard dogs
in times of war. Boxers have an average lifespan of 10-12
years.
Copyright (c) 2008 Kitt Killion Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
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