Boxer

Boxer

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 (they have broad, short skulls), 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 English Bulldog and the now extinct Bullenbeisser and is part of the Molosser group.
Boxers were first exhibited in a dog show for St. Bernards at Munich in 1895, the first Boxer club being founded the next year.
Based on 2008 American Kennel Club statistics, Boxers are the sixth most popular breed of dog in the United States for the second year in a row—moving up in 2007 from the seventh spot, which they'd held since 2002—with 33,548 new dog registrations during the year.

History

The Boxer is part of the Molosser dog 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. 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.

Friedrich Roberth and his Boxer, 1894

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. 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. Taken home by returning soldiers,they introduced the dog to a wider audience and soon became a favorite as a companion, a show dog, and a guard dog.

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."

Boxer early genealogy chart

Breed name
The name "Boxer" is supposedly derived from the breed's tendency to play 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.
A Passage from the book "The Complete Boxer" by Milo G Denlinger also states that "It has been claimed that the name "Boxer" was jokingly applied by an English traveler who noted a tendency of the dog to use its paws in fighting.
This seems improbable. Any such action would likely result in a badly bitten if not broken leg.
On the other hand, a German breeder of forty years' experience states positively that the Boxer does not use his feet, except to try and extinguish a small flame such as a burning match.
But a Boxer does box with his head.
He will hit (not bite) a cat with his muzzle hard enough to knock it out and he will box a ball with his nose.
Or perhaps, since the German dictionary translates 'boxer' as 'prize-fighter' the name was bestowed in appreciation of the fighting qualities of the breed rather than its technique."
"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).

General Appearance

The ideal Boxer is a medium-sized, square-built dog of good substance with short back, strong limbs, and short, tight-fitting coat. His well-developed muscles are clean, hard, and appear smooth under taut skin. His movements denote energy. The gait is firm yet elastic, the stride free and ground-covering, the carriage proud. Developed to serve as guard, working, and companion dog, he combines strength and agility with elegance and style. His expression is alert and his temperament steadfast and tractable.
The chiseled head imparts to the Boxer a unique individual stamp. It must be in correct proportion to the body.
The broad, blunt muzzle is the distinctive feature, and great value is placed upon its being of proper form and balance with the skull.
In judging the Boxer first consideration is given to general appearance and overall balance.
Special attention is then devoted to the head, after which the individual body components are examined for their correct construction, and the gait evaluated for efficiency.

Size
Adult males 23 to 25 inches; females 21½ to 23½ inches at the withers. Proper balance and quality in the individual should be of primary importance since there is no size disqualification

Proportion

Substance
Sturdy, with balanced musculature. Males larger boned than females.

Head
The beauty of the head depends upon the harmonious proportion of muzzle to skull. The blunt muzzle is 1/3 the length of the head from the occiput to the tip of the nose, and 2/3rds the width of the skull. The head should be clean, not showing deep wrinkles (wet). Wrinkles typically appear upon the forehead when ears are erect, and are always present from the lower edge of the stop running downward on both sides of the muzzle.

Expression
Intelligent and alert.


Eyes
Dark brown in color, frontally placed, generous, not too small, too protruding, or too deepset. Their mood-mirroring character, combined with the wrinkling of the forehead, gives the Boxer head its unique quality of expressiveness. Third eyelids preferably have pigmented rims.

Ears
Set at the highest points of the sides of the skull, the ears are customarily cropped, cut rather long and tapering, and raised when alert. If uncropped, the ears should be of moderate size, thin, lying flat and close to the cheeks in repose, but falling forward with a definite crease when alert.

Skull
The top of the skull is slightly arched, not rounded, flat, nor noticeably broad, with the occiput not overly pronounced. The forehead shows a slight indentation between the eyes and forms a distinct stop with the topline of the muzzle. The cheeks should be relatively flat and not bulge (cheekiness), maintaining the clean lines of the skull as they taper into the muzzle in a slight, graceful curve.

Muzzle and Nose
The muzzle, proportionately developed in length, width, and depth, has a shape influenced first through the formation of both jawbones, second through the placement of the teeth, and third through the texture of the lips. The top of the muzzle should not slant down (downfaced), nor should it be concave (dishfaced); however, the tip of the nose should lie slightly higher than the root of the muzzle. The nose should be broad and black.

Bite and Jaw Structure
The Boxer bite is undershot, the lower jaw protruding beyond the upper and curving slightly upward.
The incisor teeth of the lower jaw are in a straight line, with the canines preferably up front in the same line to give the jaw the greatest possible width.
The upper line of the incisors is slightly convex with the corner upper incisors fitting snugly in back of the lower canine teeth on each side.
Neither the teeth nor the tongue should ever show when the mouth is closed.
The upper jaw is broad where attached to the skull and maintains this breadth, except for a very slight tapering to the front.
The lips, which complete the formation of the muzzle, should meet evenly in front. The upper lip is thick and padded, filling out the frontal space created by the projection of the lower jaw, and laterally is supported by the canines of the lower jaw.
Therefore, these canines must stand far apart and be of good length so that the front surface of the muzzle is broad and squarish and, when viewed from the side, shows moderate layback.
The chin should be perceptible from the side as well as from the front. Any suggestion of an overlip obscuring the chin should be penalized.

Neck
Round, of ample length, muscular and clean without excessive hanging skin (dewlap). The neck should have a distinctly arched and elegant nape blending smoothly into the withers.

Back and Topline
The back is short, straight, muscular, firm, and smooth. The topline is slightly sloping when the Boxer is at attention, leveling out when in motion.

Body
The chest is of fair width, and the forechest well-defined and visible from the side. The brisket is deep, reaching down to the elbows; the depth of the body at the lowest point of the brisket equals half the height of the dog at the withers.
The ribs, extending far to the rear, are well-arched but not barrel-shaped.
The loins are short and muscular.
The lower stomach line is slightly tucked up, blending into a graceful curve to the rear.
The croup is slightly sloped, flat and broad. The pelvis is long, and in females especially broad. The tail is set high, docked, and carried upward. An undocked tail should be severely penalized.

Forequarters
The shoulders are long and sloping, close-lying, and not excessively covered with muscle (loaded).
The upper arm is long, approaching a right angle to the shoulder blade. The elbows should not press too closely to the chest wall nor stand off visibly from it.
The forelegs are long, straight, and firmly muscled, and, when viewed from the front, stand parallel to each other.
The pastern is strong and distinct, slightly slanting, but standing almost perpendicular to the ground.
The dewclaws may be removed.
Feet should be compact, turning neither in nor out, with well-arched toes.

Hindquarters
The hindquarters are strongly muscled, with angulation in balance with that of the forequarters.
The thighs are broad and curved, the breech musculature hard and strongly developed.
Upper and lower thigh are long.
The legs are well-angulated at the stifle, neither too steep nor over-angulated, with clearly defined, well "let down" hock joints.
Viewed from behind, the hind legs should be straight, with hock joints leaning neither in nor out.
From the side, the leg below the hock (metatarsus) should be almost perpendicular to the ground, with a slight slope to the rear permissible. The metatarsus should be short, clean, and strong.
The Boxer has no rear dewclaws.

Coat
Short, shiny, lying smooth and tight to the body.

Color
The colors are fawn and brindle. Fawn shades vary from light tan to mahogany. The brindle ranges from sparse but clearly defined black stripes on a fawn background to such a heavy concentration of black striping that the essential fawn background color barely, although clearly, shows through (which may create the appearance of reverse brindling).
White markings, if present, should be of such distribution as to enhance the dog's appearance, but may not exceed one-third of the entire coat.
They are not desirable on the flanks or on the back of the torso proper.
On the face, white may replace part of the otherwise essential black mask, and may extend in an upward path between the eyes, but it must not be excessive, so as to detract from true Boxer expression.
The absence of white markings, the so-called "plain" fawn or brindle, is perfectly acceptable, and should not be penalized in any consideration of color. Disqualifications Boxers that are any color other than fawn or brindle.
Boxers with a total of white markings exceeding one-third of the entire coat.

Fawn Boxer

Brindle Boxer

White Boxers
Dogs with white markings covering more than one-third of their coat - conventionally called "white" Boxers - are neither albino nor rare; approximately 20-26% 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.

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.

Boxers are a bright, energetic and playful breed and tend to be very good with children.
They are active dogs and require adequate exercise to prevent boredom-associated behaviors such as chewing or digging. Boxers have earned a slight reputation of being "headstrong," which can be related to inappropriate obedience training. Owing to their intelligence and working breed characteristics, training based on corrections often has limited usefulness. Boxers, like other animals, respond much better to positive reinforcement techniques such as clicker training, which affords the dog an opportunity to think independently and to problem-solve.

Because of their resistance to "traditional" training such as repetition and corrections, Stanley Coren's survey of obedience trainers, summarized in his book, The Intelligence of Dogs, ranked Boxers at #48 - average working/obedience intelligence.
Many who have actually worked with Boxers disagree quite strongly with Coren's survey results, and maintain that a skilled trainer who utilizes modern and scientific methods will find Boxers have far above average intelligence and working ability.
The Boxer by nature is not an aggressive or vicious breed, but it does need socialization. Boxers are generally patient with smaller dogs and puppies, but issues with larger adult dogs, especially those of the same sex, may occur.
Boxers are generally more comfortable with companionship, in either human or canine form.

Health

Leading health issues to which Boxers are prone include 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, a malformation of the eyelid requiring surgical correction, is occasionally seen, and some lines have a tendency toward spondylosis deformans, a fusing of the spine, or dystocia.
According to a UK Kennel Club health survey, cancer accounts for 38.5% of Boxer deaths, followed by old age (21.5%), cardiac (6.9%) and gastrointestinal (6.9%) related issues.
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 known to be very sensitive to the hypotensive and bradycardiac effects of a commonly-used veterinary sedative, acepromazine. It is recommended that the drug be avoided in the Boxer breed.
As an athletic breed, proper exercise and conditioning is important for the continued health and longevity of the Boxer.
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.

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.
As puppies, Boxers demonstrate a fascinating combination of worrisome expressions, energetic curiosity, flexible attention spans and charming characteristics. Boxers have an average lifespan of 10-12 years.