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First
Impressions
A medium-sized,
yet nonetheless imposing-looking dog, the boxer has been favored
with an athletic body and a uniquely expressive face. A multitude
of meanings can be read in the lines that appear when he furrows
his brow and in the reflections from his dark, soulful eyes.
Boxers stand between 21 and 25 inches at the withers and weigh
between 50 and 80 pounds. Their short, close-lying coats most
often occur in one color, fawn, or in one pattern, brindle
- i.e., a fawn base color overlaid with black stripes. On
some boxers those stripes are thin, on others, substantial.
The fawn color varies in hue from tan to stag red.
Both fawn
and brindle boxers frequently sport white markings. According
to the American Kennel Club (AKC) standard for the breed,
those marking should not occupy more than one-third of the
boxer's coat, but predominantly white and even all-white boxers
do appear on occasion. Neither of the latter "colors" are
permitted in the show ring; and in less enlightened times,
many all-white boxers were not permitted to survive puppyhood.
The brief against too much white on boxers began in World
War I, a conflict in which many boxers served on the front
lines. White made and easy target for enemy snipers.
The
Leader of the Flock
The formal,
pedigreed history of any breed begins when people get religious
about keeping track of their dogs' ancestors. That sort of
who-begat-whom accounting was undertaken on the boxer's behalf
in the 1880s by a group of dog enthusiasts in Munich, Germany.
Their purpose, wrote Jo Royle in Boxers Today, was
"to try and establish a super-breed." The record of their
efforts eventually became the German Munich Stud Book, whose
first entry was a dog named Flocki, born February 26, 1895.
Flocki
was a dark-brindle dog with a white chest, front legs and
muzzle and a white stripe, known as a blaze, down the center
of his face. He looked more like the modern-day pit bulls
that grace the alleyways of many of our cities, than like
the elegant boxers with which we are familiar.
Flocki's
sire, Tom, was an English bulldog of unknown origins, says
Royle. Other boxer authorities insist that Tom was a bulldog,
but not an English one. No matter what his origin, he was
certainly not the low-riding pugnacious-looking gargoyle that
bulldogs are today. The pugnacious-looking bulldog of Tom's
era, writes John Wagner in The Boxer, was "more of
a small mastiff than anything else" (i.e., a powerfully built
dog with a heavy, square-jawed head.)
Flocki's
mother, Alt's Schecken, was out of a French bitch named Flora,
a dark-brindle-and-white, was bred to "one of the dogs from
a pack kept locally [around Munich]," reports Royle. Among
the puppies produced by that mating was a white male named
Lechner's Boxel, who was then bred back to Flora to produce
Schecken. Some authorities believe that boxer is derived
from Boxel, which was later shortened to Box. Others
believe that boxer derives from the dogs' inclination
to strike out with their front paws during a fight.
Riding
Upstream
In Cowboy
movies when someone wishes to foil pursuit, he rides in the
middle of a shallow stream for a distance, leaving his followers
eventually sitting by the side of the stream tilting their
hats back and scratching their brows significantly. People
seeking to trace the origins of a dog breed eventually find
themselves in the same position. The boxer's trail slips into
the stream when we attempt to travel beyond those dogs whose
names we know - Flocki, Schecken, Tom, Boxel, et al. - but
we will not let that stop us from hazarding a few guesses.
The local-pack
dog who was Flocki's great grandfather on his mother's side
- and many of the other local dogs around Munich - were most
likely a type known as the bullenbeisser (bull biter). This
and other kinds of beissers were "a mastiff type of dog used
in the forests of Germany to aid in the hunting of the wild
boar and other beasts," wrote Dan M. Gordon, M.D., in his
book called The Boxer. The beissers were dispatched
by their owners to put a liplock on their quarry until the
owners arrived to take charge of the proceedings. This explains
the boxer's undershot jaw and his tendency to leap up on people,
albeit now in a friendly manner, a trait about which more
will be said anon.
The bullenbeissers,
wrote Herta E. Kraupa-Tuskany in Boxers: A Complete Pet
Owner's Manual, "were bred into two types according to
their usefulness in the hunt." The heavier of these types,
the Danzig, was bred in or near the city for which it was
named. The lighter bullenbeisser, known as the Brabanter,
was developed for use in close quarters on small game and
was bred in the central Belgian province of Brabant. This
dog is generally said to be the forerunner of today's boxer.
The various
beissers were descended from mastiffs, which were themselves
descended from a dog called the Molossian. Named for the city
of Molossis in Epirus, in what is currently Albania, these
large, fearless dogs were known as long ago as the days of
the ancient Assyrians, more than 2000 BC. The Molossian's
ancestors were Tibetan dogs and, beyond that, Tibetan wolves.
Thus, concludes Kraupa-Tuskany, "the boxer originated in Asia,"
and that is about as far upstream as the story goes.
A Change
in Fortunes
This Brabanter
bullenbeisser, once the sole property of the nobility, became
the butcher's and the cattle dealer's dog - and also dabbled
in the circus and other entertainments - when the estates
on which he had been raised were broken up during and after
the Napoleonic wars (1804-1815). His intelligence and tractability
enabled the bullenbeisser to reinvent himself as a family
and a guard dog. His graces thus saved him from extinction,
a fact that did not spare man of his hard-bitten relatives.
Made
for America
According
to Kraupa-Tuskany, the first boxer to arrive in the United
States was imported from Switzerland in 1903. The following
year the AKC registered the first boxer in its studbook. Unlike
some breeds that hit the shore running, the boxer was not
an immediate success in the United States. In fact, new registrations
of boxers in 1930 numbered exactly eleven; and as late as
1940, when new boxer registrations totaled 1,024, Dr. Gordon
observed, "The boxer is not new to America as an individual,
but he is very new as a breed."
The boxer
gathered disciples rapidly during the 1940's, a process aided
and abetted by a boxer's going best in show at the celebrated
Westminster Kennel Club gathering in New York in 1947. Thus,
in 1950 new registrations of boxers (21,238) were more than
20 times what they had been just 10 years before, and for
several years boxers ranked at or near the top of all AKC
breeds in terms of new registrations. To the relief of many
boxer fans - who worry that familiarity breeds substandard
animals - the boxer's popularity receded somewhat during the
next twenty years, but it has been climbing briskly since
1980. New registrations two years ago (31,894) were more than
twice what they had been 15 years earlier. Overall, the boxer
stood 15th among 140 breeds recognized by the AKC in 1995,
the last year for which such figures are available. This ascension
has prompted one boxer breeder to warn, "We're in dangerous
territory. We neither need nor want another population explosion."
The
Beguiling Boxer
Friedrun
Stockmann, a German breeder whose work with boxers during
the first four decades of this century helped to make the
breed what it is today, described the boxer as "a gentleman
amongst dogs with short coats. He not only wants the best
food, he wants to be handled in a civilized manner, too. He
can easily be upset by his master and this is called being
leader-sensitive. He cannot stand a hard hand or injustice.
It is true that he is pig-headed, and every one has a personality
of its own. His real job is to be a house and family dog and
to be a friend to the children."
The boxer
has had other jobs in the past - hunter, prize fighter, police
dog, and wartime courier among them but his chief employment
today is companion cum guard dog. As a companion he is recommended
by his intelligence, playfulness, unflagging good spirit,
and patience with children. At the same time his precision
hearing and unrivaled sense of loyalty to his family, not
to mention his powerful build, make him an excellent watchdog.
This talent
is borne out by the story of a boxer guide dog living as the
guardian-companion of a blind woman in Dayton, Ohio. Once,
while the woman was asleep, she was awakened by the sound
of breaking glass and satanic growling downstairs. Those sounds
grew into a nasty tumult, whose elements included the boxer's
frenzied barking and the ultra-frenzied cursing and screaming
of a man whose voice she did not recognize. The woman called
911 from her bedroom phone. The dispatcher told her to lock
the door and stay put. When the police arrived, the found
her dog, who was not cut anywhere, covered with blood. The
person who had shed the blood was later apprehended after
turning up at a hospital in need of 150 stitches.
When he
is not rebuking intruders, the boxer is a one-dog home-entertainment
center. He loves retrieving, though not necessarily returning
an object once he has retrieved it. He is a quick learner,
though he is just as quick to unlearn any task for which he
does not see a reason. He is also, by turns, loopy and dignified,
comic and self-assured, clumsy and graceful, obliging yet
willful.
On
the Other Hand...
A boxer's
exuberance can sometimes be exasperating. Boxers are inclined
to greet those they love - and some people whom they would
like to love - by hurling themselves at those persons ' chests.
Anti-aircraft training for a boxer must commence when he is
a tiny pup and must be reinforced occasionally throughout
adulthood.
Like most
other dogs, boxers are ultimately what we make them. Granted,
breeds are born with certain tendencies - you would not, for
example, choose a Pomeranian if you were looking for a guard
dog - but the development of canine tendencies is the breeder's
and the buyer's responsibility. What is more, some breeds
are born with contrasting potential. As Kraupa-Tuskany observes,
"Good characteristics can be fostered through challenge, bad
ones through neglect or poor training. Thus absolute fidelity
can develop from affection, but on the other hand, aggressiveness
and a tendency to bite can also develop from courage and pugnacity."
Although
boxers cannot be said to have a tendency to bite, some have
a tendency to nip when they are excited, especially when they
are young and particularly during playtime. A number of boxer
owners report that they have curbed this tendency by yelping
like a hurt puppy and declaring that recess is over whenever
their boxers nip. Parents should be rigorous about teaching
their boxers not to nip and about supervising all interactions
between boxers and children until such time as the boxer has
internalized that lesson.
Three's
a Crowd
Boxers'
affinity for people does not always extend to members of their
own sect. Whenever more than two boxers "are gathered together,"
says Royle, "there is a tendency to come to blows." An American
breeder-judge agrees, "Boxers don't like other boxers. Or
rather, they don't like other boxers of the same sex. While
males and females may lie together in perfect harmony, and
indeed as fast friends, two adult males, or less often females
may decide one find day to eat each other. Once war is declared,
a truce is not possible. The only way to keep the would-be
combatants in the same household is to separate them behind
closed doors [but] even years later, your boxer will remember
that he hates the dog on the other side of the door."
The
Bottom Lines
Their
few downsides aside, boxers are a delight to live with, says
California boxer owner Kim Viera. "I call boxers people in
dogs' suits," says Viera, "Because they are so human. They
have so much expression and character."
"Having
a boxer is like having a kid," Viera adds. "And if you don't
plan on treating them as such, then don't bother getting one.
Boxers like to be with their people, and you need to have
a lot of time to spend with them and be willing to put up
with them on the couch, the bed, etc."
Genes
Gone Awry
More than
three hundred inherited diseases are known to beset dogs.
No breed or combination of breeds is exempt from this army
of grim reapers, although some breeds are less exempt than
others. For their part, boxers as a breed may be heir to the
following:
Hip
dysplasia: A malformation of the hip joint resulting
in a poor fit between the head of the femur bone and the
hip socket (acetablulum) in which the femoral head normally
lies. In severe cases, the femoral head does not lie within
the hip socket at all. Can be alleviated by surgery.
Monorchidism:
The failure of one testicle to descend into the scrotum.
This condition is caused by the shortness of the cord to
which the testicle is attached or by an obstructed scrotum.
Monorchidism occurs more often in boxers than is the norm,
probably because the boxer standard once allowed cryptorchids
to be exhibited, and many were used for breeding. (One suspects
that an influential breeder or two of that day had a top-winning
cryptorchid male.) If the testicle is retained inside the
abdominal cavity, it should be removed while the dog is
young.
Ulcerative
keratitis (boxer ulcer or corneal erosion): This condition,
for which no causative bacterium or virus has been identified,
is peculiar to boxers. The ulceration of the cornea may
affect one or both eyes. The lesion is small and superficial
and has no tendency to spread. At first there is no discharge,
corneal opacity, or growth of blood vessels associated with
this condition. In its later stages, however, profuse tearing
occurs and may resist treatment. More than 80 percent of
these ulcers occur in spayed bitches five years of age or
more. Estrogen therapy reported helps prevent recurrence.
Distichiatis:
A congenital condition in which an extra row of eyelashes
grows from the margins of the eyelids and rubs against the
cornea, causing irritation. Can be corrected by surgery
or by burning the surplus hairs with an electric needle.
Hyperplasis
of the gingiva: An abnormal multiplication of cells
in the gums that can bother boxers in mid-to-late life.
The fibrous tissue that results from abnormal cell growth
is sometimes mistake for an oral tumor. When a dog's ability
to chew is impaired, the fibrous tissue should be surgically
removed.
Tumors:
The incidence of tumors is high and manifold in boxers,
which are subject to tumors of the breast, tissues, thyroid,
bone, lung, and testicles.
Gastric
torsion (bloat): Usually occurs when exercise too closely
follows eating. Signs consist of stomach pain and futile
attempts to vomit and salivate. May lead to cardiovascular
collapse. The incidence of bloat may be lessened by feeding
adult dogs twice a day and, of course, by allowing a dog
time to digest before taking him for a run in the park.
Granulomatous
colitis: Affects dogs between the ages of two months
and two years. This condition, whose cause is unknown, although
an immunologic basis is most likely the culprit, is characterized
by soft, bloody stools. As the disease progresses, which
it does slowly, it is accompanied by increasing debilitation
and sometimes resists even persistent treatment.
Cardiomyopathy:
A weakening and eventual degeneration of the heart muscle
that results in sluggish blood flow and generalized congestive
heart failure. Can be held in abeyance for a short time
by drugs, but cannot be reversed.
Grooming,
Feeding, General Care
The boxer
is a dog in parlance, an easy keeper. Boxer owners will not
develop carpal tunnel syndrome from excessive use of the wrist
in grooming, nor will they develop impaired bodily functions
as a result of having to take their dogs on marathon runs.
This is not to say that boxers are entirely self-cleaning,
feeding and watering - just more so than a lot of other breeds.
Brushing
Up on Grooming
Grooming
is the art of removing dead hair from a dog so he does not
have to remove it himself. Like virtue, grooming is its own
reward. The more dead hair a person collects from a boxer,
the less there is to collect from the furniture, the rugs,
one's clothing or the car. A sturdy brush is the principal
hair-collecting device a boxer owner needs, though a flea
comb is also useful during flea season. There are several
kinds of brushes available at pet shops, dog shows and through
mail order catalogues. The choice of brush - slicker brush;
pin brush with rounded, stainless steel bristles; a natural-bristle
variety; or a soft-rubber curry brush - depends on the way
it fits a person's hand and the way it suits a boxer's coat.
The bristles, whatever their type, should not be so hard as
to inflict pain on a boxer when he is being groomed.
Some people
augment their brushwork with a grooming glove. These handy
devices are available in several types with different grooming
surfaces, including durable latex, poly-grass, slicker and
sisal.
Many people
- many writers, actually - recommend brushing boxers daily.
Such advice is more pedantic than practical. Three brushings
a week, more if a boxer is shedding, ought to be sufficient.
After brushing, a rubdown with a chamois cloth will bring
out the natural sheen in a boxer's coat. Unless a boxer lies
down or rolls about in some noxious substance - or becomes
a hostel for fleas - he will seldom need a bath.
Brushing
a dog is not the end-all of grooming, Clipping a dog's nails
and cleaning his ears every week are also a part of the routine.
Boxers not used to having their nails done by the time they
arrive in their new homes may require the attention of two
people at first. No matter how may hands are involved in this
task, the person doing the clipping should be careful to clip
the hooked end of the nail only. An overzealous clip will
result in cutting into the quick, the vein inside the nail.
In the event that too ambitious trimming results in bleeding,
styptic powder should be applied to the wounded nail.
A boxer's
ears should be cleaned with a cotton swab or ball that has
been dipped in mineral oil. Cleaning should extend no farther
than the eye can see. Poking around in the ear canal could
cause damage.
Finally,
tartar should be removed from a boxer's teeth whenever necessary,
age being the mother of necessity in this regard. Dry dog
food and certain chew toys may help to forestall the accumulation
of tartar to some extent, but owners who do not want to leave
their boxers' dental well-being to chance can acquire canine
toothpaste and brush and, with a little patience, the technique
for using them. Otherwise, tartar should be removed periodically
by a veterinarian.
Feeding
When selecting
dog food, many people are influenced by advertising, clever
packaging, their pets' mealtime edicts, or whatever is on
special at the time. Other, more reflective, consumers look
to dog-food labels for guidance. Those who do should be guided
by the nutritional claim made on the package.
Nutritional
claims come in two varieties. In the first the manufacturer
declares that Bowser Bits has been shown to provide complete
and balanced nutrition in feeding trials conducted according
to protocols established by the Association of America Feed
Control Officials (AAFCO). In the second kind of nutritional
claim the manufacturer attests that Bowser Bits have been
formulated to meet the nutrient levels established in AAFCO's
nutrient profiles.
In order
to make the feeding-trials claim a manufacturer must feed
Bowser Bits to a group of dogs, and through a specified series
of tests, demonstrate that the dogs eating Bowser Bits do
not differ significantly along certain variables from the
control group that was fed a diet known to be nutritionally
complete and balanced. The variables on which the two groups
are compared include weight, skin and coat condition, red-blood-cell
count and other health measures.
In order
to make the second kind of nutritional claim - that Bowser
Bits was formulated to meet nutrient levels established in
AAFCO nutrient profiles - a manufacturer must sign an affidavit
stating that he or she (or they) formulated Bowser Bits from
ingredients that will contain, after they have been processed,
sufficient levels of all the nutrients AAFCO has determined
a dog food should contain.
The difference
between buying a dog food that has been tested in feed trials
and one that has been formulated to meet AAFCO profiles is
like the difference between buying a preferred stock and a
futures option. The consumer can be more confident that the
preferred stock (the feed-tested dog food) is going to perform
the way it is supposed to perform because it has been fed
to real dogs in real feeding trials.
The meets-the-nutrient-profiles
statement, on the other hand, does not mean that AAFCO has
analyzed the food in question and has certified that it meets
AAFCO standards. Nor does the statement necessarily mean that
the manufacturer tested the food in the can to determine whether
it met AAFCO profiles. This statement simply means the manufacturer
formulated the food from ingredients that should have provided
enough nutrients to meet the AAFCO profile. We say "should
have" because cooking always destroys nutrients in dog food
to some extent. Therefore, the nutrients that go into the
kettle are always present in greater amounts than the nutrients
that go into the can.
Thus far
we have discussed only one part of the nutritional claims
made on dog food labels: the part that tells you the basis
on which manufacturers state their claims. There is, however,
a second part to nutritional statements the part that specifies
the dogs for which the food is intended. Thus, a complete
nutritional claim for a feed-tested food will say: "Animal
feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate that Bowser
Bits provides complete and balanced nutrition for all life
stages of the dog." A complete nutritional claim for a meets-the-profile
food will say: "Bowser Bits is formulated to meet the nutrient
levels established by AAFCO nutrient profiles for all stages
of a dog's life." Both these statements assure consumers that
they can feed an all-life-stages food to their dogs from puppyhood
through seniorhood, including motherhood, without worrying.
Instead
of being formulated for all stages of a dog's life, some foods
are intended for the maintenance of adult dogs only, and other
foods are intended to support growth and reproduction. The
latter are formulated to meet the increased nutritional needs
of pregnant females and puppies. These foods must contain
more of certain nutrients - more protein, calcium, phosphorus,
sodium, and chloride, for example - than do maintenance foods.
(Foods providing complete and balanced nutrition for all life
stages of a dog also must meet growth-and-reproduction standards.)
Some critics
contend it is impossible for one food to be all things to
all life stages of a dog. That argument need not concern nor
confuse the boxer owner. If you are feeding a pregnant female
or a puppy, you should choose a growth-and-reproduction or
an all-life-stages food. If you are feeding an adult boxer,
a maintenance food is sufficient and is, perhaps, less expensive
than an all-life-stages food.
Several
companies now produce senior foods for older dogs. These foods
are based on two principles: older dogs need less of certain
nutrients - proteins, phosphorus, and salt, for example -
than do younger dogs; and older dogs are less able to tolerate
nutrient excess than are younger dogs.
Exercise
Boxers
and their owners are happiest when boxers are properly exercised.
Ideally, a boxer should have access to a spacious, fenced-in
yard for a couple of hours each day, but dog owners should
remember that there is a human component to canine exercise,
too. For many dogs a yard is simply another place to sleep.
Boxer owners whose dogs are not self-starters should get off
the couch, go outside, toss a ball around, or take their dogs
for a couple of brisk, 15-minute walks each day. What is more,
dogs are apt to be more active in new surroundings. Except
in the most hopelessly urban settings, which are probably
not the best settings for boxers anyway, there are parks,
fields, and other places where it is safe to let a boxer off
lead to blow off a little steam.
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