Boxers Make Great Family Pets

Many people believe that boxers are fierce guard dogs that should not be allowed around small children, however, in actuality most boxers are very loving dogs that make an ideal family pet. Boxers tend to be very loyal to the family who owns them and at the same time are very gentle and fun-loving dogs that relish in the affection given to them. Like any other pet, the boxer may not be suitable for every family; it is very important that potential owners take the proper amount of time to match their type of lifestyle with the temperament of the dog they want to buy will need, this will help in terms of health and happiness.

Boxers are naturally playful dogs and will often get easily excited at the prospect of being petted or receiving any other type of affection. Despite their reputation, a boxer is not an overly aggressive dog breed. Boxers tend to love children and adults who can appreciate their intense energy level. Boxers do not need to get large amounts of exercise in order to be happy, but it is important you do not try to exercise the boxer in extreme heat because they do not tolerate high temperatures very well, instead doing best at an average room temperature.

A boxer is also a highly intelligent dog and is easily trained to learn a wide variety of tricks. Training goes a long way towards making your boxer a great family pet, and you can use training to curb some of the breeds excessive enthusiasm to prevent it from alarming or knocking down small children, when all the dog really wants to do is play. Their intelligence is also linked to the fact that a boxer is usually a highly affectionate breed as well, something that needs to be considered when training the dog to illustrate appropriate behavior. If left to its own devices, a boxer would simply be content to be a lap dog even when its reached its maximum size and weight.

When considering a boxer as your family pet, it is important that you bear in mind that a dog of this breed will be more than happy to reciprocate with more love and affection than you have to give. The boxer is a very loyal and loving dog, and it is important you do not pick a boxer and expect it to be an independent and threatening dog. Many boxers will be highly protective of their family around a stranger, they also expect their owners to shower them with affection and they want to be able to find someone willing to play with them when they are in the mood. As long as you and your family understand the importance that a boxer places on affection and are willing to give the dog all the love it needs, you should be able to find a boxer pup that will grow into a loving and loyal dog and be the perfect pet for your family.



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Boxer - A devoted Family Dog

Developed in Germany, the Boxer is a breed of stocky, medium-sized, short-haired dog. Boxers are descendents of two German Mastiff type dogs, the Barenbeiszer and the Bullenbeiszer. Later they were crossed with ancestors of the Mastiff and the Bulldog. The American Kennel Club lists the Boxer in the working dog group and it is there for good reason. These dogs were once noted for hunting and cart pulling and later became cattle dogs. Today they are used in guarding, police work, search & rescue, and other various tasks because of their courage, intelligence, fearlessness, strength, agility, loyalty and an aggressiveness that showed up only when necessary. As a pet, the Boxer is completely devoted to the family that owns him.

The Boxer has a powerful, stocky body with compact muscles and square-shaped proportions. An adult Boxer typically weighs between 55 and 70 lb (25 and 32 kg). Adult male Boxers are between 22 and 25 inches (56 and 63 cm) tall at the withers; adult females are between 21 to 23½ inches (53 and 60 cm). The head is the most distinctive feature of the Boxer. It is large with a broad, blunt muzzle, an undershot jaw and a black masked muzzle. He has dark-brown eyes, straight front legs, black nose, muscular neck and a deep chest as well as a glossy, short coat. The Boxer's glossy, close-fitting, short-haired coat exists in a number of colors including fawn, brindle, red, and white. White markings may be present. The tail is usually docked. Ear cropping is optional. Boxers like to use their front paws to get into things and move things from place to place. They love to be the middle of attention and are also known as the "clown of dogs".

Boxers Puppies are very clean dogs that groom themselves in a similar manner that cats use. Boxers will do okay in an apartment if sufficiently exercised. Walking, running, and playing are all good ways of giving these dogs the daily workout they need. They are fairly active indoors and do best with at least an average-sized yard. Boxers do best in temperate climates as the breed can chill easily in cold weather and have trouble cooling off in very hot weather. Boxers are not great swimmers, but they can and should be taught to be comfortable around water. The life expectancy for Boxers is typically 11-14 years.

The Boxer is happy, good-natured, high-spirited, playful, and curious and energetic. They are highly intelligent and eager to learn, but they can also be free-willed and sneaky. Boxers need lots of human leadership. This breed requires a dominant owner. Training of the Boxer Puppies should start early and be firm and consistent. The objective in training this dog is to achieve a pack leader status.

These lively dogs have a tendency to jump up at people and this trait should be controlled at an early age. They are very reliable and protective around children. They are very loving toward children and like to play as well. A well brought-up and properly socialized Boxer will also get along with his own kind and other household pets such as cats. The Boxer has a number of natural talents including guarding, watching, police and military work, search and rescue, obedience, and trick performing. They combine the very best of canine traits as far as intelligence, trainability, strength and pride. With patience and leadership, the boxer is a great all around family dog, bonding very closely with the family.



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Breeding Boxers For Their Colorful Coats

As a breed, boxers did not show up until the late 1800's, originally bred to be hunting dogs for use in hunting wild boars, deer and bears, boxers are a young breed of dog. Being such a young breed, boxers are known for exceptional breeding and the beautiful various shades that occur in their coats. There is an exact science that goes into breeding various bloodlines of boxers in order to achieve the unique coloring and markings that are most familiar to lovers of the boxer breed.

Though boxers might show a variety of different markings, there are actually only two colors that are recognized coat colors of the breed. The first color is known as fawn, which can range in shades from light tan to a darker red , almost mahogany coloring. The second coat coloring is known as brindle, brindle coats feature a striped pattern with black stripes that cover over the base of the fawn color. The striping on a brindle coated boxer may be so thick that the fawn coloring is nearly invisible. Because of this, the color is often called a "reverse" or "black" brindle; even though the dog may almost appear entirely black, it is still considered a brindle, however, a pure boxer lacks the gene necessary for a truly all-black coat.

Boxer breeders use great care when selecting which boxers to breed together. Because the fawn and brindle colorings of their coats are passed on through genetics and careful tracing of bloodlines, it is possible to predict what the coat of the puppies is going to look like. Brindle coats occur as a result of a dominant gene, if this is present at all then the dog will have a brindle pattern. This does not mean that every boxer with a brindle coat will produce only brindle puppies, however, if the dog has a dominant brindle gene and a recessive fawn gene, and mates with another dog that has the same dominant and recessive genes, the puppies have a 25% chance of being fawn and a 75% chance of being brindle. A fawn coated dog mated with another fawn colored boxer will produce only fawn colored pups, and a dog with two brindle genes (double brindle) will make brindle puppies regardless of whether it is mated with a brindle or fawn.

There are some instances where other colors of coats appear, most notably in the case of a white boxer who features neither a fawn or brindle coat coloring. White boxers occur when the genes are passed on from each parent which results in the puppies lacking the pigment needed for a fawn or brindle colored coat. The unfortunate thing about white boxers is that they have a much higher chance of being deaf or suffering from other health related genetic problems. It is because of this reason, most boxer organizations and a large number of breeders will not breed white boxers and only recommend white boxers as a pet. Most responsible breeders do whatever they can to make sure all white Boxers are not bred.



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Cropping Your Boxer's Ears

A highly sensitive topic in many boxer communities is ear cropping which was at one time considered to be a standard practice, but in recent times has fallen into disfavor because it is viewed as cruel and potentially dangerous to the dog. Whether or not to crop the ears of a boxer has people on the fence with both sides raising several valid points, but cropping or not still remains at the discretion of the owner. Presented here are some of the main reasons both for cropping and against cropping, so it will help you make an informed decision as to what is appropriate for your boxer puppy.

If you are not sure of what cropping means, it is a cosmetic surgical procedure that involves cutting off a portion of the ear of a boxer while the dog is young. This is done in order to give the dog a more majestic or imposing look. The cropped area of an ear will need to be tended to for a period of days after surgery to make certain the boxer puppy does not scratch at the ear (which could lead to pulling out stitches), and the site needs to be cleaned and checked daily to prevent scabbing which in turn leads to scarring. The surgical wounds will heal quickly and you would only needs to spend the first few days post-op watching for signs of a potential problem with the cropping.

People who prefer ear cropping favor it because of tradition and medical reasons which support ear cropping for young boxers. Not only is ear cropping recognized as a common practice by international boxer organizations, it may also help prevent ear problems which can occur from a boxers normally floppy ears which would otherwise cover up the ear canal of the dog. Cropped ears in a boxer can lead to significantly less cases of ear mites and other forms of ear infections, because the ear canal gets more exposure to light and air which results in reduced humidity in the ear canal, and hence an unfavorable environment for mites and infections to thrive and grow.

Those who are against ear cropping point out that it may be a painful procedure for a young boxer puppy to undergo and maintain that the surgery is a form of animal cruelty and an outdated practice. If the surgical wound is not properly cared for, the site may become infected and cause additional problems for the puppy. More recently a concern which should also be considered, is that many cities and other governing bodies have been putting into effect laws that prohibit owning a dog or dogs that look like they have been raised to be fierce and aggressive. In some locations, these laws may be applied to a boxer with cropped ears because the surgery tends to make the dogs appear frightening (some people argue this change in appearance leads to an increase in hostility, even though there is no connection between the two).

It is important to remember that ear cropping is a surgical procedure and cannot be undone at a later point in time. Make sure that you have carefully reviewed and considered the pros and cons of ear cropping before deciding whether or not it is right for your boxer.



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All About The Boxer Breed Of Dog

The tallest of the flat-faced breeds, Boxers are dogs that never grow up! They are bouncy, energetic, fearless risk takers, although males can be wary with strangers. The typical Boxer's mantra is "All I wanna do is have fun!"

The Boxer is a breed for active families. They make excellent companions for young children because they are, in thought and action, similar to a three-year-old child. Although Boxers muscularity, size and intimidating appearance suits it to a role as house protector, these dogs are unfailingly gently with children.


Boxers were first developed in Germany - possibly from the Brabant Bullenbeisser (bull biter) from Belgium and similar dogs in the region. Bavarian dogs and maybe even the English Bulldog may have been used in its original development. By the turn of the 20th century, they were essentially as they are today. No one knows exactly how the name "Boxer" developed.


Unfortunately, there are serious health problems within the Boxer breed and these lead to a shorter life-span than the average dog breed.


On a side note: There are white or almost completely white Boxers, that may be registered with kennel clubs - but these dogs may not be shown in the dog ring. In the United States, Boxers with more than 1/3 of their body covered in white may not be shown. Mostly or whilly white Boxers are much more prone to deafness.


In some countries a Boxers tail is still amputated, leading to a high speed metronome like vestigial wagging which I turn can lead to painful bony changes in the dogs back near the sacrum (tailbone). Skin cancer occurs more frequently in Boxers than any other breed, and a heart condition causing a ballooning of the lower chambers, a "dilated cardiomyopathy" is sadly all too common.


Essential Boxer grooming care needed is minimal with their short coat. The training time is about average compared to other breeds, but it is essential if you are thinking of showing your Boxer in the show ring.


The most common colorings of the Boxer breed are fawn and white, fawn, brindle, and occasionally white. They have a wrinkled brow which makes them look like they are concentrating terrible hard. (Probably trying to figure out what fun to have next). They have a short, muscular back and neck, and a very deep chest.




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If you're thinking about a Boxer for your family, be sure to get early training as it is essential for this breed to learn the word "no". (Just like your three-year-old!) Sit Stay is an excellent dog training guide that should help you train your Boxer to be a perfect fit for almost any family.