The Boxer has its roots in Germany. They can be traced back to the sixteenth century and to two types of mastiff dogs known as Bullenbeiszer and Barenbeiszer. These breeds were then crossed with a Native Bavarian dog and then mated with an English bulldog. This is believed to be the beginning of the Boxer as we know today. They were originally used to hunt wild boar and deer and then they were used in dog fighting sports. Thankfully these sports were outlawed around 1850 and the boxer found a new job guarding cattle.
The Boxer is a member of the working group. They have an average lifespan of 10 to 12 years. Boxers are a medium sized dog weighing between 55 to 70 pounds. An adult male stands between 22 and 25 inches (57 and 63cm) tall at the withers while the female is slightly smaller standing between 21 to 231/2 inches (53 and 60cm) tall. The name boxer comes from this dog’s tendency to stand up on its hind legs and use its front paws like a boxer.
Their coat is short, smooth and sleek and comes in many shades of fawn, brindle and flashes of white. Fawn colours come in various shades from pale to dark deer-red. Boxers can also be white. In the past, breeders often euthanized white puppies at birth; today, most breeders place white puppies in pet homes with spay/neuter agreements. Like fair-skinned humans, white Boxers have a higher risk of sunburn and associated skin cancers than coloured Boxers.
Boxers make a good family pet as they tend to be very good with children. Like all dogs they need to be properly socialized. They are a high energy dog so they do require plenty of exercise. They respond well to positive reinforcement training such as clicker training. They tend to be more comfortable with companionship whether it be human or canine. They also tend to be over friendly. They are natural entertainers and are seen as class clowns because of their antics. They make an excellent guard dog and have been used widely in military and police work.
Boxers generally are a very clean dog and shed moderately so they require very little grooming. They do best in moderate temperature. They chill in cold weather and have trouble cooling off in very hot weather.
Boxers are prone to a number of health problems. Among their health issues are hip dysplasia, bloat, heart problems specifically aortic stenosis and cardiomyopathy, digestive problems, hypothyroidism and cancerous and benign tumours.
This breed is not for everyone but what breed really is. With proper training and proper socialization the boxer can make a wonderful family pet.
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[...] Original post by Trained Dogs Rule [...]
Boxer Name…from Wikipedia:
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’s Pet owner’s guide to the Boxer, this theory is the least plausible explanation.[15] 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 and historical evidence find the earliest written source for the word Boxer in the 18th century, where it is found in a text in the Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch (The German Dictionary of Foreign Languages),[18] 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 similar-sounding term Boxerl, also from the Bavarian dialect, is an endearing term for Boxer.[19] 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.[19]
Boxers on the first Boxer exhibition, Munich 1895In 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.[20]
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).
Thank-you for your information about how the boxer came to be called the boxer.
M. Brownell