BOXER BREED HISTORY


The Boxer has its origins from Germany. Its history can be traced back to the 1880s. Before that, the history becomes deductive, and then speculative.
A gentleman from Munich, named George Alt, had purchased a small (Brabanter) Bullenbeisser female in France. He brought her home to Munich, and mated her to a local dog, which produced a parti-colored female - who was named Schenken. Schenken was later mated to an English Bulldog. The point to note here is that these were not random matings. Each breeding was to capture a certain look, personality or trait. Then a consistency was looked for to establish a breed type, that was produced at each whelping. Until recently, breeders would cull any "all-white" puppies from a litter, due to the fear that deafness would be passed from one generation to another. The "all-white" colorations goes back to the Bulldogs that were used initially to establish the Boxer type appearance.
The German Boxer Club was formed in 1896, and this group published the first Boxer Standard in 1902. What is remarkable is that the standard of 1902 has changed very little over time.
Some pictures of the Boxer show the dog with cropped ears and docked tails. This is very common in the United States. However, this practice is being discontinued in several countries, as it is considered cruel. Cropping of the ears is prohibited in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Scandinavia. Tail docking is banned in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
The Boxer came to the United States in 1903 through the Stuttgarter Kennels. The A.K.C. registered its first Boxer in 1904, before there was a national parent club. In 1912, the American public's attention was drawn to the Boxer breed, thanks to the importation of the 1912 Seiger, Dampf von Dom, by the future Governor of New York and Mrs. Herbert H. Lehman. In 1915, Dampf became the first Boxer to receive championship honors in the United States.
The American Boxer Club was founded in 1935, and the club's membership to the A.K.C. occurred in May, of 1936.
For anyone interested in purchasing a Boxer, they would do well to purchase the book by Anna K. Nicholas, entitled "The Boxer". It is a very well researched study of the foundation Boxers, that were instrumental in the development of the modern Boxer. It also has excellent chapters on purchasing a Boxer, care of a puppy, show and obedience, and also on breeding a Boxer.