The genealogy of the Boxer
By: Bishop Corsair

This beautiful dog, the Boxer. The best companion dog of all time period. Well, I have had nothing but Boxers my entire life, so I guess my opinion will be a little biased. I cant begin to tell you how much joy those boxers have given me throughout my life. They will allways put a smile on your face. I'm not sure wether it is that fleshy jowled pug nosed face that I find so wonderful, or there disposition, personality,or maybe it is all of the above. Boxers are so playful in the way they are prepared to go at it in a moments notice with a piece of rope or run around the yard. Attentive beacuse they have to be with you in every room you go to, because that is where the action is and they need to be part of it. Effectionate, they crave physical contact and petting. they love climbing into your bed with you at night and are a great source of heat on a 3 dog night. Loyal in that they are friendly and personable, but will jump to defend you quickly with a ferocious presence. They are obedient and gentle, they are very tolerant of children and babies. You know how kids can be with the ear pulling and grabbing. That irratates some dogs. Boxers take all of that with no problem unlike any dog I know. Just a wonderful family pet.

Where does this breed come from? How did the boxer we know and love today come to be? It was a cross between a couple different dogs, but I wanted to look into its heritage and see for sure. This is what I came up with.

The name for the Boxer is commonly thought to stem from the way that a boxer plays. It rears back on its hind legs and comes at you with its paws swinging, sort of like a pudgelist. You have to watch out, because they will land a couple arm scraping blows quickly, thus the need to train your boxer. However this explanation is not correct. Actually, the name "Boxer" is taken from an ancestor, the smaller BullenBeisser(Barbanter) that were known as "boxel". The name "Boxer" is thought to be a corruption of that name that has passed through time.

The boxer started out as a cross between the German Bullenbeisser and the English Bulldog. The German Bullenbeisser was a big sized hunting dog for hundreds of years. It was commonly used when hunting big game like deer, bear and wild pigs. Its primary purpose was to run down wounded prey and hold it until the hunters came. A common feature of many boxers is the cropped pointed ears. I thought this was just for show, but it actually had a practical purpose related to their use as hunting dogs. When tracking and holding wild animals, the dogs would often suffer severly torn ears. They began cropping them to avoid this problem. As time passed, dogs of smaller stature came into favor and the German Bullenbeisser was purposfully bred smaller and smaller. This smaller version of the German Bullenbeisser was then named the Bullenbeisser(Brabanter).

In the late 19th century, the Brabanter was bred again with the English Bulldog. This would start the line that would become today's Boxer. in 1894, the breed was stablized and exhibited in 1895.

The story of the dogs involved in the early genealogy is rather interesting. An intreaging tale of breeding and selection.

A gentleman from Munich Germany, George Alt mated a brindle-colored bitch Brabanter named "Flora" with a local dog of unknown ancestry named "Boxer". This resulted in a fawn and white pup they named "Lechners Boxer". When he matured, "Lechner's Boxer" was mated with his mother "Flora" and one of those puppies was a bitch called "Alt's Schecken". "Alt's Schecken was registered as a Bierboxer or Modern BullBeiser. "Alt's Schecken" was then mated with a English Bulldog named "Tom" to produce a puppy named "Flocki", the first boxer entered into the German Stud Book. "Flocki's" sister, the white "Blanka von Angertor" was mated with the grandson of "Lechners Boxer", "Piccolo von Angertor" to create "Meta von der Passage". It is "Meta Von Der Passage" that would have the biggest impact on this breed. She is the mother of the modern breed of Boxer. "Meta von der Passage" went on to give birth to a line of sires that definded the future of the Boxer to the current day.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Chris Schaller is owner/operator of my-boxer-dog.com. A website dedicated to Boxer dog training, care and information. Boxers. The perfect Family pet.

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