The Boxer is one of the oldest known breeds on earth, with ancestral roots tracing back to the Assyrian Empire in 2300 BC.
The modern
Boxer was developed in Germany in the late 1800s, a direct descendant of two
fighting breeds.
The first
is the now-extinct Bullenbeisser or “bull biter”.
The second
is an earlier incarnation of the English Bulldog, taller and much more athletic
than today’s representatives of the breed.
What were Boxers bred for?
Throughout
history, Boxers have been working dogs.
The breed
was officially recognized as a police dog in Germany in 1925, but that’s only
one of the roles the Boxer and his ancestors have performed over the years.
The
Bullenbeisser was a Mastiff-type dog prized as a big game hunter for several
centuries in Germany.
It was used
to tackle big game, grappling bears, wild boar, deer and bison until the
hunters arrived to make the kill.
The
Bullenbeisser was defined less by its looks and more by character traits, which
were said to include a strong impulse to fight coupled with a very hard
constitution and total insensitivity to pain.
After the
Napoleonic Wars in the early 1800s, the estates on which the German nobility
had hunted were broken up.
Out of a
job, the Bullenbeisser was repurposed as a butcher’s and cattle dealer’s dog.
His task
was two-fold: control the livestock in the slaughterhouse, and protect the
premises.
Despite a fearsome
appearance, this dog was endowed with a good temperament.
That, and
his bright intelligence, saw him work his way from the perimeter of the
property into the heart of the home as a loyal companion and trusted family
pet.
The
Bullenbeisser was a favorite with circus folk and travelling performers, as
readily able to perform tricks as guard dog duties.
The modern Boxer
By the late
nineteenth century, crossbreeding of the German Bullenbeisser with the Bulldog
imported from England had produced a sleeker, more elegant creature .. the
first of the Boxer line that continues to this day.
The Bulldog
blood is thought to have introduced the color white into the Boxer.
In fact,
several of the original Boxers were all-white.
These days
white Boxers are regarded as not conforming to the official Breed Standard,
which currently requires that no more than a third of the body be white.
The
first-ever Boxer club was formed in Munich in 1895.
The
inaugural Boxer show was held in the city that same year and the initial Boxer
stud book opened in 1904.
Every
living Boxer’s pedigree traces back to these Munich Boxers.
When did Boxers come to America?
The
American Kennel Club had registered its first Boxer in 1904.
But it
wasn’t until after World War II that the breed’s popularity took off in the
States, as returning soldiers brought Boxers home with them.
The
American Boxer’s heyday began in the 1950s when a Boxer called Bang Away broke
American show dog records by collecting 100 Bests in Show, including
Westminster.
He became a
national celebrity in the process.
Virtually
ever since, Boxers have been a favorite family dog.
The Boxer
consistently graces the uppermost ranks of the AKC’s list of most popular
breeds.
Based on
numbers of dog registrations, the Boxer has long been in the top 10 every year.
In 2020 he
was rated the 14th most popular breed of dog in America.
Why are Boxers called Boxers?
No one
definitively knows how the Boxer’s name came about, since it wasn’t documented.
The
predominant theory is that it’s a reference to the breed’s tendency to jab at
opponents with his paws, like a nimble prizefighter sparring in the ring.
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