Helping Boxer Rescue UP Date Good News

[thistlebloom]

I had a neighbor that always had boxers, and we babysat a friends boxer female for a week when they went on vacation. Very high maintenance as GWR explained. I don't have the temperament for a breed like that.
One of us would end up in the Looney Bin.

 

[Nyboy]

Thistle Bob bred them

 

[bobm]

Yup, I bred Boxers. One has to remember that the Boxer breed was developed in Germany, and that means DISIPLINE and TRAINING. They need a job and they do it well as guard dogs of their people and their home. I and my wife worked in town and when our kids were still small,they whent to the babysitter so our dog and / or dogs were left in the house alone ON GUARD.Heaven help any intruder. None of our dogs did any of the issues mentioned. Our kids and a friend or two would get a blanket and flop onto the floor and cover themselves with it, the Boxer would then start to growel and grab the blanket with it's teeth and shake it with great gusto. Sounded like the dog was going to kill the kids, but the kids would laugh heartily and never once experience even a scratch. Great guarding behavior with our horses as well as other livestock. Now the issues with white coloring. Speaking from the biological point of view. In some breeds of dogs as well as cats. Excessive body white , especially on the head and covering one or both eyes gives anotomical anomolies that often results in partial to total blindness and oposite ear deafness. If partial issues, the animal will adapt to it's malody, but often will have behavior issues. Much kinder to put it down at birth.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I think there are Boxers and then there are Boxers. They face shape, body shape, size, and personality are changing, but just with breeding certain types. The older pictures I have there show a longer face on the dogs than what you normally see now. One thing I liked about them was that they did not want to eat the mailman, the neighbor kids, or bark at every moving thing. My cousins got a Boxer and worried it was too friendly, so the husband had a neighbor come over and scratch on the window at night and the dog almost went through the window, so they knew their kids were safe. Our last dog, Haggler, always seemed to friendly, but when DH started working at night and I was home with small kids, this dog totally changed. He was on guard. Oh, I forgot, there was another dog, Captain. He was a seeing eye too. Captain came after Duke. The seeing eye dogs were trained. They were not a bunch of house destroying babies. The house destroying dogs like the one on craigslist were not trained and my friend's dog had been a farm dog brought to town with nothing to do. My Major was a pet and not trained, but wanted to go with me always and even though not trained, later he would never destroy anything and I knew I was safe no matter what. These males weighed over 75 pounds. The second Major 90 pounds. People have their dog choices, but this is by far the only dog I would want around kids. My dad tried several different breeds for Seeing Eye dogs and the Boxer was the only one he was happy with.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

The first Major would not allow anybody to hold his leash but my dad. I never knew this dog, I was only a baby when he died. My dad and him could walk a block a minute and once Major suddenly stopped. My dad could not get him to go forward. A man walking by said to my dad, put your hand up in the air by your head. There was a 2x4 in front of my dad's head. There was construction on the sidewalk and Major saw that board and stopped. As fast as they were walking, it could have killed my dad or at least knocked him out. My dad used to drop a coin on purpose with friends. If he dropped money and somebody reached to pick it up for my dad, this dog put his nose on the coin and would not let anybody get it until my dad reached down and got it. Major had his obituary in the newspaper.

 

[Nyboy]

Major sounds like a once in a lifetime dog.

 

[bobm]

Another issue most people are not aware of is that a dog or cat ( except for Australian Shepherd or Quensland Blue Healer or cat breeds with blue eyes) has one blue eye, they have some degree of / total deafness in the oposite ear. If both eyes are blue , then they may have some degree to total deafness. Quite a few pet vets like to keep the little secret of genetic maladies because they then have a lifetime client of people that have bleeding hearts.

 

[bobm]

By the way, our Boxers were at the top end of the breed standard in height. Our females weighed in at 90 -95 lbs. of solid muscle ( like in show shape ) as they had plenty of excersise taking my wife and / or kids for miles long walks / runs as well as constantly patrolling our property and keeping a sharp eye for predators and well being of our livestock. Can't ask for any better dogs.

 

[Nyboy]

She ripped out front nail blood everywhere. Every time she jumped blood flew. Took 2 guys to hold her down so I could put clotting agent on nail bed. I know quick stop stings when applied, plus 2 strange men holding her down, she did not try to bite at all.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Major sounds like a once in a lifetime dog.

Major was born over 70 years ago and today would be my dad's birthday and he would be 106 years old if alive today!