BOXERS AROUND THE WORLD

THE MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
NORTH AMERICAN, BRITISH AND EUROPEAN BOXERS

THE HEAD

The biggest departure from TYPE is occurring in the HEAD of our Boxers.

• HEAD STYLES vary excessively from country to country and many dogs have untypical heads.

• The standard in all countries is explicit on the head proportions, but there is more variety in head type in our breed than in many other breeds.

• The standards all ask for wrinkle only to be shown on the top of the skull when alert, but many boxers have heavy wrinkle over the top of the head and down the sides, even when relaxed.

• They also ask for a distinct stop. I find on some dogs that distinct has become slight and it is only the eyebrows that break the line of the muzzle and skull.

• They also ask for a skull that is not short or domed, and many dogs have short domes heads!

The correct length and breadth of muzzle is one of the hardest things to breed in the Boxer.

The standard requires it to be powerfully developed in length breadth and depth, yet we have so many that have short, shallow or narrow muzzles.

It is far easier to breed a wide SHORT muzzle than to breed the CORRECT muzzle, which also has width and depth.

With the short foreface comes the small nose with pinched nostrils! With pinched nostrils come breathing problems that can shorten the dog's life. Many dogs born with this problem have to have an operation to allow the dog to breathe normally. Another problem that comes with short muzzles is foreshortened soft palettes.

The Boxer is a cross between two types… Brachycephalic (Bulldog type) the longer nosed (Alaunt - Mastiff) and this makes it hard to keep the 1:2 ratio, and those breeders that do so, are really to be congratulated.

The MUNICH SILHOUETTE was the blueprint of the perfect head and is instantly recognised as a BOXER.   It represented the ideal head shape in profile. This silhouette has been around since early days as has been the symbol of a good type head. Many breed clubs have this silhouette on their letterhead or club badge. Is this head type still applicable today?

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On the following pages I have made silhouettes of head profiles of Boxers from each area. I have used SILHOUETTES to illustrate the differences, as they are more easily compared to the Munich silhouette than if I used just photographs. These are all taken from full profiles of Champions dogs.