Boxer's ancestors. What saved this breed from vanishing.
Boxer
belongs to the Mastiff Dogs,
also called the Molosser Dogs.
They
are united into one group because of their similar origin and
look. The representatives of Mastiff breed usually have large,
mighty body with strong skeleton and big head. Due to their
imposing look and high strength they were used for hunting large
animals, for public fights and as military or guard dogs.
The so-called Tibetan Mastiff
is considered to be the ancestor
of
all mastiff dogs; this dog had a look very similar to
modern
Middle Asian or Caucasian Shepherds. It was Alexander Macedonian
who brought these big Mastiff dogs to Greece from his Indian
crusade. Later they appeared in Rome and very likely served as
the
basis for Molosser dog breed. These dogs were considered
invincible until the civilized society of the 4th century A.D.
discovered British Mastiffs. They were much stronger with
wider snouts making them more popular for that times. While
gradually
interbreeding with former Molossoids they eventually replaced
them
and took their name.
Dog breeding was very popular in Celtic tribes as well. Long
before the Roman conquest they
bred large heavy dogs that served as the guards and were used in
hunting on bears, wild boars and other big animals; that is why
they had got their name of Bearenbeisser (that means "bear
biter"). Thus, strong and large snout fighting dogs were bred
all
over the continental Europe and on the British islands.
Depending
on the local conditions they could be larger or smaller.
There were two similar dogs of the kind in Central Europe:
they
were Danzig or Large
Bullenbeissers and Small
or Brabanter
Bullenbeissers. The Large were used for hunting big
animals,
usually in Poland and Northern Germany, while in Northern part
of
Alps, covered with thick forests, the Small Bullenbeisser was
considered to be the most appropriate for hunting wild hogs as
it
was more agile due to its small dimensions. Actually, it is the
Small Bulenbeisser that is considered to be the progenitor of
Boxer dog.
These two types of Bullenbeissers differed only in their
dimensions, the other typical features were very similar. Those
dogs had orange or brindle colour of their body without white
spots
and wide and short snouts. Due to the shorter upper jaw the dog
could easily breathe even getting its teeth into the enemy. The
notch on the Bullenbeisser's nose sometimes was so deep that it
seemed cut into two halves. These dogs were called two-nosed
and on the brink of boxer's popularity the admirers of such look
asserted that the real boxer must have only the nose of such a
kind.
The task of Bullenbeissers at hunting, as a rule, was to ambush
and wait until the hounds turn the animal out to them. Here the
pack of Bullenbeissers had to attack and keep the prey untill
the
hunter comes and kills it. Fighting with furious bull or hog,
greatly surpassing the dog in weight and strength, was the task
that required enormous courage and excellent bite. All these
qualities were bred in boxer's ancestors during many
centuries
selection, where usually only working qualities of the dog were
taken into account.
When the fire-arms emerged, there were no necessity of keeping
the
packs of etching dogs and later the public animal etching was
totally prohibited. What saved the breed from vanishing was that
butchers and cattle traders became interested in it as they
needed agile and brave dogs of the kind for controlling their herds. Later
on, the breed was tried to be improved through crossing with
imported English Bulldogs, which at that times had better
working
figure and were very close to Bullenbeissers in their
dimensions.
British Bulldog contributed into Brabanter Bullenbeisser breed
wider body and shorter and larger head, as well as the
snow-white
colour. Thus, already to the end of the 18th century the sole
breed type of Bullenbeisser had been lost and the Bullenbeissers
of those times mostly were represented as the mix of
Bullenbeisser
with British Bulldog, metis of Alan breed (extinct breed of
Mastiff dogs) and some others. Only pure breeding of
Bullenbeissers, existing earlier, gave an opportunity to come to
the single type in future.
The name "Boxer" appears first in 60-70s years of the 19th
century. During the second half of this century German
enthusiasts
aimed at noble dog breeding seriously started developing typical
features (standards) of breeds, establishing clubs, arranging
exhibitions and rearing pure breeds, historically developed in
their country. Nowadays it is known the name of the breeder
Robert, who, together with his friends Kenig and Helner was
engaged in pure Boxer breeding in Munich. Due to their efforts
the
Boxer was first shown as the test breed on St. Bernard-club
exhibition in Munich, 1895. It was the beginning of official
boxer
recognition as the separate breed and of its later development.
The same year Robert, Helner and Kenig organized the first
Boxer-club and carried out the first Boxer exhibition in Munich.
By the way, it gathered for about 50 owners with their Boxer
dogs.