Some details of Boxer dog breeding
Boxer takes its origin from
the Mastiff dogs, the native lands of which is Tibet. The
progenitor of many dogs was the Tibetan Mastiff - large
thick haired dog of black and tan color. With time, these dogs
lost their thick fur but the other features remained the same.
The pictures of these short haired dogs were found during
excavation works in Assyria and Persia. These dogs were used for
hounding big animals such as lions, bulls etc. There are also
pictures showing their use as guard or fighting dogs. The dogs
of the kind were very expensive and only noblemen, chieftains
and emperors could afford them.
There were no single look for
these dogs up to the 19th century. However, there could
be distinguished two kinds of Bullenbeissers in Europe. They
were Large Bullenbeisser and Small Bullenbeisser, also called
Danzig and Brabant Bullenbeissers. The most popular among them
was the Small one as it was strong, agile and very brave. In
19th century, three friends Robert, Kenig and Helner gathered
together aimed at creation of the new working dog breed on the
basis od the Small Bullenbeisser dog. Huge selection work
allowed to breed harmonious, strong and fearless dog with
specific head construction and stable and strong nervous system.
The original dog was the Bullenbeisser bitch Flora of brindle color,
brought from France. She had a look very close to the desirable
breed. Her partner was red Boxle of German origin. In 1898 their
famous grand granddaughter Meta was born. It was a whitish with
brindle spots dog that is considered to be the foremother of all
boxers.
The second famous producer became an orange coloured bitch Mirzle (Piccolo's sister
from the other set). The families of Meta and Mirzle were the
biggest and the most productive. Among the Meta's offsprings we
should mention Gugo fon Pfaltsgau and Shani fon de Passage, the
sons from Flock San-Salvatore. Unlike the majority of those
times boxers, Flock was highlegged with flattened snout, but he
appeared to be a good producer. The offsprings of Gugo and Shani
gave an excellent puppy Millo fon Agelshtein in 1921. He was the
main producer in breeding of orange-coloured boxers, had
excellent parameters and gave a number of outstanding offsprings.
However, his male posterity didn't have a breeding value, so his
line gradually vanished. Although, the bitches of his line were
used for crossing with other producers.
The other Meta's partner, brindle-coloured Wotan 46 were born the
champion Gigerle 113. He had rather large body and even brindle
colour, dominating over tan and spotted colour. Gigerl's
granddaughter Venus and Kurt Pfaltsgau produced famous Rolf
Fogelsburg 1183. He had beautiful head and proper body. His
exhibition carrier is unique. Last time he won on the dog ring
at the age of 11. Rolf's offsprings Rolf Valhall 3091 and Moritz
fon Goldrain 4369 successfully continued the line.
Analyzing the initial working period with boxer breed, it is to
be said that the new breed creation was held purposefully
through usage of the progressive selection methods. They
included inbreeding for the model dog breed with gradual
desirable type fixing. Selection experts created a new breed
without losing anything of the ancestors' rich legacy. Its
creators from the very beginning made the right choice in severe
dog screening if they had undesirable features such as bare bite
and spotted, black or white colours. In 1896 there was created a
club for boxer admirers with residence in Munich. The same year
the first breed description was made. Breed standards of 1905,
1920 and 1925 continuously introduced more strict figure
requirements that allowed to achieve quick success. The last standard editing is dated
by 1967 and it was fixed in the International Cynological
Association under type 144.
