Developing the Breed Standard
A breed standard is the list of elements a dog must have to be a desirable member of any particular breed, compiled by breeders, judges, and fanciers of the particular breed. The standard serves as a basis of comparison, a model of the ideal example of that breed. It describes the breed's physical characteristics, such as coat color, way of moving, conformation, size, and the number and size of teeth. Also described are the breed's ideal temperament, working ability, and intelligence, all expressed in terms of suitability for the breed's original purpose. The standard also lists minor and disqualifying faults of the particular breed — that is, the characteristics that would cost a particular dog points in the conformation show ring or that would result in his being disqualified from competition entirely. The current official boxer breed standard can be found in Chapter 2.
If the boxer is German in origin, why is its name English?
There are two theories to explain this. One is that the word boxer came from the German word Boxl, which described various types of German dogs in existence around the time the boxer breed was being developed. The second theory is that the name “boxer” came from the characteristic way in which the boxer uses its front paws in playing or fighting.
Not every purebred dog meets the breed standard. Though an individual dog may have numerous faults, he should not be considered any less a member of the breed or any less loveable. A standard is an ideal of what breeders should strive to achieve, and the show ring is a determination of which dogs, in the judges' opinions, most closely meet that standard.
The Early Standard
In 1904, when the AKC registered the first boxer, most representatives of the breed where white or checked (a pinto pattern) rather than today's fawn or brindle.
A studbook lists all of a breed's producing sires and dams (males and females) and thus provides a genealogical record for the breed. For most breeds, including boxers, the studbooks go right back to the very first dog considered to be a representative of the breed.
In the early days, solid black was a disqualification. The reason for this had something to do with “unacceptable” behavior on the part of a Herr Shactner, the owner of the black boxer, Graf Blitz von Grauding. White, on the other hand, could be registered and did not become a disqualifying fault until about 1936. It is speculated that white fell out of favor because of the boxer's wartime duties. The boxer was the original World War I German war dog; a white coat was a disability because the enemy could see it more easily at night. However, a dissenting opinion suggests that disqualifying the color white in boxers was one way to distinguish the breed from the English bulldog, which it then resembled.
White was originally the only disqualifying fault of boxers in the conformation ring. Although solid black coats are no longer seen, white boxers are still quite common. When two boxers with white markings are bred, approximately one in four of the pups will be white. More than one-third white ground cover remains a disqualifying fault in the boxer conformation ring today.
The AKC Breed Standard
The Deutscher Boxer Club, formed in Munich in 1896, was the first German boxer club. In March of that year, the first boxers were registered and the first official boxer show was held. By January of 1902, a boxer breed standard was developed.
Until the 1940s, when the boxer became popular in the United States, Germany was instrumental in the development of the breed. The period from 1902 until 1911 saw great growth, development, and homogeneity in the breed. Less desirable traits became breed disqualifications through revisions of the written standard.
