Wednesday, August 16, 2006

A note on white boxers

First, today's Boxer of the Day:


Seriously, how cute is that.

So the scoop on white boxers is this.

First of all they are not albinos - as you can see with this little beauty, they often have a spot here and there and certainly have pigmentation even without spots.

Second, they can't be shown. This is very similar to white German Shephards. The difference between the white boxer and the white shepherd is that Shepherds are truyly just a different color. Whites can be bred with whites, but are usually not bred with black and tans or other shepherd colors. They are almost a sub-bread with their own unique personality traits. (They tend to be more lively and willful. I can attest to this from personal experience.)

White boxers on the other hand are not bred to be white because they have a higher tendency toward deafness and blindness. I don't know if this was just bred in along with the color like the willfullness in the shepherds, but the incidence is high enough that it is considered irresponsible to breed specifically for the white color. That said, a boxer can be shown with up to 25% of white on it's body - breed two of those dogs together (they're called Flashy when they have white on them) and you're likely to get an all white boxers.

Sadly, these used to be euthenized (the horror), but now are more often sold to pet homes. So long as they are not born deaf or blind, their health is not compromised by their color in any way and they make fantastic pets.

Needless to say, I'd be more than happy to be a mommy to a white boxer should the opportunity present itself. :)

1 comment:

Kathleen said...

soooo adorable!