WHAT WERE BOXERS BRED FOR & WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?

 

Family: livestock dog, mastiff (bulldog)
Area of Origin: Germany
Date of Origin: 1800s
Original Function: bullbaiting, guardian
Today's Function: guardian
Average Size of Male: Height: 22.5 - 25 inches, Weight: 65 - 80 pounds
Average Size of Female: Height: 21 - 23.5 inches, Weight: 50 - 65 pounds

Although it has reached its greatest perfection in Germany during the past hundred years, the Boxer springs from a line of dogs known throughout the whole of Europe since the 16th century. Prior to that time, ancestors of the breed would hardly be recognized as Boxers if they could be placed beside modern specimens. Still, evidence points to the Boxer as one of the many descendants of the old fighting dog of the high valleys of Tibet.

The Boxer is related to most recognized breeds of the Bulldog type, and these all go back to basic Molossus blood. Few other strains can claim such courage and stamina; and from this line emanates the attractive fawn color that has recurred throughout the centuries.

Flemish tapestries of the 16th and 17th centuries show scenes of stag and boar hunting; the dogs are the same as the Spanish Alano, found in great numbers in Andalusia and Estramadura, and the Matin de Terceira or Perro do Presa, from the Azores. The Alano and the Matin have been regarded as the same breed-they are either ancestors of the Boxer or they trace back to a common ancestor.

In France, there is a breed known as the Dogue de Bordeaux that is very close both in appearance and size to the old Tibetan Mastiff, and it is from this massive dog that the Bouldogue de Mida was developed. The Bouldogue du Mida, found principally in the south of France, possesses many traits of the Boxer.

While all the European breeds mentioned are related to the Boxer, this favorite of Germany has been developed along scientific lines that not only have succeeded in retaining all his old qualities, but have resulted in a much more attractive appearance. Besides Bulldog blood, the Boxer carries a certain heritage from a terrier strain. There is also some reason to believe that English Bulldogs were at one time imported into Germany. Indeed, Reinagle's noted Bulldog, done in 1803, is not unlike the Boxer, and pictures of some English specimens of 1850 are almost identical with the German dog.

Reinagle's "Bulldog"


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