THE BREED
Our beloved breed – boxers – are just exceptional dogs.
On the one hand – fearless, determined, brave, making decisions quickly, and on the other hand united with their family, willing to be caressed, sensitive and huggy.
At the same time they remain cheerful and happy till they’re old… it is said that a boxer will behave as a puppy till the end of his life.
And yes, they’re the dogs “till the end of life”. They suffer if they change the owner. They are so attached to their family, they love it more than life, and though they may choose one family member to be their most beloved master, the family is the most important for them. And not only the human family – our dogs have a special bond with our cats and they seem to like them a lot.
Boxers are dogs of high activity, dynamic, beautiful and strong in motion. They’re easy to to be trained, they love to perform the tasks the owner wants them to do.

APPEARANCE
To get to know the breed standard, just go here
​The most important things – a keyword is “a square”.
The figure of boxer’s body should be similar to a square: a line drawn horizontally from the withers and vertical from the shoulder and pelvis should create this figure.
The depth of the chest should be half the height of the dog measured at the withers, and the chest should reach the height of the elbows.
Well developed forchest is important and
Head – the judges pay very much attention to its correct proportions.
Broad muzzle in the right proportion to the skull (which should be quite narrow in order to create a harmonious whole), ended with a slightly raised nose.
The head should not have too many folds, it should be “dry” – the mask should be as dark as possible, so do the eyes.
Furrow in forehead should not be too deep.
The undershot is characteristic of boxers- it is correct if the tongue and lower teeth are not visible when the mouth is closed.

COAT
​Hair is short and hard (pulling it out of the car seats or carpet is a nightmare), shiny and close fitting.
The colour may be fawn or brindle – they are judged at the dog shows separately. In brindle dogs stripes must contrast distinctly to ground colour.

HEALTH
Boxers, like other dog breeds, are prone to diseases typical of their breed which may refer to the movement apparatus or internal organs.
Considering the movement apparatus the most common disease is hip dysplasia and spondylosis.
Hip dysplasia in dogs is a disease of the hip in which the ball and socket joint is malformed.
In the initial phase there are slight subluxations of the joint, in the later phase the dog suffers from pain.
It is very important, when choosing a puppy from a breeding kennel, to check the hip examination results of its parents, because this disease is a hereditary disorder, although the mechanism of inheritance is not well understood yet and two healthy parents may give a dysplastic puppy. However, it is worth minimizing the risk … The tests of hip joints are obligatory for our breed.
There is also the elbow dysplasia, which, however, is quite rare with boxers.
Spondylosis is a condition that affects the vertebral bones of the spine and is characterized by the presence of bony spurs along the edges of the bones of the spine. When the disease develops the vertebral bones become less flexible and if a bone spur grows near a nerve root it may put pressure on the nerve, causing lameness or hint limb paresis. Spondylosis is most common along the thoracic vertebrae and in the lumbosacral spine and is associated with aging.
As with dysplasia, it is good to ask about the results of puppy’s parents’ tests.
Heart diseases :
Dilated cardiomyopathy – a disease causing degenerative changes of the heart walls which weakens their contractility and leads to heart failure.
Symptoms may include coughing, breathing problems, shortness of breath, and even fainting.
Breeders carry out detailed examinations of the heart of dogs used for breeding and again it is worth seeing the results of the puppy’s parents’ tests.
Of course, for detailed information you need to refer to relevant veterinary sources – my goal is to stress certain concepts only.
Boxers from breeding kennels where the dogs used in breeding are health checked may be our joy for long years to come.