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by Scottie Westfall

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Taxidermied boxer

January 3, 2011 by SWestfall3

I wish the photo I took at the German Hunting and Fishing Museum in Munich had come out a little better, but this is a taxidermied boxer dog from the early days of the breed.

The boxer originates in Munich from crossing the indigenous Barenbeisser and Bullenbeisser types with the English bulldog. At the German Hunting and Fishing  Museum, there are paintings of Barenbeiszers being used to hunt European brown bears.

I was impressed with how much this boxer resembled a bulldog with cropped ears and a docked tail. The closest approximating I can make is that it looked something like a black pit bull terrier. It was significantly shorter in stature than a modern boxer.

The fact that it was black shows that boxers originally came in a wider range of colors than the modern breed, which comes in only brindle and fawn with a black mask and the white coloration that masks fawn and brindle.

I don’t know the exact identity of this dog, but my google search revealed this dog featured with one of the breed founders, Friedrich Robert:

Boxers have changed quite a bit. They really had a stronger bulldog influence than they do now. Modern boxers are more svelte dogs, designed to work as police and guard dogs.

The black coloration supposedly originated with a cross with a schnauzer, but it has since been removed from the breed.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged boxer, Deutsches Jagd- und Fischereimuseum, German Hunting and Fishing Museum, Munich | 13 Comments

13 Responses

  1. on January 3, 2011 at 3:52 pm Christopher@BorderWars

    Yeah, they are clearly different now. I only recognize a little bit of the face with the modern dog… sort of the cheek area. The forehead, eyes, years, and body are very different.


  2. on January 3, 2011 at 9:57 pm Pai

    I found a great old Boxer book on OpenLibrary the other day, in fact. Some nice old pictures in it; you can borrow an e-book copy of it from the site: http://openlibrary.org/works/OL1480583W/The_complete_boxer


    • on January 3, 2011 at 9:59 pm Pai

      Here is a picture of the first dog recorded in the Boxer stud book: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/Pietoro/Dog%20Breed%20Historical%20Pictures/1890_Boxer.jpg


      • on January 3, 2011 at 10:34 pm Christopher@BorderWars

        Wow. I think the general trend for many breeds in the show ring is to angle them like this /–|” and make their necks longer.

        Compare that that original dog to, say, these dogs.
        http://www.boxer-puppies-for-sale.com/Pictures-of-Boxer-Dogs.html

        Is there any reason to think that having the dog’s back legs extended out like that (seen also in the poodle, the GSD, etc) is beneficial?

        When you do that in engineering, things become unstable and hard to move, like those low rider motorcycles with the front wheel so far out front. It “looks” interesting, but it functions poorly.


        • on January 3, 2011 at 10:48 pm Dave

          I think it’s because the posture makes the large breeds more muscular. I means, everyone knows you got a vicious dog in a movie when it’s on the end of its chain with its neck extended and hind legs stretched out as far as possible.


        • on January 4, 2011 at 12:27 pm Jess

          “Is there any reason to think that having the dog’s back legs extended out like that (seen also in the poodle, the GSD, etc) is beneficial? ”

          The very long hind legs, combined with extreme extension of the front legs, create a very dynamic look from the side when the dog is gaited. The legs *move* a lot, looking very dramatic. The very dynamic movement also disguises basic unsoundness.


          • on January 4, 2011 at 4:43 pm Pai

            Many people think that ‘reach and drive’ means the dramatic movement, when in reality the term ‘drive’ actually has a specific bio-mechanical meaning: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/Pietoro/webjunk2/Angulation_Drive.gif

            This is how the modern GSD’s ludicrous gait gets explained as being incredibly powerful, efficient movement by it’s proponents when the biological reality is the complete opposite.


            • on January 4, 2011 at 10:14 pm Jess

              That is tooo funny, just today I was researching all the various versions of Afghan standards, and almost all the Western standards call for low hocks. If your hocks are low, you need a long second thigh. No wonder so many Afghan can’t run or jump properly any more.

              Conversely, the standards for the Russian Aboriginal Afghan, the Taigan, the Khalag Tazi, and the Bakhmull all call for longer metatarsals and/or a more open angle.

              I’m not sure if people just don’t spend enough time watching their dogs do stuff other than trot in a circle, or what. It’s painfully obvious to me that my dogs with the most exaggerated trotting movement and longest rears are the worst at running and jumping.


              • on January 5, 2011 at 1:33 am Pai

                Just recently I’d been trying to figure out the purpose of the requirement for ‘well let down hocks’ in many breeds, and the only real reason I could find was that the original dog standard drafters copied many of their concepts of sound structure from horse standards.


    • on January 4, 2011 at 9:04 am retrieverman

      Thanks for passing that along.

      I saw tons of paintings and other depictions of Barenbeissers in Munich. Some of them were hunting brown bears.

      The best way I can describe them is something like a larger pit bull-type with cropped ears and somewhat longer, thicker hair.

      They had very long tails, just like my “golden boxer.”


  3. on January 4, 2011 at 11:31 am Hoyden

    Some day, I will get to that museum.

    The stuffed dog does indeed look like a pit bull.

    It never ceases to amaze me how man manages to ruin so many dog breeds in his quest for the “perfect dog”


  4. on May 16, 2011 at 6:23 pm boxerman

    Yes the original Boxer standard stated that the Boxer should be 17 inches to 22 inches at the shoulder.

    the modern standard now states it is between 21 and 25 inches at the shoulder and many exceed this!

    The original Boxer was the result of crossing various bulldogs from across europe, bred from the smaller more agile types.
    The pit bull is also a decendent of the original bulldog so its not really surprising that the stuffed dog resembles a pit bull or a pit bull resembles an early Boxer.
    both these dogs were bred for one purpose alone and that was performance.

    In my opinion larger does not mean better, in fact large dogs are usually slow and cumbersome and its extremely difficult to breed a large dog thats also agile, a few breeds like american bulldogs and rotties come to mind which are extremely agile for their size and weight along with a few others breeds too but even with these dogs the smaller dogs among them are faster and more agile.
    Dogs over 90 pounds and over 25 inches at shoulder cannot out perform the smaller dogs.

    the english bullmastiff was originally 90 pounds and under, it was capable of running and jumping 5 bar gates and bringing down poachers who fought for their lives, now they are 120 pounds plus and cant run and a 5 bar gate would stop them dead in their tracks .

    Sometimes our eyes decieve, large dogs are physically imposing but when it comes to performance, agility and stamina smaller dogs rule.

    The early breeders new this !


  5. on March 25, 2012 at 11:03 pm Kathy

    Then and now: BYB boxers do not have that svelte look, but they all have the boxer expression. I believe the essence of “boxer” is playfulness and the use of front paws. They execute a moving play bow. They also “wag” their whole bodies in a “U” shape and move crabwise. I’ve never seen a pit bull act that way. Am I correct?



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