Ok...so my epiphany might only be glorious to myself, but it certainly put all the pieces together regarding the argument for and against "elegance" in the boxer breed.

I spent six whole days [at the ’05 ABC] doing nothing but looking at boxers...boxers of all shapes and sizes, all with different faults and virtues.  I will say that I did not to expect to see so many substantial boxers in the ring.  I expected most, if not all of them, to be very refined animals - light bone and musculature, etc.  I was very happy to see my expectations were not the norm.

So how does this fit into my light bulb moment?  After coming to the ABC and expecting to see mostly see over-refined, over-elegant boxers and being wrong, the whole "elegance" issue was very much on my mind all week and then on the way home...

I was fortunate enough to have been the successful bidder for the only copy of The Boxer by John Wagner that was at the silent auction.  While you'd think I'd had quite enough of boxers for the week, I decided that I should read The Boxer on the plane ride home.

In the book, Mr. Wagner includes the original standard as well as discussion of the original standard, which has many references to the "bulldog type" that was, and continues to be, very undesirable. Here comes the "light bulb moment":

When elegance was first used in the standard to describe the boxer, it was used to compare the boxer to the BULLDOG!!!  Any bulldog type (body, head, bite, etc.) was not desirable and therefore, a fault.  It is truly unfortunate, in my opinion, that the original standard didn't actually say, "more elegant than a bulldog."  That would have ended the argument that continues to go on in North America about how desirable "elegance" is in the boxer breed.  Granted, the bulldog type in question at that time was not the extreme bulldog type that has been developed in more recent years, but it was still a shorter, stockier, squattier dog than was desired in the boxer.

When you consider that the original intention of the word "elegance" was to compare the boxer to a bulldog, the amount of refinement many North American boxers have been bred to is extreme to the max.

So...after reading The Boxer and after viewing all the dogs that were at the ABC this year, I don't feel so bad coming home to my large boned babies, one of which is slightly loaded in her shoulder assembly.  Why the change of attitude?

<wink>  No matter her faults, Tula is no bulldog!  :-)