First let's kill any misunderstanding - white is not a color in Boxers. The only color Boxers come in is red. Brindle Boxers are the ones that have stripes over the red background, but they are still essentially red with striping pattern. Boxers can have their whole bodies colored, with only minimum of white on the chest, and these are "solid" Boxers. Boxers can have white markings on their legs, muzzles, necks and bellies, and these are "flashy" Boxers. White Boxers are the ones whose white markings extend over the large area of the body, and that makes them simply "overmarked" rather than "miscolored". The Standard calls any overmarked or "white" Boxers to be disqualified in the conformation show ring. White Boxers are not albinos - albinism exhibits itself in a total lack of pigment in the skin cells. All white Boxers have some spots of pigment on their noses, eyelids and lips, and vast majority of them have patches of color most often found on their heads. Some white Boxers have brown eyes, some have blue, white a true albino eye would appear rather pink as the blood vessels of the eye would show through a totally unpigmented surface of iris.

There are only two genes in the Boxer breed that are responsible for the existence or lack of the white makings."S" gene is a "solid" gene. "Sw" gene is a "flashy" gene. A Boxer that has almost no white markings on his body is called "solid" or "plain" and has "SS" formula. A Boxer that has large areas of white markings on his otherwise colored body is called "flashy" and has "SSw" formula. A Boxer that appears to be white has "SwSw" formula.

Why do many Boxer breeders still get white puppies in their litters even though they do not use white Boxers for breeding purposes? The truth is that eliminating white Boxers from breeding population would not stop the appearance of white puppies! Why? Let's see!

Hi! I am a solid Boxer and I have almost no white. Sometimes I might have a small patch of white on my chest, a pencil mark on my face and some white toes.	Hi! I am a flashy Boxer. I almost always have a white blaze on my face, white chest, white belly, white socks on my legs and sometimes even a white collar!	Hi! I am a white Boxer. I can have a red or brindle ear, a patch over one or both of my eyes, a spot on my back (usually at the base of my tail), but otherwise I am just white!
Solid This is our SS Boxer	Flashy This is our SSw Boxer	White This is our SwSw Boxer

Parents:
SS		SS
Offspring:
SS	SS	SS	SS
When breeding one SS Boxer to another SS Boxer, all the puppies will be SS just like the parents.

Parents:
SS		SSw
Offspring:
SS	SS	SSw	SSw
When breeding SS Boxer to SSw Boxer, 50% of the offspring will be SS, other 50% - SSw.

 

Parents:
SS		SwSw
Offspring:
SSw	SSw	SSw	SSw
When breeding SS Boxer to SwSw Boxer, all the puppies will be SSw

 

Parents:
SSw		SSw
Offspring:
SS	SSw	SSw	SwSw
When breeding two SSw Boxers together, 50% of the litter will be SSw, 25% - SS and 25% - SwSw

 

Parents:
SSw		SwSw
Offspring:
SSw	SSw	SwSw	SwSw
When breeding SSw Boxer to SwSw one, 50% of the puppies will be SSw , other 50% - SwSw

 

Parents:
SwSw		SwSw
Offspring:
SwSw	SwSw	SwSw	SwSw
When breeding two SwSw Boxers to each other, all the litter will be SwSw

 

The conclusions:

I will never produce a white puppy! Breed me to a flashy SSw, and I'll have some flashies and some solids, breed me to another SS, and I'll have just solids, but I will never ever give a white puppy even when bred to a white SwSw!	I am tricky! I can give white puppies easily! Breed me to another flashy SSw, and I almost guarantee you'll see one or two adorable whites! Breed me to SwSw, and there will be some more! Breed me to SS if you want to avoid whites.	I am white, end of story! What I mean is that people say I am not supposed to be bred at all. True, I will give whites when bred to SSw, only whites when bred to another SwSw, but I swear there will be a lovely flashy litter if you breed me to a solid SS!
Solid This is our SS Boxer	Flashy This is our SSw Boxer	White This is our SwSw Boxer