The BU Editorial

Virginia Zurflieh, editor

Welcome to the New, Improved ABC!

With the passage by two-thirds of the ABC membership of a revised standard that addresses the evolution of the American boxer while at the same time paying tribute to breed history and tradition, the ABC has entered the 21^st Century. With the passage of an amendment to the Code of Ethics that allows ABC members and member-club members to provide AKC Limited Registration (after spay/neuter) for white puppies and also to recover direct veterinary expenses for white puppies, the ABC has embraced the 21^st Century! Read the text of these revisions in this issue of the BU, and compare the "new, improved" standard to the soon-to-be-old one.

For your favorite boxer fancier, check out the ABCF’s latest offerings – a limited edition print of "Boxer Puppies at Play," plus the first in a new series of bronze boxer sculptures from Dannyquest Designs of California. You’ll want to add yourself to Santa’s wish list for these two fabulous boxer collectibles, too.

The Night before Christmas…Florida-style! And after being pummeled by Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne, is it any wonder that we Floridians are still talking and writing about the 2004 hurricane season at Christmastime?

Pat and I started the Boxer Underground in August of 1998. Shortly thereafter, we began offering free "ads" in a section of the BU devoted to dogs whose owners had tested them for four of the main health problems confronting our breed: BCM; SAS; HD; and hypothyroidism.

Now the BU is six years older, and some of the dogs and bitches that graced the BU Health Tested Boxers Page at its inception are still with us only in spirit and in the pedigrees of their descendents. Because the BU has become one of the websites – along with the OFA and the UK Heart List (www.boxerunderground.com/uk) – on which a health-tested boxer’s information is available to breed fanciers the world over, the owners of some of the boxers that have passed on in the past six years have asked that we retain their dogs’ test records on our health page. We are delighted to do so, and hope that as our health database grows, these records will continue to be of use to the boxer breeders of the future.

Pat and I do not and cannot "guarantee" the health status of the BU Health Tested Boxers; we do require that the owners of BU Health Tested Boxers update their dogs’ health information every two years with a new thyroid clearance and another Holter test, and provide us with a hard copy of the test results. The thyroid test results must be within the normal range; the only requirement for the Holter test is that you publish the results of your boxer’s most recent test. If you have not done a thyroid or Holter test on your advertised dog in the last two years, please do so right away. To the owners who have provided updated test results: Many thanks! J

As always, please send your comments, compliments and complaints to Vzboxers@aol.com.