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It was noted recently on the SB-L e-mail list that solid (plain) boxers can have white haws. That’s true enough, but this does not necessarily break the relationship between white haws and white markings.

I think everyone would accept that traditionally solid breeds, such as Labradors, do not have white or unpigmented haws. Neither do such breeds typically have substantial white chest markings, and seldom too do they have white toes. In most solid breeds, such markings are heavily penalised in the show ring.

So Boxer solids, despite the absence of even one copy of the sw allele, tend to be overmarked genetic solids, both for body markings and for third eyelid (haw) pigmentation. Why?

I suggest that in our flashy dogs we have selected for, or at least have accepted, extensive levels of white -- right up the legs, white collars, lots of white on the face, etc. In other words, we almost select for "modifiers" for high expression of white/low numbers of pigment cells. Such modification will also affect the amount of pigmentation in our solids so that they will be more likely to have white -- always on the chest, commonly on the toes, and not uncommonly in the eyes.

From UK Boxer breeding I see ample evidence that the extent of white markings responds readily to selection, whether up to give more white in flashies, or down to give limited amounts of white in flashies. And it is equally clear that low flashy LINES have a much lower incidence of unpigmented haws than highly flashy LINES, in the flashy dogs, and surely also in the solids (which one rarely sees), and obviously with exceptions.

You can breed/select for pigmented haws with success but to do so you have to consider the levels of flashiness in the flashy breeding stock. This does work; it has worked in the UK over the past 20 years, even if this was not specifically intended.

Dog breeders can breed for anything they want, and succeed. If you look at the "big picture," there are very few surprises. I think that there is sense behind it all. In other words, there is a strong trend toward more flashy, more likely to have white haws -- surely not so strange! It all tends to go together, with plenty of exceptions, of course, at least at the start.