THE WHITE BOXER – 2003
Audrey G. Schnell, Pax Boxers
paxinc@hal-pc.org
In 1976 I wrote my first paper on the white Boxer, entitled “What’s wrong with the white Boxer?” At that time members of the
American Boxer Club and members of its member clubs were constrained by the 1980 revision of the ABC Constitution and By-Laws. In that version of the by-laws, Article VI, Discipline, Section 3 read,
“Breeding inimical to the Boxer. The registration with the American Kennel Club, or the sale, or the placement, by any member, of any Boxer with white ground color, or entirely white, or any color other than fawn or brindle, or the registration, placement or sale of a litter by a dog, or out of a bitch, as described as above, shall be cause for forfeiture of membership. White markings are allowed, but must not exceed one third of the ground color.”
This effectively gave us two choices of action when we had white puppies: you could either kill them or keep them all yourself. True, you knew the rules before joining the ABC and nobody begged you to join, but that was the way things were.
It was widely known that white dogs were used in production of our breed and, yes, flash was well liked. Yet otherwise sensible people openly stated that the white Boxer was defective and carried adverse genes. They seemed unable to comprehend that all puppies in a litter carry the same genetic background, and that the manifestation of more white hairs than are allowed in the Boxer show ring does not confer a unique heritage upon the white ones. My paper dwelt on this theme and was regarded by some as heretical.
Since the ABC’s stricture applied to members of member clubs, too, if a club member ignored it, the club and all its members were at risk of losing their ABC membership. We even printed the ABC’s stance on the back of our local club’s membership applications, so that applicants, when they applied to join our club, knew their obligations.
Even at that time and under those stated penalties, there were ABC members (and officers) who found themselves unable to kill their white puppies and who placed them instead.
To give you an idea of the climate, consider the following:
There was a TV commercial showing a white Boxer on a patterned red carpet, advertising these rugs. An ABC member wrote to the firm’s owner, chastising him. That white boxer was the firm owner’s own beloved pet!
A new Boxer magazine was published which was an attractive production with some stimulating articles. The editor printed a picture of a litter containing a white puppy which caused an uproar and killed the magazine.
A prominent member of the ABC vocally espoused the recognition of white Boxers. Members of her local club wrote indignant letters to the ABC, alleging that she had signed to register a white puppy. During a telephone meeting, the ABC Board of Directors arbitrarily took away her ABC membership, despite that the accused member had already proved a co-owner had forged her signature on the registration application! That forfeiture was eventually overturned, but at a huge cost to the ABC and to the wrongly accused member.
In the 1994 revision of ABC’s Constitution & By-Laws, at the American Kennel Club’s urging, that section on discipline was removed from the by-laws and moved to the
American Boxer Club’s Code of
Ethics, in milder form. This remained true in the 2002 revision although the Code itself has not been upgraded since 1994.
About 1993, AKC introduced the concept of limited registration, whereby dogs so declared would be registered but none of their get would be eligible for AKC registration, unless the breeder, later, agreed to change the limited registration to a full one. I thought that that would be a solution, but in a referendum that took place several years ago, ABC members did not accept AKC Limited Registration for white Boxers.
Nonetheless, since then, there has been a steady movement toward our trying that approach again. An interesting side note is that a
white Boxer that scored High in Trial at our National Specialty has an Indefinite Listing Privilege AKC registration number, due to our strictures on registering white Boxers. To get an ILP number, owners have to jump through many hoops. AKC first applies a $25.00 fee, then requires two color photographs of the dog plus a veterinary certification that the dog has been spayed or neutered.
Dedicated owners will do this burdensome procedure, but, should we make it necessary? I think that it’s time for us to update our thinking! Times have changed and, yes, public opinion does have some force. Limited registration would allow white Boxers to compete readily in performance events, and implicitly, their get may not be registered with the
AKC.
Now, as to the defects of the white Boxer: They share the same genetic heritage of all our Boxers and we know, only too well, how heavily they are burdened by those inherited conditions that came from our breed’s earliest days. The white Boxer is at one with all Boxers in that respect; his additional white hairs do not protect him from such problems.
However, the white Boxer has some extra problems. Whites and Checks (those with some colored zones) are more likely to be deaf since their spiral cochleae, organs of the inner ear, sometimes don’t have the pigment granules that are needed for hearing. I’ve often wondered if our more flashy Boxers have an increased incidence of deafness; too. It would be interesting to know. Oddly enough, as the white Boxer ages, more and more dark patches appear, mostly limited to the skin, rather than the hair coat. I’m sure that we’ve noticed this happening in our flashy Boxers, giving a dappled effect to their original pure, white markings.
Those white Boxers which are deaf need special teaching with hand signals and are always at an increased risk of harm.
I’ve had my share of white puppies and I have always culled them. Up until the nineties, I was obliged to, to stay in ABC’s good graces. I’ve never felt good about it, but it resolved the problem and I had the skills and resources. I have continued to do so, as I consider it bad practice to give any Boxer away. Few pet owners have an appreciation for that which costs them nothing. Selling them – even for a token price or a donation to Boxer Rescue – still isn’t permitted by our Code of Ethics, and I’d rather cull them at birth than see them abandoned, desolate, on the highway. Living in the country, we see the results of those who bring their animals to run free or to try to acquire permanent homes. To become roadkill is their kindest fate; starvation is their more common destiny. |
