How to Select a Boxer

Video Transcript

"Let's talk now about how to select a boxer. When you consider a specific breed of dog you should take into consideration not just how they look, and boxers tend to be between fifty to eighty pounds with males being a little bit heavier with a short coat that's fairly easy to groom but makes them less heat and cold tolerant, but also their energy level. And boxers tend to have a lot of energy, so you would need to give them lots of room to run, lots of things to do to help them expend that energy so that they don't become bored. When you're seeking out a dog you want to make sure that you find a dog who's not only healthy, but also has a good temperament, and is a good fit for your life now and in the future; hoping that your dog will be with you for ten or fifteen years which is quite a commitment. Boxers in particular are one breed where cropping of the ears and docking of the tail is a fairly normal practice in the U.S. These practices have been banned actually in Europe, because they don't, they aren't considered to actually benefit the dog in any way. In fact, they can be very painful, and cropping of the ears can take a long time to heal and affect the dog's ability to hear, so you want to take into consideration that a dog without cropped ears, and maybe without even a docked tail is still a wonderful example of the breed, and would have all of the same characteristics that make the make the boxer so wonderful."