I have a white female boxer with dark spots all over her. I was wondering why so many people say that they are so rare and why are they are usually put down at birth? If bread with another normal boxer would the pups be normal?

newt115@hotmail.com
boatgirl13@excite.com

Hi guest it's not so much that they are rare but deafness is associated with white boxers. I had a friend with a white boxer who was deaf he was a lovely dog and responded well to training with hand signals, but it;s not advisable to breed unless you have all the proper tests done.

White Boxers are not rare and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Breeders have excluded them from their breeding program for years in an effort to Breed only coloured, that is why in the past you heard of them being put to sleep at birth though this is still done by a few most of us consider the white puppies are just as much a loving family companion as the coloured and we as their breeder have a responsibility to find loving homes for all the puppies we breed, I usually sell mine for a reduced price with endorsements on their pedigree so they cannot be bred from. I tend to find most go to previous white Boxer owners. I would never purposely breed for the white colour.

Although they can be born deaf it does not happen anywhere near as often as people think (I think the official numbers are 12%) we have only ever had one deaf puppy and found her a very loving home by carefull selection. They can also have skin problems (mine haven't so far). If you breed a litter especially with another white you will increase the risk of the above problems and it would not be fun trying to home a whole litter of deaf puppies. (it may happen).

My advice is please don't undo all the careful work our breeders have done all these years and purposely breed a litter of whites just look at the websites solely for white Boxer rescues, there are enough born already, I'm sure if you had a word with the breeder of your girl she will tell you the same and if reputable would probably be very unhappy if she was bred on from.

The Boxer Breed Council still states (as far as I'm aware) that white puppies should be humanely put down at birth. I believe that more are keeping their white pups but there are those that will still destroy a pup purely for it's colour (this applies to other breeds as well). However, about 10% of white boxers will be deaf, around 6% of normal coloured will be deaf. If you really wanted to breed from your white bitch (subject to proper tests being carried out etc) then you should only mate her to a totally solid coloured (with no white) dog.
Bec