Many congrats Emma. :)

Hope you have oodles of fun with your new Boxer pup when he comes home :)

I have a friend who has a rescue brindle and white Boxer bitch who is deaf due to ear infections
that were left untreated etc. She has behavioural issues which are being addressed but it's
a lot of hard work.
Also another friend who has a deaf white Boxer called Benji and he competed in agility with him and did win a few clear round
rosettes (which I couldn't do with my hearing Boxers :D)
Benji now lives in Australia along with his human family and other Boxers.

Well he is already booked in for training.lol.

He is quite chunky compaired to the other 7, but very laid back. He is pure white with a little black nose. He is also happy to sleep in the corner by himself instead of within the group.

Feel quite nervous now.

Congrats...aww puppy breath.  *sigh*

Congrats

Thank you

Awwww congratulation Emma, I'm really pleased for you.  It's going to be a long three weeks!  :)

Forgot to say earlier on Emma that for some reason  I believe that tends to be what happens with white boxers. They tend to be stronger and bigger puppies. Maybe some of the boxer breeders knows why but I remember this information quite well from years ago. I believe although it is less common now it was another factor in the culling of white boxers as they were so strong they pushed the others off so if the litter was on the big side the whites would be culled not just because of the colour but because of the strength.

Maybe someone will know if when they are mature that is still the case that the tend to be a bit stronger.

Also optically a white pup will look bigger than a dark one.

Congratulations Emma!

Have you checked that the parents have been heart-tested?  That is most important. 

Sorry if this has already been asked in the maze of replies to this post - just flicked on the site while at work and am very busy!!

Yep! mums 0 and dad is1.

Hi Mr. Spock

Not sure if you're replying to my post but if you are, there is more info on colour related deafness and references to the published work at the bottom of the page, here  -

http://www.steynmere.com/DALM_DEAFNESS3.html

Julie

Yes Julie and thank you for the article although it's not very clear that it's discussing anything other than deafness in Dals.  Do you have information regarding patches and deafness specific to the Boxer breed?  In no book that I've read have I ever seen anything that related to 2 and I'd be very interested to learn about it.

Of the 25% born, approximately 18% of white Boxers are born deaf. The reason for the deafness is the absence of pigmentation in the inner ear which results in a loss of sensory hair cells at around 7 weeks of age.  <-- is the information that I have.

These three articles might help.

Colour related deafness isn't breed specific or even species specific (cats, mice, humans etc also suffer) but related purely to loss of pigment and any of the genes which result in loss of piment can cause it.  In Boxers it happens to be sw extreme white allele.

The problem with Boxers is that the gene pool appears not to have the piebald (sp) allele so in order to get the desired flashy markings sw has to be paired with si (irish markings).  So mating two flashies together, there is a 25% chance of getting sw sw extreme white.

I don't know if there is any research specific to Boxers but I wouldn't expect it to show anything different to the Dalmatian data.  Dalmatians have been the subject of most research because they have the highest incidence of deafness as they actively select for reduced pigment by culling patched dogs from the gene pool.   All Dals are sw sw whether they are patched or not.

Julie

Have you checked that the parents have been heart-tested?  That is most important. 

Sorry if this has already been asked in the maze of replies to this post - just flicked on the site while at work and am very busy!