Would a Boxer be a Good Dog Choice?

[Rich_Charlotte]

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Hello all, I have been on here recently with lots of questions with regards to getting a dog for the first time! However I have been reading labs can be quite smelly? Obviously most dogs will have an odour but I've read they smell! I also like the look of a boxer so thinking this might be my choice of a new pup! Any advice or recommendations for boxer litters! Regards

 

[hanneroon]

teehee! labs can be a bit stinky, think its the oils in their waterproofing! boxers probably shed a bit less hair too, good luck!

 

[Rocky Rescue]

Will you be buying from a recommeded breeder or getting from a rescue centre ?

Have a look around your local park and get to meet as many different breeds as you can. Dont be afraid to ask the owners any questions about the dogs.

 

[bunny]

Hello all, I have been on here recently with lots of questions with regards to getting a dog for the first time! However I have been reading labs can be quite smelly? Obviously most dogs will have an odour but I've read they smell! I also like the look of a boxer so thinking this might be my choice of a new pup! Any advice or recommendations for boxer litters! Regards

hi, ive had boxers and they make lovely pets good with children and people, however they do have a problem with other dogs, not all but be aware of this especially if you get a rescued one, but labs have a great temperament mine wasn't smelly and loved everyone and dogs

 

[eingana]

Boxers are pretty loopy beasties who are great at playing and not so great at being sensible (at least most of them are).

There are significant differences in temperament between boxers and labs though- can you tell me why the jump from a lab to a boxer? It is on looks? If it's on looks then please tell me you're researching the breeds and the breed characteristics and needs too.

Doggy odour is a very minor reason to choose a different breed, particularly a different breed from a completely different behaviour group.

Labs are primarily gun dogs. They are bred to be really high energy, to follow direction even from a distance and to retrieve. Boxers are Molossers which were originally bred to guard.

Labs are known the world over as being compliant with training and being clever enough to know what to do and when, and whilst there are some boxers in army and police training, the breed is also known for being headstrong, hard to train and resistant to suggestion.

What does 'your dog' feel like, in your head?

I was able to describe 'my dog' so well to assorted trainers, rescues and breeders that they all told me I wanted a GSD, not the staffy crosses that they had in their centre. After the first half a dozen told me the same I started to listen and they were indeed correct.

I described my dog as:

Somewhere between spaniel and lab sized, female (I now know that particularly with GSDs, the characteristics I was looking for are more likely to happen with a boy), personally responsive and definitely mine rather than belonging to everybody in the street, clever enough to have that little light behind her eyes so she understands me and will know what I want her to do and to obey a wide range of instructions, able to know what to do in lots of different social settings, who could be friendly with family, children and the cats but will still look after me and who will have good enough recall and lead training to know where to walk without a lead if necessary.

What does 'your dog' do with you? How does s/he fit into your life?

 

[banana]

Its an exciting time choosing the best breed for you and your home! :

Well done for being so thorough!!

 

[lurcherman]

one thing id like to say is dont overlook the common mongrel, rock hard, loyal, plenty of energy, last for ever.

 

[TTT]

Any boxers I have come across over the years have been high energy, boisterous and don't forget the 'slobbery chops'.

 

[leethomas1988]

boxers are pretty goods dogs. very fun, friendly and loyal however my uncle got one and it get green discharge from the penis all over the walls, carpets, almost every were he shakes himself and vet says it natuaral for boxers and dobers ect

 

[Rich_Charlotte]

First of all thanks is for all the comments!

"Me and my partners dog"

My dog would be medium to large dog, which loves the outdoors going on long walks, playing fetch, etc loves being outdoors, is friendly with all people old and young! Listens to me when I call it and knows to behave when let off lead! When at home not to 'crazy' ie barking all time! Want it to settle down at home! Be loyal and loving! But also look handsome and proud!! I look forward to hearing people's thoughts

*thanks*

 

[hanneroon]

leethomas1988; that made me laugh, how gross! I googled it and you are right, there are loads of boxer owners out there, saying the same thing, apparently it is normal!!! how utterly rank!

Now rich_charlotte, what do you think of that?! Better a possibly smelly lab than a green disharge on the walls eh?

Did you look up english pointers yet? I reckon, if you are getting a dog, because you want to be outdoors with it a lot, and are prepared to exercise it and train it, then some of your points would fit a few breeds, and would be down to you rather than breed type. As eingana said boxers and labs belong to different groups, so if you're after a very fit breed for huge walks rather than a guard dog, maybe a working dog type might be better?

If you want something to fetch a ball DO NOT get a whippet! Smaller dogs or terriers tend to be a bit barkier and crazier around the house, than big ones, but lets face it, they can all be crazy and or bark! There is a guy on here who got a ridgeback puppy a couple of weeks ago, and it seems to be very chilled in the house. No idea of the other breed characteristics, (apart from lion chasing), but they are pretty hansome!

 

[eingana]

What you need to understand is that apart from the physical characteristics you're looking for, almost everything on your list is the sort of thing that you'll teach your dog to do anyway. Listening to you when you call and knowing how to behave in any social setting are two key things that you have to teach your dog, no matter what breed you get.

All dogs are likely to bark at least sometimes in the house (apart from Basenjis, who yodel and sing instead) and you can train even the most barky dog how to bark less or at least to stop barking on command. Molly is a GSD, so at the very seriously barky end of the spectrum and she's a barometer for what is going on outside. Guests never get as far as knocking the front door because she's usually told me they're there before they've opened the gate, and she uses a different level of bark for the people she knows to those who are strangers, and a completely different level of volume too.

One of the key things in your list is likely to be that you would like a dog that is relatively calm in the house. That would rule out whole ranges of dogs from the start, including pretty much all terriers, most spaniels, border collies and if you'd seen a bouncing boxer bouncing inside a house then that would probably lead you to think twice about a boxer too (and I wouldn't be too keen on the green discharge either!). Sighthounds tend to be good couch potatoes, but then they may also be a breed that doesn't want to go on a big long walk and they aren't known for their ability off lead, or in retrieving either.

Because of these things, and on the understanding that you really will want to take your dog out for lots of long walks including when it's raining, I'd suggest that you look at some of the larger gun dogs. Springer spaniels are the Duracell bunnies of the dog world, so if you aren't up for a 10 mile walk followed by a long play in the garden every day, then a springer probably isn't for you, but there are lots of potential suitable gun dogs.

The retriever group is really quite large, including not just labs and golden retrievers, but flat coat and curly coat retrievers, Chesapeake Bay retrievers and the fabulously named Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (no idea why they're different to other retrievers, but the name is great). Then there's other sorts of gun dogs, including pointers (half a dozen different varieties), setters including the lovely temperament of the English Setter and a few other breeds (caution- red setters are lovely but tend to make boxes of frogs look sensible) and various water dogs, standard poodles, viszlas and weimaraners.

I'm not a specialist in any of these breeds, but the general brief of dogs that are friendly with people rather than guarding and that are happy to go on long walks and embrace the countryside would lead me to look at this sort of dog for your future research.

 

[Rich_Charlotte]

Once again thanks for advice! We've been looking at the dogs mentioned, some look hard to get hold of,and less popular breeds! What are people's thoughts on Dalmatians they are cropping up a lot in our conversations!

 

[TanyaM]

Have to say - our whippet pup loves chasing and retrieving ball. She is up for as much running around as she can get and is fairly chilled in the house (she is a pup though, so still fairly bonkers at times). Her breeder said that whippets will go for as much walking as you want to give them (as long as you build them up to it, of course). Sam is now 5 months old and has only barked 5 times (trying to persuade our elderly cat to play). She has been fairly good on the recall so far, but that really does come down to loads and loads of training - she knows that when I whistle, that means sausage or some other good treat.

I would agree that many of the things on your list are training issues. We wanted a medium sized dog who would be quite chilled about the house (eventually), who was good with kids and calm and gentle (I know this has a lot to do with training, but some breeds weren't really suitable), was not too high energy but would be happy with decent off lead walks, was not too high maintenance re grooming, and was a reasonably good choice for novice dog owners. We went to the library and got out about 4 books on different dog breeds (ie books with loads of different breeds in them), then I went through them and sat and marked up yes and nos re our requirements from all the books. We had never considered a whippet, but the breed just kept on coming up. We decided on a puppy, rather than a rescue as we have two kids - one of whom is now nearly 4yrs and the other 7yrs - and we wanted to give the dog the best chance of becoming used to being cuddled and loud high pitched noises and running children, etc. We really didn't want to get a rescue dog and then find that it was distressed by the kids.

It's fun thinking about all the decisions, but now is the time to research, research, research - oh and start reading up about training.

Tanya

 

[hanneroon]

ok, to be fair to whippets and dude (my dog), he's never showed any interest in toys from when i got him aged 6, he will chase a thrown thing about 1 in 10 times, if he is already excited and it has some value to him, like one of his chewing sticks, but a retrieve?? Never. If you throw something when he isn't excited he just looks offended. I've tried a lure on a lunge whip, pigs ear in a sock, balls, frisbee, i get nothing!

Playing with his puppy friend (who is now 18months), and a bit of mutual jealousy has caused him to be a bit more interested, and just yesterday i heard a ball being dropped behind me and turned round to find dude there. This happened TWICE!!! I was so proud, . I later caught him very gently stealing the ball from the puppies mouth!!!! and when i tested him and threw it, he did chase it, pick it up, and drop it slighly closer to me than it was. Result! He only did this the once though. I kind of thought it was a sighthound thing, not chasing balls, but i have to concede they were bred to chase and bring rabbits back, so you'd think they'd like it. I figure he just never came across one before, he'd never seen a rabbit either!

I have caught him picking up a ball before and giving it a really pathetic shake, with a little jump around, and then drop it as if he can't see what the fuss is about...

 

[eingana]

Once again thanks for advice! We've been looking at the dogs mentioned, some look hard to get hold of,and less popular breeds! What are people's thoughts on Dalmatians they are cropping up a lot in our conversations!

Dallies are lovely dogs but by breeding they are a lot more resistant to training than most of the gun dogs and retrievers, and they are bred as carriage dogs, which means that they can rival border collies and springers in terms of energy, since they're bred to run alongside a carriage all day. They're also inveterate food thieves (but then again, so are labs!) and you need to be aware that if you have a dally that's not in a friendly mood you can have a major problem with assorted children throwing themselves around the dog's neck because 'all dallies are friendly' after the films.

Quite a high proportion of dallies are also deaf from birth- it's to do with the genes for the white coat- in either one or both ears, so you need to be aware of that before you look into the breed. All pups should be tested for deafness before leaving their breeder.

ok, to be fair to whippets and dude (my dog), he's never showed any interest in toys from when i got him aged 6, he will chase a thrown thing about 1 in 10 times, if he is already excited and it has some value to him, like one of his chewing sticks, but a retrieve?? Never. If you throw something when he isn't excited he just looks offended. I've tried a lure on a lunge whip, pigs ear in a sock, balls, frisbee, i get nothing!

Playing with his puppy friend (who is now 18months), and a bit of mutual jealousy has caused him to be a bit more interested, and just yesterday i heard a ball being dropped behind me and turned round to find dude there. This happened TWICE!!! I was so proud, . I later caught him very gently stealing the ball from the puppies mouth!!!! and when i tested him and threw it, he did chase it, pick it up, and drop it slighly closer to me than it was. Result! He only did this the once though. I kind of thought it was a sighthound thing, not chasing balls, but i have to concede they were bred to chase and bring rabbits back, so you'd think they'd like it. I figure he just never came across one before, he'd never seen a rabbit either!

I have caught him picking up a ball before and giving it a really pathetic shake, with a little jump around, and then drop it as if he can't see what the fuss is about...

Maybe it's the fact that he has no chance of catching up with the ball? Molly is certainly a lot more motivated in running after a toy when the toy is a frisbee because she desperately wants to be standing underneath it to catch it when it comes down, whereas with a ball she's just running to fetch it and that doesn't interest her half as much.

Have you tried with a frisbee which can be just in front of him as it flies?

 

[TanyaM]

Also, need to add that my comment about whippets were not suggesting that they were ideal for you Rich-Charlotte (sorry, tired, late night posting), just saying that doing good research can really open your eyes to many possibilities. Loving the idea of dude stealing a ball from a puppy, Sam would steal FOOD from a puppy, but not a ball

Tanya

 

[Oreo]

Really interesting thread guys!

It seems most of the 'attributes' your looking at are training related.

What I will say is that just because you go for a certain type based on the breed characteristics, it does not guarantee that the dog you pick will conform to that breed type.

For that reason if you're set on a dog of a certain nature then perhaps a rescue that is in a foster home is the way to go? That way you have a better idea of the type of dog you will have?

Also, have you thought about a crossbreed?

Oreo is a labrador cross (we think with a staffie) and she can be lazy like a lab, or playful like a lab, but she is also very very affectionate like a staffie. She is perfect for us, but that was by luck rather than judgement.

 

[lurcherman]

by the luck of your avatar id defo say staffie mix

also rescues can be hit and miss but lucky also as rio ma brindle has been a joy to own, we only just got him thow by say 5 mins as another couple came for him, felt sory for them but glad for me lol

 

[hanneroon]

ha eingana! You haven't seen me throw, believe me he has every chance of catching it! I tried frisbee too, he just is not bothered. My friend has a samoyed who is always trying to encourage him to play with her soft toys, you should see the look on his face, he just looks alarmed or even annoyed :0

He has in the last little while started to get more interested in the ball, he chased it once today at work, but i think with his failing eyesight its not something he's ever going to perfect. I'll keep encouraging him though, and the other dogs help.