Your other source option is animal shelters that in US alone receive up to 12 million homeless dogs and cats every year, and about 25% of them are purebred. Paying adoption fee is a lot cheaper than price you will pay to a breeder or pet store, and you will be saving a life.

The definition of good stock or purebred must include beauty, and in a Boxer good look means coat is fawn and brindle, with white markings or "flash" covering not more than one-third of entire coat.

Sometimes distribution of "flash" alone may make difference between a show champion and just a pet Boxer.

The all-white Boxer or "check" is prone to blindness and deafness, and American Boxer Club members are not to register, sell or use "whites" for breeding.

When it comes to choosing male or female Boxers, there are not much clear-cut differences in their personalities.

At times, male is calmer, more tolerant of other dogs, willing to hold still for those hugs than female. But at other times, female can be so. One owner said female Boxer is hyper and more aggressive especially toward other females, and that aggression has increased as female gets older.

Daniel Lesser article url: http://www.thingsfordogs.com/choosing-your-dog.php

The larvae turn into hardy pupae that could survive for months before changing into adult fleas.

Fleas are host to tapeworms. Both problems are likely to occur together in your Boxer and, therefore, treatments are also usually given together by vet.

A bit of garlic a day may keep fleas away from your Boxer.

Heart ailments

-Bradycardia or slow heart rate may be a symptom of thyroid disorder in Boxers.

-Dialated cardiomyopathy constitutes a serious, emergency case.

Your dog may collapse from it or back legs have sudden pain and paralysis.

It is a serious heart condition whereby heart muscle is enlarged and thin walled. Your Boxer will experience shortness of breath, coughing and can't take to exercise.

Another serious heart condition is called cardiac conduction disease that is affecting Boxer's longevity. It was previously known as Boxer cardiomyopathy but new term is used to differentiate it from dilative cardiomyopathy.

Cardiac conduction is difficult to deal with due to 3 factors.

-One is many Boxers will not show any symptom (asymptotic) but will just drop dead suddenly from it.

-The Boxers develop this disease later in life, often after they have been bred.

-There was no good screening method for it until one recently developed by Ohio State University researchers, called 24-hour Holter monitor test.

However, there is still no assurance that Boxers "cleared" now from cardiac conduction disease by Holter test will remain so in future.

Many breeders and Boxer experts are now working to refine test procedures, expand database and come up with a guideline to select only, for breeding purposes, those Boxers with high probability of being free of disease.

There are also concerns elimination of too many dogs from gene pool would be bad for breed diversity and could cause more problems in future. Some opinions hold that extensive culling should only get done after more studies on genetic diversity in Boxers.

Hip dysplasia

This is a bone disorder whereby there is an improper fit of large femur bone with hip socket, causing lots of pain and lameness.

It occurs more in male

Daniel Lesser Dog and Puppy Articles, Pictures and Resources http://www.thingsfordogs.com

Part 1 is available at http://www.thingsfordogs.com/dog-health.php Part 2 is available at http://www.thingsfordogs.com/dog-health2.php