AKC Gazette October 2004

Excuses Excuses

Very few of us acquired our first Boxer because he was short haired or medium sized; no one cared that he could run down a wild boar in a forest or hold a bear at bay. What captivated us was his zest for life and the joy with which he embraced each new day. What we loved was his ever wagging tail and the toys he carried around, always eager for a game. The essence of the Boxer is his happy, unbridled enthusiasm. This is what undoubtedly attracted many of us to the breed in the first place—not just his clean good looks, but his stable, bold character. Lose that, and we have lost the Boxer’s quintessential being.

In May of this year it was my privilege to judge bitches and specials at the American Boxer Club national. Unfortunately, it was also my obligation to excuse 3 bitches who refused to stand for examination. As I did not watch the dogs or futurity judging, I cannot speak for those entrants, but it was worrisome to me in the extreme that so many boxers appeared temperamentally unstable in my ring.

“Only” 3 out of so many, you might ask? But there were so many more who were unhappy to be there. These were Boxers who were uncomfortable in the extreme, whose eyes constantly shifted about, looking for danger signals, whose tails were at half mast or down altogether as they gaited. I suspect that many of these animals had been socially schooled to the max—because they were shy, they were exposed to the show scene at an early age, walked around shopping malls, made to stand for the pats of strangers. I submit to you that no stable boxer ever needed that routine—not unless they were raised by a troll in a basement and didn’t see the light of day for many months. Hardly any dogs fit that category.

Shyness is as hereditary as a roached back or a light eye. It does not deserve to be bred nor shown. Just because a chair fell over at ringside the first time your puppy went to a match is no excuse for a lifetime of cowering. It is high time that breeders and judges alike stepped up and said “no more.” No more purple ribbons; no more progeny from these animals. There are Specials in the Boxer ring today who are not temperamentally stable—I had my hands on some of them. You will hardly ever see an aggressive and mean boxer in a show ring, but there are a plentitude of shy ones.

Please—no more excuses.

Stephanie Abraham
P. O. Box 346
Scotland, CT 06264