Recently, I was considering importing another boxer from Bremen, Germany. As I perused some of the German breeder websites, I found one that had pictures of black coated [with white markings] boxers. These dogs are striking in their appearance and are quite expensive. Are they truly “black?”
To answer that question, let’s redirect to a great site that addresses it in detail:
From Newcastle Boxers:
“More and more frequently we have been seeing ads for, getting questions about, and hearing from people who have purchased black Boxers. Sometimes……..
…..this is just a simple misunderstanding – the dogs are actually very heavily striped brindles, which some people call “black brindles” and mistakenly shorten to “black”. All too often, however, the dogs are touted as being solid black (with or without white markings).
The problem with this, of course, is that the Boxer simply does not carry the gene for a black coat color. One would think this would be the end of the discussion, but sadly there are still those who insist they have purebred, pure black Boxers.
Frau Stockmann, widely considered the mother of the breed, discusses these black dogs in her book, My Life With Boxers:
Lore von Eisleben, the granddam of both black Boxer bitches, had been a Bulldog bitch. During an exhibition she came into season and was accidentally bred by a Schnauzer. Even the breeder would not deny that…. I met black Boxers through their originator, Mr. Schachtner. He had bred them well, but knew little about good sportsmanship and stirred up opposition just by his personality. The extinction of black Boxers has to be laid at his feet. “
USABOXlist
Hey there from Germany, well as far as I seen those B&W ´s it realy turned out that they are deep black, with no signs of stripes or brindels. And I can tell you that all 6 B&W Boxer I personaly know are from well known breeders in Germany and are all proudly listed in the books of the BK München.
Sincerly
Kersten Riegel
I have a very fine AKc black male boxer. He has no brindle in him at all. He makes most fawn boxers look like a mixed breed!!
I have a b&w boxer. Two pure breed brindle sisters were breed with a pure breed brindle male. The pups were born a week apart. Between the two girls they had 6 b&w, 2 fawns and 4 brindles. Grew up with boxers and this is the only breed I have ever had. I noticed that Zues is the smallest boxer I have ever had (not sure if this has something to do with b&w). In the sun you can see some brown stripping sometimes but only in the sun. In the house he looks totally black and white.
You seem to contradict yourself. How can something become extinct if it is genetically impossible to have been here in the first place? It is possible to have the black striping completly cover the fawn. You state that yourself. I have a sealed reverse brindle (black) and she is all 100% boxer, and very beautiful. Germany has many “blacks” and lots of them you can see the brindle, but many are all black with white markings.
The line of black Boxers that became extinct is the cross between the Schnauzer and the Bulldog. This is well-documented in Frau Stockmann’s writing. The US breed standard clearly states the fawn coat color *must* be visible through the black striping – and the German breed standard does not even allow close striping or “reverse” brindling, much less a solid black dog.
Of course in every country there are those who ignore the standard, and those who are careless about keeping other dogs from breeding their bitches.
Black is a dominant color, so in order for a puppy to be black, a parent must be black. As well, you cannot get three coat colors from two brindle dogs – a dog can only carry two genes for coat color, and if a brindle produces a fawn you know it is carrying brindle and fawn. There’s no ‘room’ for a black gene in such a dog. It is, however, entirely possible for a litter to have more than one sire.
Kersten, I would be extremely interested in the information you have on “solid black” Boxers listed in the German studbooks. Since the FCI standard states that “Stripes must contrast distinctly to ground colour”, and includes as faults “Stripes (brindling) too close together or too sparse. Sooty ground colour. Mingled colours. Other colours [than fawn or brindle]“, I’m very interested to hear that these obviously major-faulted dogs are listed in the stud book. If the German breeding system is so superior to the US, how can they allow such a thing?