boxer lips

[flava]

Why do some boxers have a more pronounced lip hang than other's?

 

[LILYLARUE]

Cause they just do. LOL My girls lips are hardly floppy at all. But my boxer mix's flaps about all the time. I happen to love floppy lips. The floppier the better!

 

[Caney Creek]

Genetics. Plain and simple

There is a certain "floppiness" that boxer jowls are supposed to have, but as we know nobody's perfect and dogs are no exception. So some boxers have overly floppy jowls, and some are not quite as floppy.

 

[Kilby'sMum]

Kilby has great droopy 'chops' and Kona's are pretty good now too but she didn't really have much droop until about 12-18mths.

 

[gmacleod]

It comes down to breeding. Just as some dogs have overly long noses or other departures from the breed standard, some others have insufficient jowls (and occassionally, excessive jowls).

Breeding isn't an exact science - sometimes you don't get what you're aiming for. And of course, some people are just breeding indiscriminately (usually their pets, without regard for whether they're accurate enough representatives of the breed to be used for breeding, or whether the pair are a good match, etc). In the latter case, it doesn't take long for the distinctive look of a boxer to start to disappear, usually beginning with the head (jowls included).

If you are interested in what is correct (as well as why there are differences), you may find this page interesting - particularly the "Munich silhouette" which gives a good indication of how much jowl a boxer should have: The Head