An interesting question, but I would guess that the majority of Boxers are from puppy mills. Our first Boxer, Rocky, came from a pet store where our daughter worked while attending college. He was the product of a puppy mill for sure.
Our two current Boxers came from a reputable breeder.
Chances are that most rescues are the product of puppy mills or byb's, simply because most if not all reputable breeders require those who get one of their pups to return it in the eventuallity they are unable or unwilling to care for it.
I know we did. We have an understanding with the breeder of our two that should something happen to Marcia and I, our older daughter would get "custody" of them.
We cannot give them away, or have them euthanized without first notifying her.
Most backyard breeders and all puppy mills are not interested in what happens to the pups once they leave their custody. The book is closed, and have nothing more to do with the pups.
Having said that, I wonder what the membership of Boxerworld would be if reputable breeders were the only source for the breed. They only produce a small fraction of the Boxers alive today. We would have never known Rocky, or developed such a love for the breed.
It follows that we would never have gotten Indy or Ava, since one of the "requirements" of their breeder is that a person must have either owned or had experience with Boxers.
We'll never be able to know for sure, but I would guess that Boxerworld would be about 1/10th of it's current size, maybe less.
Tom
