How much underbite is to much.

[elbykitty]

Hello.. Oscar has always had a underbite but it appears to be more prominent in the last few weeks. I thought he was stung by a bee because his bottom lip was protruding so much. It is so cute it looks like he is always pouting. When I got him to sit long enough I looked at his teeth and it looks like about a 1/4 inch gap between the top and bottom teeth. Both of his parents had pretty prominent underbites and we saw picture of all his grandparents and they all had pretty obvoius underbites. His jowls are getting droppyier by the day. I just hope this is not going to cause any problems with eating later. This is my first boxer so i don't know if this will cause problems later. To be honest until I came to this website I was pretty ignorant about the breed, I just knew I wanted one.
Elbykitty
mom of Lilly 3 year old hound
mom of Oscar 19 week old boxer

 

[abbey_eisma]

Underbite

Duchess's underbite is quite large too. Her teeth dont stick out like many others but i can fit my finger in between her bottom and top teeth. It hasnt stopped her from eating a normal diet and it just adds to her cuteness

 

[gmacleod]

When I got him to sit long enough I looked at his teeth and it looks like about a 1/4 inch gap between the top and bottom teeth. Both of his parents had pretty prominent underbites and we saw picture of all his grandparents and they all had pretty obvoius underbites. His jowls are getting droppyier by the day.

Sounds perfect, actually A boxer is supposed to be undershot, and it is supposed to have a prominant chin. With that said, you wouldn't want to see too much more underbite than that - a boxer doesn't have a bulldog bite.

Since he's only a young puppy, it's a bit difficult to say how he will grow up - so you're just going to have to wait and see. But the bottom teeth should exceed the upper ones by a 1/4 inch or so. As long as his jaw is straight and his tongue does not protrude, then he's probably headed for a fairly nice muzzle set.

 

[Kerry Jane]

I have heard that one should be able to fit a pencil between the lower and upper teeth - and that it about the right gap for there to be - anything less is too tight a bite.

 

[ericaese]

underbiter

Grace is 5 months old. I hadn't thought anything of her underbite untill today when I took her to the vet and he was like "uh oh she's got quite an underbite, we're going to have to watch that it could be problems." I replied to him that I thought boxers were supposed to have an underbite and he said well they're not really suppossed to, and that she had quite a deviation. Her underbite is about 1/4"-1/2" right now. I know what the standard says but I didn't feel like discussing it with this guy. He's probably not very familiar with boxers. But nobody likes to hear anything bad about their dog, especially if they're planning on showing them like me. I'm just glad I have this website to set my mind at ease from time to time!!

 

[JulieM]

Vets drive me crazy sometimes. :rolleyes:

However, for the sake of his other Boxer patients whose owners might not know they truly are supposed to be undershot, I suggest giving this guy a copy of the breed standard - with the section on bite highlighted.

"Too much" underbite is basically so much that the teeth or tongue show when the mouth is closed.

 

[elbykitty]

I really appreciate all your responses. Before coming to BW I didn't have much knowledge of the boxer breed. I am glad that he is normal. I find it absolutely adorable. Now he does sleep sometimes with his tongue out. The first time he did that it freaked out my boyfriend. "Oh no, whats wrong with him."..LOL
Elbykitty

 

[gmacleod]

If it interests you, this site has some good pictures of a boxer skull. It's pretty obvious from those sorts of pictures exactly how the boxer is undershot

http://www.skullsite.co.uk/Boxer/boxer.htm

 

[NuBoxer Fan]

I don't know about anyone else, but it was really weird to look at Boxer skulls. I just kept imagining Zuzu's face above all that bone. No wonder her head hurts so much when she hits me with it!!! By the way, thanks for the info on the underbite. There are three vets in our practice, and one of them told me that she had a big underbite which was not necessarily good. I decided to try to avoid making appointments with that vet, as it was apparent to me that knowledge of the boxer breed was not very extensive. The vet we see most often had boxers growing up and treats his mother's ELEVEN year old baby!!!