Howdy from Gainesville, Florida.

[Wicked Willi]

I'm Bill Peel, otherwise known as Wicked Willie (ran out of space when registering.) I rescued Charlie (a true black boxer) two years ago. I was raised with a brindle and always thought they were great dogs. BW has already become a great resource for me.

 

[sgbtab]

hi bill. there are no black boxers

 

[courtney323]

Hi Wicked Willi -

Welcome to Boxerworld. It's great to have you on board

Please keep in mind that there is no such thing as a "black" Boxer -- it is genetically impossible

In addition, please read the RULES, as there are certain things which cannot be discussed on this site. Specifically,

"Black boxer" threads are not allowed: there are no black boxers because it is a genetic impossibility to have a pure bred black boxer. If you "see" one it is likely a cross breed or a "reverse brindle".

 

[gmacleod]

Hi Bill, welcome to Boxerworld

I just saw your pic of Charlie. He looks like a very cute boy. Does he have any brindling on him anywhere at all? It's hard to tell from a picture. Just had to ask, since it's genetically impossible to have a purebred black boxer (solid black does not exist in the boxer gene pool). Wasn't sure whether to leave him in the brindle category or if we needed to shift him to other pets.

Either way, he looks very cute And very glad to have been rescued by you too.

 

[Wicked Willi]

As far as I can tell, there is no brindling at all in his coat. He does have a white patch on his chest and a few white hairs on a few of his toes. He "might" not be a purebred, since he was a rescue and details regarding his pedigree are non-existent. My bride checked out his measurements against the standard...he appears to be all boxer. His attitude is all boxer, for sure!

I did have the good fortune to meet the animal control officer that brought him in. She actually remembered him and was quite pleased that I had adopted him.

Wicked

I was unaware of the genetic impossibility of a black boxer...I've read a short history of the black boxer on another site. More information, please!

 

[gmacleod]

Well, quite simply the gene that is responsible for black coat colour does not exist within the purebred boxer gene pool. Since I believe it is a dominant gene, it would be quite obvious if it did. A black boxer is rather like a harlequin rottweiler - the gene responsible for that colour simply is not within the rottweiler gene pool (unless it got there by crossing with another breed).

The (extremely) brief flirtation boxer breeders in Germany had introducing black colour into boxers around 1900 is well documented, as is the subsequent erradication of that gene from the breed. A simple task with a dominant gene You could take a look at Friederun Stockmann's book "My life with boxers" for more detailed information about that.

More modern good sources of information are Malcolm B Willis' book "Genetics of the Dog" - although it's a while since I read that one, I believe it goes into some detail on the coat colour genetics of the boxer. Clarence C Little is another geneticist who has done some studies of coat colour inheritance in boxers - one of his books is "The Inheritance of Coat Color in Dogs". Those would probably be worth your while looking at. That's what comes to mind immediately anyway.

I have seen one or two website, invariably those of backyard breeders, claiming to have purebred black boxers. They don't. They have mixed breed dogs. I've also seen a few claiming to have "blue" boxers too. Haven't yet seen a harlequin one - but that doesn't mean there isn't some BYB out there claiming to have one and I just haven't yet seen it

On that note though, I'm going to close this thread. The rules here about black boxer threads are quite clear. And the rules are there because such threads invariably become heated, and some unfortunate individuals end up believing such colours exist. There are plenty of old threads in the archives if anyone wishes to revisit the issue. There is also a small amount of information on the genetics of coat colour inheritance (obviously, not including colours not present in the boxer gene pool) at www.boxerworld.com/coat_colour