Is this just a normal Boxer trait?

[Cami]

I have been sitting here reading some of the posts to my hubby and he wanted me to post about something that Cami does all the time.
She forever has her tongue sticking out. She will walk around with her tongue out, she sleeps with her tongue out, she plays with her tongue out etc....the majority of her pictures involve her tongue sticking out.
She can even have her bottom teeth sticking out (we call this her smiley face) but it also can involve her tongue sticking out! So we end up with teeth and a scrunched up tongue....there is just not enough room on one face for teeth, muzzle and tongue!
It is absolutely adorable...especially if it gets stuck to a blanket when she is asleep. The only way to get her to suck it back in her mouth is to pull on it, (gently of course). It is always dry.

Just curious,
Susi & Cami

 

[VTbxrFan]

Not an expert...but this is what I THINK is the explanation...it is normal for the lower jaw to extend further than the upper jaw in boxers, but in some boxers, the lower jaw sticks out even farther than it is supposed to. This is when you will see the lower teeth stick out and/or the tip of the tongue. 2 of the 4 boxers I've had did this, including my current rescue boy. So while it's not "normal" for a boxer with the correct mouth, it's not that uncommon either.

 

[Cami]

Guess I didn't explain good enough. She actually "sticks" her tongue out. It doesn't just hang out due to an "over" extended bottom jaw.
She does this to get attention when we say "where's your tongue?" BUT she particularilly likes to stick it out while sleeping and the deeper the sleep the farther out the tongue comes.
When she licks her face after eating it seems as if she forgets to put the tongue back in her mouth or when she yawns etc....she has her mouth closed after but here comes the tongue, like if a human were to stick out their tongue....closed lips, just tongue.
Whatever the reason, it's cute.

Susi & Cami

 

[BooBoo & Riley]

our puppy Couage likes to do that with her tongue too... it is very cute, but she doesn't do it to the extent of your Cami... I sometimes wonder if there is relationship between how big the tongue is and how often it hangs out. We joke that ours hang out their tongues because it is too much trouble to keep it all in their mouths!

 

[Cindy Creel]

Samson sticks his tongue out when he sleeps. It is too cute.

Cindy

 

[ZsaZsa&Eva]

The dog with the biggest tongue in the world is now a boxer. He holds the record at the moment. ZsaZsa's tongue is very long. I think it is so cute when her tongue and bottom teeth show. Her daddy actually picked her because of this!
Monica

 

[jray]

Oskar's toungue is never out except when he's playing. maybe her toungue has grown faster than her jaw?

Jenny & Oskar

 

[VTbxrFan]

Originally posted by Cami
She can even have her bottom teeth sticking out...

It's this part of your post that makes me think it's bite-related, and because every boxer I've seen that sticks it's tongue out so frequently also has the tooth thing, I think it's all bite-related (also the fact that it's so common while sleeping, so it's not a deliberate action of intentionally sticking it out). It's not they can't completely shut their mouth and keep the tongue in, but it does tend to stick out more often. My avatar pick is a rare one of my boy with his tongue in...so you can see I'm not talking about a case where the lower jaw is way over-extended...just slightly enough to cause the lower teeth to sometimes catch the upper lip and the tip of tongue to stick out frequently (but in the many cases I've seen...I'm still talking about the tongue sticking out a bit beyond the lower jaw).

I, too, tend to think it's cute...especially since my first boxer did it, so it always reminds me of her when I see other dogs do it. (I wasn't trying to make it sound like your dog is defective or anything...just offering an explanation. Like I said, two of my four did it...but the two who didn't do it came from show breeders and had really well-shaped heads and mouths...so that still leaves me thinking there is a physical basis for it, not just behavior.)

 

[Tiredog]

Hobbes will do that from time to again. Its usually when he is sleeping though. When he is awake and playing aroung hell have his bottom teeth sticking out like cami. We call that his "snaggletooth" face!

 

[Ozzie]

Ozzie does that, too. And I think VTbxrFn pegged it with the explanation of the bite.

A more-pronounced underbite will definitely result in some loose tonque activity. I think that's an anatomical thing, not something they like and/or choose to do.

Then again, I could be wrong....

Bob.