Three of my five boxers have been white.
No they are not albino - they just have a little "extra flash".
They are technically disqualified from showing in the USA - but that makes them wonderful pets for those of us who don't show.
They can be prone to sunburn on their white skin patches - so it is preferable to have dark skin around the eyes, nose and/or lips... but not essential. From everything I understand, they are no different medically from any other boxer when it comes to allergies, or cancer, etc. They are just a different color.
EXCEPT for the deafness issue. 17% of white boxers (I think that's the number - don't quote me) are born deaf as puppies or become deaf within the first few weeks.
"The cause of the deafness associated with the white colour is the absence of pigment cells in the inner ear resulting in a loss of sensory hair cells at about 6 - 8 weeks of age. The shortage/absence of pigment cells is also the cause of the white coat and unpigmented third eyelids (haw). Generally speaking, the more pigment in the coat the lower will be the risk of deafness, but all predominantly white dogs are at risk of being deaf."
This is a quote from I picked up from someone who did a paper on dalmatian deafness... he/she goes on to say that not all white dogs, are actually white (some terriers etc, so they don't all have the white deafness issue). I can't remember where I found this quote. Sorry. But you can find a bunch of stuff by googling "white deaf boxer". I thought the genetics reasoning interesting. I'm no genetic specialist by any means so I can't verify. But apparently white cats with blue eyes have an 80% chance of being deaf too. It's generally referred to by us laymen, as the white deaf gene and many all white animals suffer from it.
That being said, deafness is not something that prevents a dog from enjoying it's life or being a great pet. You just need to adjust your training a little. Using hand signals, and sometimes the vibration from stomping on the floor will get their attention from a distance. I've never actually had a deaf boxer. But I'm sure one of these days, I probably will.
I've never heard any link with blindness.
FYI: It is normal for them to have some, or lots of dark spots under their white coat - so no need to worry about that.
