Temperature sensitivity

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palidin

Boxer Pal
I'm in the habit of walking my dogs every night. (I've always had pitbulls up until now) I've read that Boxers don't do well with extreme temperatures. Surely, walking the dog for 30 mins in cold or heat won't be too much, will it?
 

gmacleod

Elusive Moderator
Staff member
It's unlikely to be a problem in the cold (though it could depend how cold), but heat can be a very different matter. My dog (though admitedly he's an extreme example) cannot walk longer than about 15 minutes in the sun if it's warmer than about 20 degrees (celsius). He cannot cool himself, has trouble breathing, and has to sit down. In the cold - well, I've yet to see it get too cold for Henri.

The problem with brachycephalic breeds is that their temperature regulation is extremely inefficient - and that's in a mammal that's already inefficient, whatever the breed. Dogs cool themselves by air only (no sweat glands, except inside the mouth and on the pads of feet) - and in the first instance, that means inside the nasal cavity. Well, a flat-faced breed doesn't have a large nasal cavity, so he's 'handicapped' already compared to longer nosed breeds. The next step in cooling is panting - and an expanding tongue to try to increase the surface area over which cool air can run. In a brachycephalic breed though, that can restrict the airway. And being a deep chested breed, they're usually not especially easy to cool anyway. Sooo - there are a load of factors there conspiring against this breed's ability to keep themselves cool, that don't affect longer nosed and shallower-chested breeds. The end result is a dog that has trouble cooling himself and hence is more vulnerable to heat. You may find that you need to exercise him a bit later on when it's cooler.
 

palidin

Boxer Pal
It's difficult to understand. My pitbulls had all of the same physical characteristics and could seemingly take anything.
 

trc4941

Super Boxer
Our dogs have a heck of a time in the heat. They seem to do ok in the cold, but they're not out for long periods of time. We don't take them for long walks during the day in the summer if it's hot. We try to wait until evening and even then it's sometimes still too hot. We learned our lesson one day when we went for a long walk in the woods and it was about 80 degrees and humid. We had been walking for about a half hour, when Rocky was panting so hard that he had to lay down in the middle of the path. We couldn't budge him. We still had another 1/2 hour to go! So we sat with him for awhile until he could get going again. It was scary. Never again.
 

gmacleod

Elusive Moderator
Staff member
Pitbulls are not a brachycephalic breed ;) Relatively speaking, they have long snouts - meaning they have a much greater nasal cavity and cooling ability. Probably at least double that of a boxer. They also don't have the same sort of deep chest cavity...

Perhaps a skeletal view can help to illustrate the vast differences between brachycephalic and other breeds. Here is a boxer skull - look at the tiny distance the nasal passage covers (20.6mm to be precise, on this individual): http://www.skullsite.co.uk/Boxer/boxer.htm
Compare it to a Chinese Crested (a TOY breed), which has 36.3mm - a tiny little dog like that has a nasal length 50% longer than a boxer: http://www.skullsite.co.uk/Chincr/chincr.htm
A Husky has 83.6mm - 4 times the capacity of a boxer: http://www.skullsite.co.uk/Greenland/greenland.htm

That particular site doesn't have a pit bull skull for you to compare with. Another site that does (but sadly not the detailed measurements) is this one: http://www.skullsunlimited.com/pit-bull-terrier-skull.html It may not disclose the nasal length - but it's enough for you to see clearly that this animal has a nasal length somewhere between a boxer and a husky (closer to the latter than former) - with the end result that his nasal cavity is going to substantially more effective from a cooling perspective. Really, the two breeds simply aren't comparably constructed.
 

winn dixie

Super Boxer
lola has severe chills when the temps drop below 40 degrees,and that happens in alabama winters,so she only goes out for brief potty breaks
 

palidin

Boxer Pal
They also don't have the same sort of deep chest cavity...


Perhaps I'm missing something here about the exact meaning of the term you're using... but deep chest cavity? At least from a laymen's point of view, pitbulls seem to have a deeper chest cavity.
 

palidin

Boxer Pal
BTW: Thanks for the links for the skull images. It makes the differences abundantly clear. My intent isn't to argue every point with you, but rather learn about the breed now that I've made the move from pitbulls to Boxers.
 

gmacleod

Elusive Moderator
Staff member
Depth of chest refers to semi-circumference - top to bottom. If that's not clear, I mean the measurement from the withers round to the bottom of the brisket. A boxer's chest should reach down to his elbows (and it's not a short legged breed). Other deep-chested dogs would include greyhounds or dobermans. Pit Bulls, Staffies and other related breeds have well developed chests indeed - but they're comparitively more broad (wide) than deep. An upside of that is that they're also less prone to bloat than deep and narrow chested breeds ;)

Incidentally, how well your particular dog handles heat is something you're just going to have to find out with time. As said, my guy is probably on the extreme end of heat-intolerance. Someone else above has a boxer that doesn't handle cold (whilst my guy thrives in cold temps). Your dog may do better - or, I guess, worse. Being a boxer, the likelihood is that she won't handle heat as well as your pitbulls did. But it's not certain - just something it's worth being aware of and monitoring.
 
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