When did boxers get a bad name?

[RVsBoxer]

My problem is that it is hard for me to shrug off any bad or ignorant comments/actions. I just get so frustrated =/ My husband is always telling me I shouldn't because not everyone knows about Boxers, but I can't help it. =/ Just yesterday I was at Petsmart and of course Wilson was all excited and sorta jumping about. This little girl comes out of nowhere and runs up to Wilson. I pulled him back because we are still working on his jumping and I didn't want him to jump up on her and accidentally knock her over. Anyways her mom ran up, grabbed her away and gave me a dirty look and said to her daughter "Not all dogs are like Salem, honey". Grrr that made me so mad!! I not so nicely told her "For your information he's just a typical 5 month old puppy!" and walked away.

Oh well maybe eventually I'll get used to it.

 

[clucania]

Personally, I'd rather pet a strange boxer, than shake most people's hands.

:rolleyes:

 

[vichy]

I agree on the pitbull theory too not to judge pitbulls as they can be fine in the hands of the right person..... I can´t understand why people always have to judge the dog by it´s looks, I look more to the other side of the leash as I think it´s more important who owns or walks the dog.....

 

[Rlr.Giraffe]

Personally, I'd rather pet a strange boxer, than shake most people's hands.

:rolleyes:

Aren't they ALL a little strange??? (sorry.. couldn't resist)..

We have had similar experiences too.. a guy literally grabbed his daughter out of the way of Willis's wiggly body and wagging tongue because he thought Willis was a pit bull. He told this girl that the dog was a "killer". I laughed at first becuase I thought he was joking, and then realized how serious he was and I said "he might lick you to death, but that's about it...most boxers are really friendly". He admitted that he didn't know it was a boxer, and when he saw how friendly Willis was he let his daughter pet him, but he sure looked nervous for a minute!!!

 

[Sirus'Mommy]

I was very upset the other day. I was over at my friend Matt's house and he had another friend over...who knows nothing about everything! :cool: We were talking about dogs, and I mentioned that I have a Boxer (Matt has a Staffie named James Brown, the other love of my life!) And the guy asks, "So he's just like James Brown then?", I said, "No, he's a Boxer...", he cuts me off and says "Same difference, right?!" all sarcastic and cocky! I said, "No, as a matter of fact there is a huge difference! The dogs aren't related in anyway. There breeds have nothing to do with eachother...", and he cuts me off again saying "Yup, same difference!" I just left it at that, blaming stupidity, ignorance, and a severe case of @$$**** syndrome!

 

[Daisys_rjm]

Hardly a day goes by when someome doesn't mistake my beautiful, perfect brindle boxer for a pitbull. I should mention that a woman I work with has two 100% GSD's and she said they are often mistaken for pitbulls as well!

The media in Canada, and I'm quite certain in the USA as well, has effectively painted the Pitbull as a vicious man-eater. The fear now runs so deep that many people assume any dog that may look slightly intimitating must be a pitbull, and therefore must be dangerous.

Go figure... Some people are stupid and those people seem to follow us around.

...still searching for sanity...
randy and Daisy

 

[pyermoli]

I have also gotten those comments. It's silly too, one day I was walking with Oscar in DC and this guy said " I just love pit bulls" I told hime he should have known the difference then, because Oscar is a boxer. I think people are just so silly and frustrating sometimes.

 

[abradbury.5]

I have had people cross the street to avoid passing Toffee, and like others here, I've had to defend her friendliness to idiots that say "those are mean dogs" or "those dogs are bad with kids". I try to politely let them know--in an attempt to educate the uneducated masses one at a time--that boxers are wonderful. Sometimes I do lose my temper though...

 

[pyermoli]

I'm glad people think my dog is scary. I can walk him at night without anyone bothering me, and he is a great anti theft device in the house. I leave the light on and the blinds open so that people can see him looking out the window.

i agree, Oscar has spikes so he looks even meaner, and I feel safer walking at night with him, and knowing that most people would just assume that he is mean. The people that aren't so ignorant will right away notice that my dogs are boxers and ask to come and see them, but I also have those who walk across the street (a lot of the people in my neighborhood are afraid of dogs, no matter what the breed) Ours are the only dogs in our complex.

 

[CarlaS]

When the Sears people came to deliver and install my new washing machine, the two guys were absolutely FREAKED when they saw Porter (he was only 7 months old at the time too!). They insisted that he stay outside. He so badly wanted to come in and say hi that he was jumping up on the slider. This further freaked them out. I was going in and out, trying to calm him down and distract him. After the second time the guy goes, kind of joking, but not really, "I'm going to lock you out there if you keep coming in and out, he's going to get in!" I tried saying, he's a puppy, he's not a pitbull, etc... Then he saw one of Porter's knuckle bones and was like "He chews that up, whatever he's nice." I'm sure delivery people have bad experiences with dogs. The whole thing was just pretty amusing to me, as I look at Porter and he just looks so sweet to me.