The whole point of the matter was it 'wasnt' known, its only in recent years that the problem has been highlighted. My bitch wasnt diagnosed until early 2010. She was born in 2004. There are a handful of Boxers who have lived beyond expectations, she is one of them. There are no known records of any other dogs from her dam having this problem. Our other Boxer had the same dam. His sire is our bitches half brother & he is fine. By the time our bitch was diagnosed her dam was retired from breeding anyway

I agree, but that`s not what I was implying, my point was directed to the remark, (or implication) that the Boxer breed is doomed due to breeders not hip scoring, along with the accusation that the KC is responsible for all health issues in our breeds.

My point being, a very small percentage of pedigree breeders actually adhere to ANY health screening, the majority of dogs are bred by those who don`t care about health screening (and in many cases have no knowledge of health screening).

I agree the bar should always be raised, but as high as it goes , it will still only be a small percentage of breeders who adhere to it.

Not forgetting the buyer, they also need to take some responsibility and educate themselves in canine health issues, but sadly the majority fall down on this, as you said..... how many times do you here the "I only want a pet" there is a warped sense of thinking (held by some) that because they only want a pet, they dont have to A) pay a lot , B) buy from a reputable breeder C) have no interest in health issues , this logic is baffling , because , surely they want their "pet" to live a long and healthy life.

A friend of mine had a litter of Boxers last year, not ONE of her new owners asked at any time about heart scoring, they either , did not care, did not know , or were not interested.............and that sadly is why we will never get away from the unscrupulous breeder, because most people don`t care or know about any health issues.

Point to make, the friend with the litter made it clear to ALL her new owners, that the sire and dam had good clear scores, she went on to educated all of them on the health problems in our breed.

The KC has raised its bar, and I am sure will continue to do so, (look at the vet checks they now do at shows) , this can only be a good thing, but again it only affects a very small percentage of pedigree breeders.....

I am reading through this thread with great interest and have refrained from commenting until I have done so ... but I have to point out that humans very definitely ARE animals. The concept of healthy breeding applies to dogs, horses, ourselves, cats, every single mammalian species on the planet.

I accept I know little, hence why I joined this forum.

Was my ascertion that the Boxer breed is screwed erroneous. Not in my opinion. You have all highlighted a disease that I was hitherto unaware of, JKD, as being a problem within Boxers. Add to this the HD, Spondalocis, Heart Problems, etc, etc our breed is pretty much it would seem on the decline.
This is something that saddens me no end. I love the boxer breed. Sasha has been my faithful companion for many years and I hope she will continue being at my side for many years to come.

Perhaps I am naive with regards what the KC can do, but surely if they say 'this is what a good breeder should be doing' instead of saying 'we leave it up to the individual to choose what they do' then things might begin to change.

Its not Hd that worries me about my boxers its cancer and bloat . being around boxers for only 6 years yet i have seen cancer end many a young boxers life . And bloat is such a scary thing to happen,and thats not just boxers of course.... ps i own a boxer with HD...

The amount of cancer in the boxer breed scares me

Star fought cancer twice and she was not even 10 years. First the mast cell cancer which is common in boxers but more so the low grade tumours and the second bone cancer another which is common in boxers.

Can't even blame inbreeding as her COI was something like 3.6.

I think that's a huge exaggeration


I agree, cancer seem to plague most of our dogs, sadly it does not discriminate between breeds or species , everywhere you look someone or some thing seems to be stricken with it.

On top of all her other problems my girl was diagnosed with bone cancer of the upper jaw at 10 months of age.I have just looked up her COI and its 21.5%.My vet said it was just one of those things.As it is she now has no sign of cancer,i guess we were very lucky.She also has epilepsy,thankfully very mild at the moment.

I know of several boxers dying of cancer and it is very worrying.

Sounds like your girl has been through a lot Good to hear she is doing ok now.

21% is pretty high, really you need to be looking at around 7% at the highest, 25% is the equivalent of a father/daughter mating