My uncle is planning to breed his 2 white boxers. He has no idea what this involves, has no real clue about dogs. Any ideas how to put him off? Should you even breed from 2 white boxers together? I thought it was like collies, you shouldnt breed from 2 merles?
Breeding with boxers in general is not something to be taken lightly especially white 1's. Cardiomyopathy and aortic stenosis are common in boxers this if not detected can be passed on and drastically reduced the lifespan and is not a nice way for a suffering pet to live. That is saying nothing of the increased chance of deafness.
O and this is stolen from the web... Myth #6: It is acceptable to breed your white Boxer. Fact: It is irresponsible to breed your white Boxer regardless of bloodlines, etc. because of the higher incidence of deafness in whites. Breeding whites sustains the recessive gene, even if no ill effects are observed in the immediate offspring. A few generations down the line, an animal will suffer from a condition it must live with for life because you wanted to breed your white Boxer.
Foolhardy springs to mind breeding two whites together - sure fire way to encourage risk of deafness. Is your uncle prepared to keep all and any deaf puppies himself? Have the dogs been health tested? What ages are they, Boxers should not be bred from before they are at least 3 years of age! It's irresponsible to say the least
I know velvetboxers :-( His male is around a year old and his bitch is around 4-5 months, he is planning to let them mate in her 1st season. His bitch was a white to white breeding and because she is apparently fine he thinks it's ok to breed her. He isn't one to listen to anyone, but he says he will take back any pup if problems arise. How he will pay for them with 4 kids to look after as well i dont know!
What makes it worse is that his last boxer died at around 8 due to heart failure, I think that may have had something to do with bad breeding. I don't know much about boxers or breeding though.
Irresponsible breeding, definitely. To breed from ANY Boxer of any colour without heart testing is irresponsible, if not "bad" as you put it. White to White is a poor decision from the deafness point of view, but completely inadvisable if the parents are not also tested for any and all of the health issues common to Boxers. I believe there's more than just heart issues at stake. I do hope you can persuade your uncle to have a rethink. :-( By the way, the White is not a recessive gene - it is a result of dogs with white markings having more white than colour, if you get my drift. I understand White Boxers can now be shown in Germany and thus also bred from - but the Germans have such stringent and demanding breeding laws that I doubt they would allow White to White even if the prospective parents passed all health test with flying colours, given the great risk of deafness in the offspring. A white dog can be born deaf because the inner ear needs pigment cells to be present to develop normally. If the white dog has a coloured parent, this is less likely; but breeding White to White is almost guaranteeing that pups will be born without functioning hearing mechanisms. Just ask your uncle if he wants to be responsible for deliberately producing disabled dogs.... (And it's high time a law was passed to chip or tattoo every dog born, providing traceability back to the breeder - far too easy for the bad ones to cash in and wash their hands of responsibility).
They are being shown in Germany at present at breed shows. The German Governing Council are carrying out a study with 23 dogs over X amount of years mating White to Coloured to see how it goes. If and only if the study has positive results, will the White Boxer be considered for inclusion for breeding - however like you said there will be very stringent rules and regulations attached to the White Boxer being included in breeding programmes.
Trouble with people like this, is no amount of information will deter them. Why not tell him, with the way today's society works, if any one of his new pups owners find they have a poorly pup on their hands, they are entitled to sue him, under the sale of good act ;-) (willingly selling faulty goods) Tell him, that what ever money he makes on the pups he best put it to one side, for when any of the owners find themselves with a deaf pup, or one with AS or worse, due to the fact he is going against all ethical guidelines given for for the breeding of Boxers. Point out to him, the likelihood of deafness in a second generation of breeding whites, along with the fact his dogs and probably their parents will not have been tested for AS, and cardiomyopathy. Tell him, if he is a gambling man, the odds are not in his favour, and to make sure his pockets are deep.
Thanks for the advice Jackbox. Trust me I have tried explaining about health issues but he thinks as his two young boxers are healthy (for now) all the puppies will be ok too. I will keep going on about it though and just hope he gets the message. I dont hold out any hope unfortunately. :-(
If the bitch is 4 - 5 months old and he intends to breed her on her first season that could be any time in the next month or so, she will still only be a puppy herself and not yet fully developed meaning at at a crucial age when she will need all of the nutrients she takes in to aid in her development they will instead be taken by the pups and could potentially do lasting damage to her physically. If his dogs are KC reg and he intends to register the pups it may be worth mentioning to him that the KC will not register any pups from a bitch who has had puppies whilst under the age of 12months.
