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! he vision of the ideal Boxer head dates way back to 1896 when the proposed standard by the Deutscher Boxer Club (Munich) was made o ffi cial. Circa 1905, what is now known as the Munich silhouette became a guideline for perfection. A look at the head type from the early 20s shows the long way of selective breeding that eventually resulted in the correct proportions as depicted by the Munich silhouette. In my opinion, the first way to assess the correctness of the Boxer head is through expression. Th e proper proportions and features required by the standard all con- tribute to the resulting “intelligent and alert” required expression. A most unique feature of the Boxer head is the square muzzle. Th e length from the tip of the nose to the stop must be half the length of the skull when measured from the stop to the occiput and, when seen from the front it is ⅔ of the width of the skull. Th ree parameters are essential for the proper muz- zle: the formation of the jawbones, the place- ment of teeth and the texture of the lips. In the process of selective breeding, the length of the underjaw does not follow suit with the shortening or elongation of the upper jaw. Th at is why we see undershot bites in breeds with short heads like the Pekinese and the Bulldog and a tendency to overshot bites in breeds with long, nar- row heads. Since Boxers are a “short head” breed—brachiocephalic—the bite will be undershot. However, the muzzle should not be too short as to result in an exag- gerated projection forward of the underjaw
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S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , J UNE 2014 • 191
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