[MLeake]

Daryl,

Most boxers are significantly smaller, and are more playful than aggressive.

Most Dobermans weigh in the neighborhood of 60lbs, too.

A friend of mine has a mother who breeds oversized Dobies. He had a beautiful red male that weighs 95lbs, yet won at dog shows in Seattle because even though he was oversized, he was perfectly proportional.

There are at least three boxer owners I know in central Florida who have oversized boxers, from 100 to 110 pounds. One of the latest fads, it seems, is breeding for size. One of the guys who has an oversize boxer has taught the dog to leap up onto his chest to be caught like a lapdog. The guy is slightly bigger than me, and thinks it's funny. I've had the dog leap up on me that way, too, and I thought it was kind of funny, but I'm a 220 pounder myself. Still, it was a pretty hard impact.

I've seen a lot of oversize dogs of different breeds, lately, ranging from 130lb German Shepherds to 110lb Boxers to 120lb Chocolate Labs. I am not saying this is normal, but it is becoming a lot less uncommon. I don't know why breeders are doing this, and I don't know if there any advantages to breeding the dogs larger, but it doesn't change the fact that there are some monsters out there.

As far as whether I know boxers, I've had at least half a dozen friends who have owned them. My Rott/Shepherd's two best doggie buddies were a boxer and a pug, of all things. Boxers are, for the most part, big, slobbery babies. After Great Danes, they are also the second most common breed to run into you at the dog park, because both breeds tend to charge in one direction, while looking over their shoulders in another direction, typically at the dogs with whom they are playing. They run into people, signposts, picnic tables, etc. I tend to refer to them as "big, goofy dogs." I like them quite a bit. My next large dog may very well be a boxer, and I'd be surprised if it were to weigh more than 75lbs.

So, Daryl, you don't need to defend boxers from me. I am very fond of them.

But, yes, this was a 110lb, aggressive boxer. He was a real jerk. He kept charging the Mastiff, then snapping at his flanks and retreating. It may have been more play than attack, and probably was, but it was also obviously upsetting the mastiff, and the boxer's owners just laughed it off... until the mastiff bit the boxer on the back, from 90 degrees off, to left and right of the spine... picked him off the ground, then slammed him down on his side and pinned him.

At that point, the boxer's owners started yelling at the lady who owned the mastiff. Idiots.... I've been told that this is a mastiff trait, that they were bred to grab poachers and pin them down, but I don't know if that's true. In any case, this mastiff had the boxer pinned quite well. He wasn't really trying to hurt the boxer, though, because his teeth only penetrated enough to let him hold on.

To get him to let go, though, I had to wrap an arm around his neck from behind, climb on his back, brace my other forearm on top of his head (to be in position to clamp down if he tried to turn around on me) and hold him in place while talking him down.

The boxer's owners, still not acting very intelligently, grabbed their dog and tore him loose, which caused some tooth tears in the skin around his back. Then they wanted to call the cops, but a lot of witnesses flat out told them that they'd testify on behalf of the mastiff owner.

Some owners are idiots. When they own big, strong dogs, those idiot owners are dangerous.

Cheers,

M