White boxer...

[primabella]

My friend will be picking up her new Boxer puppy in a week. Apparently, her pup is all white with blue eyes. I have never seen a Boxer with blue eyes. Is this common?

[aly]

Puppies have blue eyes when they are born and they usually start changing color around 8 weeks. Is the pup under 8 weeks old?

[Brie]

it's not uncommon for dogs who are all white (esp with blue eyes) to be deaf... let your friend know to pay attention to that, it will require a training using hand signal rather than voices commands.

[Karen]

As Brie says, many white Boxers, not all, but many, are deaf. Which doesn't mean he's not going to be a terrific dog, in either case, just something to be aware of!

Sadly, some breeders used to destroy white pups for just this reason. But thankfully, this breeder didn't!

Here's a former Dog of the Day with one blue eye:
http://DogoftheDay.com/archive/2001/April/08.html

[wolfsoul]

Many white boxers have blue eyes :)
Has your friend researched the problems they may have with the dog? White boxers can be difficult to take care of....They have a 60% chance of being deaf, they are prone to sunburn, sun cancer and skin problems. They are prone to deafness due to a pigment defficiency in the inner hairs of the ears. I've even heard that they have a higher chance of digestion problems, although I'm not sure what it has to do with the colour :confused:

I think that breeders who kill dogs because of what they look like are terrible...It's not their fault, it's their parents fault for carrying a certain gene :mad: If they don't like that, they should cull their dogs by stopping breeding them.

[tikeyas_mom]

I have seen many boxers with blue eyes in the past and at the spca. they are very sweet dogs. :) They never last in the spca ppl adopt them right away

[Porcy]

Well good luck with the New Pup.I had a White Shepherd got him at 4 weeks of age and Had problems later on with him.He lived up to 5yrs.old Seizures took over and destroyed him,it was the saddest thing I went thru w/him,at the end didn't know who I was at all. He'll be gone for a year in April.and I do miss him alot.

[wolfsoul]

White shepherds and white boxers are different though...
White shepherds aren't vulnerable to the problems that white boxers are. Shepherds have thick fur which protect them from the sun and they don't have such a loss of pigment as boxers. Epilepsy is common among shepherds in general.

I'm sorry about your shepherd :( I had a white shepherd who had to be put down :( He had a disease..His name was Polar..

[primabella]

aly - That's true. Mickey had blue eyes when he was 4 weeks old. I was so sad when the breeder told me they wouild change to brown but then she explained how if they didn't change, it would be a birth defect and not a good sign. So, I'm happy they changed.

Thanks for all the replies :) To tell you the truth, I don't know all the details. I just hard about this through another friend yesterday. All I know is that she's a puppy, a white boxer with blue eyes and is comming from a pet store (I know :( ) I doubt very much that she reserahced about the breed. I knwo she has had dogs in the past and knows how to care for them but I don't think she actually reserached on the health conditions. I'll talk to her tomorrow and try to find out everything. thanks :)

Porcy - I'm sorry about your shephard :(

[Porcy]

Thank you Prima. You have lots of fun with your new pup.

[primabella]

It isn't mine :o It'll be my friends :)

[cocker_luva]

I have read that it is common, though it isn't recognized as a normal color. Don't worry!

[primabella]

Thanks :)

Well I spoke to her today and she said that she is 2nd on the list for 2 pups. There is a male and female but someone else will get the pick of the litter. She doesn;t care though. Anyway, I mentionned that they may be deaf and she told me she knew that. Apparently, the girl (I don't know who, I guess the breeder) will be doing some tests with them to see if they are deaf. If they are, she said she won't sell them. :( Oh well. I'm so excited for her. I feel like I'm getting my Mickey again, we're thinking of names and I'm like :D hehe..

[Demigodess]

Originally posted by wolfsoul
White shepherds and white boxers are different though...
White shepherds aren't vulnerable to the problems that white boxers are.

That's because white German Shepherds aren't albinos. It's when a dog is an albino, like albino dobies, danes, etc, (I am not familiar with boxers) that you can have deafness and problems with the sun, etc.

White German Shepherds are not albino - they are a dark colored dog with a white masking gene. A white GSD is actually genetically a colored dog with the masking gene expressed. That's why sometimes you can see a light tan saddle pattern or sable pattern on them.

Since white GSDs are genetically the same as colored dogs (except for the masking gene) it's a totally different situation than albino dogs.

[wolfsoul]

White boxers and white dobermans aren't albinos either. They carry a partial albino gene, but aren't true albinos, because they have blue or brown eyes. They have to have pink eyes and pink skin, with no pigment at all to be albino. Albinism is very rare among dogs.

[wolfsoul]

This is a true albino great dane, because it has pink eyes ;)
http://www.straydog.org/images20020818-0824/HelenLiesKennelGood7478.jpg

[Demigodess]

I think it gets into semantics to some degree. As I understand it, there is a distinction between a "partial" albino and a "complete" albino.

The most complete reference I have seen on the topic is http://www.geocities.com/~amazondoc/albinism/.

If there is any incorrect info here, I would love to be made aware of it.

[wolfsoul]

I believe that a partial albino is an animal that is only missing pigment to a certain degree. If a dog is white with blue or brown eyes, the eyes are displaying pigment. You may call a white dog a true albino, but the definition still states that albino means no pigment. An albino has an insufficient melanin supply, and none is produced anywhere in the body. When you see a normal coloured eye, there's a colored iris. The color is made by melanin and how it reflects and absorbs light. More melanin absorbs more light and the eye appears darker, brown, black. Less absorbs less light and we see a lighter eye, like blue. That's why albinos have pink or red eyes.
Also, the webpage you typed says : "White" or "albino" Dobermans are not actually white animals. They are a pale tan or cream color, and only the areas which would normally be rust-colored are actually white. Also, these Dobermans have blue eyes -- not pink or red eyes."