By Peter Baynes

When people learn that I judge dog shows, the inevitable question is, “What is your favorite breed?” I usually reply that I don’t have one. Which is more or less true, but if the question was, “Which breed has given you the most pleasure and the most heartaches?” The answer would be, “The Boxer.”

One of the pleasures is to attend the American Boxer Club Specialty and mixing with devotees of the breed. They are a wonderful lot; some are new to the game but many of the old-timers and fellow life members are still around, although too many have sadly departed.

This year was no exception. The new show chair, Salli Moore-Kottas, provided a new look for the Top Twenty and the Parade of Champions. The conformation section of the Specialty was judged by three of my friends, Ginnie Shamus, the Futurity; Rufus Burleson, bitches; and Janet Sinclair, dogs and intersex. You can read the results elsewhere which, to say the least, were exciting. Also, I believe there were more overseas visitors than ever before – a large contingent from Japan (I felt sorry for the lonely interpreter, Brian Dowd), plus others from Mexico, Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and not forgetting Ireland. Larry Hughes, the popular new President, also mentioned at the banquet that the lady sitting next to me was from East Germany. He forgot to point out that I pulled her over the wall!

The Drawbridge Inn in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky was a good venue for the large entry which totalled 1,443 from 965 dogs. To those who complained about the venue, it gave some of us the opportunity to recall the less-than-perfect venues of the old days. When the show was held the weekend before Westminster, we dragged our crates and dogs to the Armory from the Pennsylvania Hotel, and then how lucky we thought we were when we were able to hold the show at the Pennsylvania. The show became too large for the Pennsylvania and moved to the Holiday Inn, in Newark. Not a great place for those in motorhomes having to watch the rats running around the parking lot. Other venues were tried on the East Coast. Although some were successful, the West Coast exhibitors felt they were being short-changed, and a compromise was reached by moving it to a more central location in the Midwest.

If the results of this year’s shows were some indication of the future locations of the show, think of somewhere closer to Japan or Mexico. Some of the top winners were either from Japan or Mexico — all of original American breeding, of course. Boxers are truly an international breed. A breed that started in Germany, but where in the hands of a dedicated band of breeders, it reached its peak in the 50s in the USA.

That’s where my heartbreak account begins; I relate the following sad brief stories to encourage those who do not have instant success in any breed.

I first saw a Boxer when I was in the Royal Navy. I was ashore in Cape Town, South Africa, and saw this new breed. The only thing I discovered about it was that it was called a Boxer. I was determined to check it out when I returned to England. On my return to civilian life, I put my name on a waiting list for a male Boxer puppy. During the waiting period, I purchased every book and magazine that I could about Boxers. I thought I knew it all about this magnificent breed.
I finally acquired my first Boxer in 1949. The only credentials of the breeders were that they had sold two puppies to the family of a music star; I was impressed, because I was also in the music business.

I should really have checked the pedigree more closely, because Bruce was the grandson of a Palestinian Boxer of doubtful origin. There was no doubt, however, that Bruce was purebred. He was a clown, and easily failed obedience classes. He did, however, look like all the pictures in the books that I had acquired —a certain winner in conformation!

My first big show was in 1950, judged by Dr. Harris from the United States, and the breeder of the famous Ch. Bangaway of Sirrah Crest. I soon learned that the only thing that Bruce had in common with Bangaway was his age. Dr. Harris kindly informed me that my dog was a pet.

My next venture was to purchase a well-bred puppy bitch from a top kennel. This bitch had close German connections being the granddaughter of a famous German import. I was assured that she was a show bitch; unfortunately she grew long in back, and was a little downfaced. Also, when she came in season her vagina prolapsed, and she was unsuitable for breeding. I then discovered this was a problem with this line.

Get out your hankies, there is more to follow: Dr. Harris had given the breed to a dog which was of Dutch breeding. I was determined to follow the advice of all the books, and so I purchased a bitch with close lines to this dog, and bred her to him. She missed twice, and the third time had one puppy, which the previous owner of my bitch took because I had purchased her on breeding terms.

I finally had a full litter out of another bitch of Dutch breeding which I had purchased as a puppy, but could not be shown because she had become too undershot. Hoping to correct this fault I bred her to a Dutch import with a good mouth. Unfortunately, most of the pups took after their mother. The ones with good mouths had other problems.

I decided to concentrate on American lines. I thought I was lucky to be offered a bitch that had been imported from America by Lady Guthrie – again I was impressed by the lordly connections. My dream was to breed her to a newly imported American dog, Mazelaine’s Czardes (Mazelaine was the top kennel in America at the time). She failed to conceive, as did other bitches bred to him. It was later found out that he was sterile. I was offered a free stud service to a famous German import from the Von Dom Kennels. The genes did not click, and although she had a healthy litter she could not feed them. (If Lady Guthrie is reading this, you owe me). I had to purchase a foster mother, a Border Collie who was determined to run away from her new family. I was always afraid that she would return with a drove of sheep. I purchased her from a farm in Wales with three of her own puppies; looking back maybe I should have kept them all, and concentrated on Sheepdog trials.

I thought it was because of my determination that I was asked to be on the board of the Northern Boxer Club. I found out later that they really wanted to hold shows in the ballroom that I owned. They held a couple there, and they left the place in a mess; it was a disaster. Although I withdrew permission, I still stayed on the board and did some useful work for them, even re-writing the standard with another board member, which all the Boxer Clubs accepted withe the exception of the Scottish Boxer Club. Unfortunately it had to be unanimous to be accepted by the Kennel Club. Maybe I should have told SBC that I was descended from Scottish Royalty.

I had other disasters along the way, but I will not bore you with the details. I even tried showing other breeds, but I did persevere with the Boxers, and I did manage to assemble a few nice dogs, not of my breeding, of which I did some modest winning. In 1955, I was asked to start judging Open Shows.

It was on a couple of visits to Frau Stockman in Germany in the early 60s that I realized I was not the only one who had suffered difficulties. She related her trials and tribulations in the foundation of their famous Von Dom Kennels, which can now be read in the translation of her book My Life With Boxers.

We tried to buy a dog named Viking Von Dom from her; I thought this purchase would make us the envy of the Boxer world. But again, it was not to be, it was one she would not part with, as she called him her new “Lustig.” The previous Lustig was the one she had sent to the United States, and which played such an important part in the development of the breed in this country.

After marrying my wife, Helga, things seemed to improve; we were breeding some good dogs. Another boost to my morale was when I was asked to judge my first championship show in 1964. I was also asked to write the section on Boxers in the book Large Dogs.

There is a story: To make a small fortune out of dogs you have to start with a large fortune. Unfortunately mine was a “riches to rags” story, and in attempt to break even we had to sell some of our winning dogs overseas. Incidentally, one of our first exports was to South Africa where my story began.

We even received some inquiries for our dogs from the United States, and through this connection, in 1967, I was invited to come to the United States as a professional handler. That also was a disaster in the beginning, but again we survived. Despite the setbacks, I can definitely say our involvement with Boxers has given us lots more pleasure than the heartaches.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter Baynes immigrated to this country from England in 1967 to become a professional handler, and proudly served in that capacity for 30 years. He now judges several breeds in three groups.