Boxer Grooming

About the Boxer

The Boxer is one of the few genuinely single coated dogs there is, and that makes it the useful counterexample to almost every other short coated breed.

A Labrador, a Beagle, a Rottweiler and a Pug all look short coated and all carry a full undercoat underneath. A Boxer does not. There is one layer of very short, tight, glossy hair lying flat against the skin and nothing beneath it.

Three things follow. It sheds steadily but lightly compared with the double coated short breeds. It feels the cold genuinely and visibly, which is why you see Boxers in coats in winter and Labradors not. And the skin is close to the surface in every sense, so skin problems show early and matter more than coat problems ever will.

What a full groom involves

The shortest appointment in this batch and one of the shortest on the site.

A rubber curry or grooming mitt over the body to lift loose hair, worked in circles then along the lie. Then a bath, often with a shampoo chosen for sensitive skin because this breed has plenty of it. Then a thorough dry, which is quick because there is no undercoat holding water.

Then the parts that matter: nails, which on a heavy dog walked on grass need doing; ears, which are usually cropped or natural drop and want checking either way; and a proper look at the skin, which is the real purpose.

Anal glands if needed.

Under an hour, and almost none of it is about hair.

Single coated, and what that changes

The comparison worth understanding is with the Rottweiler, which looks like the same grooming proposition and is not.

A Rottweiler has a short top coat over a full undercoat. It sheds heavily, it blows coat seasonally, and an undercoat rake pulls out a startling amount.

A Boxer has one layer and nothing under it. A rake finds nothing because there is nothing to find. Shedding is steady, moderate and year round rather than seasonal, and a rubber curry once a week genuinely covers it.

The other consequence is temperature. A single coat provides very little insulation, and Boxers are lean, short haired and poorly padded. They get cold quickly in winter and they are not weatherproof in rain. A coat for a Boxer in cold weather is practical rather than decorative, which is not true of most dogs its size.

They also overheat readily, because the short muzzle limits how efficiently they can pant. A single coat does not protect against sun either, so pale or white Boxers sunburn on the nose, ears and belly.

The skin, which is the real subject

With one thin layer of hair, everything happening to the skin is visible and nothing is buffered, and Boxers have more than their share of skin trouble.

Allergic skin disease is common and shows as itching, redness in the armpits and groin, licking at the feet and recurrent ear problems. As with the Westie, owners often treat those as separate problems when they are one.

White and pale Boxers carry an additional sunburn risk on the nose, the ear tips and the thinly haired belly, and repeated sunburn on unpigmented skin carries a genuine long term cancer risk. Shade and pet safe sunscreen on the vulnerable spots are reasonable precautions rather than fussing.

The breed also has one of the higher rates of skin tumors of any dog, including mast cell tumors, which frequently look like an unremarkable lump or a small raised area that does not resolve. Any new lump on a Boxer deserves a veterinary look rather than watching and waiting.

That is the strongest argument for a regular groom on a dog with no haircut: somebody has their hands over every inch of it several times a year.

What moves the price

Almost nothing. This is a large dog with no haircut, a fast bath and a fast dry, and it sits at the bottom of most price lists.

What adds a little: nails, which are often dark and need care; medicated bathing if the skin needs it, because a therapeutic shampoo has to sit on the coat rather than be rinsed straight off; and anal glands.

Handling is a modest factor. Boxers are exuberant rather than difficult, and a bouncy seventy pound dog that will not stand still takes longer than a settled one.

Coat condition never features.

What to tell your groomer

Ask for a bath, nails, ears and a skin check. Naming the skin check is worth doing, because on a dog with no haircut it is the part with the most value and the part most likely to be rushed.

Say if the dog has diagnosed allergies and bring any prescribed shampoo, including how long it needs to stay on.

Mention any lumps you have found so they work around them and can tell you if anything else has appeared.

Say if the dog is white or pale, because sunburn and sun damage on the nose and ear tips are worth a second pair of eyes.

And mention the short muzzle. Boxers are brachycephalic enough to struggle with heat and with prolonged restraint, so a good salon keeps the dryer off the face, uses low heat and works in shorter bursts.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the Boxer