Eyes color in Boxer breed, test-scale for evaluation

Boxer Standard:
"The eyes are dark and are neither too small, nor protruding or deep set. Their expression conveys energy and intelligence and must not be threatening or hard."

The color of the eyes should be as dark as possible, no lighter than the background. The light color of the eyes ruins the typical expression of the boxer.

There is a special test-scale used for objective evaluation of boxer's eyes during Körung examinations. To evaluate the eyes color, the judge must insist the dog is turned to the light.

1A, 1B and 2A indicate the preferable eyes color in boxers.
2B, 3A and 3B are acceptable.
Colors lighter than 3B are undesirable.

Light eye color is a recessive trait, therefore it is possible for two dark-eyed parents to produce a light-eyed puppy if both of them carry a gene of lighter eyes. A boxer with light eyes tends to produce puppies with eye color of medium pigmentation when bred to a dark-eyed dog. Eye color is important, so breeders should pay attention to the color of the eyes of their dogs if they want to preserve the wonderful expression of the boxer.

Very interesting and great to know. Thank-you for posting this info:)

MORE ABOUT THE EYES... COLOUR, SHAPE & POSITION: THE EXPRESSION

I would like to add some more info about the boxer expression. We all love the expressive boxer eyes and we usually talk about the dog's expression. Anyway a nice expression is not just "a feeling" that someone can feel when is watching a dog. Instead we should remember that colour, shape and position of the eyes (all together) make true the typicall boxer expression, wich the standard describes as energetic & intelligent and never looking too hard or threatening.

First of all, as Ioana refered on her post, the eyes should have the right size (not too big, not too small) and dark colour (as dark as possible, and never lighter that the background colour).

Secondly the eyes should have round-diamond shape. This means the eyelids shouldn't be too tight neither too loose. So the eyes shape shouldn't be completely round neither slanting.

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Correct shape of the eyes (round-diamond)
*Pictures by BOXERS-DESGLAI.COM*

Last but not least, about the position of the eyes: It is very relevant because it shows how the eye socket fits into the head, so it makes quite evident some details about the conformation of the skull. The eyes should be located into a subfrontal position. This means they are not located completelly frontal on the face, but neither too lateral. In fact the line joining the stop with the internal and external corner of the eye should conform an angle about 10º-15º with the horizontal line.

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Correct position of the eyes (subfrontal)
*Pictures by BOXERS-DESGLAI.COM & drawing by A.PALACIN*

Finally a small "cosmetic" defect wich could disturb the expression: Non-pigmented 3rd eyelids. We all know that dogs have an internal 3rd eyelid. Usually it's barely perceptible because it's pigmented in black. But quite often in flashy dogs it's not pigmented. In this case it will look like a pink/white/red band inside the eye. The contrast with dark eyes could make this "cosmetic" defect quite obvious and is able to disturb the expression. Of course some dogs have non-pigmented eyelid wich no one could notice (even from short distance), so it will turn an insignificant cosmetic defect. Anyway in some European countries boxers who have both eyes with non-pigmented eyelids are not appreciated for shows neither allowed into breeding tests (ZTP or similar).


On the left: Pigmented 3rd eyelid // On the right: Unpigmented 3rd eyelid
*Pictures by BOXERS-DESGLAI.COM*

So to summarize...
A BOXER with dark subfrontal eyes wich have round-diamond shape and pigmented 3rd eyelids... will surelly have the lovely typical expression of the breed.


Edited by BOXERS.D'ESGLAI - 18/10/2011, 15:53

Thank-you so much, for adding even more valuable knowledge to this topic you made a great presentation with pictures and examples and your words are very easy to understand and follow. I really appreciate all of the knowledge and experience that is shared on this forum and I know many others do too. Thank-you for taking time to share your knowledge and love of our beloved and cherished boxer:)

Interesting. Would love to examples of the incorrect eye and position...??

<<<<<My boy has lighter eyes, yet not lighter than his background color...

The question to me is then: what is the background color? The iris of the eye is always darker than the 'background' color???

Background color....on the coat of the dog, is my understanding...correct?!!?

Thanks for clarifying this, I tend to look for unessecary difficult explanations...

That all being said, if you have a bad eye or bad position of the eye, is this easy to breed out?? The position of the eye seems more of a skeletal issue...correct?

One of the things I really love about my boxer Jackson are his lively eyes which look like liquid marbles. They are Amber color. If I understand this correctly, he can only pass this color on if he breeds with a female that has light colored eyes. Is this true? Is this color within acceptable range? He has black 3rd eyelid.
Also our breeder told us that having white 3rd eyelid (my fawn flashy girl has one black, one white), causes causes higher chance of cherry eye. Our last litter produced a puppy with cherry eye. (She was the dam). Can cherry eye only happen with white 3rd eyelid as the sire breeder is claiming?

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I have a 6 month old female. She is a great dog, but I'm worried about possible eye problems in the future due to the light color. Should I worry ??

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