The Black Boxer

From Friederun Stockmann's "My Life With Boxers"

Frau Stockmann Germany, 1912

The story of the black Boxer goes back as far as the first Boxer stud book, which was started in 1904
(in Germany). It included Graf Blitz von Graudenz #178, born 8 August 1899, whose parents were
Michels Max and Lore von Eisleben. This dog was shown and won prizes. Naturally, he became the
occasion of quarrels.

I got to know the black Boxer through their owner Mr. Schachtner. This man bred these black Boxers, but
fomented resistance against them by his unacceptable behavior. That they became extinct was also his
doing. When one day Mr. Schachtner asked me whether I would like to mate Rolf to his Biola and Asta,
who were the black daughters of Graf Blitz von Graudenz, I agreed with enthusiasm.

My friend Mr. Schmoeger said in his mind there were no really black ones; when seen in the sunlight they
were all dark brindles. I argued with him about this, and in the end he told me that Lore von Eisleben, the
grandmother of the two bitches, was a Bulldog bitch. At a show, she accidentally got mated by a Schnauzer.
The breeder never disputed that.

The gauntlet had been thrown down. I would go ahead even though it meant going against my best friend,
as I wanted to show that I was able to do what others could not.

After some time I bought a black bitch from Mr. Schachtner out of a black litter. The price was high and
the quality of the bitch so poor that I could not use her in my kennels. The money I had spent for her had to
be put to the debit account, and the matter of the Bavarian black breed seemed finished. But the black
color had interested not only me. A breeder from Allgaeu, Edmund Halter, had also mated a black
bitch to my Rolf von Vogelsberg.

The result was a litter of extremely beautiful black animals, such as never before were seen. The best of
 all was a black male, Flock von der Adeleck. Flock did very well in the ring, and I was tempted again.
Mr. Halter wrote me that he was going to show Flock at a Boxer show at the Nymphenberg Castle in
Munich, and he asked me if I would be interested in breeding Flock to my top-class Rassel vom Dom.
Rassel was just in season and my old ambition came alive again.

I promised Mr. Halter to take Flock to the show and he had to be at his best, so I cut his toenails and
brushed him, but the result did not satisfy me. Mr. Schmoeger had not been altogether wrong. At the
quarters the coloring was not as intense as it could have been. What should I do? A tin of shoe polish found
its way into my hand. At first as a joke, I began to brush Flock with the cream, but the more I did it the
better I liked the result. Flock looked marvelous and literally shone, and I was sure that everybody
would be astonished.

When I arrived at the show the next day, the first person I saw was the owner of Flock. He was speechless
at  the sight of his dog, and then he said it was a pity that his wife could not look after Flock in the way that I
had done. I was in the best of spirits. It was springtime and my dress, the only good one I had, was of
cream-colored real Russian silk, and how it suited me! I knew that the black dog would look twice as good
with this as a contrast. He walked close to my side and I made sure that all the Munich bigwigs could see
him. In the ring, however, Flock had to be handled by his master.

As he came to collect his dog for the class, he told me with horror that my dress was all black on the left side.
My sins had been found out. The black shoe polish! I could do no more than hand the dog to his owner and ask
Mr. Halter to lend me his coat so I could drape it over my left arm. From then on I kept out of sight.
I did not feel too happy about it, and it was the only time I ever did anything like that.

The mating went well and I began to dream of getting just three puppies: a brindle, a black male with
white markings, and an all-black bitch. When her sixty-third day arrived, Rassel gave birth to exactly
what I had dreamed of getting. Was this not an omen? Surely fate had decreed that I should breed black
Boxers. Unfortunately, time proved otherwise.

In the fall of 1918, just after the war ended, Munich began to prepare for a new show. I entered my blacks,
Ulla and Utter, as I wanted to show two superb black specimens. The only competition I had to fear was from
the fawn males. To be sure of a strong entry I also entered Rolf (who had just returned from service in the war)
in the open class for brindles. Utter was in the same class.

When I opened the catalog I saw immediately that Rolf and Utter were the only entries in that class. If I did
not show Rolf, then Utter would surely go on to win the championship. Utter was such a nice animal that
first place could not have been denied him and with this the blacks would have won a unique victory. All
the same, I had an uneasy feeling about it.

The fawns, always first in the ring, began to show. They were poor specimens with nothing of their by
one splendor. Then came the brindles. I fetched Utter and entered as the only one in the ring. The atmosphere
was not pleasant. I did not know that the judge had accepted the judging assignment on the strict condition
that no first awards were to be made to black Boxers. I only learned that much later.

Utter, this strong dog with his white markings and white neckband, showed himself beautifully. But
the Munich breeders received him in silence.

All eyes were on the judge and I sensed that he felt the atmosphere too. he told me he liked Utter, but he
could no pass the color. In his opinion, to get first prize the dog should be all black, and as this was not
the case the first prize was withdrawn.

At that moment, I could not take in the judge's remarks, for in those days there was no definition of color
in the standard. So I brought in Rolf and he got the first prize with the mark "First Class" and his
fifth championship title. In his critique the judge wrote only: "Still the beautiful Rolf."

To emphasize his decision, the judge withdrew the second prize too and gave Utter the third prize. In
his critique he wrote: "For the lovers of the black color, a very nice dog, but he will never have success
at a show." So I got my reprimand.

I had lost because the judging had been unfair and unsporting. It was not much consolation that Rassel
got her championship title that day. People do not change. Even long years of war cannot alter them. In
those days, surely there were more important matters of attention than vehement disputes about
black or white coloration.

Agreed, the white color had to be suppressed in case it got the upper hand. But there was no reason to
sign the death warrant of the black strain. Maybe I could have done something had I really tried, but the
ways and means of such discussions were abhorrent to my nature.

Friederun and Philip Stockmann and the Vom Dom Boxers

The names Stockmann and Vom Dom are the most important ones in the history of American Boxers.
Friederun Stockmann was born in 1891 in  Riga, Germany. In the beginning pages of her book, My Life With
Boxers, she gives us her belief that she was destined to spend her life with dogs. At the age of 18, she went to
Munich where she began her art studies at the Academy in Munich. It was there that Friederun met and was
owned by her first Boxer, Pluto...and met and married Pluto's owner, Philip Stockmann.

Frau Stockmann was not on the Boxer scene at the very beginnings of the breed, but she was a major force
in the breed very soon thereafter. Frau Stockmann must have been around five when the first Boxer show
was held in Munich in 1895. She owned her first Boxer, Laska, a bitch in about 1910.

Rolf von Vogelsberg was one of the major Boxer sires. He was bought by Frau when he was three years old
(in about 1911). Frau was about 20 or 21 and married to Philip Stockmann. Her first hombred champion and
Rolf's son was Damf vom Dom, whelped September 28, 1912.

Rolf von Vogelsberg earned the German title of Sieger five times, the last time at the age of eleven after
four years of service with Philip Stockmann on the front lines in World War I. he was the only Boxer of the
ten that Stockmann took with him to return alive.

Rolf's descendants from 1910 to 1925 were some of the major sires of the German lines. In direct line of
descent from Rolf they were: Ch. Rolf Walhall, Ch. Moritz von Goldrain, Ch. Casar von Deutenkofen,
Ch. Buko von Biederstein, to Ivein von Dom.

Ivein von Dom, whelped in January, 1935, represented Frau Stockmann's renaissance in the breeding of
Boxers after WWI. Ivein's dam was Zwibel, granddaughter of Rolf von Vogelsberg and his sire was
Buko von Biederstein a great-great-grandson of Rolf. Ivein never earned a German championship, but Frau
Stockmann says that her sixth sense told her to keep Ivein and to breed him. He became the sire of the great
German sire, Sigurd von Dom.

During the five years that he remained in Germany, Siguard attained a rank as a show dog and sire
equal to the great Rolf von Vogelsberg. At the age of five he was then sold to America to become a part of
the Barmere Kennels in Van Nuys, CA.  It was one of the twists of fate that two of the greatest dogs that
the vom Dom kennels produced were sold to America. Sigurd's grandson, Ch. Lustif von Dom was also sold
to America and became Ch. Lustig von Dom of Tulgey Woods. Lustig was sold only because a great price
was offered for him at a time when the Stockmann family fortunes had reached a nadir. Ironically, though
Frau Stockmann never saw him again, the year after Lustig left Germany her husband Philip was invited
to judge the show at Westminster and Lustig was there.

With the importation of the three grandsons of Sigurd, Utz von Dom, Dorian von Marienhof, and Lustig von
Dom, the United States had the three greatest Boxers that German breeding had been able to produce
and the focus of American Boxers shifts from Germany to America.

The following is a quotation from Frau Stockmann's book, My Life With Boxers, which may help us
understand her nearly lifelong devotion to our breed: "The Boxer, however, is a gentleman amongst dogs with
short coats. He not only wants the best food, he wants to be handled in a civilized manner too. He can
 easily be upset by his master and this is called being leader-sensitive. He cannot stand a hard hand or injustice.
It is true that he is pig-headed and every one has a personality of its own. His real job is to be a house and
family dog and to be a friend to the children."

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