1. Have plenty of room for the dog to run, keeps em young and blows off part of the natural exuberance boxers have, especially when guests come to the house. Boxers love your friends and want to lick them, just to get to know them.
2 Feed above average quality kibble wet down with either beef or chicken broth. Average adult boxer eats 2 1/2 to 3 cups a day. Buy a chicken or some cheap beef, boil it slowly in a pot with veggies and garlic (dogs love garlic) then give one ladle over the kibble. Always feed at the same time, feed only once a day. NEVER feed table scraps. After they eat immediately wipe their muzzle with a damp paper towel this prevents them shaking their head and spraying your walls with food particles.
3. Checking for lumps is a must and easily done in the guise of rubbing the dog or petting the dog, helps your peace of mind and the dog will love you for it. ALWAYS massage the top of the neck, dogs love this.
4. A bath is not necessary unless you want to do it in the summer as part of the fun in the yard game with the water hose, which, by the way, they love and will mouth the spray all day if you let them. Wipe them down with BABY WIPES, 4 should do the trick and kill the doggy odor. GENTLY clean inside their ears with a baby wipe then rub some cortisone cream (walmart brand) inside their ears, stops the itching and most of the scratching of the head and ears.
5. Pepto bismal pills are super if they get a little upset stomach or vomit or salivate and pace excessively.
6. A Boxer will give it's life to protect yours, enjoy and respect that trait.
7. Now to the SAD side. If you must put your boxer to sleep due to age or disease go the the Vet's office, hold your friend and pet it while speaking softly and telling it that you love it and it is a good dog—while the vet inserts the needle and your friend goes peacefully to sleep. If the vet will not let you do that than find on that will. Your friend deserves your comfort in it's last moments. It will make you feel a LOT better also.
Hope this helps. These maxims have worked well for me over the 50 some years I have had boxers as friends.
RE: #7
I have an awesome vet. When I had to have Pitch Cat put to sleep (he’d been with us forever, it seems, and kidney disease took him away), she let me hold him the whole time, and closed his eyes so I could take him home so my daughter (who he was absolutely loyal to) and I could bury him in a sunny corner of the yard.
She earned my total respect that day for the way she handled the whole episode.