As the dog matures, eventually, barring accidents and disease, he will reach old age. The life expectancy of the Boxer is around ten or eleven years, though many more live a lot longer.

There are many physical changes that take place as old age approaches, he may begin to go grey around the muzzle and gain weight easily
The older dogs brain undergoes changes with age, the structure of the nerve cells break down and they lose contact with some of the other cells, in effect the ‘wiring system’ begins to burn out. Messages are not transmitted as quickly so the dog may appear somewhat slower to respond than when he was a youngster. The dogs short-term memory is also often affected with age, because the brain cells when stimulated remain stimulated for longer periods of time, therefore new information is not retained and the dog is almost in a confused state. This is where the expression of ‘you can not teach an old dog new tricks’ comes from.

The older dog may revert back to puppy like dependency, he may need reminding to go out to the loo, and he may also not want to wander too far away from you. Senses of taste, hearing and eyesight may well change also, but the sense of smell is thought to stay keen, which is reassuring as the dog depends upon his sense of smell so much throughout life.

The sick dog will often present with behavioural changes. He may want to sleep more and or lose his appetite. A sick dog should be allowed to sleep and rest at any age; the dog will sleep and not eat, usually before the bodies’ immune system has ‘kicked in’. The reduction in appetite is probably so the body does not have to bother with the digestion process, enabling the important process of tissue repair or the fighting of infection to get under way, if the dog is not feeding then bacteria will have nothing to nourish them either, this is as a result of a raise in body temperature which is designed to have this effect, the human body reacts in the same way.


The dog that is off colour or ill should be allowed to rest once he has been seen by the vet, and this is probably the only time that the dog should be allowed to make his own decisions about things. His body is telling him what to do, and all we ‘the top dog;’ can do is respect his behaviour. Let him sleep, let him take himself away to a place of solitude while keeping a quiet eye on him, when he is feeling better he will return to his usual self.

Other diseases will have behavioural effects such as the over active or under active thyroid gland, these conditions are too specialised to go into here, and it must be emphasised that all signs of ill health or changes in behaviour should be taken into consideration and veterinary advice should be taken. A very thirsty dog, or a very sleepy dog can be indicative of quite serious disease so it is important to monitor your dog at whatever age of life stage.

This has been taken from part of the work I did when at college. It is not intended to be exhaustive and is a guide only.

© Jan Buckley 2000 - 2010 it may not be reproduced in part or whole without the prior consent of the author