The Boxer is a medium to large, short-haired breed of dog, developed in Germany. The first Boxer club was founded in 1895, with Boxers being first exhibited in a dog show for St. Bernards in Munich the next year. Based on 2013 American Kennel Club statistics, Boxers held steady as the seventh-most popular breed of dog in the United States for the fourth consecutive year. Its task was to seize the prey and hold it until the hunters arrived. In later years, faster dogs were favored and a smaller Bullenbeisser was bred in Brabant, in northern Belgium. It is generally accepted that the Brabanter Bullenbeisser was a direct ancestor of today's Boxer. 