The Boston Terrier and All About It A Practical, Scientific, and Up to Date Guide to the Breeding of the American Dog

Excerpt

CHAPTER I.

THE BOSTON TERRIER.

Who and what is this little dog that has forced his way by leaps and bounds from Boston town to the uttermost parts of this grand country, from the broad Atlantic to the Golden Gate, and from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico? Nay, not content with this, but has overrun the imaginary borders north and south until he is fast becoming as great a favorite on the other side as here, and who promises in the near future, unless all signs fail, to cross all oceans, and extend his conquests wherever man is found that can appreciate beauty and fidelity in man’s best friend. What passports does he present that he should be entitled to the recognition that he has everywhere accorded him? A dog that has in 35 years or less so thoroughly established himself in the affections of the great body of the American people, so that his friends offer no apology whatever in calling him the American dog, must possess peculiar qualities that endear him to all classes and conditions of men, and I firmly believe that when all the fads for which his native city is so well known have died a natural death, he will be in the early bloom of youth. Yea, in the illimitable future, when the historian McCauley’s New Zealander is lamenting over the ruins of that marvelous city of London, he will be accompanied by a Boston terrier, who will doubtless be intelligent enough to share his grief. In reply to the query as to who and what he is, it will be readily recalled that on the birth of possibly the greatest poet the world has ever seen it was stated:

“The force of nature could no further go,

To make a third, she joined the other two.”

And this applies with equal force to the production of the Boston terrier. The two old standard breeds of world-wide reputation, the English bulldog and the bull terrier, had to be joined to make a third which we believe to be the peer of either, and the superior of both. The dog thus evolved possesses a type and individuality strictly his own, inherited from both sides of the house, and is a happy medium between these two grand breeds, possessing the best qualities of each. To some the name “terrier” would suggest the formation of the dog on approximate terrier lines, but this is as completely erroneous as to imagine that the dog should approach in like proportion to the bull type. When the dog was in its infancy it was frequently called the Boston bull, and then again the round-headed bull and terrier, and later, when the Boston Terrier Club was taken under the wings of the great A.K.C. in 1893, it became officially known as the Boston terrier.

There are several features that are characteristic of the dog that tend to its universal popularity—its attractive shape, style and size, its winning disposition, and its beautiful color and markings. From the bulldog he inherits a sweet, charming personality, quiet, restful demeanor, and an intense love of his master and home. He does not possess the restless, roving disposition which characterizes so many members of the terrier tribe, nor will he be found quarreling with other dogs....