The Boston Terrier and All About It

Table of

sympathy with the absolute justice that should always prevail in the show ring in the consideration of the place color and markings occupy in scoring a candidate for awards. Twelve points are allowed in the standard for these, and any dog, I care not whether it be "black, white, gray, or grizzled," that scored thirteen points over the most perfectly marked dog, should be awarded the prize. But be it ever remembered that the show ring and the selling of a dog are two separate and distinct propositions. In the wr

n only state in passing that if he had a number of dogs on hand that were of the colors he specifies, "black and white, and some white entirely," it would doubtless "seem strange" to him why they persisted in remaining on his hands as if he had given each one an extra bath in Le Page's liquid glue. Pitfalls beset the path of the beginner and this book is written largely to avoid them. When one reads or hears the statement made that color and markings are of secondary consideration or even less, take warning. The reader's pardon will now have to be craved for the apparent egotism evidenced by the writer in speaking of himself in a way that only indirectly concerns canine matters, but which has a bearing on this very important question of color, and partially, at least, explains why this particular feature of the breeding of the Boston terrier has appealed to him so prominently. My father was a wholesale merchant in s

d mahogany brindles, and quite a considerable number had a great deal of white. Then three shades were debarred, viz., black, m

he above mentioned gentlemen, were true friends of the breed), sold a handsome pair of seal brindles, Chs. "Commissioner II." and "Topsy," to Mr. Borden of New York, and confirmed, if not established, the fashion for that color in that city. I think that all people will agree, from all parts of the country, that N

tates, or New York), three from Portland, Oregon, one from California, one from St. Louis, one from Mexico, four from Canada, two from Chicago, and one f

oted, but there are exceptions, and Boston terrier breeding furnishes an important one. A very few years of breeding this way will give a brown, solid color, without a particle of brindle, or even worse, a buckskin. If the foundation stock is a lighter brindle to start, the result will be a mouse color. The proper course to pursue is to take a golden brindle bitch that comes from a family noted for that shade, and mate her with a dark mahogany brindle dog that comes from an ancestry possessed of that color. The bitch from this mating can be bred to dark mahogany brindles, and the females from this last mating bred aga

to a dark mahogany dog. Steel and gray brindles are in so littl

of white. One important fact in connection here is that black color is more pronounced from white stock than from brindle. I recently went into the kennels of a man who has started a comparatively short time ago, and who has been most energetic in his endeavors to produce a line of dark seal brindles, and who is much perplexed because he has a lot of stock on hand, while first rate in every other respect, are with coats as black as crows and not worth ten dollars apiece. He seemed very much surprised when I told him his mistake, but grateful to be shown a way out of his difficulty. A visit to another kennel not far from the last revealed the fact that the owner was advertising and sending largely to the West what he called black brindles, but as devoid of brindle as a frog is of feathers. His case was rather amusing, as he honestly believed that because the dog was a Boston terrier its color of necessity must be a brindle. He reminded me a good deal of a man who st

ould have made the necessary scientific experiments to obtain this desirable shading. Only a short time ago a doctor, a friend of mine, told me he had just started a kennel of Bostons, buying several bitches at a bargain on account of their bein

tain seal brindles with correct markings and the desir

dark seal brindle dog. The females that come from the last union are bred to a medium seal brindle dog, but now comes the time to introduce a mahogany brindle dog as a sire next time, for if these last bitches were mated to a seal brindle dog a large per cent. of the pups would come too dark or even black. This system is used indefinitely and desirable seal brindles with white markings can thus be always obtained. To the best of my recollection we have had but one black dog in twenty years. We have demonstrated, we trust, so that all may understand how golden, mahogany, and seal brin

ders of the American dog who maintain that this is an absolute impossibility, that breeding for color is as absurd as it is impractical, but we can assu

ing colors in the order of t

tch (always remember that the shades desired must be possessed by the dog), we breed her always to a golden brindle dog. The bitches (those most resembling the sire in color being selected) from these two are mated to a dark mahogany brindle dog, and the females from this last union are mated to a dark seal brindle dog. It will readily be observed that

ame conditions regarding his ancestry). The females from these matings bred always to a dark mahogany brindle dog. The females from the last matings breed to a medium seal brindle dog with a very

ed first to a golden brindle dog. The females from this union breed to a rich ma

n to a red brindle dog (if unobtainable, use mahogany brindle dog, but this is

rindle dog. The females from this union breed to a seal brindle. The bitches from this union breed to mahogany

Use same process a

ate. Breed to mahogany brindle dog as dark as can be obtain

results are easy. Breed first to a red brindle dog; bitches from this union to

ere. Breed first to mahogany brindles, and

quite a number of absolutely perfectly marked bitches that we had bred for a great number of years that had before that had perfectly marked pups, and every bitch, no matter how bred, had over fifty per cent. of white headed pups. We saw the pups in other places sired by this dog, no matter where bred, similarly marked. We found his grandmother was a white headed dog, and this dog inherited this feature in his blood, and passed it on to posterity. The minute a stud dog, perfect in himself, is prepotent to impress upon his offspring a defect in his ancestry, discard him at once. I have often been amused to see how frequently this law of atavism is either misunderstood

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f one has the time the works of an Austrian monk named Mendel are of great interest as bearing somewhat on this subject, and the two English naturalists, Me