Hello Guys
Thank's. My wife gave her to me for
my Recent Birthday party Present. I had a great Boston Bull Dog Named
Butch. We rescued him from the Pound and he came to us
mean, beat, Under Nurished and was Born stone Deaf. He was
of the Large Boston breed what they used to be before all these breeders took them
down to Minature size. He weighed 50 Pounds ! I had to Put him down a couple of Years ago after a long battle With
Diabetes'. It about Killed me as he went every where with me. He was 12 Years old. My wife spent
Two years searching for another Large style Boston and Dixie's parents Both weighed
45 Pounds each so that is why I have her. She act's a lot Like Old Butch did, so it filled
the hole in my Heart...Thegeneral.
General, I really meant it when I said I love the Boston breed. I guess that makes sense, because I love Pitbulls, and my current dog is a pure bred American Pit Bull Terrier.
I wonder if you are aware that originally the name "Boston Terrier" was a short form of the name "Boston Pit Terrier." That super short face (almost without a muzzle) most of them wear today was bred into them only in the last hundred years or so. They were once simply the Boston variety of the American Pit Bull Terrier (once called, simply, "Pit Terriers"). To say that a Pit Terrier was of the Boston variety simply meant that he was an extremely compact one.
Here's a very early illustration of the Boston variety of the Pit Terrier (later called the Boston Terrier):
Here's an early photo of one still looking very much the dwarf Pit Terrier (i.e., looking like a dwarf American Pit Bull Terrier):
The reason they bred Pitbulls ("Pit Terriers") to such a compact size in Boston was that pit-fighting in Boston (unlike just about anywhere else in the country at the time) was strictly illegal, and there were jail terms and fines attached if you were caught, so they selected only the smallest Pitbulls available to use and breed in Boston. They had to be small enough to place inside of a smallish suitcase (with hidden breathing vents), so that they could transport them in large numbers to a small fighting pit in a hidden location (a basement, for example) without attracting the attention of the police.
Gradually, as pit fighting was cracked down on more and more, the "sport" disappeared completely from Boston, and the breeding of Boston (pit) Terriers shifted from dog fighting men to show breeders. The "pit" part of their name disappeared, and they became simply Boston Terriers.
Since their distinguishing characteristics in the show ring were 1) compact size, and 2) a short face (all Pitbulls are somewhat short-faced because that's a side-effect of breeding for a strong bite over several centuries), the show winners were those dogs that most exhibited 1) compact size, and 2) a short face, while retaining the powerfully muscular physique characteristic of fighting breeds. The result was that breeders only bred the most compact and short-faced Boston Terriers to the most compact and short-faced Boston Terriers. Consequently, the breed became more and more compact and short-faced over time.
Some speculate that, as a shortcut to winning in the show ring under these terms, some unscrupulous show breeders introduced small admixtures of the French Bulldog (say 12.5% Frenchie and 87.5 Boston) to bring down the body size and increase the short-facedness of their show dog lines. The result is the modern Boston Terrier, which tends to maintain the personality characteristic of a Pitbull, i.e., extremely friendly towards people (even indiscriminately), but somewhat scrappy towards other dogs, and extreme courage in general.
Regarding the last point, I personally witnessed a scrappy (yet extremely people-friendly) Boston viciously attack my own 85 lb Doberman Pinscher. It was like witnessing a Pitbull going after a lion with total abandon. I also witnessed a scrappy little Boston viciously attack an English Bull Terrier at a dog show once. In both cases, the Boston jumped up and latched onto the other dog's neck from underneath, holding on and viciously shaking out his bite. My Doberman simple came crashing down on him, crushing him until the Boston was forced to let go. Then I and the Boston's owner quickly separated our dogs.
PS There are no photographs of the Boston (pit) Terrier taken when he was a pure fighting breed, since they became a pure
show breed before the development of photography, but some of the earliest photographs show a sort of halfway development from what he used to be to what he is today.
Here's a typical American Pit Bull Terrier illustrating the characteristic Boston coat pattern for comparison:
The earliest Boston (pit) Terriers where simply this type of dog on a smaller scale. Their eyes appear bigger in relation to their heads just because that's what happens when you intentionally breed a breed of dog down in size. Eyes don't shrink so readily in that process, just the bodies do, so you get that very endearing big-eyed look, which is part of what makes them so appealing and lovable as pets today.