Boston bull terrier dog, the american gentleman origins
The Boston Bull Terrier dog is one of the fewer breeds that was bred exclusively in the United States – in the Boston area, around 1870 to 1885.
They are bred down in size from pit-fighting dogs of the bull and terrier types. The older Boston Bull Terriers dogs weighed up to 44 pounds (20kg).
So it is quite hard to believe that our cute little Boston terriers were once tough pit-fighters. Actually, their weight classification were divided into lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight in the past.
The foremost originals of the Boston Bull Terrier dogs were a cross between the English Bulldog and the English White Terrier (now extinct). At around 1865, the coachmen employed by wealthy people in Boston started to interbred some of these dogs owned by their employers.
It happened that one of these interbred, between the English Bulldog and the English White Terrier, is the earliest Boston Bull Terrier dog named Hooper’s Judge. It weighed in at over 30 pounds (13.5kg), and was actually bred down in size through a smaller female and one of those male pups was again bred with an even smaller female. Then their offspring interbred with one of the French Bulldogs which resulted in the creation of the foundation for Boston Bull Terrier dogs.
By 1889, there are so many Boston Bull Terrier dogs around that they founded the American Bull Terrier Club. However, both the Bulldog and Bull Terrier fanciers reject that name plus it was not well received by AKC too. So finally the name is changed to today’s Boston Terrier and the AKC recognized the breed in 1893, which is an exceptionally short time after its founding.
Initially, colors and markings were insignificant but by the early 1900s, the breed’s unique markings had become the standard breed characteristic.
By 1929-1935, it was ranked as the most popular breed in America and their overall breed quality still maintained well. It was also first registered in Canada in 1888-89.
The huge popularity of Boston Terriers or the Boston Bull Terrier dogs is due to its good temperament, as it had already lost most of those undesirable qualities of ruthless desire for destruction. Now, it just prefers the company of humans, although there are still some instances whereby the males will still challenge other dogs if they felt that their territorial space is being invaded.
