Boston Terrier Dog Breed
Posted by Jeanne on November 27, 2008
Boston Terriers are bred for their smartness, intelligence, and remarkable qualities of companionship. They are impatient and sometimes impetuous, which may be traced to their willingness to please and to serve. They make ideal house dogs and are always on the alert.
- General Appearance – The general appearance of the Boston Terrier should be that of a lively, highly intelligent, smooth-coated, short-headed, compactly built, short-tailed, well-balanced dog of medium station, of brindle color, and evenly marked with white.
- The head should indicate a high degree of intelligence and should be in proportion to the size of the dog; the body rather short and well knit, the limbs strong and neatly turned; tail short; and no feature be so prominent that the dog appears badly proportioned.
- The dog should convey an impression of determination, strength and activity, with style of a high order; carriage easy and graceful.
- A proportionate combination of “Color” and “Ideal Markings” is a particularly distinctive feature of a representative specimen, and a dog with a preponderance of white on body, or without the proper proportion of brindle and white on head, should possess sufficient merit otherwise to counteract its deficiencies in these respects.
The ideal “Boston Terrier Expression” as indicating “a high degree of intelligence” is also an important characteristic of the breed. - Skull – Square, flat on top, free from wrinkles; cheeks flat; brow abrupt, stop well defined.
- Eyes – Wide apart, large and round, dark in color, expression alert but kind and intelligent. The eyes should set square in the skull, and the outside corners should be on a line with the cheeks as viewed from the front.
- Muzzle – Short, square, wide and deep, and in proportion to skull; free from wrinkles; shorter in length than in width and depth, not exceeding in length approximately one-third of length of skull; width and depth carried out well to end; the muzzle from stop to end of nose on a line parallel to the top of the skull; nose black and wide, with well-defined line between nostrils. The jaws broad and square, with short regular teeth. The chops of good depth but not pendulous, completely covering the teeth when mouth is closed.
- Ears – Carried erect; small and thin; situated as near corners of skull as possible.
- Neck – Of fair length, slightly arched and carrying the head gracefully, setting neatly into shoulders.
- Body – Deep with good width of chest; shoulders sloping; back short; ribs deep and well sprung, carried well back to loins; loins short and muscular; rump curving slightly to set-on of tail; flank very slightly cut up. The body should appear short but not chunky.
- Elbows – Standing neither in nor out.
- Forelegs – Set moderately wide apart and on a line with the point of the shoulders; straight in bone and well muscled; pasterns short and strong.
- Hindlegs – Set true; bent at stifles; short from hocks to feet; hocks turning neither in nor out; thighs strong and well muscled.
- Feet – Round, small and compact, and turned neither in nor out; toes well arched.
- Tail – Set-on low; short, fine and tapering; straight or screw; devoid of fringe or coarse hair, and not carried above horizontal. The preferred tail should not exceed in length approximately half the distance from set-on to hock.
- Color – Brindle with white markings; brindle must show throughout the body distinctly. Ideal color shall be one in which the brindle coloring is evenly distributed throughout the body.
- Ideal Markings – White muzzle, even white blaze over head, collar, breast, part or whole of forelegs, and hindlegs below hocks.
- Coat – Short, smooth, bright and fine in texture.
- Weight – Not exceeding 25 pounds, divided by classes as follows: Lightweight, under 15 pounds; middleweight, 15 and under 20 pounds; heavyweight, 20 and not exceeding 25 pounds.
