Boston Terrier Puppies

The first breed America made for itself

Most breeds arrive here from somewhere else. The Boston Terrier started in Boston in the 1870s, and it is usually credited as the first breed developed in the United States to earn recognition from the American Kennel Club. The whole line traces back to one dog: a Bulldog and English White Terrier cross called Judge, brought over from England and bought by Robert C. Hooper of Boston. Nearly every Boston Terrier alive descends from him.

The early dogs were larger and heavier than the ones you see now, and for a while they went by Round Heads. Breeders spent two decades refining the size, the head and the markings, and in 1891 the fanciers settled on a name that credited the city that made the dog. The AKC recognized the breed in 1893.

The rest of the record is local pride. Massachusetts made the Boston Terrier its state dog in 1979, and Boston University has kept one as its mascot for generations. For a dog bred in a city, it kept city habits. It is compact, it is tidy, and it fits into a small home without asking anyone to rearrange the furniture.

Tuxedo markings and the dog inside them

The nickname is the American Gentleman, and it comes from the coat. A Boston wears a dark jacket over a white shirt front: a white band around the muzzle, a blaze running up between the eyes, and white across the chest. The breed standard asks for those markings by name, which is why so many Bostons look formally dressed even while asleep on the sofa.

Underneath the white, the colours are brindle, seal or black. Seal is the one people ask about — it looks black indoors and turns a warm red-brown the moment the dog steps into sunlight, and you will find yourself checking it for the first week. Brindle runs from a faint tiger striping through to a pattern so heavy it reads as black until the light catches it.

The build is short-backed and square: broad chest, level topline, and a short tail that is either straight or set in a screw. Adults stand around fifteen to seventeen inches at the shoulder, and the standard sorts them into three weight classes — under fifteen pounds, fifteen to under twenty, and twenty to twenty-five. One Boston can be a genuinely tiny dog and another a solid, muscular one, so it is worth asking about the parents.

The head is the signature. A round skull flat between the ears, a short square muzzle, ears that stand up on their own, and large, round, dark eyes set wide apart. That face reads every expression you make and gives most of them back.

Manners, mischief and the household

Bostons are companions first. Whatever went into the breed at the start, what the early Boston fanciers selected for was a small, well-mannered house dog, and inside two decades they had one. The result is friendly, lively and sociable, and it wants to be wherever the people are. Most are easy with visitors, easy with other dogs and easy with the cat they grew up alongside.

The gentleman part is real, but it is only half the story. The other half is comic. Bostons do the thing owners call the zoomies — a sudden lap of the living room at full tilt, ending as abruptly as it started — and they are enthusiastic clowns for an audience. A Boston that has worked out which behaviour makes you laugh will keep that behaviour in the repertoire for years.

They are also unusually attentive. This is a breed that reads faces, follows tone of voice and has the household routine memorised inside a fortnight. It will know which drawer holds the leash and which coat means a car ride. Bostons are not big talkers by small-dog standards; one will let you know when somebody is at the door and then go back to what it was doing.

With children they are patient and sturdy for their size, and they are famously fond of being included in things. Give a Boston a bed of its own in the busiest room in the house and it will use it between activities, which is the whole trick with a companion breed.

What a day with a Boston Terrier looks like

Mornings start early, because a Boston asleep at the foot of the bed notices the moment you move. Breakfast is greeted as though it were unexpected.

Then a walk, and this is where the breed suits the city and the suburbs equally. Two modest outings a day cover it comfortably: around the block, along a lake path, a loop through the neighbourhood with plenty of stopping to greet people. Bostons are keen walkers without being long-distance ones, and a harness suits most of them better than a collar. In a Florida or Tennessee summer, the early morning and the late evening are the pleasant hours for both of you, with shade and water in between.

The middle of the day is for company and sleeping, usually pressed against somebody. Bostons are champion nappers and they do it in improbable positions: upside down, half off the cushion, chin on a shoe.

Afternoons want a little brain work, and that is easy to supply indoors. Five minutes of trick training, a snuffle mat, a treat hidden under one of three cups, a puzzle feeder at dinner. Being simple to entertain in a small space is a large part of why the breed does so well in apartments.

Evenings are the sofa. This is a lap dog with a terrier’s sense of humour, and the day usually ends with one stretched along somebody’s thigh, snoring gently while the television carries on without it.

The ten-minute grooming routine

The coat is short, fine and smooth, and it asks for very little. A rubber curry brush or a grooming mitt once a week lifts the loose hair, brings up the shine and takes about five minutes. Most Bostons treat it as a massage and lean into the brush.

The face gets a moment of its own. A damp cloth around the muzzle and under the eyes every few days keeps everything clean and gives you a reason to handle the head, which pays off at the groomer later.

Nails every few weeks — you will hear them on a hard floor when they are ready. Ears wiped out when you brush. Teeth done as a matter of routine, started early enough that a puppy decides the toothbrush is a game. Baths are occasional rather than scheduled, and a Boston dries in about the time it takes to carry it to a towel.

That is the entire list. No clipping, no stripping, no standing appointment, which makes this one of the lightest coats in dogs to live with.

Training a quick study

Bostons learn fast, and they learn from everything, including the lessons you did not mean to give. Decide the house rules before the puppy arrives and get every adult using the same words for the same things, and you are most of the way there.

The breed is sensitive to tone and thoroughly food-motivated, which is a useful combination. Keep sessions short, cheerful and well paid, ask for one thing at a time, and stop while the dog still wants more. Three minutes while the kettle boils gets you further than twenty minutes of repetition.

Tricks are where a Boston pays you back. Spin, paw, roll over, go-to-bed and speak all come quickly, and the breed has a real gift for performing in front of people. Bostons do well in obedience, rally, agility and flyball, and a weekly class is the easiest way to build the habit into your routine.

House-training runs on a schedule rather than a signal: a crate, a fixed routine, and going outside with the puppy so you can reward the right thing in the right place. Socialization is the piece worth investing in through the first six months — new floors, new people, traffic noise, umbrellas, hats, calm adult dogs. A well-socialized Boston is welcome almost anywhere, and this is a breed you will want to take almost anywhere.

Come and meet the Boston Terrier puppies

Photographs flatten a Boston into a set of markings. In person you notice the weight of the dog in your hands, the way the ears track a sound across the room, and how quickly a puppy decides you are the most interesting thing in the building. Littermates differ far more in personality than they do in markings, and personality is the part you can only judge sitting on the floor with them.

Our Boston Terrier puppies come from our network of licensed breeders, and our team can tell you what a particular puppy’s parents were like and roughly where in the weight range it is likely to land. We have a store in Orlando and one in Nashville, and you are welcome to spend as long as you like with a puppy before deciding anything. Find directions and hours, and ask about financing while you are here. Every puppy here goes home with its vet records, its vaccination history and a health warranty, and our team will walk you through what those cover.