Timeline

First Working Terriers

1440

A terrier dog is a type of dog that will tenaciously follow prey such as badgers, rats or even foxes into the ground (hence terra-). They originated in Europe and specifically the UK with their first mention in 1486 by Dame Juliana Berners writing near St. Albans. Boston Terriers are not now considered to be part of the non-working group of dogs by the Canadian Kennel Club, however if followed back far enough, the Boston terrier family tree includes these terrier ancestors via the English White Terrier.

English Bulldog

1500

The English Bulldog, along with the English White Terrier, is one of the foundational dogs of the Boston Terrier line. The first dog considered to be in the Boston Line is Hooper’s Judge who was a English Bulldog/White Terrier mix.

First mentioned around 1500, English Bulldogs were originally light boned, muscular and athletic. They were used to pin a tethered bull to the ground by the nose while wagers were taken.

Cruelty to Animals Act 1835

1835

Dog fighting with bears and bulls made illegal in the UK. Most of the fighting was done with Bulldogs, but the smaller bull terrier breeds were used as “bait” dogs to train the bulldogs for the ring.

Dog Shows Begin

1859

The first modern-day dog show was held in England in 1859. The only dogs shown were hunting dogs: pointers and setters, but it had the main components of modern day dogs shows: namely the grooming and presenting of dogs to a qualified judge for an award, prize and/or trophy. The prizes in this first show were in fact guns from the judge’s gun factory.

English White Terrier

1864

The now extinct English White Terrier, along with the English Bulldog, was one of the foundational dogs of the Boston Terrier. They were shown in England from about 1864 until 1894. Rawdon Briggs Lee, an English dog breeder and writer on dogs, describes the breed as:

“the most fragile and delicate of all our terriers…” but he “makes a nice house dog” although he “requires a considerable amount of cuddling and care.” Like many terriers of this era, the English White Terrier was mostly too large to be a working terrier. Strictly speaking, a terrier had to be small enough to fit into a badger’s or fox’s hole without touching the sides to allow airflow and avoid asphyxiation.

Judge

1865

All Boston Terriers are always traced back to Judge. He is reputed to have been an exceptionally sweet and gentle dog.

Robert C. Hooper obtained Judge from William O’Brien who probably brought the dog over from Liverpool, England as many seamen and engineers did at that time. From all accounts, Hooper’s Judge was a straight mix between a English White Terrier and an English Bulldog and weighed in at about 32 lbs. He was a brindle with a white stripe on his face.

According to most sources, Judge had just ONE litter of ONE puppy with Burnett’s Gyp (Kate) who was a small dog (about 20 lbs) and pure white, like the English Terrier. This puppy was named, Eph.

Eph

1870

The sole offspring of Judge and Gyp was Eph (28 lbs.) owned by a Mr. Wells. Eph met Tobin’s Kate (20 lbs.) and they went on to have many puppies, most notably for the Boston line were Bernard’s Tom and Atkinson’s Toby.

Tom and Toby were very fertile boys and their many offspring solidified the “round-headed” or “bullet-headed” bull terriers. This is when they started to go down a path separate from other bull terriers.

First North American Dog Show

1874

The first North American show was held in Chicago in June 1874. It featured only setters and pointers from across the US, Canada, and even Ireland. Throughout 1874, there were many shows of this type, with the first multi-event show that featured both a Field Trial and a Bench Show held in Memphis, Tennessee.

The 4 foundational Boston Terriers

1876

1. Judge and Gyp

3. Eph and Kate

Tom – the little screw tail

1877

The son of Eph and Kate and brother to Toby, Tom had many, many puppies with several females. He and his brother are considered to be the first real Boston terriers with the little screw tail first appearing through his line.

Notably, with Nellie, he had Mike. With Belle, he sired Ben.

Toby

1877

Toby was the brother of Tom and both were sired by Eph. Tom is often referred to as the first true Boston terrier although the name came later. Both these Tom and Toby sired many litters.

Barnard’s Mike

1879

Mike was sired by Tom. His puppy, Hooker’s Punch was the first Boston terrier registered by the American Kennel Club.

Hall’s Max

1880

Max was a direct descendant of Hooper’s Judge by Barnard’s Tom. According to Edward Axtell, in his 1909 book Max was a friendly dog who produced many progeny.

Max is described in Edward Axtell’s The Boston Terrier and All About It (originally published in 1910): “Max, a fairly good sized, beautiful dis-positioned dog that could almost talk, belonging to Dr. Hall, then a house doctor at the Eye and Ear Infirmary, Charles street. He was used, I am told, a great deal in the stud, and sired a great many more puppies than the doctor ever knew of.”

North American Kennel club

1884

In 1884, a group of 13 breed clubs, 10 American clubs and three Canadian clubs founded the American Kennel Club (AKC). These 13 clubs pledged “to do everything to advance the study, breeding, exhibiting, running and maintenance of purity of thoroughbred dogs.”

It was considered a club of clubs. The AKC started publishing the Gazette in 1889 and is still publishing it today.

Canadian Kennel Club (CKC)

1886

Two years after jointly creating the American Kennel Club, the Canadian breed clubs pulled out and established The Canadian Kennel Club in 1886.

American Bull Terrier Club

1889

The American Bull Terrier club was formed for the American line of Bull and Terrier dog. However, the little dogs that were to become Boston Terriers were not welcomed and were pejoratively nicknamed Round Heads by the “real” bull and terrier fanciers of the time.

Not a Bull Terrier

1891

And yes, these small round-headed dogs were starting to look very different from the main Bull and Terrier group. The other breeders were not pleased at having these ‘strange’ looking dogs be represented as bull terriers. As a result, our sweet little American Bull Terriers were being routinely ignored at many of the bench shows, sometimes even kicked out or at the very least relegated to the far back rooms.

The criticism ranged from being too small (not a “man’s dog”) to looking too much like a terrier and not enough “bull”. But the American breeders really liked their good natured, smaller dogs with their big wide-set eyes. Although there was much disagreement within their ranks over the details (i.e., a screw tail or whip tail?) they all agreed that they were no longer a true bull terrier.

Instead of giving up though, the American fanciers decided to rename their dogs as a distinct breed from the bull terriers and they were renamed the Boston Terrier in 1891.

Recognized by the AKC

1893

After the “round-headed” American Bull Terrier was renamed to the Boston Terrier in 1891, work began on the first Boston Terrier standard. In 1893, The American Kennel Club (AKC) finally accepted the Boston Terrier as a distinct breed. 75 Bostons were entered into the AKC stud books.

Boston Terrier Club of America

1894

On July 3, 1894, the Boston Terrier Club filed documents of incorporation for the fee of $5.00. Signatures on the original document were:

Howard P. Rogers, President,

Walter C. Hook, Treasurer,

Dwight Baldwin, Secretary,

Joseph O. McMullen

The Boston terrier;… by J. Varnum Mott, M. D.

1906

Dr. J. Varnum, M.D. wrote “The Boston terrier; its history, points, breeding, rearing, training, and care, together with several instructive chapters on management and diseases of dogs from a common sense view” (phew! quite the title!). The 5th edition, 1927 has been digitized and is available online.