The Boston Terrier and All About It | Page 3

face, white collar, white chest, and white feet, weighing twenty-two pounds, and possessing the first screw tail, named Barnard's Tom. I shall never forget the first visit I made to Barnard's stable to see him. To my mind he possessed a certain type, style and quality such as I had never seen before, but which stamped him as the first real Boston terrier, as the dog is today understood. I was never tired of going to see him and his brother, Atkinson's Toby. Tom was mated to a dark brindle bitch, evenly marked, weighing twenty pounds. She had a good, short, blocky head, and a three-quarter tail, and known as Kelley's Nell. The result of this mating was a dog destined to make Boston terrier history, and to my mind the most famous Boston terrier born, judged by results. He was known as "Mike," commonly called "Barnard's Mike." He was a rather light brindle and white, even mouthed, short tailed dog, weighing about twenty-five pounds, very typical, but what impressed me was his large, full eye, the first I had ever seen, and which we see so often occurring in his descendants. I owned a grandson of his named "Gus," 48136, who was almost a reproduction of him, with eyes fully as large. Unfortunately he jumped out of a third-story window in my kennels and permanently ended his usefulness. Chief among the direct descendants from Hooper's Judge were the noted stud dogs, Ben Butler, Hall's Max, O'Brien's Ross, Hook's Punch, Trimount King, McMullen's Boxer, and Ben, Goode's Ned, and Bixby's Tony Boy. The two dogs that impressed me the most in that group were Max, a fairly good sized, beautiful dispositioned 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. Bixby's Tony Boy was the other. I had a very handsome bitch by him out of a Torrey's Ned bitch, and liked her so much that I offered Mr. Bixby, I believe, $700 for Tony, only to be told that a colored gentleman (who evidently knew a good thing when he saw it) had offered him $200 more.
Of the line of early bitches of the same breeding may briefly be mentioned Reynold's Famous, dam of Gilbert's Fun; Kelley's Nell, dam of Ross and Trimount King; Saunder's Kate, dam of Ben Butler; Nolan's Mollie, dam of Doctor, Evadne and Nancy.
Quite a number of other small dogs were subsequently introduced into the breed, which had now been somewhat inbred. These were largely imported from the other side, and were similar in type to Hooper's Judge. One of the most noted was the Jack Reede dog. He was an evenly marked, reddish brindle and white, rather rough in coat, three-quarter tail, weighing fourteen pounds. Another very small dog was the Perry dog, imported from Scotland, bluish and white in color, with a three-quarter straight tail, and weighing but six pounds. I have always felt very sorry not to have seen him, as he must have been a curiosity. Still another outside dog, also imported, and very quarrelsome, white in color, weighing eighteen pounds, with a good, large skull, and an eye as full as Barnard's Mike, but straight tail, was Kelley's Brick. Another outside dog (I do not know where he came from), was O'Brien's Ben. He was a short, cobby, white and tan brindle color, three-quarter tail, with a short head and even mouth. It will be observed that practically all these outside dogs were small sized, and were selected largely on that account. By the continued inbreeding of the most typical of the sons and daughters of Tom, the present type of the dog was made permanent.
[Illustration: Barnard's Tom]
[Illustration: Hall's Max]
[Illustration: Champion Halloo Prince]
[Illustration: Bixby's Tony Boy]
Perhaps this somewhat restricted review of the breed, going back over thirty-six or seven years and showing the somewhat mixed ancestry of our present blue-blooded Boston terrier of today, may afford some explanation of the diversity of type frequently presented in one litter. I have seen numbers of litters where the utmost attention has been paid to every detail with the expectancy of getting crackerjacks, to find that one will have to wait for the "next time," as the litter in question showed the bull type, and the terrier also, and very little Boston; but fortunately, with the mating intelligently attended to, and the putting aside of all dogs that do not comport to the standard as non-breeders, a type of a dog will be bred true to our highest ideals. My advice to all breeders is, do not get discouraged, try, yes, try again, and Boston terriers,