526 The Dog Book 



there had been no introduction of bulldog blood. That there was no 

 genuine bull terrier blood introduced we readily admit, for that would 

 have ruined the muzzle entirely, but quite a number of the dogs registered 

 up to 1898 showed bulldog lines. These we have got rid of so far as any- 

 thing in the record of registering with the Kennel Club is concerned. 



We have, however, two of the best informed of the old breeders and 

 exhibitors, men who assisted most materially in the formation of the breed, 

 both asserting that it is a dog of bulldog type as opposed to that of the 

 terrier, yet the dog has been changed altogether from what they said it 

 should be. Mr. Hook was using the reversion to the bulldog to get back 

 the rose ear, and was advocating it in September, 1894. In May of the 

 following year the American Kennel Club Committee on Constitution and 

 Rules proposed the abolition of cropping dogs, yet no club more bitterly 

 opposed that than the Boston Terrier Club, because of interference with the 

 practices of its members, and that club and its members assisted materially 

 in defeating the measure. We are not giving this information with the 

 idea of taking sides as to whether the Boston terrier should be of bulldog 

 type or more terrier-like. That is for those interested in the breed to decide. 

 Our object is to state facts of history, and in this case to show that as late 

 as twelve years ago old members were regretting the change that was being 

 made in the breed. How good a dog would have been turned out if the 

 effort for improvement had been along the lines of bulldog front and body, 

 with rose ears and level mouth no one can say, but all will admit that if the 

 dog was not to belie its name it should not be a bulldog in general character 

 but a terrier, and that it is to-day in the main, with a lingering touch of the 

 bulldog here and there. 



There yet remain some missing terrier attributes to which attention 

 should be directed. More regard should be paid to perfecting the legs and 

 feet. The fore legs should not only be straight in bone but look straight. 

 There is a tendency to too much spring in fetlocks and with that the usual 

 attendant flatness and openness of feet. These are decided objections in a 

 terrier. It is almost heretical, perhaps, to say anything against the twisted 

 and deformed apology for a tail which is considered such an absolute essen- 

 tial in this dog, but we cannot stand that in any terrier, when it comes to a 

 personal opinion. Mr. Hook in 1894 bred back to the bulldog to get 

 some disappearing properties, one being the " short tapering tail" see his 

 letter previously quoted. As a deformity we will always regard it, though 



