PATRIOT FARM BOSTON TERRIERS
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The Color Variety of
Boston Terriers 

Educational Color Genetics Links below

http://www.doggenetics.co.uk/dilutes.html

https://vgl.ucdavis.edu/test/dilute-dog

https://www.animalgenetics.us/canine/canine-color/DLocus.asp

https://embarkvet.com/breeders/resources/canine-genetics-for-dog-breeders/coat-color/genetics-101/

Embrace the Diversity
​#embracethediversity

Boston Terriers of Color - Embrace the Diversity
What is a pure bred dog? All dogs descended from the wolf and over time people purposefully bred dogs to have characteristics they wanted. In essence they are man made. In the early to 1900’s competitive dog breeding flourished. Defects were perpetuated in order to distinguish dogs as different breeds. Like the corkscrew tail, brachycephalic head, short legs, multiple dew claws, long backs, bulging eyes and many skin folds these are all characteristics that people cultivated into a specimen and then called it a breed. This is how dog breeds are created.

Within a breed early on there is a lot of inbreeding that takes place. It is done to set type by breeding “like to like” in order to perpetuate the “breed type” but sometimes it also sets in undesirable genes. In breeding there is a term for what you see in a dog, it is what the judge sees, it’s called the PHENOTYPE and it was the only thing until recently that breeders had to use to choose their breeding stock. What breeders couldn’t see is called the GENOTYPE, this is the set of genes the dog carries hidden within. The most noted recessives are color recessives because you can see them immediately upon pairing in the phenotype when the pup is born.

The Boston terrier breed standard in 1891 allowed for the early predominant colors of golden brindle to light yellow, mouse and liver. It was in and around 1914 when the breed standard was changed to brindle and white excluding all others. This was during a time when the breed was gaining popularity among doctors, lawyers and politicians. The consumers drove the market and they were willing to pay high dollars for the dark tuxedo look, and so it became. However there has been a resurgence for the early recessive colors and today there are families that want their American Gentleman in the original shades, the colorful tuxedo, just as their founding fathers were.

There are no diseases associated with recessive colors. The only condition that is associated is CDA. Color dilution alopecia, this condition is linked to the “dilution allele” and there have been many studies on it. I have personally inspected a doberman pinscher and a miniature pinscher who were afflicted with this condition in 1992 and 1994 but I have not yet seen it in the blue Bostons. This leads me to believe there are alles that carry it and others that do not.

A person cannot tell by looking at a Boston Terrier what color alleles they carry, the genotype cannot be seen. Interestingly if a blue and white Boston is bred to a non dilute carrying black and white Boston theoretically all the pups will be black and white and those pups will meet the requirements to be shown in the AKC ring as far as coat color is concerned.

Boston Terrier breeders who breed colors are labeled 'color breeders' and have been shamed for doing so because the color of their dogs are not in the current written standard.

Which brings me back to the question, what is a pure bred dog? A pure bred dog is a dog we humans created through breeding and inbreeding and simply perpetuated to satisfy our own desires -- No more, no less, so those who fancy a Colored Tuxedo on your AKC registered and DNA profiled purebred Boston Terrier thank you for EMBRACING THE DIVERSITY in our American breed the Boston Terrier.

Lori Pope Chapman
This article is provided to substantiate the roots of color in the beloved Boston Terrier.

https://www.bterrier.com/olde-boston-bulldogge-the-original-boston-bulldog/?fbclid=IwAR3vU1xTCdud50q_gmRgWyWgdf2KP3YwKzEKrkD6I6zAU_ukXfzHvOHHvDI


BTERRIER.COM
Olde Boston Bulldogge - The Original Boston Bulldog
The Olde Boston Bulldogge (Old Boston Bulldog) is the original Boston Bulldog, a dog breed that's coming from the Boston, Massachusetts area.

Sergeant Stubby
​

Several dog breeds link back to Sergeant Stubby(1916-March 16,1926) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergeant_Stubby, who truly resembled the early Boston Terriers of the time, it is an honor to think our that our All American Boston Terrier's go back to this genuinely Patriotic Pup!Please share:
Boston Terriers 4.0
There is no denying a few different bull terrier breeds of dogs were used to make up our current day Boston Terrier by our forefathers back in the late 1800’s -early 1900’s. They didn’t have the luxury of having DNA testing to know that certain genes were dominant over other genes. It did however become evident when the off color pup was born in a litter only to be culled by its’ breeder.
Those recessives were ‘dilute’ which causes a silvery blue grey hair-coat with a self-colored nose; ‘liver’ which causes a brownish red toned hair-coat with a self-colored nose; ‘fawn’ which is lack of dominant black and brindle thus allowing the genes on the a locus to be expressed, and then there is cream which is caused by phaeomelanin. All of these genes are simple recessives which means they need to be in homozygous form to be seen in the phenotype, in addition one copy HAS to come from the sire and the other HAS to come from the dam. https://www.animalgenetics.us/…/Canine-color/Color_Index.asp
Although our forefathers decrease the colors of the standard to only have brindle & white, black & white, and seal & white, in America, land of diversity and equal rights, it has become commonplace to develop and perpetuated these recessive shades of the Boston Terrier.
There is an ART to breeding good dogs and it’s truly breathtaking to see a masterfully bred individual and only gives breeders a greater desire to reach deeper for their own perfection. The truth is 'you only know what you’re exposed to' so I encourage breeders to broaden their experience and knowledge base by attending dog shows and seminars whenever possible.
I have a Facebook group which is a collection of pictures and information on improving Breed type regardless of the dogs color. Hopefully it will bring insight and in time, will improve the overall quality and knowledge of the recessive Boston Terrier population and breeders, in all sectors, showing and companions.
In conclusion, Americas biggest canine war hero was an early Red Brindle Boston Terrier named Sergent Stubby, we should be proud of our roots and embrace the diversity we came to find in the Boston Terrier. https://www.historyextra.com/…/serg
https://www.asymca.org/…/the-story-of-sgt.-stubby-is-moving…
https://www.identifymedals.com/…/sergeant-stubby-and-serge…/
https://slate.com/…/dogs-of-war-sergeant-stubby-the-u-s-arm…

Boston Terriers Had Colorful Roots

'last update 12/31/2019

My advise to anyone interested in breeding would be to go to a dog show and sit and watch the Best of Breed competition to see what the best of the best look like.
Hopefully you will have a mentor but if not try to find a breeder to help you. People may be interested in a Boston Terrier of a different color because they don't want it to remind them of the one they had before, so if you do breed the different colors please be sure you are breeding for the correct conformation and size. The biggest thing that happens when you breed dogs and adopt out puppies is the impact each and every puppy can make on the breed. So choose you breeding stock carefully and select the homes for those puppies wisely and be sure to check limited registration and only on full registration if you have a close relationship with the person. Puppy adoptions do not end with the delivery of the pup to their new owners be prepared to take that puppy back should you need to.
​Lori

The majority of people looking for a boston terrier are interested in the standard colors of black and white and brindle and white.

BREEDERS
​Go to great lengths to get the right dogs. If you are starting with a colored dog they can produce traditional color when bred to a traditional color dog. Do not compromise on ears, tail, size or type. Seek the best stud dog you can find. Also please realize the value of breeding your colored dog back to a standard colored dog who comes from great lineage to help improve your next generation. The best blues and chocolates come from a cross to a traditional carrier. Also realize that Lilac is a double dilute its color is from a reduction in melanin in the skin and hair and those dogs are at increased risk for the sun damage. My advise is choose one or the other and perfect it- remember being a "jack of all trades" makes you master on none. There are four different genes that cause a change in the way melanin is expressed these are, (dd)Blue(mouse), (bb)Chocolate(liver), (kyky)Fawn(red), and (ee)cream.

My Lifes' journey brought me here, I hope my experience and knowledge can give you food for thought on your own. Lori

The Boston terrier and all about it copyright 1910 Edward Axtell
Picture
​In 1885 when Edward Axtell first started breeding Boston terriers, according to his book published in 1910, “The Boston terrier and all about it”, the early predominant colors were golden brindle to light yellow, mouse and liver.

Today those colors are called red, blue and fawn and are still very popular. Although these colors are not allowed to be shown in the AKC confirmation classes due to having been written out of the standard in or around the early 19th century they are allowed to be fully registered and shown in agility and other performance events for AKC.

Being committed to conformation showing we found the association IABCA had a division for the color variety of Boston Terriers. Our first IABCA show was in the Fall of 2018 in Ocala Florida. We had a tremendously blessed weekend and Championed four of our dogs and had the opportunity to discuss with professional Judges our breeding plan on improving the breed type and overall quality of the color variety of our Boston Terriers.

We breed our Bostons for the desired characteristics our clients ask for. The dilute gene and liver genes are in our dogs and are the responsible alles that cause the colors blue and brown. We will make a good effort to improve our color line of Boston Terriers to adhere to the AKC conformation standard.



I became a member of the Boston Terrier Breeder Education group landing kind of like a cannonball June 2019 one month shy of my one year anniversary date.

I started several discussions one of which I’d like to highlight here now.

When group members brought up Color Boston Terriers as being mixed breeds I defended them. Here was my argument.

Boston Terrier Breeder Education

Hot topic answer to Admins --
Just because a dog is not a standard color doesn’t make it a mixed breed. Is there genetic proof its a mixed breed? According to AKC you cannot start a new breed of dog because your dog is a different color from the standard. It’s daunting to think that the dilution mutation was passed down from one source and made its way into almost every breed, its logical to think there were more sources or mutations.

From what I understand this debate has been going on for sometime and something has to change because if we keep doing the same thing over and over again we’re just going to get the same results. The AKC is currently registering Boston Terrier’s in colors other than is specified in your breed standard.

I cannot condone colored Boston Terriers as being passed off as a completely different breed. That would be like saying a Black Cocker Spaniel and a Buff Cocker Spaniel are different breeds. Today the cocker spaniel club of America accepts 22 different colors and variations and they are very proud of the diversity in their breed and they are all held to the same AKC standard in the show-ring.

The rift between the traditional and colored variety of Boston’s has only damaged the breed. If the two groups had been had been working together all along the quality would be much better for the colored variety today. It’s never to late to move forward. You are a strong group and I appreciate your love and passion for your breed. There is a huge community of respected colored Boston Terrier breeders waiting to be acknowledged.

Maybe some of the harshness I experienced when I showed AKC was somewhat because I was one of the early pioneers showing a chocolate Miniature Pinscher, which at the time was a newly introduced coat color, her name was AKC CH Valdon’s Magic Mocha Motion, her highest honors were last Award of Merit at 1996 MPCA national specialty, total entry around 300. It was a grandson of AKC CH Lorimar Valdon Designr Genes that almost took the Garden a year or two later.

By allowing for a “color variety” of Boston Terriers does not diminish you as a breed it simply defines that there were people who thought enough of them to continue their heritage. Dogs are here for our pleasure and ultimately people breed what they want. If there was a color variety class in AKC dog shows they would be held to the same standard as the traditional Boston’s and then it’s up to the Judge to disqualify them if they didn’t meet that standard for confirmation, temperament and movement.

This does not mean that the BTCA has to accept them at their specialties. It does mean AKC can start gaining entry revenue, dog registration revenue and the color Boston breeders can be more effective and influential within their community.

——————————————--
below is another book a quick read

How to breed better Boston Terriers

https://www.google.com/amp/s/breedingbusiness.com/how-to-breed-boston-terriers/amp/
​

  • About
  • Our Boys
  • Our Girls
  • Client’s and their Pups
  • Our Program
  • Hemivertebrae
  • Testimony to past performance
  • Boston Terrier Health links & training
  • Color Variety of Boston Terriers