Black and white Boston Terriers may be the most “classic” of the breed’s colors, but a true black and white may be the hardest coloring to find because most all Bostons have some level of brindle on them, whether it’s just a few stripes, or brindle all over their glorious little bodies. Brindle is not a color, it’s a pattern, and it’s preferred only if all other qualities are equal.
Brindle in the breed can range from just an small hint of brindle on a mostly solid dog, to bold stripes throughout the entire coat. It also comes in many shades ranging from black with brindle to seal with brindle. The color was found in the earliest official AKC breed standard (though no colors were specifically excluded) and when the standard was rewritten in 1914, it got more specific by excluding solid (self) black, all white, tan and black, liver (varying shades of red or brown), and mouse (varying shades of gray). These exclusions are something of which prospective owners should be aware when “shopping” for a Boston Terrier puppy and being tempted by “designer” colors not in the standard. Breeders of such dogs point out that these colors have been in existence since the creation of the breed, but too many of them fail to realize that unless the brindle pattern was present, the colors were considered a disqualification according to the breed standard, weren’t allowed in the ring, and thus were considered undesirable.
“Judge,” the ancestor of almost all the true modern Boston Terriers was described as a dark brindle, and today, brindles are usually registered as Black or Seal with Brindle.
Image: “Pensive Boston Terrier” by Svetlana Novikova
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