Читать книгу American Pit Bull Terrier Handbook - Joe Stahlkuppe - Страница 34

A brother breed to the APBT is the Boston Terrier (colloquially and unpopularly still called the “Boston Bull Terrier” by uninformed people). The original Boston Terrier is clearly a very close relative of the original APBT. A number of books about the Boston Terrier make the following assertions:

• Both breeds were originally about the same size, approximately 35 pounds (16 kg).

• Hooper’s “Judge,” the founding sire of the Boston Terrier breed, was identified as a bull-and-terrier cross and was imported around 1865 from England by William O’Brien of Boston, Massachusetts.

• Judge, described as “more like a bulldog than a terrier” was dark brindle with white markings on his face and a white chest.

• Judge had cropped ears, a common surgery performed on pit dogs.

• Judge weighed 32 pounds (14.5 kg) and “…was a well-built and high stationed (tall) dog.”

• Both breeds clearly demonstrated their bull-and-terrier heritage.

• An early name for the Boston was the “Round-headed Bull and Terrier.”

• Another early name for the Boston was also an early name for the APBT, the “American Bull Terrier.”

• Both breeds are athletic and packed with power; prominent writers still remark on how much the physiques of the two breeds look alike.

• Both were originally bred and then imported to America for the same purpose—to fight in the dog pits against other dogs.

• From bull-and-terrier stock, imported to the United States from Britain, the APBT was sent to fight in the pits.

• From bull-and-terrier stock, imported to the United States from Britain, the Boston Terrier was number one on the American Kennel Club’s list of most popular breeds in America for many years.

It would be unfair to the people of the United Kingdom to say that dogfighting was universally accepted. It was not. Most of the population, rich and poor, felt the sport was cruel and that the practitioners were of a lower moral status, if not lower social status.

Many British residents felt they had a chance for a better life in America and immigrated to the United States and Canada. They brought with them many of their customs, their language, their laws, and their blood sports.