While a great many breeders always select for the production of large pups large bitches and dogs, yet experience has proven that the majority of big ones have been the offspring of medium sized dams that were bred to strong, heavy-boned dogs of substance.  I bred a bitch weighing twenty pounds to a large bull terrier that weighed forty-five pounds for an experiment, and the pups, five in number, weighed at maturity from thirty-five to forty pounds, with noses and tails nearly as long as their sire’s, and his color, but were very nice in their disposition, and were given away for stable dogs.  Progressive up-to-date kennel men will see that they have on hand not only the three classes called for by the standard, but the fourth class, so to speak, that I have mentioned above, those weighing anywhere from thirty to forty pounds.  Quite a number of breeders in the past have put in the kennel pail at birth extra large pups that they thought would mature too large to sell, but they need do so no longer.  This precaution must always be taken where there are one or more of these large size puppies, viz., to look out that they do not get more than their proportionate share of the milk, or later the food, as they are very apt to crowd out the others.

Remember that the Boston terrier of whatever size will always hold his own as a companion, a dog that can be talked to and caressed, for between the dog and his owner will always be found a bond of affection and sympathetic understanding.

[Illustration:  Prince Lutana]

[Illustration:  Champion Fosco]

[Illustration:  “Pop” Benson with Bunny II]

[Illustration:  Sir Barney Blue]

CHAPTER VII.

BREEDING FOR GOOD DISPOSITION.

This, to my mind, is the most important feature in the breeding of the dog that demands the most careful attention.  If the disposition of the dog is not all that can be desired, of what avail is superb constitution, an ideal conformation and beautiful color and markings?  Better by far obtain the most pronounced mongrel that roams the street that shows a loving, generous nature if he cost his weight in gold, than take as a gift the most royally bred Boston that could not be depended upon at all times and under all circumstances to manifest a perfect disposition.

A short time ago I went to visit a noted pack of English fox hounds.  One beautiful dog especially, took my eye, a strong, vigorous, noble-looking fellow, and on my asking the kennel man, a quaint old Scotchman, if he would let the dog out for me to see, he replied:  “Why, certainly, Mr. Axtell, that dog is Dashwood, he is a perfect gentleman,” and this is what all Boston terriers should be.  Of course, I am speaking of the well bred, properly trained, blue blooded dog, not the mongrel that so often masquerades under his name.  Still, as there are black sheep in every family, a dog showing an ugly, snapping, quarrelsome disposition will occasionally be met with which, to the shame of the owner, is not mercifully put out of the way and buried so deep that he can not be scratched up, but is allowed to perpetuate his or her own kind to the everlasting detriment of the breed.