RESEARCH ANY BREED YOU ARE CONSIDERING ADOPTING BY TALKING TO RESCUE FOLKS NOT JUST BREEDERS WHO WANT TO SELL YOU A DOG!!!

REMEMBER THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A PERFECT DOG!!! Every dog is an individual and they all have their own little idiosyncrasies. They all pee, poop, puke, fart, drool, and shed. IF you cannot deal with any of that, then you need a stuffed toy and not a live dog of any breed.

1. The Breed standard calls for a Boston to be between 10-25 lbs. Having said that, due to breeders who breed anything with papers whether they adhere to the standard or not, most of the Bostons that we get into rescue are between 19-30 lbs. We rarely get the small Bostons unless they are old or have health issues. We have had some as big as 40 lbs. and a couple as small as 8 lbs. In my experience, the smaller the Boston the meaner the temperament. Both of the 8 lbs. Bostons I got into my rescue were mean little dogs who liked to bite. The bigger Bostons that I have gotten did have much better temperaments. Their body types can be anywhere from long, lanky and lean to short, squat and fat. They can come with flat faces to noses that are 2 inches long. Their tails can be non-existent or go inwards rather than outwards or up to 6 inches long with twists in them that folks who know nothing about the breed thinks are broken tails.

2. Bostons are very mouthy dogs. Being mouthy means that they use their mouths to grab you with a lot. Sometimes they get a little too excited and grab you too hard causing a pinch that HURTS! Some people cause damage to themselves by jerking back and causing the dogs teeth to tear their skin when they are being mouthed/nipped. I get a lot of dogs turned into me for nipping as this is a Boston habit that they don't tell you about in the books. This is why most Bostons are not good for children under 5. There are exceptions to every rule and some Bostons are great with small kids. As a general rule, we don't place our dogs with people who have kids under 5 years of age because the kids aren't old enough to understand that a dog WILL bite if pinched, ears and tail pulled, climbed on, toys/food taken away, getting in the dog's crate etc. We don't want to take the risk of a child getting hurt due to a child's mental development not being far enough along in the understanding department.

3. Having said Bostons are very mouthy, that also means that they like to chew on things, usually your favorite antique whatever it is. A Boston has very strong jaws and can chew through walls, doors, floors and various other things you don't want them chewing on. Bostons can be very destructive, especially when they are bored and left alone. They need to have plenty of tough chew toys and be worked with to let them know toys are good things to chew, furniture and other things are not good things to chew. The best way to do this is to crate them when you are not at home and supervise them diligently until they know the difference. That way when they start to chew on something they are not supposed to chew on, you can say no, chew this and hand them a toy they are allowed to chew on. I would also put some habanero or other really hot sauce on whatever it was they wanted to chew to discourage it. A Word of advice - Bostons love to destroy anything that has foam rubber in it. Those wonderful little doggie beds with foam in them don't last too long.

4. As a general rule, Bostons are hard to housebreak. If you don't have the time to go outside with them on a leash EVERY time they go outside for up to 6 months so you can watch, praise and give a treat to them when they do go potty, then you don't want a Boston. Until your dog is reliably housebroken, outside is only done on a leash and no playing is allowed. Play inside only. This helps with the housebreaking. I get so many folks with fenced backyards who complain that they let their dogs out to go to the bathroom and then the dogs come in and go potty in the house. Well, if you notice they didn't go outside with the dogs to make sure they went to the bathroom. To these dogs, outside is a wonderful place to play. If you have housebroken your dogs right, outside is where they potty and not play.

5. Bostons are BIG DOGS in little dog bodies. Which means that they KNOW NO FEAR and are not afraid of a Giant dog and will take any dog on in a fight. Not all Bostons love everyone and everything UNLIKE what the books tell you. A lot of Bostons are same sex aggressive, meaning if they are female, they will beat up and try to kill another female, etc. Some Bostons are just dog aggressive period. Then there are those that are so protective of their humans when on leash that they get very aggressive toward other dogs and strange humans, which is not always a bad thing. Some are fine with small dogs and hate big dogs. These issues are partially due to bad breeding as many of the puppy millers and backyard breeders aren't breeding to standard as the standard calls for a good temperament well as looks. It is also partially due to incorrect training methods and idiots who encourage this type of behavior in their dogs.

6. Boston Terriers often have sensitive stomachs and are prone to both food and contact allergies. They can eat something different like grass, leaves, dirt, whatever and throw their whole system out of whack causing diarrhea, vomiting and gas. Doing allergy testing and buying allergy medicines /hypo allergenic foods to keep your dog from itching to death, throwing up all over the place and having runny stools is not cheap. Bostons do better on a good quality diet and any dog food you buy at Wal-Mart or the grocery store is not a good quality diet. Plan on spending a few more bucks on food from a pet store or home cook or feed the barf diet (Bones and Raw Food) and you will have a dog that has less coat, stomach and health problems.

7. Bostons are VERY GASSY little dogs. If you can't stand dog farts, you don't want a Boston. The cheaper and lower quality food you feed them, the worse the gas is. Don't get a Boston and complain about the gas, as it is something that we who love our Bostons endure for their company.

8. Boston eyes are EXTREMELY PRONE TO INJURY!!! Any eye injury is serious!!! Bostons have a tendency for their eyes to ulcerate quickly and if not taken care of immediately may have to go through many surgeries, lots of ointment dispensing to the eye and still loose the eye. This is not fiction. It is a fact! Take a look at all the one eyed and no eyed Bostons that you see on the rescue dogs across the country.

9. Bostons are very people needy dogs and demand a lot of attention. They want to sleep in bed with you and be touching you most of the time. They want to go where you do and be with you. I have had some that will climb fences just to get to where you are.

10. Bostons are lap dogs who are very energetic and do the Boston 500 around the house a lot. When they are under 5, I often refer to them as bouncing off the walls if that gives you any idea. Some of the old ones are pretty active too. These are not cute little foofoo dogs that sit around on cushions and look pretty. They can play tug, chase, catch me if you can and other doggie action games for HOURS.

11. Bostons are very curious and even the best-trained BT will suddenly turn deaf IF there is something that catches their interest. They dart out of doors faster than you can blink, so always have a leash on them before you open a door to the outside or have them crated. You would not believe how many apps I get telling me they opened the door and their dog darted out and got ran over. Not something I want to happen to my dogs and I am sure you don't want that happening to yours either.

12. Some (quite a few of the ones I get) have high prey drives. That means that they will go after squirrels, mice, frogs, cats, other dogs, chickens, goats, horses, etc. and try to kill them. Not all of them have a high prey drive, but please be aware that a lot of them have it.

13. Bostons due to their short muzzles are also extremely heat intolerant. They overheat very quickly. The airlines won't ship them when it is over 70 degrees. DON"T EVER leave your Boston in a car when it is over 65 degrees as even in cloudy weather the inside of your car can heat up and your dog die of heat exhaustion and it is not a pretty or an easy death. They MUST HAVE AIRCONDITIONING and use it religiously.

14. Due to their small stature and short hair, Bostons cannot tolerate cold weather either. If you need a sweater, then so do they.

15. IF your Boston has a lot of white on it, during sunny days sunburn happens. Sunblock is good to rub on their ears, tops of noses and anywhere they might burn.

16. Due to their short noses, Bostons also SNORE LOUDLY, snort a lot, pant loudly and have the reverse sneezes which if you have never seen, when it happens you think they are dying and can't catch their breath.

17. Boston playtime sounds like a war zone if you have more than one. Bostons play loud and play rough. I have had to go check on my Bostons on more than one occasion when the growling level sounded like they were killing each other only to discover that they were 3 feet apart growling, pulling and shaking on a rope play toy. It is ALWAYS wise to check on your dogs if they sound like they are killing each other. Sometimes play does escalate into a fight. Our dogs are scrappy little creatures and sometimes fights start over doorbells ringing, toys, food and other things. But it is also good to know that the growling boxing, the mouth game and the wrestling is a normal play occurrence with our Bostons.

18. Some Bostons drool when they are nervous or excited like whenever when they meets a new dog, a new person, or there is a really interesting smell. Often they drool so much, they slime all the other dogs. Often they will drool when they are hoping for something you are eating. Some of mine blow some really big drool bubbles.

19. Since their jaws are broad and square, they can have underbites & are more likely to have problems with their teeth? If you smell fetid breath, usually an abscessed tooth causes it. I know we do quite a lot of dental work on our dogs. Dentals are not cheap.

Health issues with Bostons include and are not limited to:

ALLERGIES both contact and food related

Cancer

Eye ulcerations/injury

Luxating Patellas

Heart murmurs/related issues

Sensitive Stomach/gastrointestinal problems

Short/cleft palates

Boston Terriers are not known as Boston Terrors for no reason. Keep in mind that well-behaved Boston Terrier that you met or knew as a child had a lot of human interaction and training to be that way. You only get a well-behaved dog if you are willing to put plenty of time and training into a dog. The more time you spend with your dog training and working with it, the better behaved it is. If you only have 15 minutes a day to spend with a dog, you don't need a dog. You don't just say be a good dog and do what I want via telepathy as a dog cannot read your mind, you have to be willing to take the time and effort to train the dog.

Every individual dog no matter what breed can vary a great deal from the normal characteristics of the breed due to their environment, the type of human interaction the dog has had as well as their breeding.

This list is to get you to thinking "Is a Boston Terrier the right dog for my family?" If I haven't scared you off, then please take a look at our rescued dogs as they need someone who is willing to love and work with them on any issues that they may have be it health or behavioral. Thank you.

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