The rich mahogany brindle next became the fashionable color (and personally I consider it the most beautiful shade), and Mr. A. Goode with Champion "Monte" and Mr. Rawson with the beautiful pair, "Druid Merke" and "Vixen," set the pace and every one followed. A few years later Messrs. Phelps and Davis (who, with the above mentioned gentlemen, were true friends of the breed), sold a handsome pair of seal brindles, Chs. "Commissioner II." and "Topsy," to Mr. Borden of New York, and confirmed, if not established, the fashion for that color in that city. I think that all people will agree, from all parts of the country, that New York sets the style for practically everything, from my lady's headgear to the pattern of her equipages, and the edict from that city has decreed that the correct color in Boston terriers is a rich seal brindle, with white markings, with plenty of luster to it, and all sections of the continent promptly say amen!

I have taken the pains to look up a number of orders that we have recently received, which include (not enumerating those received from the New England States, or New York), three from Portland, Oregon, one from California, one from St. Louis, one from Mexico, four from Canada, two from Chicago, and one from Texas, and with the exception of two who wished to replace dogs bought of us ten or twelve years previously, they practically all wanted seal brindles.

These orders were nearly all from bankers and brokers, men who are supposed to be en rapport with the dictates of fashion. It goes without saying that what a public taste demands, every effort will be made to attain the same, and breeders will strive their utmost to produce this shade. Many who do not understand scientific matings to obtain these desirable colors have fallen into a very natural mistake in so doing. In regard to the mahogany brindles they say, why not breed continuously together rich mahogany sires and dams, and then we shall always have the brindles we desire. "Like produces like" is a truism often quoted, but there are exceptions, and Boston terrier breeding furnishes an important one. A very few years of breeding this way will give a brown, solid color, without a particle of brindle, or even worse, a buckskin. If the foundation stock is a lighter brindle to start, the result will be a mouse color. The proper course to pursue is to take a golden brindle bitch that comes from a family noted for that shade, and mate her with a dark mahogany brindle dog that comes from an ancestry possessed of that color. The bitch from this mating can be bred to dark mahogany brindles, and the females from this last mating bred again to dark mahogany males, but now a change is necessary. The maxim, "twice in and once out," applies here. The last bred bitches should be bred this time to a golden brindle dog, and same process repeated, that is, the bitches from this last union and their daughters can be bred to dark mahogany brindle dogs, when the golden brindle sire comes in play again. This can be repeated indefinitely. A rule in color breeding to be observed is this: that the male largely influences the color of the pups. If darker colors are desired, use a darker male than the female. If lighter shades are desired, use a lighter colored male.

If a tiger brindle is wanted, take a gray brindle bitch and mate to a dark mahogany dog. Steel and gray brindles are in so little demand and are so easy to produce that we shall not notice them.

In regard to seal brindles. A great many breeders who do not understand proper breeding to obtain them have fallen into the same pit as the others. In their desire to obtain the dark seal brindles they have mated very dark dogs to equally dark bitches, which has resulted in a few generations in producing dogs absolutely black in color, with coats that look as if they had been steeped in a pail of ink. A visit to any of the leading shows of late will reveal the fact that quite a number of candidates for bench honors are not real brindle, except possibly on the under side of the body, or perchance a slight shading on the legs. A considerable number are perfectly black, and are called by courtesy black brindles. As well call the ace of spades by the same name. A serious feature in connection with this is, that the longer this line of breeding is persisted in, the harder will be the task to breed away. In fact, in my estimation it will be as difficult as the elimination of white. One important fact in connection here is that black color is more pronounced from white stock than from brindle.