Boston Terrier Trivia
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47 free Boston Terrier trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This Boston Terrier trivia quiz covers America's own gentleman from the 1870 purchase of Hooper's Judge onward: the bull and terrier lineage, Gyp of Southboro, the 44-pound Old Boston Bulldogs, the 1891 club and 1893 AKC recognition into the non-sporting group. Questions run through the standard (25-pound limit, three weight classes, seal versus black, required and desired white markings, the two-inch tail and those famous eyes) and the temperament that suits apartment life. Health gets an honest look: brachycephaly, caesarean rates, roaching, cataracts and the surprisingly low hip dysplasia figure. Then the famous Bostons: Sergeant Stubby's 17 battles, gas mask, captured spy and Smithsonian afterlife; Rhett of Boston University and the drowned mascot Danny; Blitz of Wofford; Bruschi's Guinness eyes; and Lennu, Finland's viral first dog. Questions run from easy to expert with the difficulty shown on each one, and every answer was checked against a reference page and carries its citation. If you enjoy it, try our Dogs and Boston quizzes next.
30 of 47 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Judge, the founding sire of the Boston Terrier, was brought to America from which country?
England
England: Judge was bred there in the 1860s from a Bulldog and a terrier, a cross then favoured for the fighting pit, before a Bostonian brought him home across the Atlantic.
Q 02Despite its name, the Boston Terrier is shown in which American Kennel Club group rather than with the terriers?
Non-sporting group
Non-sporting group: by the time the kennel club accepted the breed, selective breeding had turned the bulky fighter of its founders' day into a smaller, sweeter companion.
Q 03Before the name Boston Terrier was settled, early fans knew the dogs by which nickname?
Round Heads
Round Heads, for the curved skull that softened the dogs' expression; the nickname was judged no fit name for a breed, and the city where they were bred supplied a better one.
Q 04The bull-and-terrier crosses behind the Boston Terrier were bred for pit fighting and for contests at killing which animals?
Rats
Rats: in a ratting contest spectators bet on how fast a dog could kill a pit full of them, a far cry from the house pet the Boston became once breeders had selected for a sweeter nature.
Q 05Judge, the Boston Terrier's founding sire, had a coat of which colour?
Brindle
Brindle: breed histories describe Judge as a dark brindle. No rule fixed a Boston's colour in his day; only in the 20th century were the breed's colours and white markings written into the standard as essential.
Q 06Which famous American author kept a Boston Terrier named Phiz while studying at Radcliffe College?
Helen Keller
Helen Keller was given the dog, formally Sir Thomas, by her classmates; her memoir of those years praises a terrier with 'a crooked tail and the drollest phiz in dogdom'.
Q 07Which president did war dog Sergeant Stubby meet first, while still overseas with his regiment?
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson met Stubby on Christmas Day 1918, weeks after the Armistice, and the dog is said to have offered him a paw; Harding and Coolidge met him later, back home.
Q 08Which school's students voted in 1922 to make the Boston Terrier their mascot?
Boston University
Boston University students chose the terrier that November; the campus paper argued it was the one animal 'distinctive of Boston and of Boston alone'.
Q 09A university whose colour is scarlet is said to have named its Boston Terrier mascot after a hero of which novel?
Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind's Rhett Butler loved Scarlett O'Hara, so the scarlet-clad school named its costumed terrier Rhett.
Q 10The AKC breed standard sorts Boston Terriers into three classes according to what?
Weight
Weight sets the classes: under 15 pounds, 15 to under 20, and 20 to 25. Size is otherwise left open, because the standard gives no height at all.
Q 11Which ear carriage does the breed standard require of a Boston Terrier?
Erect ears
Erect ears are required; the folded 'rose' ear that is correct on a Bulldog would be wrong here, and the standard wants the ears small and set at the corners of the skull.
Q 12Which accepted Boston Terrier coat colour looks black until bright light shows its red cast?
Seal
Seal is one of only three colours the standard accepts, each with white markings; a solid seal dog, like any solid-coloured Boston, is disqualified.
Q 13Which white facial marking does the AKC standard require on every Boston Terrier?
A blaze
A blaze, a white stripe up the centre of the face, is required along with a white muzzle band and forechest; a solid-coloured Boston without them is disqualified.
Q 21Which procedure delivered more than 80% of Boston Terrier litters in a UK Kennel Club survey?
Caesarean section
Caesarean section is the norm because flat-faced breeds run the highest risk of difficult labour; only three of the 151 breeds surveyed passed 80%, all of them flat-faced.
Q 22Which show-ring term describes an upward-arched back on a Boston Terrier?
Roaching
Roaching, or a roach back, bulges upward where the standard asks for a level topline; judges treat it as a serious fault, like its opposite, the sway back.
Q 23Which Boston Terrier lookalike ended the Labrador's 31-year run as the AKC's top breed?
French Bulldog
Q 14Because its markings resemble formal wear, the Boston Terrier is nicknamed what?
The American Gentleman
The American Gentleman earned the title for manners as much as markings: the AKC credits the breed's impeccable behaviour, and its standard calls the dog 'dapper and charming'.
Q 15Which of these gets a Boston Terrier disqualified under the AKC breed standard?
A docked tail
A docked tail disqualifies because the Boston's short tail must be natural, yet the same standard allows cropped ears and removed dewclaws.
Q 16In 2012 a Texas Boston Terrier named Bruschi set a Guinness World Record for a dog's largest what?
Eyes
Eyes: each of Bruschi's measured 1.1 inches (28 mm) across, and owner Victoria Reed sent Guinness his photo after her vet joked that she should.
Q 17Which feature, perfectly acceptable in a Siberian Husky, disqualifies a Boston Terrier from the AKC show ring?
Blue eyes
Blue eyes, or any trace of blue, disqualify a Boston: the standard asks for dark eyes and calls the breed's alert, kind expression one of its most important traits.
Q 18Besides its small size, what makes the Boston Terrier well suited to apartment life?
They bark only when necessary
They bark only when necessary: the AKC rates the breed near the quiet end of its barking scale, though a bored, under-exercised Boston can still turn noisy.
Q 19Boston Terrier breeders are urged to screen puppies for which inherited problem, often linked to white coats?
Deafness
Deafness in dogs is tied to the genes for white markings, so breeders use the BAER test, which records the brain's response to clicks and is the only accepted way to diagnose it.
Q 20The Boston Terrier's pushed-in face makes it what kind of breed?
Brachycephalic
Brachycephalic dogs have shortened skull bones: the squashed muzzle narrows the airway and makes panting a poor way to cool down, so Bostons overheat easily.
The French Bulldog took over in the 2022 rankings after climbing from 14th place in a decade; the Boston Terrier, recognised five years before it, stood 23rd in 2024.
Q 24Sergeant Stubby's regiment, the 102nd Infantry, belonged to which nicknamed division of the US Army in World War I?
Yankee Division
The Yankee Division, the 26th, was built from the National Guard of Connecticut, Massachusetts and their neighbours, which is how a stray picked up in training reached the Western Front.
Q 25Where was the future Sergeant Stubby found wandering as a stray in July 1917?
The Yale University campus
The Yale University campus hosted the regiment's training camp around the Yale Bowl; J. Robert Conroy befriended the stray there and later hid him aboard the troop ship.
Q 26By most accounts, how did stowaway Stubby win over the officer who found the dog on the way to war?
He saluted him
He saluted him: soldiers had taught the dog to raise his right paw to his eye in camp, and the charmed officer let him stay as the regiment's mascot.
Q 27Which organisation promised Sergeant Stubby 'three bones a day and a place to sleep' for life?
YMCA
The YMCA made the promise with a lifetime membership for a dog so famous that the Hotel Majestic on Central Park waived its no-dogs rule for him.
Q 28Which piece of protective gear was Sergeant Stubby issued in the trenches, just like the soldiers around him?
A gas mask
A gas mask was fitted to Stubby, who was gassed himself, and he is said to have roused sleeping soldiers when a gas attack began.
Q 29Which feat is said to have earned Stubby his promotion to sergeant?
Capturing a German spy
Capturing a German spy: Stubby is said to have seized a man mapping the American lines by the seat of his trousers and held on until soldiers arrived.
Q 30Which general presented Stubby with a gold medal from the Humane Education Society in 1921?
John J. Pershing
John J. Pershing, who had commanded the American forces in the war, pinned the medal on Stubby at a ceremony for his old regiment; it was a humane society's tribute, not an Army decoration.