Boston Terrier Colors Guide

The AKC breed standard recognizes three Boston Terrier colors, brindle, seal and black, always with white markings. The required markings are a white muzzle band, a white blaze between the eyes and a white forechest. Blue, lilac, brown (liver) and fawn Bostons are purebred too, but their colors fall outside the show standard.

Coat color doesn't change a Boston's personality or size. Learn what every Boston is like in our Boston Terrier breed guide.

Black & White Boston Terrier

The black and white Boston Terrier is the breed's signature look: a glossy black coat with a white blaze between the eyes, a white muzzle band and a white chest. That sharp contrast is why Bostons earned the nickname "the American Gentleman".

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Brindle & White Boston Terrier

A brindle Boston Terrier has a coat of dark stripes over a lighter brown or reddish base, sometimes called a tiger-stripe pattern, with the breed's usual white blaze, muzzle and chest.

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Lilac Boston Terrier

A lilac Boston Terrier has a soft, silvery taupe coat, somewhere between gray and light brown, with the breed's white markings. Lilac is a dilute color: a puppy needs to inherit both the brown gene and the dilute gene from both parents.

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Blue & White Boston Terrier

A blue Boston Terrier, sometimes called a gray or grey Boston Terrier, has a slate-gray coat, a gray nose and the breed's familiar white markings. The color comes from a recessive dilute gene that lightens black pigment to blue, and a puppy has to inherit it from both parents.

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Brown & Red Boston Terrier

A red Boston Terrier, also called brown, chocolate or liver, has a warm reddish-brown coat with white markings, a liver-colored nose and often light amber or hazel eyes.

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Fawn & White Boston Terrier

A fawn Boston Terrier has a light tan to golden coat with white markings, in a softer, warmer shade than red. Some fawn puppies have darker "sooty" shading around the eyes or ears.

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Seal Boston Terrier

Seal is one of the three standard colors. A seal coat looks black indoors but shows a warm red or brown cast in sunlight. Many puppies that look black and white in photos turn out to be seal in daylight.

Merle Boston Terriers

Merle, a mottled, patchy coat pattern, doesn't occur naturally in the Boston Terrier and is generally believed to have entered the breed through crossbreeding. It isn't a recognized Boston color. The merle gene is also linked to a higher risk of deafness and eye problems, especially when two merle dogs are bred together. None of our litters are merle.

All-White Boston Terriers

A mostly white Boston lacks the breed's classic markings, and extensive white on the head is linked to a higher risk of congenital deafness. If you're considering a puppy with a lot of white on the head, such as a splash puppy, ask about a BAER hearing test.

See all of these coats in real Boston Terrier pictures of our puppies and parents.