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October 27th, 2008
English Bulldog History
by Lee Weston
THE CANINE GLADIATOR
 bulldog-history The beginnings of the Bulldog as a breed are found to be recorded as the observations of the blood sports known as bull baiting and bear baiting. These popular pastimes of the masses can be traced back to the year 1209, and were finally banned, but not forgotten, in 1835 in England.
The following is a description of bull baiting, and how the influence of this blood sport directed the breeding and the peculiar features of the Bulldog.
Bull baiting probably got its start in England from people observing the butcher’s dogs attempting to restrain livestock. Of course, there are always those people who will say, “I’ll bet that dog of mine can do better that that!” And the natural response is, “Oh, yeah? Put your money where your mouth is!” (it could be words to that effect). Well, who can resist such temptation?
The fight was staged in a field, a pit or an arena. The idea of bull baiting was for the dog to engage the bull. It didn’t necessarily have to be one on one. It could be several dogs against one bull. The dogs were trained (if the training was done correctly) to creep upon its belly close enough to be able to grab the bull’s nose. The bull, knowing this is the dog’s intention, lowers it’s head where the horns are ready to defend by tossing the offending creature into the air, or perchance to gore the dog and stomp its guts out.
Every gambler wants to have the proverbial “ace up his sleeve”, so they would observe which dogs were successful, and which were not. What was it that worked to the dogs’ advantage? What were it’s strengths and weaknesses? What about the bull? These were full grown animals that they were using in these fights. How did bulls fight? What was the posture? How did they attack? How did they defend themselves? Where can we find somebody better?
The Bulldog is the result of mankind’s desire to shape an animal about a specific purpose. The shoulders of the Bulldog are placed on the outside of the body, allowing the dog to crouch low to the ground shielding the dog from the bull’s horns when it charges. As the bull passes by, the head and forequarters are very well developed, so that the dog is able to spring to the bull’s ears or throat. Once the dog has latched on, the hindquarters of the Bulldog are not as well developed as the forequarters, allowing the dog to be shaken violently without suffering any spinal injuries. Should the Bulldog be successful in latching onto the nose of the bull, the dog’s rib cage is well developed and padded, so when the bull whirls the dog around and brings it down to the ground it can take the brunt of the blow. The legs are short and sturdy, allowing the dog to easily spring to its feet and avoid the crushing hooves of the bull. We now come to the head of the Bulldog. Even this part of the dog was part of the fighting machine. Specifically, the jaws and the vise like grip that they exert. The jaws are short, and the lower jawbone (mandible) is longer than the upper jawbone, which enables the dog to hang onto whatever it wants with a surprising tenaciousness. The amazing ability of this grip is demonstrated by the dog being able to move the jaws in a manner that it can hang onto the throat of the bull and shred the flesh, sinew and muscle until it reaches the jugular artery. Even if the Bulldog is knocked out during the fight, the jaws of this breed of dog, once locked, remain locked (most Mastiff breeds also retain this ability that is similar to that of snapping turtles, and eels). As the Bulldog continues to hang on, the bull is brought down by it’s bleeding to death. The dog’s face being wrinkly, the bull’s blood flows down the dog’s face under it’s chin, rather than into it’s eyes.
 Bulldog History Should the Bulldog be able to latch onto the bull’s nose, the Bulldog has a short snout and the nares face upward to allow breathing, while retaining its grip on the bull’s nose. The bull is, in the meantime, suffocating, due to the loose jowls of the Bulldog blocking the passage of air.
If you have ever observed the power, strength and agility of the bull during a rodeo, the cowboy, that is trying to ride for eight seconds, is hanging on for his life. Now replace the cowboy with dogs, and both combatants are fighting for their lives.
The Bulldog of the age of bull baiting and bear baiting was a tenacious animal, but it also possessed unlimited devotion to it’s master. It could be injured, bleeding, indeed dying, but if the master ordered the dog to attack once again, the Bulldog would engage it’s opponent without hesitation.
Today’s Bulldog has been bred so that the combatant urges are no longer there. The Bulldog doesn’t see any sense in attacking a bull. But let anyone, or anything, threaten it’s master, or his family … the old nature of combat, kill or be killed, will resurface.
The tenacious personality of the Bulldog is one of the reasons why this breed is the mascot of the U.S.Marine Corps.
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October 23rd, 2008
Bondogge or Bolddogge, later known as Banddogge, various words were used to name this breed before arriving at the name Bulldog.
“The time when screech owls cry and Banddogges howl and spirits walk and ghosts break up their graves.” Was mentioned by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) in act 1, scene VI in the theatrical piece Henry VI.
But long before Shakespeare, in the reign of Henry II, some time during the year 1133, it was the custom to organize fights of dogs against bulls, and during the period of John (of no reign) the first registered notice in the Survey of Stamford that tells of how under the reign of John (of no regn), in the year 1209, the Lord of the city, Lord Stamford while strolling along the ramparts of his castle, saw two bulls fighting over the possession of a female. The dogs of a local butcher rushed headlong at the bulls, chasing them through the streets of the village and slaughtering them after a fierce fight.
Lord Stamford liked the spectacle so much that he donated the meadow where the fight began to the Butcher’s Union, on the condition that, each year before the six weeks that precede Christmas, the Union performs a combat there, similar to that which he observed. Entitled BULL-BAITING, these combats between the butcher’s dogs and the furious bulls became very popular and famous in England. At the height of the popularity of the sport, in which was wagered substantial sums of money had arduous defenders, as much within royalty as with the commoners. Arenas reserved for this spectacle spread throughout the land, of which traces exist in England until today.
Years of breeding for ferocity and courage rendered the bulldog an animal obsessive for fighting and blood. The bull was tied up by the horns with a 23 meter long rope to a stake at the center of the circular shaped arena and defended itself with it’s horns trying to gore the abdomen of the dog, which in turn developed the tactic of crawling so as to protect itself from these attacks.
Many of the Bulldogs that were hit were thrown up high and, the Bullots (the owners of the dogs) cushioned the fall with their leather aprons (typical for butchers) or utilized bamboo rods to assist the dog roll safely to the ground, since even though wounded and in some cases with their intestines exposed, these dogs returned to the fight, after all their were wagers at stake. The Bulldogs were the most adequate dogs for this fighting since, apart from the tenacity and an extreme ferociousness, were the possessors of an incredible resistance to pain, and besides this their attack was directed at the snout of the bull, of which the dog seized hold of, until the beast, bloody and exhausted from the vain attempts to free itself from the dog, finally fell down subdued. One can observe in old drawings, that other longer snouted breeds of dog, such as the Spitz, were tested for this sport, demonstrating a far more inferior performance to that of the Bulldog, because while the Bulldog attacked the snout, the other dogs attacked the bull by the ears, and when the bulls turned their head making rotating movements, assailed these animals with their horns causing irreversible injuries (they were light and did not have the appearance of the molossus). The Bulldogs, during that period had a medium sized snout, but never a long snout, and exhibited a large sized head in virtue to their descent to the Asian Mastiff. In comparison with other breeds, the Bulldogs exhibited distinct and very particular characteristics. Their attack technique and fearlessness in the fights, made such that they earned dominion and fame in this setting, and became the absolute and exclusive breed for the practice of this sport, captivating illustrious personalities of English Royalty : The Kings: James I, Richard III and Charles I. Queen Isabel I who adored Bull Baiting, offered this spectacle as part of the entertainment in the receptions offered to the Ambassadors and Monarchs of neighboring kingdoms. In 1795 in the city of Liverpool a Bull Baiting spectacle took place in a dry dock and when the fight finished the water gates were opened causing all to be submerged: winners and losers.As the centuries passed by, the potential of the physique and temperament of these dogs were more and more sought after, so as to improve their fighting performance, which gave rise to a progressive physical mutation, that resulted in genetically fixing anomalies that made the dogs more adequate for Bull Baiting. Their paws became short to enable them to crawl better and therefore to more efficiently keep clear of the horns, an accentuated set back snout which provided for an increase in the prominence of the maxillaries, that resulted in a powerful jaw, a mechanism to bite of such force and power of which the actual dog was unaware of.
The folds in the wrinkles, around the nostrils, facilitated the drainage of blood from the bull, in such a way as not to hinder the respiration from obstruction. The dog was able to maintain hold of the bull for a long time and keep breathing without difficulty. Those most resistant to pain, and those most fearless and ferocious, were selectively separated for reproduction. Generations and generations were accentuating the profile of a dog that earned, in the Four Corners of the world, the fame as having an unequal ferocity. This selection allowed obtaining, throughout the centuries, a dog of exceptional physical and psychic characteristics. What were obtained were dogs of extraordinary force in relation to their size.
In the Bull Baiting that was seen over centuries, one dog at a time faced the bull and the wager was over how much time the dog took to take down the adversary. But this was being modified as time went by. If in centuries more distant, the dog should face and take down the adversary in the least possible time, later on, the number of Bulldogs in the fight were being increased, and the wagers, that always accompanied the Bull Baiting, were being made over which would be the first Bulldog that achieved success in biting the head of the bull and maintain a firm hold of it.
With the evolution of thought and refinement of civilization, the English became conscious of the unjustifiable butchery that this sport represented, of which was no longer admissible in those new times, passing as a representation of barbarism. After a lot of controversy and debates, the opposition became so strong that, in 1835 a new law was proclaimed in which all combat between animals was made prohibited.
The breed fell into the hands of bandits, lawless and bad intentioned individuals, who maintained these combats in secret. At the same time the authentic lovers and enthusiasts of this dog began to select the breed so as to save it from this sad situation.
The breed was not remuneratively interesting, the love for it and this genetic patrimony which was going to be lost, running the risk of becoming extinct, motivated this reaction. The subsequent decades were utilized, now to foster the inverse course in the selection of temperament, one that was extremely dangerous and prepared for fighting should shed the characteristics of ferocity and stay free of the bad reputation of malignancy.
The true lovers of the breed initiated the patient work of separation for the selection of those dogs, which showed a balanced, docile and secure temperament. Through the selection of these specimens the perfection of the temperament was accomplished, which utilized the genetic heritage as a means to transmit and retain good temperament in their descendents therefore rendering the breed secure and adequate for civilized sociability.
In this effort, all aggressive or neurotic dogs were prevented from reproducing. These were systematically rejected in favor of those examples that securely showed a good temperament.
The temperament of the Bulldog was being gradually remolded, until the appearance of the current individual, propitious for living together within Society without offering the minimum possibility of risks. There were many years of dedication cascades sorb an admirable and idealistic work.
The first exposition of the dogs was in England in 1859
Philo Kuon
The English were the pioneers on the Kennel Club culture around the world and the Bulldog was the center of attentions during this historical period when, in 1864, so as to relate how would be the type of excellence in the Bulldog, SAMUEL WICKENS rewrote to first standard for a canine breed in the world. He used a pseudonym: PHILO-KUON since during that period it was considered shameful to write anything about dogs
In 1865, one year after the composition on PHILO-KUON , a group of Bulldog breeders founded the BULLDOG CLUB (the first Bulldog Club that preceded the current one).
The first KENNEL CLUB IN THE WORLD, which exists until today, entitled THE KENNEL, was founded in 1873 and so, was 8 years after the first Club, dedicated to a canine breed.
THE BULLDOG CLUB (The second Bulldog Club) terminated activities and, in 1875 was founded THE BULLDOG CLUB INCORPORATED, which is in operation until the present day and coordinates activities regarding the breed in England, including management of the most important contests of the breed: THE BULLDOG INCORPORATED Show, where only Bulldogs that have Champion titles are allowed entrance.
Summary of the Chronology:
1835 - Extinction of BULL BAITINGS
1859 - First exposition of dogs in the world (England)
1864 -First composition of a standard in a canine breed in the World, the standard known as PHILO-KUON about the Bulldog (England)
First Club dedicated to a canine breed in the world:
1865 - THE BULLDOG CLUB (England)
First breed Club institution in the world:
1873 - THE KENNEL (England)
1875 - Third Bulldog Club: THE BULLDOG CLUB INC.(England)
26/08/1988 - The last revision of the Standard of the breed British Bulldog
In the U.S.A. the formation of a Bulldog Club in America was initially conceived in 1890 by HD KENDALL e LOWELL MASS. These American breeders were prominent citizens in those days, and among other things imported many of the best British Bulldogs to America to begin breeding there as many still do until today. These same men worked tirelessly to successfully promote specialized Show at the beginning of this century and were responsible for the popularization of the Bulldogs, arousing interest in the breed all over the country. In the beginning the STANDARD used was the BRITISH BULLDOG CLUB, but there was some dissatisfaction that it was not so concise or informative as it should be. They developed the AMERICAN STANDARD in 1894, firstly denominated: AMERICAN BRED-BULLDOG.
Tags: history
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October 21st, 2008
The story of the French Bulldog can largely be summed up by the expression “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” During the mid-1800s, many English lace workers relocated to France to find work, bringing their English Bulldogs with them. Bulldogs of small “Toy” size and those possessing pointy bat ears were decidedly unpopular in England, but it was exactly these two features that made the dogs instantly popular in France. French women sought these undesirable English Bulldogs as lapdogs, and by the end of the 19th century the Bouledogue Français, as it had come to be known, was making headway in wealthy French homes. The French Bulldog was also introduced to the United States around this time; the French Bulldog Club of America was founded in 1898 and AKC recognition came the very same year.
The French Bulldog found its greatest notoriety during the early 20th century. It was during this time that the Frenchie became popular with les belles du nuit de Paris (Parisian prostitutes) and the family of Russia’s Czar Nicholas II. By 1913, the breed had become one of the most popular dogs in American show rings - a French Bulldog aboard the Titanic was even ensured for $750, a colossal sum for the time. Today, the French Bulldog’s popularity has eased back a bit, but the dog remains a common fixture in the ring and the home.
 French bulldog White & Black
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