 Brief History: Bulldogs in England were originally working dogs who drove and caught cattle
and guarded their masters' property. The breed's strength, courage, and familiarity with livestock led to its popularity
in the brutal sport of bull baiting. When this sport was outlawed in England, the original type of Bulldog disappeared from
Britain and was replaced with the shorter, stockier, less athletic dog we now know as the English Bulldog.
The
original Bulldog, however, was preserved by working class immigrants who brought their working dogs with them to the American
South. Small farmers and ranchers used this all-around working dog for many tasks.
By the end of World War II,
however, the American Bulldog breed was almost extinct. Mr. John D. Johnson, a returning war veteran, decided to resurrect
this breed. Along with Alan Scott and several other breeders the American Bulldog is back. The American Bulldog is considered
a rare breed.
| Origin: American Bulldogs are descended from ancient Mastiffs that originated
in Asia and were brought to Europe by nomads. Mastiffs were bred to bring down, fight or hold large aggressive prey such as
wild boar, bears or big cats. The ancient Mastiff had incredible fighting ability and courage.
Phoenician traders
brought a brown strain of Mastiff to England around 800 B.C. The Celts bred these brindle or brownish red behemoths to catch
cattle and wild boar. Today's English Mastiff and Bullmastiff have a similar color and to some degree are descended from
this strain.
Around 400 A.D. a second, very tough strain of Mastiff reached the English shores. This dog was called
the Alaunt. English butchers and farmers turned the Alaunt into the world's first true working Bulldog. In medieval times,
the working English Bulldog was the first dog to develop the so called 'lock jaw grip'. This grip has more to do with
a dog's gameness than any structural difference in its jaw. A true Bulldog has the ability to chase, catch and hang onto
the nose, cheek or throat of a large herbivore and not let go no matter how hard the beast struggles or how much punishment
the dog is forced to absorb.
Throughout the medieval, Elizabethan and the early industrial periods, Bulldogs routinely
caught horse, cattle and boars in routine farm or butchery work and sometimes in staged competitions. When catching domestic
animals, the Bulldog was usually able to make the hoofed creature submit to the excruciating pain of the bite before being
harmed himself. When it is ready to cry "uncle" a bull will lower its head to the ground and allow the Bulldog to
drag him backwards to the butcher. The bovine can then be slaughtered or put into a holding pen.
An old time working
Bulldog also had the ability to throw a bull to the ground by rapidly corkscrewing his body right when the big beast was off
balance in the middle of a stride. It was possible for an experienced 80 pound Bulldog to topple an 1800 pound bull.
Although the main opponent was usually a bull, the English Bulldog was also used against bears, lions and other ferocious
carnivores. These staged fights were called baits. The Bulldogs employed on bears and large meat eaters were heavier than
the ones used solely on livestock. For the larger opponents, speed was not as important and the fight would take place in
an enclosed area so endurance was less of a factor. Whether large or small the working English Bulldog that survived this
grueling gauntlet of animal combat became the greatest canine warrior ever. In 1835, all animal baiting contests were made
illegal in England.
The only baiting that survived the ban was dog baiting or dog fighting. Coal miners in the
Staffordshire region crossed English Bulldogs with scrappy terriers and continued the gladitorial tradition in clandestine
matches that are still going on today. The modern descendents of these Terrier crosses with the Bulldog are found in the American
Pit Bull Terrier, the Staffordshire Bull terriers and the Bull Terrier.
Because of the anti-baiting laws, purebred
Bulldogs became very rare in England by the middle of the 19th century. The remaining bulldogs were actively exported to America
where they joined and improved the working Bulldogs already in the former colonies. They were also shipped to Germany where
they helped create the Boxer. The bulldogs were crossed with Mastiffs to create superior guard dogs. Interestingly, the early
Bullmastiffs were often white or piebald, only later with the addition of dark brindle mastiff blood did darker colors evolve.
To preserve the memory of the true working bulldog in England, the last of the working Bulldogs in England were
crossed with pugs to create a blocky mild mannered little show dog. Today, the dog the world calls the English Bulldog is
the anatomical reality of a Pug Bulldog cross. While it is indeed a fine animal in its own right, it cannot be considered
a true working Bulldog. The working English Bulldog became extinct in his native land at the turn of the 19th century.
Fortunately the bulldog survived in America, especially in the rural Smokey and Appalachian Mountain regions. The
working bulldog was saved from extinction because there was much hard work to do. Hogs and cattle were allowed to free range
in this rugged terrain where fences were impossible and could only be caught with hardy English Bulldogs.
Throughout
the south and the southwest, Bulldogs were also used as guard dogs. In the 19th century and earlier, there are numerous historical
records of large plantation Bulldogs or estate Bulldogs that were kept in yards. Plantation "bullies" were occasionally
allowed to roam in prison yards, patrolling open spaces between cells and main wall. Regional varieties developed and many
names were applied to the southern Bulldogs. Some of the more common names were Old English White, White English, Swamp Bulldog,
Backwoods Bulldog, English Pit, Old Country White and many others.
Toward the end of the 1960s, the last remnants
of working English Bulldogs were disappearing from the rural south. Large agribusiness firms were consolidating land and eliminating
small scale ranching. Also, small, all- terrain vehicles were allowing farmers to herd, catch and move cattle without dog
assistance. It looked like the working English Bulldog was truly going to become extinct once and for all.
Fortunately,
dedicated Bulldog enthusiasts made a concerted effort to locate some of the last of the hill Bulldogs and began efforts to
breed them, preserve them and foster a public awareness so their breeding programs could continue into perpetuity. Because
of their work, the Bulldog, the breed that had toughed it out for so long against so many adversaries, has survived.
To say that today's American Bulldog is a direct descendant of the original working English Bulldog is not to say that
a small percentage of other breeds have not been recently added, mostly in the 1970s when the AB was being rebuilt. The Mastiff/Bull
breeds used in such outcrosses were descended in part from the working English Bulldog, Alaunt and other ancient molossers.
Due to the low number of Old English Whites left, some breed out-crossing was inevitable to insure enough genetic diversity.
Johnson and Scott Types
The principal architects of today's American Bulldog are Allen Scott and
John D. Johnson. From the breeding programs of these two men, two distinct strains have emerged, commonly called the Johnson
type and the Scott type. The former is a larger, wider dog with more bone, pendulous lips, an undershot jaw, facial wrinkles
and a shorter muzzle. The Johnson type resembles an athletic, tightly built, white Bullmastiff. The Scott type looks like
a large, coarse, leggy, white Pit Bull.
The two types differ temperamentally as well as physically. The Johnson
dogs are descendants of the plantation Bulldogs that were kept as yard dogs in the old south. They are typically more territorial,
more aggressive towards human males; in short, more of a guardian. The athletic Scott strain descended from hog and cattle
catch dogs. They were [and still are] used to catch wild hogs and cattle that have strayed into brush so thick that a man
on horse back would find it impenetrable. This type of work requires extreme physical prowess. For this reason the smaller
strain is called Performance.
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