BULLDOG EDITION
Bulldog is a magical name. It means different things to different people, but it is deep in our lexicon. There is the old saying that “such and such (like “sorry” or some excuse) is okay, but it doesn’t feed the bulldog.” Then there is the “Bulldog Edition” of the newspapers. This is normally the early morning edition, usually sent out on special occasions or for areas outside the municipality of the paper. Then there is “bulldog” used as an adjective, such as “bulldog determination” and “bulldog courage.” All of these are aspects of the breed we all know and love. Thomas Huxley was known as “Darwin’s Bulldog” because he was a fighter for Darwin’s then controversial theory of evolution, way back in the middle of the 19th century.
I occasionally peruse books on the APBT online, and I must confess I occasionally cannot resist looking at readers’ review of my books. One that I particularly liked was one by Erica because she made these comments about my Truth about the American Pit Bull Terrier, “I have around 65 dog books and I have loved reading since I was a little girl. This book is my favorite of all the books I’ve ever had (or borrowed from a library) in my entire life. I am ordering the three other books in the Stratton series because I am so happy with this one “One reason liked what she said was that this was merely a dog book, but it was her favorite book of all time. I should mention here parenthetically that many years ago two experts on dog books told me that mine were the best on any breed. I beamed. But one reason that the comment so tickled me was that these were books on the poor beleaguered APBT that were being called the best. It was that which made me so happy, although I am not so humble as to not take pride that my creations were being praised.
But back to Erica, she later breaks my heart by saying, “The only thing I don’t agree with in this book is that Stratton claims the APBT is the original bulldog, when it is, in fact, a cross between the old time fighting bulldog and local terriers.” And she seemed like such a lovely girl! But that is okay. She is allowed to disagree with me. Anyone is. Truth to tell, no one really knows whether the story is true or whether the APBT is basically the best representative of the Bulldog. But the fact is that I have studied the problem more than anyone. A possible exception might have been John P. Gordon. He was an authority on the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and as I recall, he was a British citizen. He was a great connoisseur of old art and artifacts of the breed. He was struck that the original Bulldog appeared to be very much like the modern APBT (or Staffordshire Bull Terrier). The only that kept him from pronouncing the breed the direct descendent of the Bulldog was the modern name of the breed. I wonder what he would have thought if he had known that the term “bulldog” was used as an informal name for the modern dogs, too, in this country and in places around the world.
There have been many people who pondered the idea of the modern APBT being a direct descendent and the best representative of the old time Bulldog. Long before the now recognized breed American Bulldog came about, one authority wanted to call our breed the American Pit Bulldog. Now, of course, there was already a rift among the fanciers, as some wanted the “pit” part out of our breed name, even with the Bull Terrier name. I should mention here that a very well known American Bulldog fancier once confided privately to me that we both knew which was the original Bulldog. And you can be sure that he didn’t mean the American Bulldog. But here I am not trying to stir up controversy. It is just that I have been around a long time, and I have seen many new breeds come. They are basically manufactured according to looks, and most of them end up as show dogs. I don’t mind that, but please spare me the ridiculous history about the breed having been the lap dogs of the ancient Pharaohs! (This is often the stock in the trade of the show dog histories, with very little evidence provided.) The idea that the original bulldog was somehow hidden away all these years is on all fours with the typical fanciful history of so many show dogs.
The Oxford English Dictionary gives the first use of the word “bolddogge” as being used in a description of a butcher and his dog, used for capturing the bulls. The comments were not very complimentary about either the dog or the butcher, but I smile about the cultured city people of the time being judgmental about the people and the dogs who provided them with their meat. I was struck when I saw the word, and I wondered if the original term was not meant to mean “bull dog” but “bold dog.” After all, the dogs must have seemed very much unlike other dogs of the time, being unafraid of large and dangerous animals, such as bears and bulls, not to mention boars.
I recently watched a movie on DVD that I had seen many years ago, “A Man for all Seasons.” This was a story about a man of principle, Thomas More, who was executed in the end because he would not bend to the will of the interpretation desired by King Henry the Eighth. More was a man of culture and intellect, and he castigates one of his friends for not spending more time in the study of the principles of religion and government, rather than studying the pedigrees of his Bulldogs. That got my attention! Unfortunately, it was only a movie, so I could not use it for reference. But I am sure that there were Bulldogs back before the Elizabethan Era. But were they called “Bulldogs” or “Bold Dogs”? That is something else we can never know, but it’s fun to speculate about.
A mystery is how the name “bulldog” has stuck to our breed. It has been used for at least two centuries for our breed even if only in a very informal way. The great breeder William J. Lightner told me that his father had these dogs before the Civil War. It surprised me that the dogs were in the country so early, as that fact went against common written accounts. It surprised me even more that they were casually called “bulldogs,” even back in those times. I recall visitors to Bob Wallace’s residents being surprised about his “bulldogs,” commenting that they didn’t have the pushed-in noses of the Bulldogs with which they were familiar. Scholar though he was, Bob never questioned the common account of the origin of the Bull Terrier as being a cross between the old type Bulldog with some terrier. I suggest that the story is true but only for the Bull Terrier. If we go back and look at drawings that were done around 1890, we will see that the original Bull Terriers had the pushed-in (brachycephalic) noses, so the likelihood is that whatever terrier was used for the cross was mated with that type of Bulldog, the “fancy” type which was bred for appearance.
A comment that has stayed with me was made by a terrier breeder. He told me that all the crosses to the Bulldog (APBT) that he was aware of in this modern age were made to improve the gameness of the terrier. Hence, it is very likely that there is a little bulldog blood in many terrier breeds, but I think that it is quite unlikely that a cross between the old fighting Bulldog and a terrier produced our breed. I suspect that the old Bulldog is pretty much what our breed is. Obviously, there were two bulldog breeds for a long time. Perhaps that is the reason that the names “fighting bulldog” and “pit bulldog” were used to clarify what a breed was. Those terms, too, have persisted down through the years. The term “bulldog revolver” was used for snub-nosed pistols that were popular among law enforcement (and gangsters) during the early part of the 20th century. Obviously, that term was inspired by snub-nosed bulldog.
As for terriers, they are ill defined. Although the Boston Terrier is called by that name, it is not included in the Terrier Group in show circles. The Boston people originally wanted to call their breed the “Boston Bull Terrier,” and it looked very similar to the show Bull Terriers of that time, but that name was forbidden to them. It is interesting to note, historically, that small Bulldogs were often called Terriers, for the Bulldog itself was considered a “hound,” a hunting dog that was forbidden to peasants. Terriers were generally small dogs that were used for ratting and other small vermin, and so they were not forbidden to the poor class of people.
In any case, it is our breed today that does all the work that the old-time Bulldog did, from hunting wild boar to catching rough stock for ranchers. And yes, they are the ones once used for fighting too, but such things are only whispered about these days. One reason the two Bulldogs were confused in the public mind in the middle of the 19th century was probably because the brachycephalic type still retained some fighting propensities. England made the breed the symbol of its country, even if they usually displayed the show type. But it had to be the original type that the public had in mind when Huxley was dubbed “Darwin’s Bulldog.”
The funny thing is, from my perspective, the show Bulldog, sometimes called the English Bulldog, is probably just as direct a descendant of the old original hunting and fighting Bulldogs as ours are. (If they are! Of course, my presumption is quite strong here!) The only difference is selective breeding. Ours, at least some of them, are still bred for performance, (hog hunting, cattle herding, weight pulling and the like) while the show Bulldog was and is bred for its odd, almost human appearance. The consequence is that the modern show Bulldog cannot do ANY of the work or sport of his ancient progenitors. Because of this difference, I had once hoped to reclaim the name “bulldog” for our breed. But perhaps it is more fitting that it be a little known fact and that it remain in controversy. The breed has always been controversial, and come to think of it, the best things in life usually seem to be!
-Richard F. Stratton-
Subject: Bulldog Edition, by R. Stratton 
Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:28 am
