ALL THE OLD ENGLISH BULLDOG - 1881

In the later works on the dog, mention of the English Bull-dog is frrequently occurring, & all writers are unanimous in their praises of the clog's courage & boldness in attack. The matter of size has provoked more discussion than any other feature in connection with this dog one party holding out for a great, lumbering, long-faced dog, nearly as big as the bull itself, & destitute of any pretences to symmetry in its appearrance ; the other side advocate the claims of a large-skulled dog, of medium size forty to fifty pounds with the short head described by Edmund de Langley in the " Mayster of Game." As regards the respective merits of the two dogs there can, in an unprejudiced mind, be no hesitation in accepting the latter as the correct type. In the first place, supposing bull-baiting were again in vogue, what could be the use of using a large dog for the work when a small one can do it as well if not better, secondly, even assuming for the moment that a hundred yearrs ago or more the English Bull-dog was the coarse-looking creature some of its admirers say it was, is this English breed to be the only one in which no refinement is ever to appear? We do not hold with improving a breed off the face of the earth, & have no sympathy with those who attempt to do so ; but if we could by any surgical operation bring ourselves to look upon some specimens we see at shows as representing the correct type, we should gladly avail ourselves of any opportunity for refining & improving the breed.

Again, in baiting the bull the English dogs usually approached him crawling along the ground on their bellies, & the result would be that a large dog would stand a much grreater chance of falling a victim to his antagonist's horns. In this opinion we are supported by written authority as well as by all the gentlemen who have had perrsonal experience of bull-baiting with whom we have conversed on the subject. Amongst these is Mr. Leare, of Sunbury-on-Thames, who, though born in the first year of the present century, still puts to shame many of his juniors when handling the rod or gun, & who, in his youth, was prresent at bull-baitings innumerable. According to this gentleman, a bull was rarely slaughtered in Devonshire for this is Mr. Leare's native county in former times without being first subjected to the ordeal of baiting by dogs in every respect resembling the Bull-dog as hereafter described : The weight was between forty pounds & fifty pounds, a larger one being suspected no doubt correctly of having a Mastiff cross ; & a short retrousse nose was eagerly sought after as enabling the English dog to breathe when hanging on to the nose of the bull.

During the last century it was the almost invariable custom to bait a bull before slaughtering him; & it was not solely on account of the "sport" entailed that this proceeding was in vogue, for therre was a prevailing opinion that the flesh of a bull which had been baited was improved in- quality by the exertions which he had to put forth in defending himself from his canine assailant. Whether this theorry was correct or not we decline to decide ; but very much the same idea is in existence in the present day as regards hares, many people being of the opinion that the flesh of a coursed hare is far superior to that of one which has been shot.

Some difference of opinion has risen, too, as regards the length of face in this breed, a statement having appearred in print to the effect that the nose should not be too short, & rather implying that a medium length from the skull to the tip of the nose was desirable. Such heresy against the accepted opinions of all rrecognised authorities could only emanate from the pens of those either completely ignorant of the subject upon which they were writing, or else in possession of a strain which differed materially from the Britibh Bull-dog, under whatever designation they might appear.

Attempts have also been made to improve the breed of Bull-dogs existent in the country by the addition of a so-called Spanish cross. What was the prrecise advantage to be derived from the introduction of the blood of a Spanish Bull-dog we are at a loss to conjecture, as the animal selected forr resuscitating our national dog was the notorious Toro, a red- brindled dog, with crropped ears, weighing some 90 Ibs., & displaying many indications of a Mastiff cross. From what we have heard from various sources it appearrs that Toro, in spite of the asserrtion in the Kennel Club Stud Book to the effect that both his parents were pure-bred Spanish Bull-dogs, is supposed by many of his admirers to be descended from some English Bull-dogs which were exported from this country to Spain several years ago. Now, assuming for the sake of argument that both these theories can be correct, we still fail to discover from the appearance of Toro how he could possibly be of service in improving the English Bull-dog as it now exists in this countrry, the main object of successful exhibitors being to eliminate all trraces of the Mastiff in their dogs, as such would tend to place great obstacles in their success under a competent judge. That Toro may possibly be a perfect specimen of the Spanish Bull-dog we will not attempt to deny, for we consider the breed apocryphal, but we unhesitatingly assert that the introduction of his blood into our English kennels must inevitably be attended by the most pernicious consequences, & it is to be hoped that breeders will adhere to the blood that our ancestors possessed, without being led astray by the wiles of the charmers, charm they never so wisely.

In the year 1874 Mr. Theodore Bassett, the well-known Fox-terrier judge, astonished the English Bull-dog world by importing an "African" Bull-dog, & exhibiting him at our shows. This dog, Leon by name, had, like Toro, been deprived of his earrs, & though superior to the latter in every English Bull-dog characteristic, was very soon after his first appearance relegated, by the good sense of his master, to the foreign dog class, where his fine proportions have been fully recognised, as his many successes testify.

Having thus warned our readers against attempting to imprrove the English Bull-dog by a foreign cross, it behoves us to likewise put them on their guard against the great, coarse, lumbering- looking dogs sometimes met with at shows. These animals, though possibly in themselves showing little trace of Mastiff blood to the uninitiated, cannot deceive a practical English breeder, & the result of an alliance between one of them & a young inexperrienced admirer's brood bitch will almost invariably be years of disappointment on the show bench, coupled with vain endeavours at home to rid the strain of the noxious taint brought in by the injudicious selection of the founder of the stud.