THE BULLDOG. 603 



while in many cases there is not a drop of Bulldog blood 

 in him. Many people who are prejudiced against Bulldogs 

 have never seen a pure one in their lives. 



I have owned over forty Bulldogs, yet I never owned but 

 one that was cross, and that any respectable person could 

 not safely approach and handle. This one had been spoiled 

 by being chained before I got him. He would not allow 

 me to touch him, and once attacked his keeper savagely 

 while grooming him; yet the keeper's child, five years 

 old, would go into this dog's kennel and play with him by 

 the hour. This illustrates a strong trait in the character / 

 of the Bulldog his affection for children. This trait is 

 constant the Bulldog, like all other noble animals, is fond 

 of children; in fact, I can safely say that no more affec- 

 tionate dog lives than the one under discussion, provided 

 his early training is kindly and judicious. Bulldogs are 

 difficult to breed, and demand the greatest care and atten- 

 tion. They are extremely poor mothers, and often eat 

 their own puppies. I raised but ten puppies from twelve 

 bitches one year, and for a good many years never did as 

 well. While in England I took special pains to learn from 

 other breeders what success they had met with, and found 

 it was not much better than my own. No breed is more 

 liable to deterioration. In a litter you seldom get more 

 than one puppy that is up to standard; in fact, I never 

 raised but one first-class Bulldog in all my experience, and I 

 think that there have been only two, or possibly three, ever 

 raised in America that were first-class in every particular, 

 although we have had the very best of material to work 

 with. 



There were so few good dogs bred that a few fakirs 

 undertook to aid nature. In order to shorten the upper 

 jaw and turn the nose well up, the operators first severed 

 the middle and two side lip -strings which connect the 

 upper lip of the dog with the gum. When this was done, 

 a small wooden block, hollowed so as to fit the bridge of 

 the nose, was applied to it, just in front of the eyes, and 

 was struck a heavy blow with a mallet. This had the 



