390 The Dog Book 



the dogs and became the custom. It is generally understood that the dog 

 had to pull the bull backward once around the ring in order to win, but 

 this was not universal, and there were doubtless local rules for various 

 parts of the Kingdom. Mr. Arthur Merritt, the well-known Airedale 

 terrier exhibitor of Boston, has told us of his being taken when a boy to 

 see a bull fight in Yorkshire. He said that special permission had been 

 given by some person in authority to give this as an exhibition of what the 

 sport had been, for it was not allowed by law after 1835. The rules at this 

 bull fight were that the dog had to pin and throw the bull, and some of the 

 dogs did so. The dogs, according to Mr. Merritt's recollection, were the 

 ordinary run of fighting dogs, white and patched, that were universal 

 throughout the mill and quarry districts of that part of Yorkshire. 



The bulldog of the present day lacks the activity that was called for 

 in the bull-ring dog, and is purely an exaggeration of fancy. Not for a 

 moment do we say that there are no active dogs. Ivel Doctor, for instance, 

 could jump on a table with ease, but that is not one of the "properties" 

 of the show ring that decides prizes. A powerfully built dog, not too 

 long on the legs, so that he could have good command of his movements 

 and be able to spring from his position in the event of a sudden charge 

 of the bull, as he crept forward on his chest with head down to spring at 

 the vulnerable soft-fleshed nose. Loose, widely placed shoulders permitted 

 of this creep, and the cut-up loin allowed the dog to use his hind legs to 

 advantage. The broad jaw, massive and with a bunch of cheek muscles to 

 keep it closed, is another piece of progression along the line of the essential, 

 when it comes to consideration of what the dog had to do. It will be seen, 

 therefore, that selection by man soon separated very widely the sheep dog, 

 or shepherd's mastiff, and the mastiff that was specially bred for the bull 

 ring. By 1800 type seems to have been very well established; not that it 

 was the present-day dog by any means, but a dog with decided peculiarities 

 not shown by any other dog. Bull baiting was stopped in 1835, and few 

 bulldogs were kept by any person at that time except the very lowest char- 

 acters. The breed was in bad repute, but after the stigma of the sport 

 had died out it began to be taken up again. 



When much younger than of an age possible to understand the 

 requirements of a breed, we visited more than once the then well-known 

 establishment of "Bill" George at Kensal New Town, from which place 

 to our residence green fields intervened where now it is all bricks and mortar. 



