180 ALL ABOUT DOGS 



sizes are very various, the dogs running from un- 

 der forty pounds to over fifty-five pounds, and 

 the bitches from under thirty-five to under fifty 

 pounds, and of late years a class of " Toy Bull 

 dogs " have been brought out, which I mention else- 

 where. The head large, small ears, rather prominent 

 eyes, very short nose, chin rather turned up and gen- 

 erally pugilistic look of the face, with the body rather 

 heavy in front, swung between legs placed widely 

 apart, back short and curved, technically called 

 " reached," with mean hindquarters and a short tail, 

 with a downward turn in it if not " screwed," are 

 familiar features of the breed to most people knowing 

 anything of it, and the colours are white, white and 

 brindle, white and Hound tan, white and black, brindle, 

 brindle and white, brindle and fallow, fawn with black 

 muzzle, fawn and white, red, red and white, red and 

 black, black, and black and white. Of course the brin- 

 dles, reds, and fawns run into different shades of each, 

 but I think the foregoing contain nearly all the colours 

 allowed by the Bull Dog Clubs. It is a fascinating 

 breed, and when once it has been taken up, is seldom 

 altogether dropped, and I have known several genera- 

 tions of the same family keeping up the strain. I 

 should say the mortality amongst Bull Dogs is as great 

 as, or probably greater than, in any other breed of dog, 

 particularly before they are a year old. Whether their 

 being so much inbred, to preserve certain characteris- 

 tics, or being so short faced as to interfere with their 

 organs of respiration, are the causes, I will not pretend 

 to say, but if you ask any breeder, he will tell you what 



