FOREST AND STREAM 
653 
The Bull Dog 
W ITH a characteristic propensity for extoll¬ 
ing their own virtues that has always 
been one of their most admirable traits, 
our English brethren have been pleased to liken 
their inability to discern when they have been 
licked, both on the field of battle and in the less 
romantic but more frequent conflicts of every¬ 
day life, to that of the bulldog. Whether this 
comparison was originally intended as a compli¬ 
ment to the dog, or, as has usually been assumed 
by later generations, it was intended as the most 
glowing tribute that could possibly be paid to 
the Englishman himself, is of small importance. 
In either case the emphasis is on the English¬ 
man; and the dog—well, he’s too much of a dog 
to care a hoot. 
He might, if he were possessed of that high 
degree of intelligence to which the human race 
has attained, take a special delight in his valor¬ 
ous conduct when in action. But not having 
reached that stage of development, he probably 
does not appreciate the honor that has been done 
him in placing his fighting qualities on a par with 
that of the British soldiery. 
Unlike the human, he seldom fights unless he 
has to. He is content to let the other fellow 
start something, and when the conflict is ended 
he resumes his usual philosophical attitude to¬ 
ward life with as little delay as possible. There 
is no record of his ever having celebrated his 
victories with barks of self-laudation, so in this 
respect he differs from the Englishman—and 
from all other nationalities, so far as I know. 
Inasmuch as he is such a peaceable sort of a 
chap, it seems a pity to be compelled to dwell on 
his ability to everlastingingly stick to it when 
necessity requires. But facts are facts, and 
since English historians insist upon using his 
name in illustrating the fighting qualities of their 
troops, it would ill become one of their Anglo- 
Saxon cousins to refrain from pushing the good 
thing along when opportunity offers. 
Back in the early days the bulldog was used 
for the then popular, but not very elevating, 
pastime of bull baiting, and it is from this so- 
called sport that he derives his name. For the 
benefit of the uninitiated it might be mentioned 
that bull baiting, as conducted during the period 
in question, consisted in a contest between the 
dog and a bull, in which the former was taught 
to leap at the head of the bull and fasten his 
teeth in the animal’s lips. It was about as brutal 
a proceeding as the name would imply, but it 
served to illustrate the dog’s wonderful courage 
as perhaps nothing else could. It is stated that 
on one occasion a bulldog is known to have clung 
to the lip of an enraged bull after the brute had 
gored him to such an extent that his entrails 
were protruding, and while he was in the agonies 
of death. 
With the inconsistency that so often character¬ 
izes human reasoning, the bulldog was compelled 
to suffer in reputation as the result of these de¬ 
grading exhibitions. England, like other coun¬ 
tries, though eager to liken her native sons to 
her native dog in the quality which it pleased her 
to bestow upon them, was not so eager to draw 
unpleasant analogies to the forced brutalities of 
the dog. and to those of the English bull baiter. 
As a consequence the dog was compelled to bear 
the brunt of the criticism. The strength and 
courage of the dog which enabled him to attack 
and throw a maddened bull was a very com¬ 
mendable attribute for an English dog to possess. 
By Walter H. Dearing. 
But the brutality of the exhibition was distinctly 
un-English, and must be stopped. It was stopped, 
but it was a long time before the animal was 
able to gain a place of real respectability among 
the dog fancy; the sins of his master were vis¬ 
ited upon his head unto the third and fourth 
generations. But let us not be too hard on our 
English friends. The history of the bulldog 
would probably have been about the same had 
he originated in America. 
Not long ago the editor of one of our best 
known American newspapers wrote an editorial 
article on the bulldog that fairly seethed with 
indignation that such a vicious animal should be 
bred, or even be allowed to exist after it had 
been bred. With a fierceness that was only ex- 
This Snub-Nosed, Bowlegged Animal. 
ceeded by his apparent lack of knowledge con¬ 
cerning bulldog nature, he intimated that both 
the dog, and any man who would own such a 
dog, were equally low down in the animal king¬ 
dom. The occasion for this merciless tirade 
against the much-abused bull was found in the 
fact that a dog of this breed had attacked a 
child and that the child had been maimed badly. 
If I remember rightly, the writer said, among 
other things, that all dogs are a nuisance, and 
that their principal function is to spread disease 
germs. At any rate he has made that assertion 
on other occasions, and it seemes to be a pet 
theory of his. 
I have no opinion to express on the peculiar 
state of melancholia that a man must be in when 
he can see nothing but disease germs in the ani¬ 
mal who since the time of the early cave-dwellers 
has accompanied man in all of his wanderings, 
guarded his home in time of danger, rescued him 
from death; and who, when none of these func¬ 
tions could be performed because of lack of op¬ 
portunity, has helped in a way that only his mas¬ 
ter could explain, to smooth over the rough 
places of life. I have cited his remarks on the 
bulldog simply because it serves as an illustra¬ 
tion of the old saying that “if you give a dog a 
bad name it sticks to him.” 
Out of the thousands of bulldogs in this coun¬ 
try, one of them does something that seems to 
merit death as a punishment. Consequently the 
entire breed should be extinguished as rapidly as 
possible. It would be pretty safe to assert that 
the record of the bulldog in regard to committing 
acts of brutality such as this would compare 
quite favorably with that of other dogs; and 
that the record of all the breeds in the aggre¬ 
gate could never approximate one-tenth of the 
atrocities committed by the human race during 
any ten years of its history. But then, of course, 
there are the disease germs. Not caring to dive 
into theoretical dissertations on the subject of 
bacteriology, I prefer rather to leave it to some 
other lover of the dog to prove that the hours 
spent in the open fields with him as a companion 
will fill the lungs with enough pure oxygen to 
more than offset the effects of the ever-present 
pneumo cocci, tubercle bacilli, and all the other 
varieties -of life destroying germs with which 
the poor dog is probably afflicted. 
But to return to where we left off when that 
editor interrupted us with his accusations of in¬ 
herited brutality, and his bacteriological assevera¬ 
tions. It was some time after the bull baiting 
had ceased that the bulldog began to gain in 
popularity as a companion and show dog. The 
reasons for this will be readily understood. The 
stigma attached to his name had become so great 
that it was hard for people to realize that the so- 
called brutality of his nature was merely the re¬ 
sult of the bad uses to which his much boasted 
courage had been put by his sport-loving (?) 
master. When the bulldog was finally taken up 
as a breed, he was found to be about as good- 
natured as other animals, and probably less in¬ 
clined to fight without provocation than most of 
them. 
It would certainly seem as though it were the 
inherent ability of the bull dog to fight hard and 
scientifically that gained him the reputation 
which it has been so hard for him to shake. 
When a man who owns a troublesome little 
canine possessing a happy faculty for worrying 
his animal maltreated by the bulldog, after the 
larger dogs into a state of frenzy happens to have 
latter has been annoyed as long as dog nature 
will permit, he will always discover that the bull¬ 
dog is a “brute,” and that he should never have 
been allowed to run at large. But the fellow who 
owns the bull naturally looks at the whole mat¬ 
ter in a different light. He “feels sorry that the 
little fool got bitten up, but can’t see why his 
owner doesn’t teach him better sense.” Of the 
two opinions I am inclined to agree with the lat¬ 
ter. Few of us really enjoy a dog fight, but we 
do like to own a dog that can take care of him¬ 
self in case the other man’s dog starts the trou¬ 
ble. We had rather that our dog would come 
out on top—or at least most of us would. 
A story is told of an old Quaker who owned a 
fine-looking bull terrier and who prided him¬ 
self on his lack of pride in the dog’s great 
strength and beauty. One day the Quaker’s dog 
was insulted by another animal of his own breed 
and build. The two terriers were soon at it in 
dead earnest, with the old Quaker standing help- 
