American Bulldog. Abe Fishman

       The American Pit Bull Terrier was bred originally to be a fighting and catch dog. Although very strong and agile, it was still a bit smaller than the farmers wanted for catch work.

       There is quite a range of height and weight in the American Bulldog breed. This dog is on the heavier, bulkier side.

      A dog that was to be used for farm and ranch work had to be larger than the small fighting Staffords were. The reason for this is that among the farm dog’s duties was protecting the farmer’s livestock from free-running dogs. A dog that spends much of its time running free will often become aggressive toward valuable livestock, and farmers valued a tough dog that had the willingness and ability to attack and run off such “wild” dogs.

       Although bred for working ability, not looks, the American Bulldog is quite an attractive breed.

       It is possible that the primarily white coat of the American Bulldog originated in the early catch-dog breeds.

      Another demand placed upon the farm and ranch dog was what is commonly known in the United States as “catch work.” Catch work is the securing and holding of “free-range” livestock that has grown to a size at which it must be brought to slaughter. Imagine the huge expanses of land available for use by early American farmers and ranchers. If a farmer or rancher who had a large parcel of land available to him wanted to raise hogs, for example, the least expensive method of raising the hogs was to “brand” the animals so that everyone would know to whom the hogs belonged, and then allow them to roam free. This worked well until the time came to collect a mature hog.

      Once such livestock had spent its early life maturing into a wild animal, it was inclined to run from people and to attack those it could not run from. If a rancher was to catch and tie the free-range livestock, that farmer needed the assistance of a dog that could run down the livestock in question, grab the animal and hold it until the farmer or rancher could tie the livestock. Such work demanded a larger dog than the English Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and the animal that was to become the Pit Bull was developed to be a combination “larger fighting dog” and “catch dog.” It is probable that the increased size of the Pit Bull was the result of purely selective breeding as opposed to being the result of Staffords having been crossed to other breeds.

      With the aforementioned in mind, imagine now that a farmer or rancher needed a catch dog and that the farmer or rancher had absolutely no interest in fighting dogs. Instead, he wanted a somewhat larger dog than the Pit Bull, because the Pit Bull, while suitable for use as a catch dog because of the breed’s tenacity, strength, agility and speed, was still rather small for the work at hand. What the farmer wanted was a Pit Bull in the 65- to 85-pound range, but at the time no such dog was known. These farmers indeed had “catch breeds” of their own and had been using these dogs for catch work for generations. Some of these hardworking catch breeds still exist in small numbers in rural areas of the United States. One fine example of a working catch breed is the Yellow Black Mouth Cur, made famous by the Disney movie Old Yeller. Another native American working catch breed is the Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog, so called because it is native to the state of Louisiana, specifically the Catahoula Lake parishes of Louisiana, and because it is a spotted breed.

       CARE AND TRAINING

      The behavior and personality of your American Bulldog will reflect your care and training more than any breed characteristics or indications. Remember that these dogs require a purposeful existence, and plan your relationship around activities that serve this most basic and important need. All the good potential of the breed will necessarily follow.

      Both the Cur dog and the “Cat” are larger dogs than the Pit Bull. If farmers and ranchers of old were interested in a working catch dog, it would have made no difference to them if their catch dog stock was pure Catahoula, pure Cur or mixed-bred Pit Bull. What was important was that, in the end, the catch dogs were hard, determined, agile, strong and large enough to catch a mature hog, yet small enough to maneuver about without getting injured or harmed by the livestock. A combination of Pit Bull and these larger indigenous catch dogs could have produced such a versatile working dog. This author believes that it is highly likely that such early cross-breeding produced the breed we now know as the American Bulldog.

      A question arises when we ask why American Bulldogs are so commonly pure white in color. One possibility is that many old Staffords and later many Pit Bulls of old were white. These white pit dogs were used in early catch-dog breeding. Another possibility is that one of the early catch breeds used in the crosses was either all white or at least frequently seen in white. We do see that many Catahoula Leopard Dogs carry genes for white coat coloring, and it is possible that this is part of the reason that American Bulldogs were and still are white. It is interesting to note here that many Catahoulas have blue, or even “clear” or “glass” eyes. This is a rather “spooky” genetic anomaly common to Catahoulas. Similarly, blue eyes occur among American Bulldogs, too.

       The Yellow Black Mouth Cur dog, which Walt Disney made famous in the movie Old Yeller. This is a scene from the movie showing the Cur dog and the young actor Tommy Kirk.

      It is also possible that the white coat of the American Bulldog came from the use of early white Pit Bull genetic stock in the production of early working cross-bred catch dogs. If so, the white coat of the American Bulldog might well account for the white coloring we often see in the coat of the Catahoula Leopard Dog. We may never know for sure. In looking for evidence that such crosses were of interest to rural American agriculturists, however, we can point to similar crosses that are still being conducted today. One such cross is the Plott Hound (an American breed similar to the Catahoula) to the Pit Bull. The Plott-Hound-to-Pit-Bull cross is often conducted to produce a bear-hunting dog. It is known to produce a dog with the courage and tenacity to track and get in close to a bear, causing the dog to “tree” or “bay.” These dogs are also known to be smart enough to stay a safe distance from the bear to avoid getting themselves killed. Interestingly, the Catahoula is also known to be an effective bear dog for the same reasons and, in fact, in days gone by, the breed was referred to by some as the Catahoula Bear Dog.

       Many Catahoulas have striking blue or even glassy clear eyes.

       A pair of Catahoula Leopard Dogs. This breed may have featured heavily in the ancestry of the American Bulldog.

       SEMENCIC’S THEORY

      It should be noted that the theory of the breed’s history presented here was first developed and put forth by the American breed historian Dr. Carl Semencic. Semencic can also be credited with having popularized this breed at a time when it had become almost extinct in the United States and before it had been introduced to other parts of the world. It is the author’s opinion that Semencic’s theory makes more sense than any other being put forth, and it is offered here as the true history of the American Bulldog breed.

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