of Boston, Massachusetts.
• Judge, described as “more like a bulldog than a terrier” was dark brindle with white markings on his face and a white chest.
• Judge had cropped ears, a common surgery performed on pit dogs.
• Judge weighed 32 pounds (14.5 kg) and “…was a well-built and high stationed (tall) dog.”
• Both breeds clearly demonstrated their bull-and-terrier heritage.
• An early name for the Boston was the “Round-headed Bull and Terrier.”
• Another early name for the Boston was also an early name for the APBT, the “American Bull Terrier.”
• Both breeds are athletic and packed with power; prominent writers still remark on how much the physiques of the two breeds look alike.
• Both were originally bred and then imported to America for the same purpose—to fight in the dog pits against other dogs.
• From bull-and-terrier stock, imported to the United States from Britain, the APBT was sent to fight in the pits.
• From bull-and-terrier stock, imported to the United States from Britain, the Boston Terrier was number one on the American Kennel Club’s list of most popular breeds in America for many years.
It would be unfair to the people of the United Kingdom to say that dogfighting was universally accepted. It was not. Most of the population, rich and poor, felt the sport was cruel and that the practitioners were of a lower moral status, if not lower social status.
Many British residents felt they had a chance for a better life in America and immigrated to the United States and Canada. They brought with them many of their customs, their language, their laws, and their blood sports.
Early Bulldogs
The bulldogs of the bull- and bear-baiting days were nothing like the snuffling, short-faced Bulldogs seen at the dog shows today. Bulldogs can be excellent pets, but their grotesque heads, bodies, and breathing apparatus prevent the kind of exertion required to tangle with an angry bear or bull or even an angry dog. The bulldogs of those early years about two-and-a-half centuries ago were quite different. In fact, the paintings of bulldogs of that time show them to closely resemble the APBTs and Amstaffs of our time.
Just as lighter, quicker, more agile dogs, such as Brabanter and the early bulldog, replaced the mastiffs in bull- and bearbaiting, so would a more nimble dog replace the bulldog as the primary fighting dog. This dog would need the bravery of the bulldog and the key ingredient, gameness, to become the preeminent pit dog.
Other Bull-and-Terrier Breeds
There are perhaps as many as 25 breeds, which stem from either the early bulldog or the bull-and-terrier crosses. These breeds include the APBT, the American Staffordshire Terrier, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, the modern Bulldog, the French Bulldog, the Pug, the Boston Terrier, the Boxer, the Dogue de Bordeaux, the Bullmastiff, the Bull Terrier, the American Bulldog, and others.
Some of these breeds greatly resemble the APBT; others do not. When the resemblance is there, it is usually on a larger dog. Though the most accomplished fighting dog breed in the world, some countries thought that the APBT was too small and produced their own larger versions.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
