Triumphant progress of Bull Terrier in the dog world
Bull Terrier is an old English breed. The name
itself says of the origin from the two radically different
sources. Bull - says
about Bulldog ancestor, Terrier
- emphasizes that this dog belongs to a large family of British
terriers. It would be quite logical conclusion to say that Bull
Terrier is a cross breed. Many dog owners are quite surprised
when a proud fan of Bull Terrier emphasizes that this breed as a
single, systematically bred one is much older than almost all
known German dog breeds. The Bull Terrier breed, as a separate
one, has already appeared in cynological literature and on old
engravings in 1820. His triumphant progress in the dog world, he
has made in the center of the Birmingham
Black Country in about 1860 after James Hinks, the father of
the modern Bull Terrier managed to establish this type of breed
so that its clear outlines start from that time.
Dog breeding in the 19th century quite differed from that of
the 20th century, primarily because of the fact that in the 19th
century at the forefront were the dog's advances, which were for
personal good of dog breeders, thus they often neglected the
external picture of the breed. In the 20th century, on the
contrary, at the forefront of dog breeding was the external
form, a single, anatomically uniform breed type, but
unfortunately, dog breeders often neglect the essential features
of the dogs for setting certain goals for their everyday
activity. The origin of Bull
Terrier dogs is connected with dog fighting, as it was
an incredibly popular entertainment for people in the 19th
century in old England. Nowadays, civilized people can hardly
imagine to what extent a fierce dog fights spread throughout the
British Isles, and then went through other countries all over
the world.
There needed a very special breed for dogfights. Passion for
the game and fight, strength, courage, tolerance to pain and
endurance - were the main conditions to stand the fight on the
ring. Moreover, four-legged gladiators should be small and
capable, active and dexterous to be able to fight with necessary
speed. However, the build of the dog was only on the second
place, more important was fighting force, skills and successful
training. This dogfight lasted relentlessly round after round,
it was carried out according to prescribed rules, it could last
for hours. One can hardly imagine that passion for competition
and vanity of the dog owners promoted such a violence. It is
important to know that after all the breed of Bull Terrier came
out of these dogfights.
The crucial thing for us is that Bull Terrier nature has
determined in the selection of more than 100 generations of
dogs, and it is significantly different from other dogs. The
main aim was to create an intelligent dog with iron will, which
is ready to fight at any time and which was ready to die.
Moreover, it was very important that fighting dog should
always be gentle and in no case direct its fury against human,
otherwise with all its power and danger, man could not bend it
to his will.
Bulldog and white English Terrier are the two
main roots, which Bull Terrier originated from. However, Dalmatian should be also
mentioned as he had a great influence on this breed too. Due to
Dalmatian genes Bull Terrier owns the build, suitable for
long-run trot.
