1892 Bulldogs Unsafe Pets

Training and environment does not follow the bulldog through history, genetics does. ~Dawn James

It is a singular fact that some people will insist in making a pet of so dangerous and ferocious a beast as a blood hound or bull dog.  There are species of dogs that are kind and intelligent, faithful to their master, and such are a pleasure to have about one's self.  But of all the mean, vicious and savage dogs there is none that will equal the bull dog or the blood hound.  And yet in spite of their ferocity we frequently see the fact stated that persons have taken them into their into their households and are endeavoring to make family pets of them.  There may be isolated cases where they succeed in taming and subduing these brutes to a certain extent, but we do not believe they will ever entirely forget their fierce and brutal instinct, and the result is that quite frequently persons are severely bitten by them.

In New York city yesterday a boy was attacked by a blood hound, as he entered a gentleman's yard for the purpose of getting a drink of water, and was bitten in a terrible, probably fatal manner.  Several weeks ago an estimable lady of Reading was sitting at home in the parlor when a bull dog, that had been kept in the family, made an unprovoked attack upon her and bit her so badly that she may be maimed for life.

We have noticed several similar cases in other places during the past month, and the surprising feature is that persons will persist in trying to tame these dogs or to make pets of them.  Due regard for personal safety as well as the safety of the community would teach anyone the unwisdom of any such attempt, and in this respect our laws should be strictly enforced.  There are evils enough in every community without that of ferocious dogs being added to them.

Lebanon Daily News, PA, June 4 1892.

The "savage blood hound" mentioned in the article is the Cuban Bloodhound generally believed to be a mastiff and bulldog mix, not the true English Bloodhound.  They were created for the express purpose of attacking people.  Read about them at The TRUTH About Pit Bulls blog.

"Breeding, Training, Management, Diseases Of Dogs", by Francis Butler

Bull-Dog

Sullen, morose, unsociable and grim ; Show me the man, who'd dream of trusting him ; With short snub nose, lull, treach'rous glaring eye.

Projecting teeth, small ear and forehead high ; Capacious chest, with muscle, well displayed. The Boxer's bully, and the Tinker's jade ; For them he fights, the scars alone his prize, True to the last, for them, unpitied dies. Exposed his vices, now his merits scan ; The latter real, the former due to man. By nature true, courageous, serious, stern ; Excited oft, his latent passions burn ; Rude urchins, educated in the street, Rowdies genteel, who on the corners meet ; Some men of sense and title too, in fine, Make cruel pastime of this brave Canine. Concealed to view, and worried, day by day, Trained to the Bait, the Battle and the Fray, Inured to hardship, 'reft of every friend, His life's a torment, and a boon his end. Tho' few his social virtues dare to boast, Yet those who know him best, will prize him most ;

While others yap, and yelp and yell, and fly, Carve o'er his grave ; " I conquer or I die.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826

One of our greatest presidents is on the list of famous pit bull owners. There is one small problem. The pit bull terrier did not exist in Jefferson's lifetime. Therefore, if you believe that Thomas Jefferson owned pit bulls, you also acknowledge that bulldogs ARE pit bulls, something most bulldog and APBT fanciers are loathe to do.

Historical records indicate upon his return from France in 1789, Jefferson brought back French Shepherds and shortly after the turn of the century, General Lafayette gave Jefferson a couple of Briards to protect his sheep. Jefferson later imported Briards. There is also one very odd, very brief reference from a slave who stated that Jefferson owned two bulldogs. (possibly one of these bulldogs?)

Jefferson had little tolerance for dogs that brought harm to his sheep, regardless of whether the harm was done by his own dogs or those belonging to his slaves or his neighbors. Jefferson once ordered a dog hung for killing his sheep and he destroyed many of his own dogs who were described as "mischievous".

He was not so lucky with Grizzle, a second sheepdog sent to Monticello from Normandy in 1790. In 1796 Grizzle's line, which had proved "mischievous," was destroyed - all except Damon, who was kept out of mischief at the end of a chain.

No one has yet solved the mystery of what Bergère, Grizzle and their progeny looked like. Some have suggested they were long-tailed shaggy Briards. This breed, however, bears little resemblance to the chien de berger in Buffon's Histoire naturelle. In the only eyewitness account, which raises more questions than it answers, the slave Isaac remembered that Jefferson "had dogs named Ceres, Bull, Armandy, and Claremont; most of 'em French dogs; he brought 'em over with him from France. Bull and Ceres were bulldogs. He brought over Buzzy with him too; she pupped at sea: Armandy and Claremont, stump tails, both black." Buzzy was obviously Bergère, and Claremont - correctly Clermont - was no doubt one of her pups born on that vessel. Ceres may have been the second of Bergère's pups, named for the ship that had carried Jefferson in the opposite direction in 1784. Armandy was perhaps Norman, one of only three of Bergère's descendants left at Monticello in 1796; a fourth, Sancho, belonged to Thomas Mann Randolph. The reference to bulldogs is puzzling, since no other mention of the presence of this breed at Monticello has been found.

"I participate in all your hostility to dogs, and would readily join in any plan for exterminating the whole race. I consider them as the most afflicting of all the follies for which men tax themselves. but as total extirpation cannot be hoped for, let it be partial."

and

"To secure wool enough, the negroes dogs must all be killed. Do not spare a single one. ..Let this be carried into execution immediately."

Yep, sounds like Jefferson had experience with bulldogs.

Thomas Jefferson: an intimate history

American Presidents Dogs

Letter: Hostility to Dogs

Lafayette's Dogs

Thomas Jefferson Hated Dogs and Clergymen

American Pit Bull a documentary by Marilyn Braverman

Is an american bulldog a pit bull?

the pit bull in literature

Excerpt from Wuthering Heights written by Emily Bronte and published in 1847.

'Run, Heathcliff, run!' " she whispered; 'they have let the bulldog loose, and he holds me!'

The devil had seized her ankle, Nelly; I heard his abominable snorting. She did not yell out — no! She would have scorned to do it, if she had been spitted on the horns of a mad cow. I did, though; I vociferated curses enough to annihilate any fiend in Christiandom; and I got a stone and thrust it down his throat. A beast of a servant came up with a lantern, at last, shouting —

'Keep fast, Skulker, keep fast!'

He changed his note, however, when he saw Skulker's game. The dog was throttled off — his huge, purple tongue hanging half a foot out of his mouth, and his pendant lips streaming with bloody slaver.

The man took Cathy up — she was sick; not from fear, I'm certain, but from pain. He carried her in; I followed, grumbling execrations and vengeance.

'What prey, Robert?' hollooed Linton from the entrance.

'Skulker has caught a little girl, sir' he replied, 'and there's a lad here...'

the passage continues

'That's Miss Earnshaw!' he whispered to his mother, 'and look how Skulker has bitten her — how her foot bleeds!

'Miss Earnshaw? Nonsense!' cried the dame, 'Miss Earnshaw scouring the country with a gipsy! And yet, my dear, the child is in mourning — surely it is — and may be lamed for life.'

Wuthering Heights is available at project gutenberg and amazon.com. pick up a dog fighting book ar two while at amazon.

the pit bull in music

BIG ROCK CANDY MOUNTAIN
Harry McClintock

One evening as the sun went down and the jungle fire was burning
Down the track came a hobo hiking and he said boys I'm not turning
I'm headin for a land that's far away beside the crystal fountains
So come with me we'll go and see the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains there's a land that's fair and bright
Where the handouts grow on bushes and you sleep out every night
Where the boxcars are all empty and the sun shines every day
On the birds and the bees and the cigarette trees
Where the lemonade springs where the bluebird sings
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains all the cops have wooden legs
And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth and the hens lay soft boiled eggs
The farmer's trees are full of fruit and the barns are full of hay
Oh, I'm bound to go where there ain't no snow
Where the rain don't fall and the wind don't blow
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains you never change your socks
And the little streams of alcohol come a-tricklin' down the rocks
The brakemen have to tip their hats and the railroad bulls are blind
There's a lake of stew and of whiskey too
You can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains the jails are made of tin
And you can walk right out again as soon as you are in
There ain't no short handled shovels, no axes saws or picks
I'm a goin to stay where you sleep all day
Where they hung the jerk that invented work
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

I'll see you all this coming fall in the Big Rock Candy Mountains



Big Rock Candy Mountain was written in 1895 and recorded in 1928.