The Bulldog: fierce or gentle?

Here’s a dog that fools most people. Just because Bulldogs look fierce, people think they are fierce. In general, the opposite is true. Today’s bulldogs are among the kindest dogs you could ever have.

This was not true hundreds of years ago. In those days, these sturdy dogs were tough and ferocious. They had to be. Those who were weak or worthless did not survive.

You might be wondering how the Bulldog name you used came to be and why the dog is built the way it is. Both arose as a result of a cruel “sport” called bull-baiting, which was popular in the Middle Ages. It was kind of like today’s bullfights in Spain and Mexico, only instead of a man fighting the bull, a dog did it.

In bull baiting, a dog was put in a ring with a ferocious bull for a survival fight. The dog needed a strong jaw for a good bite. And once he got a good bite, he needed a short nose and a huge chest so he could breathe while holding the bull tightly in his mouth. Usually if a dog had a good solid bite it would beat the bull. But the bull also had weapons. Many dogs were crushed with a hoof or gored with a horn.

In 1835, when bull baiting was banned in England, this fighting dog had been developed to resemble the Bulldog of today. The human law that stopped the baiting of bulls nearly caused the breed to become extinct. In those days, dogs were rarely kept as pets: if you fed a dog, it had to work. And, since these dogs could no longer be used to harass bulls, many owners no longer raised their dogs. Fortunately, some nobles kept their dogs as guard dogs and the breed was able to survive.