American Bulldog

The American Bulldog is a large, muscular dog of the mastiff type. Its ancestors came to the British colonies in North America as working bulldogs and earned their keep on small farms and ranches, guarding property, moving stock and catching cattle.

History

Like the English Bulldog, the American Bulldog descends from the Old English Bulldog. In England, different strains of bulldog were kept for droving cattle, for bull-baiting, and as farm and butcher’s dogs. Some of these went to the American colonies with settlers, where small farmers and ranchers used them as guardians, stock dogs and catch dogs.

For a long time these were not a breed in the modern sense. No records were kept, and dogs were bred for temperament and working ability, not for bloodline. Ranchers kept several separate strains to catch cattle and kill predators that threatened the farm.

After World War II the type had almost died out, with the few survivors mostly on farms in the southeastern United States. John D. Johnson and Alan Scott are widely credited with saving it. Johnson searched the back roads of the South for the best dogs he could find, and the young Scott joined him. Scott later bred Johnson’s lines with bulldogs from working Southern farms, producing what is now called the Standard or Scott type. Johnson crossed his original lines with an athletic English bulldog from the north of the United Kingdom, producing the Bully type, also called the Johnson or Classic type.

The United Kennel Club recognized the American Bulldog on January 1, 1999. In November 2019 it was added to the American Kennel Club’s Foundation Stock Service. The American Bully is a separate breed.

Appearance

This is a stocky, heavily built dog with a large head and strong shoulders and forelegs. The Bully type is usually bigger and heavier with a shorter muzzle, though never so short that breathing is difficult. The Standard type is more athletic, with a longer muzzle and a squarer head. Many dogs today are a mix of the two, usually called hybrid.

American Bulldogs generally weigh 27–54 kg (60–119 lb) and stand 52–70 cm (20–28 in) at the withers, and some are considerably larger.

The coat is short and generally smooth. The traditional color is mostly white with patches of red, black or brindle, but black, red, brown, fawn and every shade of brindle are now seen too. Black pigment on the nose and eye rims is preferred. The eyes are usually brown; odd-colored eyes occur and are counted as a cosmetic fault.

Care and health

The coat needs little beyond a bath every few weeks, and shedding is light to moderate. American Bulldogs are known to drool more than most breeds.

Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis has been found in some American Bulldogs. The breed is predisposed to several skin conditions: allergic skin disease, ichthyosis, solar dermatosis and squamous cell carcinoma. A review of records from more than 600 hospitals in the United States also found it predisposed to juvenile-onset demodicosis.

Facts on this page were checked against Wikipedia and may have changed since.