Bull Terrier

Bull Terrier

FCI Standard No. 11

Origin

Group

Section

Working

Date of acceptance on a definitive basis by the FCI

Date of publication of the official valid standard

Date of the last update

En français, cette race se dit

Diese Norm ist in deutscher Sprache sichtbar

En español, esta raza se dice

In het Nederlands, wordt dit ras gezegd

Usage

Brief historical summary

General appearance

Behaviour / temperament

Head

Cranial region

Head

Skull

Facial region

Nose

Lips

Jaws and teeth

Eyes

Ears

Neck

Body

Body

Back

Loin

Chest

Underline and belly

Tail

Limbs

Forequarters

Generality

Shoulders

Elbows

Forearm

Pastern

Forefeet

Hindquarters

Generality

Upper thigh

Lower thigh

Stifle

Metatarsus

Hock

Hind feet

Gait and movement

Skin

Coat

Hair

Colour

Size and weight

Height at withers

Faults

Disqualifying faults

NB :

Detailed history

The Bull Terrier, also known as White Cavalier, is one of the oldest breeds of Terriers, since, as early as 1822, his name is mentioned by Pierce Egan in the Annals of Sporting. The nickname of this dog, on the other hand, does not deceive on his qualities and his aptitudes: "gladiator of the canine gent", a nickname which comes to him from very far, when he had to fight other dogs in the pits with the wooded walls called pits.

This "sport", whose origins date back to the Middle Ages, was very popular in Britain. For a very long time, these shows, known as bull baitings, did, in fact, only oppose dogs, especially Bulldogs, to bulls (maintained by a strong loin), then, in the eighteenth century, under the impulse of kings and lords who had reserved the exclusivity of the Mastiffs' use, other equally sanguinary combats were organized, where these dogs fought with bears and wild animals.

With the industrial revolution and the development of great cities, where miners, metallurgists and weavers lived, the traditional and rustic bull baiting diversified greatly. The bull was substituted for all kinds of wild animals or goshawks - badgers, bears, donkeys, horses, monkeys, sometimes lions or leopards - always with the intention of renewing the interest of the shows and increase the sums on the paris engaged, but also to compete with the very popular cock fights and rats killing matches, dog breeds ratiers.

These fights were mainly organized in London, Birmingham, the Midlands, and in the north of England. In the capital, two arenas had been built: Westminster Pit and Paddington Pit. Raymond Triquet also gives us an idea of what were the programs proposed at the beginning of the nineteenth century (exactly in 1821), by publishing the text of an advertising poster: "Combat against a bear and a bull, fight between two dogs , and, as main attraction, the fight of the monkey Jacco Maccacco, already thirteen times winner, against a bitch."

Although the names of the committed breeds are nowhere mentioned, it is important to note that fighting dogs were generally bred between Bull Dogs and various Terriers, such as the Fox, the Black and Tan Terrier (ancestor of the Manchester Terrier) and especially the Old English White Terrier (Old White English Terrier). These subjects, as Hamilton Smith wrote in 1843 in his Naturalist's Library, "were the most stubborn and ferocious ever" or, according to Clifford Hubbard, in Dogs in Britain, "were larger and stronger than the Bull-Terriers of today, and especially with a very different head, close to that of the old Bulldog, "particularly ugly bastards," as Henry Davis once again pointed out in The Modern Dog Encyclopedia. The multiple denominations under which these dogs were designated - Bull and Terriers Dogs, Half and Half, Pit Dogs, Pit Bulls - also showed which breeds had been used: in the Bulldog, which was considered too heavy, Terrier blood had been added. animal considered stubborn and agile.

Anyway, by the time the Bull Baitings were banned in 1835 by the British Parliament the Bull Terrier seemed already close to the one we know today. This fighting dog, in fact, looked quite like a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, with very short cut ears and an often larger gauge: 45 cm at the withers for a weight of 20 kg. The ban on animal fighting, decreed by the government of His Gracious Majesty, did not however put an end to the struggles between dogs, and this for three essential reasons: the British could not be forbidden to possess such dogs or to make them practice intensive training, especially since their aggressiveness was directed exclusively against their fellow creatures; Finally, it was difficult to control the places, barns, backyards of pubs or quarries (especially those of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall) where the fighting was taking place, which could thus be organized without any real risk until the fifties - some dog owners like R. Triquet, even say that it still exists today in the north of England.

It was in 1860 that appeared the first dog directly from the Pit Dogs and worthy of appearing in exhibitions. This White Cavalier, which was quickly called Bull Terrier, belonged to a man named James Hinks, dog merchant of his state and living in Birmingham. It was a subject with an all-white dress, a thinner head and longer than other fighting dogs. If James Hinks never gave his "recipe" to create such a dog, there is little doubt that it came from a cross between a Bulldog and an Old English White Terrier, probably enriched later by blood of Dalmatian, or to a lesser degree of Greyhound, Whippet, or even Pointer blood.

The cynologists have in fact tried to explain by these various enrichments, moreover quite hypothetical, the ovoid profile of the race (in "rugby ball"), which was to be accentuated a little later.

Some, like Edward Ash in his Practical Dog Book, even mentioned Collie (Collie). J. Dhers, a famous French cynologist, expressed a very different opinion from that of his British counterparts: "If we find in the Bull Terrier something of Dalmatian and Greyhound, I find him little resemblance to the Bassets Terriers (we have spoken of the Cairn and the West Highland White Terriers) and even less with the Collie, of which, whatever one may say, the shape of the skull is not that of the Greyhound. The ovoid skull of the Bull Terrier seems to me to be reminiscent of that of the Whippet, himself the son of Terrier. And it must be admitted that Dhers' analysis was based on unmistakable facts, since, around 1860, the Collie did not yet have the long and fine head which the race prides itself today, just as it seems certain that the role played by the Old English White Terrier, which had been extensively crossed with small greyhounds to refine their lines, was not sufficiently emphasized.

Still, the "new" Bull Terrier attracted the regulars of dog shows and lovers of originality, especially a youth that a certain aestheticism took to think outside the box by choosing for companion a dog that had been that of miners and cabaret pillars. This quest for eccentricity did not fail to arouse the anger and criticism of the "old-fashioned" Bull Terrier defenders, who blamed Hinks for escalating this famous fighting dog into a subject for dress exposure. immaculate white and elegant head. Hinks then proposed to his detractors to oppose his dog Pussy to any other fighting Bull Terrier, promising the winner not less than five pounds (a nice sum at the time) and a box of champagne. The meeting was organized by Tuppers at Long Acre in the London Borough of Covent Garden. In thirty minutes of a fierce fight, Pussy put to death his adversary, so that the next day, all haloed by his victory and very little marked by his meeting, the dog obtained his first dog show price.

A beautiful career opened for the race. At the end of the last century, the Bull Terrier had become a faithful guardian, well brought up in addition, and quite naturally its name of "gladiator" was replaced by that of "gentleman". As for the old Bull Terriers, they had nothing left but clandestine fighting, hunting rats in the stables or during timed competitions, as well as badger and wild boar hunting.

At that time, the Hinks-created Bull Terrier could still vary considerably in volume, and although a special class for subjects weighing less than twelve pounds (about 5.4 kg) would have been expected at the Islington Show. In 1863, the judges only took large dogs. In his book Modern Dogs published in 1903, Rawdon Lee rebelled against such discrimination, since the miniature Bull Terrier existed from the beginning of the race. In the same way, it was not until the end of the nineteenth century that the doumface was fixed, that is to say, that head so peculiar, without any stop, presenting no model and with the profile curving slowly.

A first stunt was to be given to the Bull Terrier in 1895. At that time, King Edward VII asked the Kennel Club to forbid the cutting of the ears, which removed the silhouette of the Bull Terrier, until there provided ears cut in point (inheritance of a common practice in the fighting dogs), part of its charm. The breeders did not get discouraged, and by selection they managed to produce dogs with naturally straight ears, which, at least at first, were the only ones - with those with sterni-folded ears - to be allowed.

The breeders did not win the game, however, and they soon found themselves in another problem, which for the future of the breed was even more worrying: a large number of Bull Terriers were deafness at birth. To stem the progression of this disability, in addition to an effort to eradicate it by eliminating the subjects transmitting it, the standard was revised in 1920, which put an end to the exclusion of white subjects - it seems that the color white was linked to this tare (although geneticists have refuted this thesis) -, finally allowing the colorful Bull Terrier. This decision not only solved the problem of deafness but also resolved the issue of invasive depigmentation, very unsightly, whose race was then frequently afflicted. Finally, the greater variety of colors gave the Bull Terrier more popularity.

In 1943, after many vicissitudes, the "miniature" variety was added to the standard by the Kennel Club, but it was scarcely better disseminated for that purpose. Although its existence was very old - one can read indeed in the catalog of Cruft that "small Bull Terriers existed at the beginning of the XIXe century and that the miniature Bull Terrier is resulting from this old small Bull Terrier and the old Toy Bull Terrier" - it was almost endangered in the aftermath of the First World War. Under these conditions, miniature Bull Terrier enthusiasts had no choice but to increase their weight, which in exhibitions was increased to 18 pounds (about 8.2 kg).

The success of the Bull Terrier was at its zenith after the Second World War, during which time it was used as a police dog and big game dog in Africa, because it was particularly resistant to tropical climates. Since then, the Bull Terrier has been established in the United States and in all Commonwealth countries; it is one of the favorite breeds in South Africa, as well as in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.