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The Dutch Kennel Club has introduced new health rules ( 2014)
The physique of the Bulldog can be explained from the fact that he has been used for bull baiting from the 13th to the 18th century. The bull could have taken the dog more easily on his horns, when the dog was normal legged on his front. This explains the low-legged construction of the Bulldog’s front. To maintain sufficient jumping power in his hindquarters, the hind legs needed length. To be able to have a firm bite and hold on to the bull during the fight and during his hanging to the bull, and still being able to breath, the Bulldog’s jaws must have sufficient width and strength and the nose must have a certain lay-back. When looking at the Bulldog’s drawings from the second half of the 19th century, we see an athletic dog, that complies to the above-mentioned description and looks more to what we would call today an “Old English Bulldog”. In the beginning of the 20th century, we see in the drawings and pictures that the Bulldog is becoming to look more and more to the dog we see nowadays. Somewhat shorter in his front legs, wide in his front, short nose, broad skull, narrow pelvis, more roach (ascending back) and decreasing length of the tail. The result of these “adjustments” is that the athletic ability of the Bulldog has decreased, but this was not a problem, the bull baiting was already forbidden by law. The breeding of Bulldogs was focusing more to the physical appearance of the dog, than to what he initially was bred for.
Resulting in the selection of different physical properties. Also the character of the dog became more important, because when going to a show, the dogs needed to be touched. Other properties became less important, such as endurance, mobility, and athletic physical appearance. Also, after W.W.II, it became more routine to perform a C-section to dogs, which made the selection for self-whelping bitches, less necessary. The result of all these factors, was that the Bulldog became a heavy dog, with an excessive large head and broad shoulders. The nose, neck, loins and tail became shorter over time. Because initially there was no action against the consequences that these –sometimes extreme- changes brought, it took to approximately 20 years ago, before it was openly discussed what the consequences of these extreme changes of the physical appearance entailed. The dog that once was athletically build and could face up to a bull, could no longer go for a walk on a sunny day! Lovers of the breed said that was normal for a Bulldog and one should know where he got into when choosing this breed. However, the primary characteristics of the dog are, that is eager to do something, he is cheerful and likes to pull a sprint, which the majority of Bulldog population was unable to do, by the end of the previous century. Also, the Bulldog had, next to respiratory problems, also excessive burden of their eyes, joints, heart, suffered from epilepsy and various skin problems. In short:
Time for a change! T H ED O G M A G AZ I N E · I SSU E 2 / 2 0 1 5
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