BULLDOGS THROUGH TIME - A Historical Archive of Britain's National Breed

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Bulldogs in the 19th Century

PhiloKuon Standard

The head should be large and high, that is, with elevation about the temples, and deeply sunken between the eyes, which indentation is termed "The Stop". This Stop should extend some distance up the head. The skin of the head should be wrinkled, and the cheeks should extend outwards well beyond the eyes. The forehead of the dog should not be prominent, as in the King Charles Spaniel, and not too round or it would be "Apple Headed". The head of a fine dog fifty pounds of weight, should measure round the thickest part about twenty inches.

The eyes should be wide apart, almost black, of moderate size, rather full than otherwise, round, and not deeply set. The line of the eyes should be at right angles with the line of the face, and the eyes placed quite in front of the head, as far from the ear and as near the nose as possible.

The ears should be small,thin,and wide apart. They should be either "Rose", "Button" or "Tulip". The Rose ear falls backwards, while the ends lap over outwards exposing part of the inside. The Button ear differs from the Rose only in falling over forwards, which hides the interior.The Tulip ear is nearly erect. These are the only distinct sorts of ear, but there are various grades between them, and sometimes one almost merges into the other, for the dog does not always carry them in the same manner as, for instance, the ear which is naturally a Rose ear may become almost a Tulip ear when the dog is excited.

The nostrils should be wide and the nose large and almost between the eyes, and black, and deep-thus, taking the depth of the nose and the length from the eye to the end of the nose, the distance ought to be about the same. There should be a well defined line straight up between the nostrils. The best bred dogs will be liable to flesh or spotted noses; this is a blemish, but no sign of bad breeding; true bred bulldogs will sometimes have flesh colored noses.

The muzzle should be broad, deep, and short, with the skin deeply wrinkled and underhung, but not showing the teeth;for if the mouth be even they are termed Sharkheaded, which is considered a very bad point. This is an important point, because it denotes width and squareness of under jaw.

The neck should be moderate in length, thick and arched at the back, with plenty of loose, wrinkled skin about the throat. The ribs should be well rounded and the chest wide, deep, and rounded. The tail should be inserted rather low down;thick where it joins the body, long and thin, and turned round at the end, in which case it is termed a "Ring" or "Tiger" tail, similar to that of the Greyhound but shorter. The perfect tail is shown in the print of Mr. Lovell's Ball, and the tail nearest approaching that is the nearest to perfection. "The tail thin and taper, curling over the back or hanging down, termed "tiger"tailed;rarely erected except when the passions of the animal are aroused"-vide cynographia Brittanica a.d. 1800.

The back should be short and arched in the loins, termed "Roach-backed", wide across the shoulders and narrow across the loins. The Roach-back is shown in perfection in the print of Crib and Rosa. Rosa's shape is perfect.

The legs: The forelegs should be stout, with well marked calves, bowed outwards, short, and very wide apart. The hind legs should be slightly longer in proportion than the forelegs, so as to elevate the loins. The hocks should approach each other, which involves the stifles being turned outwards, adn well rounded, which seems to obstruct the dogs speed in running, but is admirably adapted to progressive motion when combatting on his belly. The feet should be moderately round;not so round as a cat's nor so long as a Hare's feet, and should be well split up between the toes. The forefeet should be straight, and should show the knuckles well. The pasterns should be strong, that dog may walk well on his toes.

The coat should be fine, short, and close. The bulldog has a very peculiar carriage, heavy and rather slow. He rolls very much in his gait, and generally runs rather sideways;his hind legs are seldom lifted very high, so that his hind feet(which like the stifles are turned outwards)appear to skim the ground.

The Colour should be salmon, fallow, red, brindled, or white, with those colours variously pied. The salmon and fallow with black muzzles, called "Smuts" are choice colours. Some greatly admire the whites, but a bright Salmon with black muzzle would be the choicest of all colours. Black was formerly considered a good colour, but black and tan, and blue, are very bad colours. There is a strong resemblance between a brindled Bulldog and a striped Hyena.

Weight: A Bulldog seldom weighs more than 60 lbs. If larger, he may be suspected of the Mastiff cross. On the other hand, he ought not be less than 20 lbs in weight, or he may be suspected of being crossed with the Terrier. The larger Bulldogs are grander and more striking in their proportions than the small ones.

Philo-Kuon London February 1865

The first bulldog club founded by R. S. Rockstro ceased to exist after only three years having not organized a single show. The main achievement of the Rockstro Bulldog Club was the Philo-Kuan Standard.

Samuel Wickens, who was treasurer of the club, published this description in 1865 under the pseudonym Philo-Kuan

On 4 April 1873, The Kennel Club was founded, the first dog breeding club dealing with the registration of purebred dogs and dog breeds. The Bulldog was included in the first volume of the Kennel Club Stud Book, which was presented at the Birmingham Show on 1 December 1874. The first English Bulldog entered into the register was a male dog named Adam (Adamo), born in 1864

In March 1875, Bulldog Club was founded, which still exists today.

Members of this club met frequently at the Blue Post pub on Oxford Street in London. The founders of the club collected all available information about the breed and its best representatives and developed a new standard for the English Bulldog, which was published on 27 May 1875, the same year they held the first breed show.

Since 1878, exhibitions of the club were held annually, except during the Second World War.

On 17 May 1894, the Bulldog Club was granted the status of a corporation and since then has carried the official name "The Bulldog Club, Inc.".

It is the oldest mono-breed dog kennel club in the world

THE STANDARD OF THE BULLDOG © The Bulldog Club Inc

Standard Description of the Correct Appearance and the several Points in detail of a Perfect Bulldog.

The following description of the Pure-bred Old English Bulldog has been compiled and adopted by The Bulldog Club (incorporated) as the correct standard type of excellence in the breed, after carefully comparing all obtainable opinions. In forming a judgment on any specimen of the breed the general appearance - which is the first impression the dog makes as a whole on the eye of the judge - should be first considered.

Secondly should be noticed its size, shape and make, or rather its proportions in the relation they bear to each other. (No point should be so much in excess of the others as to destroy the general symmetry, or make the dog appear deformed, or interfere with its powers of motion, etc.) Thirdly, his style, carriage, gait, temper and his several points should be considered separately in detail, as follows, due allowance being made for the bitch, which is not so grand or as well developed as the dog

1. The general appearance of the bulldog is that of a smooth-coated, thick- set dog, rather low in stature, but broad, powerful and compact. Its head strikingly massive and large in proportion to the dog's size. Its face extremely short. Its muzzle very broad, blunt and inclined upwards. Its body short and well-knit; the limbs stout and muscular. Its hind quarters high and strong, but rather lightly made in comparison with its heavily made foreparts. The dog should convey an impression of determination, strength and activity, similar to that suggested by the appearance of a thick-set Ayrshire bull.

2. The skull should be very large-the larger the better-and in circumference should measure (round in front of the ears) at least the height of the dog at the shoulders. Viewed from the front, it should appear very high from the corner of the lower jaw to the apex of the skull, and also very broad and square. The cheeks should be well rounded and extend sideways beyond the eyes. Viewed at the side, the head should appear very high, and very short from its back to the point of the nose.

The forehead should be flat, neither prominent nor overhanging the face; the skin upon it and about the head very loose and well wrinkled.

3. The projections of the frontal bones should be very prominent' broad, square and high, causing a deep and wide indentation between the eyes, termed the "stop". From the "stop", a furrow both broad and deep should extend up the middle of the skull, being traceable to the apex.

4. The eyes, seen from the front, should be situated low down in the skull, as far from the ears as possible. The eyes and "stop" should be in the same straight line, which should be at right angles to the furrow. They should be as wide apart as possible, provided their outer corners are within the outline of the cheeks. They should be quite round in shape, of moderate size, neither sunken nor prominent, and in colour should be very dark almost, if not quite black, showing no white when looking directly forward.

5. The ears should be set high on the head - i.e. the front inner edge of each ear should (as viewed from the front) join the outline of the skull at the top corner of such outline, so as to place them as wide apart, and as high and as far from the eyes as possible. In size they should be small and thin. The shape termed "rose ear" is correct, and folds inward at its back, the upper or front edge curving over outwards and backwards, showing part of the inside of the burr.

6. The face, measured from the front of the cheekbone to the nose, should be as short as possible, and its skin should be deeply and closely wrinkled. The muzzle should be short, broad, turned upwards, and very deep from the corner of the eye to the corner of the mouth.

The nose should be large, broad and black; its top should be deeply set back almost between the eyes. The distance from the inner corner of the eye (or from the centre of the stop between the eyes) to the extreme tip of the nose should not exceed the length from the tip of the nose to the edge of the under lip.

The nostrils should be large, wide and black, with a well-defined vertical straight line between them.

7. The flews, called the "chop", should be thick, broad, pendent and very deep, hanging completely over the lower jaw at the sides (not in front). They should join the under lip in front and quite cover the teeth, which should not be seen when the mouth is closed.

8. The jaw should be broad, massive and square, the canine teeth or tusks wide apart. The lower jaw should project considerably in front of the upper and turn up. It should be broad and square, and have the six small front teeth between the canines in an even row.

The teeth should be large and strong.

9. The neck should be moderate in length (rather short than long), very thick, deep and strong. It should be well arched at the back, with much loose, thick and wrinkled skin about the throat, forming a dewlap on each side, from the lower jaw to the chest.

The chest should be very wide, laterally round, prominent, and deep, making the dog appear very broad and short-legged in front.

10. The shoulders should be broad, sloping, and deep, very powerful and muscular, and giving the appearance of having been 'lacked on" to the body.

11. The brisket should be capacious, round and very deep from the top of the shoulders to its lowest part where it joins the chest, and be well let down between the forelegs. It should be large in diameter and round behind the forelegs (not flat sided, the ribs being well rounded). The body should be well ribbed up behind, with the belly tucked up, and not pendulous.

12. The back should be short and strong, very broad at the shoulders, and comparatively narrow at the loins. There should be a slight fall to the back close behind the shoulders (its lowest part), whence the spine should rise to the loins (the top of which should be higher than the top of the shoulders), thence curving again more suddenly to the tail, forming an arch -a distinctive characteristic of the breed-termed "roach-back".

13. The forelegs should be very stout and strong, set wide apart, thick, muscular and straight, with well-developed forearms, presenting a rather bowed outline but the bones of the legs should be large and straight, not bandy or curved. They should be rather short in proportion to the hind legs, but not so short as to make the back appear long or detract from the dog's activity, and so cripple him.

The elbows should be low, and stand well away from the ribs. The pasterns should be short, straight and strong.

The forefeet should be straight, and turn very slightly outward, of medium size and moderately round.

The toes compact and thick, being well split up, making the knuckles prominent and high.

14. The hind legs should be large and muscular, and longer in proportion than the forelegs, so as to elevate the loins.

The hocks should be slightly bent and well let down, so as to be long and muscular from the Joins to the point of the hock.

The lower part of the leg should be short, straight and strong.

The stifles should be round and turned slightly outwards away from the body. The hocks are thereby made to approach each other and the hind feet to turn outwards. The latter, like the forefeet, should be round and compact, with the toes well split up and the knuckles prominent.

From its formation the dog has a peculiar heavy and constrained gait, appearing to walk with short, quick steps on the tip of its toes, its hind feet not being lifted high, but appearing to skim the ground, and running with the right shoulder rather advanced, similar to the manner of a horse in cantering.

15. The most desirable size for the bulldog is 55 lbs. for a dog, and 50 lbs. for a bitch.

16. The tail, termed the "stern", should be set on low, jut out rather straight, then turn downwards. It should be round, smooth and devoid of fringe or coarse hair. It should be moderate in length-rather short than long-thick at the root, and tapering quickly to a fine point. It should have a downward carriage (not having a decided upward curve at the end), and the dog shoulc,l not be able to raise it over its back

17. The colour should be whole or smut (that is, a whole colour with a black mask or muzzle).

The only colours (which should be brilliant and pure of their sort) are whole colours - viz., brindles, reds with their varieties, fawns, fallows, etc., white and also pied (i.e., a combination of white with any other of the foregoing colours).

The coat should be fine in texture, short, close and smooth (hard only from the shortness and closeness, not wiry).