ADMIN 1
|
AvailabilityAvailability
The chances of being able to purchase a British Bulldog around 15 years ago in the early 1990s , for most Australians was very limited, and some of the reasons for this was because they were kept under extremely tight restrictions by a number of breeders . For example in a situation where 5 pups were born, only one or two were kept for future breeding , then if these females had difficulties producing a litter due to unforseen circumstances ,then that whole line in some cases was lost , because the litter mates were sterilized previously .
My plan was simple based on the same breeding strategy as cattleman in rough remote country in northern Australia . These cattlemen utilized their original scrub cows that were plain looking but very hardy and resilient and productive, by putting them to expensive quality selected Brahman Bulls and the like . They were successful in reproducing cattle for harsh Australian conditions ,by being committed to a very long and continually expanding breeding program that was headed towards reproducing animals that carried all the outstanding looks and qualities of the bulls , but gaining in most cases more bounce and durability brought in by their hardy mothers.
This gave me the idea to have a go at trying to expand the numbers of bulldogs in Australia by using only the most impressive male British or straight crosses that I could find as often as I could .
I believe that the British bulldog gene pool could have been expanded and improved within its own original design and 100 percent pure state , but it has been sometimes completely held back by selfish breeders wanting to control its destiny .( I know that there are small groups of successful Brit breeders today making ground on good type and health) Controlling a breeding program is necessary , but being restricted from expanding when you have the quality of dogs to do so is a bit selfish .
My intensions in the beginning were to try and produce a bulldog of the type that I wanted ,basing the ultimate outcome looking similar to the best British bulldogs , being larger in appearance ,with good body conformation , muscular hindquarters with moderate angulation , level top line and a noticeably square appearance in the head (see breed standard). This has always been a very difficult thing to achieve due to the limitation of access to suitable dogs .I have to say as the aussie bulldog numbers grew , so did the opportunity for a greater selection of breeding stock , allowing us to hand pick the best examples in health and type, and concentrate on what they had to offer .
Whilst I feel that we are achieving what we originally set out to achieve , by accumulating a greater number of bulldog type dogs allowing for a larger selection , I also think that there is an on going unsupervised number of dogs being bred from unsuitable parents causing concern to the reputation of this breed. There is good and bad in the Aussie Bulldogs and there is good and bad in the British Bulldogs. If we had the opportunity from the beginning until now to select as many quality British bulldogs as we needed , then I would have to say that I would run two parallel breeding programs , one of 100 % pedigreed British bulldogs and the other one of the highest of quality Aussie Bulldogs that could be achieved as I feel that the Aussie Bulldog has taken its own distinct look ( give or take a few variations) which is typical in every breed and is the reason why we have variations in the Aussies .
I still strongly believe that some of the rarer breeds of dogs need to expand on their gene pool and the easiest way to do this, is to work in with related breeds . For example today's English mastiff is disappearing at an alarming rate, where as if this breed was selectively bred back to St. Bernards and quality large bullmastiffs , it could be revived but this is not possible within the regulations the canine control put on breeders. I feel that they should allow for exceptional circumstances when it is obvious that a particular breeds numbers are critically low and move towards encouraging a controlled breeding program to revive these breeds .
Not so long ago the Irish wolfhound had been revived by breeding it to Deerhounds and Great danes to expand on its critically low numbers. The Doberman was produced by breeding Rottweilers, greyhounds and German pinscers together, not that the dobe is rare, but this is an example of breeding that has been done to create a dog with a different appearance and slightly different purpose, as well as the Miniature foxies( Tenterfield Terriers) that come from Chihuahuas and standard foxterriers, and the list could go on.
It is not illegal to cross breed dogs, only restricted if you are a part of a canine. Do not cross dogs needlessly as there has been a lot of hard work go into our pure breeds , but if the choice is to stand back and watch a rare breed or type die out, then why not help it back on its feet. We are only trying to help increase numbers of a noticeably rare animal, we are not trying to populate the earth with mongrels.
People always ask what breed of dog came first: the answer is the wolf in its 20 different varieties, ranging from 20kg short haired type in south America, to 100kg wooly monsters in Alaska, all the rest are just man made domestic canines that look as good as we can make them and they are all related to each other in some way or another.
Written By Noel Green
|
