The American Bulldog

A brief note on the breed

Breed Description: Overview

What is the Johnson American Bulldog? Well first off it is only one strain of the breed, American Bulldog. There are two others; Scott and Painter. Not much is known about the Painter strain. Also there are Hybrids between the three, although not an official strain, they are so prevalant that they are considered one. The other two (and sometimes the Johnson strain) are used in America for hog-hunting, while the Johnson strain is known more for it’s strength and is used for protection and bite work.

Breed Description: Johnson

J. D. Johnson the founding father of the breed has recently expressed his desire for his strain to be called the Johnson Bulldog as opposed to American Bulldog Johnson Type. Depending on how you view his decision you can refer to them as either, but expect them to be more commonly known as Johnson Bulldog. Here in Ireland American Bulldog is how they are currently known as most people are not aware of the strains.

The other two strains have a more pit-bull look about them (refered to as the “preformance type” for this reason”) Where as the Johnson strain has the more “Bulldog” look about them.(refered to as the “classic type”). Their coats are always pied or white only. Mostly brindle and white. They are a large dog, not very high but blocky and square. They have larger heads with more powerful jaws and have more pronounced muscles. In short they are a very formiddable and impressive animal with a dominating presence. To explain why lets have a brief look at the breed’s “history”.

An Outline of Breed History

The breed’s history (if you can call it a history) is mainly based on hear-say and rumors. Considering what the breed was and still is used for, this fact can only emhpasis that the breed is a true working breed. There are three main theories, the most widely accepted, and the one we shall look at here, is a mix of the first two and makes the most scence.

In the times when the beginings of the U.S.A were still under rule from Britain bull baiting and pit sports were still very popular. Here is where the British Bulldog originated from and is now refered to (considering the dramatic change in the British Bulldog’s apperance) as the Olde English Bulldog (although the American Bulldog is sometimes known as same) . The trend was also in the colonies and so dogs were exported from England to the colonies. When England made the pit sports illegal (by now England and America were starting to break apart) the original British Bulldog was bred to be smaller and smaller until it reached its current apperance but over in America the dogs were kept in their original state as well as adding more breeds into the lines and were now bred for a different purpose. Back then the fences in America were non existant so they used their dogs to bring in the steer (feral bull) and to deal with the wild cattle-eatting boar. These dogs were not for show, they were working animals. Pedigrees were ignored and the individual dog was judged on it’s preformance. Therefore we now have little historical documentation to base theories on.

For a number of different reasons (and a big one of them WW1) the American Bulldog died out a little bit until two men started to bring back the breed. Alan Scott and J.D. Johnson. They travelled the countryside looking for suitable candidates to their liking and having found a substantial amount began their breeding programmes. This is where the split into strains occurs. A. Scott continued to breed his dogs for steer and boar catching while J.DJ started breeding the stronger and stockier of the breed as well as adding one English Bulldog throw-back (i.e. one that closely resembles the orginal Olde English Bulldog) into the mix and bred his dogs for protection and strength.

Today’s Johnson American Bulldogs

Johnson strain Bulldogs are now used for proffesional protection and Schutzhund work, weight pulling, dog tri-athlons, iron dog competions and family protectors. They are sometimes seen on canine police forces because of their formiddable apperance and when catching someone they will not mawl them but catch them on the arm pull them to the ground and keep them there, no matter how much thrashing they get from the offender.

They are favoured in families because of their tenderness with young children and how they thrive in family surroundings. The Johnson American Bulldog dedicates himself to his family, they are all about loyalty and protection. I think this charectoristic was best portrayed in the Disney filim “Homeward Bound” The young Chance was played by a Johnson American Bulldog.

The American Bulldog as a whole is rapidly gaining popularity, one of the most notable things about the breed is that it’s followers absolutely refuse that any Kennel Club recognise their breed (the NKC has added the American Bulldog to it’s list of recognised breeds, any reputable AB breeder will refuse to register his dogs with the NKC) . They use registries such as the ABA (American Bulldog Association) and the ARF (Animal Reasearch Foundation). This is because the American Bulldog (all strains) is one of the few working breeds left. They believe that by allowing the breed to enter into the highly competitive world of KC shows, breeders trying to achive the typiest dog will breed the American Bulldog’s ability to work out of him.

Many kennels have set up their own regisries and breeders if opting to register with these (usually for the purpose of entering a registered dogs exclusive show) will also register their dogs with one of the major registries.

The Johnson American Bulldog In Ireland

Although more and more people are taking an interest in them, the Johnson American Bulldog is still obscure in Ireland today. They made their most recent public apperance at the Clonshire Working Dog Show, Adare, Limerick. Where the American Bulldog class was greeted with quite an interest. Also this year they made an aperance at the Coolnakilla Harriers Working Dog Show. Last year they made a brief apperance at the Waterford Working Dog Show. Keep a look out at most of the major dog shows as many owners try to make an apperance to raise awareness of the breed and they are more than happy to disscuss their favoured breed with the curious. The latest attempt made to organise a club is being organised by Dreamcatcher Kennels, contact them for details. They are also more than happy to disscuss their breed with anyone interested.

~ Any other Working Dog Show organisers interested in organising an American Bulldog class are asked to contact Dreamcatcher Kennels who would be more than happy to help.