Very Interesting History Piece. (From 1912)

Extract Taken From : The Sporting Terrier​

Full Edition : http://www.game-dog.com/forums/showthread.php?p=246669#post246669​

Should occasion arise, through argument or otherwise, for the possessor of one of these dogs to demonstrate or prove his dog's gameness in a contest, he wants to have the goods to do it with, and the probabilities are he will buy from a breeder who advertises such stock.

The advertiser must be able to back his claims for his clogs; hence the pit contests. These Bull Terriers with brindle and black markings, which were forced into the pit dog class, have been bred heavier and more powerful in build than the bench show type, and in some cases receive a special training for pit purposes; hence, the Pit Bull Terrier.

However, notwithstanding the claims of many breeders of the pit variety, he does not naturally possess one whit more gameness in his make-up than does his pure white brother. Take two dogs of equal weight, one a strictly bench show type and the other a "dead game" fighting dog

and the chances are just as good that the show dog will win in a fight as that the pit dog will, and in many cases his gameness is greatly superior to that of the trained fighter, who perhaps loses in that respect by an outcross or some fault in rearing or early training. The Bull Terrier, whether pit or bench show type, is an ideal dog as a companion, guardian, or vermin destroyer He possesses great powers of endurance, fearless courage and a wonderful hardiness of constitution.

These dogs make remarkably faithful and reliable companions and watch dogs; they are exceedingly handsome to look at, of affectionate disposition, easily taught many useful and pleasing stunts, and delight in the extermination of all sorts of objectionable vermin. Referring to Bull Terriers in England, Mr. Theodore Marples, a well known writer and editor of Our Dogs, says: "The misty records and data of the origin of most breeds of dogs applies to a great extent to the Bull Terrier, whose creation cannot be distinctly traced, but which was at least given an impetus when bull-baiting and dog fighting were made illegal pastimes in 1835.

The appetite of the populace, and also the gentry—not forgetting the undergraduates of Oxford and Cambridge—for a more vicious form of sport than obtained in these days was not, of course, extinguished with the abolition of bull baiting, which sport was largely substituted by dog-fighting, badger-baiting, etc., the former of which was, of course, carried on clandestinely.

For this description of sport a different type of dog was, of course, required to the Bulldog,—viz., a dog with a longer and more punishing jaw, and more agility, yet game and powerful. For this purpose the Bulldog was crossed with the Terriers available in those days, which were more or less of a nondescript pattern.

This assumption is proved by the color and type of the early Bull Terriers, which were either brindled or fallow-smut in color, —taking after the Bulldog—with strong and Terrier-like bodies and limbs, and heads of fair length and strength, but not the clean-cut long head of the modern Bull Terrier. Many of the colored Bull Terriers survive to this day; and here I may mention that here is at this moment dawning on the Bull Terrier horizon a distinct desire among admirers of colored dogs to bring the colored Bull Terriers, and more particularly the brindles, up to the level and type of the whites, which, for half a century or more, have held undisputed sway in general public esteem and on the show bench.

This is both a legitimate and laudable aspiration, for while I would not for one moment attempt to disparage the smart, clean looking whites, yet, in view of his origin, his avocation and tradition, it seems but logical that there should be brindle and fawn Bull Terriers as well as whites, brindle being a color that is always associated with hardihood, and which is certainly handsome. The dog still retains his pugilistic propensities, which are bred in him and inherent to his nature. He is the gamecock of the canine species, and undoubtedly the finest exponent of the 'noble art' as applied to dogs, which puritans would probably describe as the 'ignoble art