Looking Around With Lee – A Discussion About Bulldogs

By Lee Canalizo

The next breed we tackle in my ongoing series of interviews with breed experts is the Bulldog. Anyone who has interacted with a Bulldog understands the popularity of the breed. They are wonderful companions with and outstanding personality. There have been great Bulldogs that have won at the highest levels of the sport and the breed continues to be a contender in the Non-Sporting group. I reached out to longtime breeders of Bulldogs to discuss the breed and get their perspective about changes they have seen in the Bulldog over the past half-century.

These are the three questions I asked each Bulldog breeder:

1. Do you think we have changed the make and the shape of the Bulldog?
2. What do you see in the present day Bulldog that you did not see forty years ago?
3. What did you see in the breed forty years ago that you do not see today?

COMMENTS FROM CODY SICKLE

1. Do you think we have changed the make and the shape of the Bulldog?

During my life in Bulldogs (54 years in the conformation ring), I think this question needs to be addressed from the viewpoint of three broad perspectives. They are health, temperament and conformation.

Let’s consider health first. Without too much pontificating, I have to break this down to Responsible Breeders and others. The responsible Bulldog breeders have done a superb job with health im- provement. These dogs breathe like a different breed from forty or more years ago. Overall soundness has improved dramatically. Unfortunately, those who are breeding solely because of the pop- ularity of the Bulldog continue to breed too many dogs that give our breed a bad reputation for health.

Short URL: http://caninechronicle.com/?p=130198

Posted by Alex on Dec 19 2020. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.