From The CC Vault: Size Doesn’t Always Matter

By Amy Fernandez

Originally published: October 2015

Last week Youtube was ablaze with the sensational footage of a French Bulldog successfully chasing a trio of curious black bears out of her backyard territory. Fearless, scrappy 20 pound Jules stood her ground and didn’t hesitate for a second as she confronted one and then another, baiting and harassing them until they climbed back over the block wall from whence they came.

The unbelievable encounter was caught on security cameras, which her owner had reportedly installed to monitor bear activity around his Monrovia, California home. Needless to say, Jules was never intended to augment that security system.

Yes, pound for pound, there was no contest. But that’s the thing with dominant, territorial dogs. They don’t consider those technicalities. They have a job and they do it. Well that’s the other thing; most breeds no longer have an actual job in that sense. They have transitioned so perfectly into their modern role as companion dogs, it makes it easy to overlook the fact that they had a whole different life before we polished them up and decked them out for their current role.

For instance, the Frenchie is a cute little charmer, among the most popular breeds today. It also boasts a rock solid Bulldog ancestry. Maybe Jules was never destined to tangle with bears, but that’s probably what her ancestors were doing a thousand years ago. And as we saw, she owns every bit of that toughness, courage, and Bulldog fortitude.

Without that surveillance footage, her daredevil confrontation most likely would have been dismissed as ridiculous and impossible. But it happened and it’s a powerful reminder that there was a time when the Pom defended its family turf from human and animal predators lurking in those forbidding European forests, the Shih Tzu strutted confidently about the frigid Tibetan Plateau guarding its territory, and the Yorkshire Terrier was hunting, poaching, killing vermin and every other damn thing that tough, scrappy Terriers did to earn their keep in Northern England.

It’s been awhile since Poms, Yorkies, or Shih Tzu punched the time clock in their former occupations, and they are just a few examples.  When those bears wandered into her territory, Jules simply did her job. She also gave the world a glimpse of the formidable toolbox that most breeds have stored away in their mental closet. Never underestimate them.

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Posted by Liz on Dec 10 2022. 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.