American Bulldog

True grit. True devotion. True love. These tributes are used often to describe the American Bulldog -- a hardy, athletic, all-purpose working dog. The American Bulldog is a loving family companion, good with children and other pets, yet at the same time, fearlessly determined. It has been known to display heroic acts of courage in protecting its master. The American Bulldog has also been used to hunt everything from squirrel to bear, and has been trained to drive cattle and guard stock from predators. The American Bulldog should be evaluated as a working dog, and exaggerations or faults should be penalized in proportion to how much they interfere with the dogs ability to work. Bulldogs in England were originally working dogs who drove and caught cattle and guarded their masters' property. At one time, the breed was used in the grueling sport of bull baiting. With the outlawing of the sport in England in 1835, the original type of Bulldog disappeared from Britain and was replaced with the less athletic dog we now know as the English Bulldog. Yet the original Bulldog was preserved by immigrants who brought their working dogs with them to the American South. By the end of World War II, the last remnants of the working English Bulldog were disappearing in the U.S. Thanks to the breeding programs of John D. Johnson and Allen Scott, the breed was brought back from the brink of extinction.