The Bullmastiff

Eric Makins

Description

Originally published in early 1900s. The detailed and illustrated contents include: Origin and History - Clubs and Breeds - Standard - Shows - Famous Dogs - Management - Selection of Stock - Breeding - Training - Showing etc. Many of the earliest dog books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Home Farm Books are republishing many of these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Sujets

• Obedience training

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781447492337
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

THE
BULLMASTIFF
By
ERIC MAKINS
Photo., Thos. Fall .
H.R.H. THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER S HUSSAR STINGO .
Index to Chapters.

Preface
I. Origin and History
II. The Modern Dog
III. Clubs and Breed Organisations: The Standard and Description
IV. Shows-and some Famous Dogs
V. Kennelling and Exercise
VI. Feeding and Grooming
VII. Selection of Stock-Founding a Kennel
VIII. Breeding
IX. Puppy Rearing and Training
X. Exhibiting
XI. Pot Pourri
Index to Illustrations.

Bartonville Grand Parade
Ch. Bubbles
Farcroft Fidelity
Ch. Farcroft Silvo
Fenchurch Bunce
Hussar Stingo
Ch. Jeanie of Wynyard
Pridzor Supreme
Ch. Roger of the Fenns
Ch. Rosland Felice
Ch. Simba, Pridzor Jane and Ch. Jeanie of Wynyard
Springwell Sheila
Ch. Wisdom of Wynyard
Douglas Fairbanks, Senr., Paulo and Robert Sherwood
Mr. E. Makins judging Bull-mastiffs at Bakewell Open Show
A class for gamekeepers at an old-time show, taken about thirty years ago
Preface.
Although the Bullmastiff has been known for many years, and more than a decade has passed since his recognition as a pure breed by the Kennel Club, little has been written of his history and establishment as one of our most popular non-sporting varieties of dog. This fact, coupled with the insistent demands made to me by a number of devotees of the breed, prompted me to compile this small handbook.
It has no pretensions to being encyclop dic; rather is it a gentle guide for the tyro, written with the hope that he may glean a little knowledge of what has gone before, in the making of a grand breed of dog, who has been much maligned in the past, and has perhaps not been accorded the treatment which he certainly deserves. If the expert should find in it some little fact or record that even he did not know, or if his memory is refreshed, then my task is complete.
In conclusion, I should like to thank all those who have given me information at various times, and in particular to express my gratitude to the Hon. Mrs. J. Murray Smith, Miss E. Hardingham, Mr. H. T. W. Bowell, Mr. E. Burton, and Mr. Peirce, M.R.C.V.S.
ERIC MAKINS.
CHAPTER I.
Origin and History.
THE Bullmastiff, as a distinct breed, is one of the most modern on the Kennel Club s official register; but the cross between the Bulldog and the Mastiff has been known for generations past. It is from this cross that the Bullmastiff, as we know it to-day, originated.
Reference to the Bullmastiff is made in many books and correspondence published during the last century, and it is fairly safe to assume that a definite cross between the two breeds was extensively bred and maintained in some parts of England. Other blood may have been introduced from time to time, as the principal purpose for which these animals were used was for guarding persons and property. No doubt, whereas one man found that the first cross, i.e., Bulldog-Mastiff, was sufficient for his needs, another did not-and for reasons of his own, such as size or colour-introduced the Bloodhound or the Great Dane or the St. Bernard.
Records of the breed during this stage are very hazy, and are mostly hearsay, or tales which have been handed down through the generations of old-time fanciers of the breed.
Most writers and historians agree that these two breeds are descended from common stock, and, further, that the Mastiff is a product of the dog that was indigenous to these islands in the days of the Ancient Britons before the Roman invasion.
How this dog came to the British Isles is a matter of conjecture, but possibly they were brought here by the Ph nicians during their trading expeditions, for a dog of similar proportions is known to have existed at this period in Central Asia. There is a dog depicted on one of the bas-reliefs of Nineveh, in the Assyrian Gallery in the British Museum, as the Assyrian dog, and Idstone recalls that this animal is precisely the same as the Mastiff, Barry, the property of Mr. Kingdon, which he saw at the Plymouth Show in 1870.
There are also other bas-reliefs in the Assyrian Gallery which show dogs in hunting scenes, all of which resemble the Mastiff in appearance. These antiquities were removed from the palace of Assur-bani-pal, who reigned during the years 668-626 B.C .
History records references to the broad-mouthed dogs of Britain. References are frequently made to the existence of a breed of dogs which were used for gladiatorial purposes by the Romans, and which were probably imported by them from these islands.
Writing in the 14th century, Edmund de Langley, in his work, The Mayster of Game, mentions two distinct breeds of dogs as being in existence at this time-the Molussus and the Alaunt. The former was used for a guard of persons and property, and the latter is described as short-headed and pugnacious, used for baiting the bull, and gifted with a liking for hanging on with its mouth to the objects of its attack.
Dr. Caius, in 1750, mentions one variety only, the Mastive or Bandog, as does the Rev. M. B. Wynn, writing in the middle of the last century in his History of the Mastiff, but states that there is a great resemblance between the Mastiff and the Bulldog.
Turning now to the Bulldog, whose history is so much bound up in that of the Mastiff, we are told by that prolific writer on dogs, Mr. Rawdon B. Lee, that the first written mention of them was made in 1631, when one, Prestwich Eaton, from St. Sebastian, wrote to George Wellingham, of St. Swithin s Lane, London, for a Mastiff and two good Bulldogs. Bulldogs were, of course, used primarily for bull-baiting, and as this sport was known to have existed as far back as the year 1200 or thereabouts, some kind of a Bulldog must have been bred then.
Stonehenge, in his great classic, The Dogs of the British Islands, in his chapter on the Mastiff, says: Like the Bulldog the Mastiff is in all probability indigenous to Great Britain, the exact origin of both being lost in obscurity. This seems to sum up the situation to a nicety, and it would seem fairly obvious that the Bullmastiff is a breed, the progenitors of which are the oldest known breeds of dogs in the British Isles. Mention of Stonehenge also brings to mind that in the second edition of his book an engraving from an old picture by Abraham Hondius is shown. The picture was painted in the middle of the 17th century, and in reference to it Stonehenge remarks: The dogs in this picture are certainly larger than the modern Bulldog, but there is no proof adduced of the strain to which they belonged, and they might be either pure Bulldog of that day, or pure Mastiff, or a cross between the two.
Again, in the correspondence which took place in The Field in 1871, regarding the Mastiff, which is quoted by Stonehenge, there is reference to a fight which took place in the earlier part of this century between Wombwell s two lions and Bullmastiffs.
Idstone, writing in Stonehenge s work, devotes a whole chapter to the gamekeeper s night-dog, and states that the Mastiff, or a Mastiff crossed with the Bloodhound, is the dog a keeper generally prefers; but the men have their own ideas on the subject, and generally know pretty well where to obtain a promising young dog from each other. This would seem to bear out the theory that other breeds were used in the making of the Bullmastiff, and that at that time each man bred the type of animal most suited to his purpose.
One could go on almost indefinitely quoting references made to the cross between the Bulldog and the Mastiff, by old-time writers on dogs and natural history, and from old documents, MSS in the museums, etc. There are just two more to which I would like to draw attention. The first is by Buffon in 1791, in his Natural History. The Bulldog produces with the Mastiff a dog which is called the Strong-Bulldog, and which is much larger than the real Bulldog, and approaching the Bulldog more than the Mastiff. The second is a note made in a work on Gundogs by General W. N. Hutchinson, published in 1876, who says: Bulldogs have good noses. I have known the cross between them and the Mastiff being taught to follow the scent of a man almost as truly as a Bloodhound. From the foregoing, it will be seen that, as stated in the first part of this chapter, Bullmastiffs have been known to man for centuries past, and that they are descended from the two oldest breeds known to Britain. This brings us to the modern day and the evolution of the breed to its present-day type.

A CLASS FOR GAMEKEEPERS DOGS AT AN OLD TIME SHOW TAKEN ABOUT THIRTY YEARS AGO .

FARCROFT FIDELITY (the first Bullmastiff to win a prize).
CHAPTER II.
The Modern Dog.
AT the beginning of the present century we find that the breed has become fairly well established, and being extensively used and bred for the purpose of a gamekeeper s dog. Report has it that no estate or game preserve of any size was without at least one of these dogs.
From old newspaper files we can trace evidence of the popularity of the breed with the gamekeeper in reports of shows held in various parts of the country for gamekeepers dogs, where the Bullmastiff is actually mentioned by name, and dogs which figure in present-day pedigrees are recorded.
About this time Mr. W. Burton, of Thorneywood, Nottingham, who kept a large kennel of Bullmastiffs gave several displays at the Crystal Palace, and other exhibitions and shows, with his dog, Thorneywood Terror. These performances are said to have interested the War Office, whose officials are reported to have visited a show at the Westminster Aquarium. No further reference can be found of the State s curiosity; so it may be presumed that their investigations proved that no use could be made of these dogs at that time.
Some of the dogs of this era were perhaps inclined to a savage disposition, and could only be handled with safety by the person responsible for their training. That they were encouraged in this direction cannot be denied, and man