Bull Terriers

When the brutal sport of pit fighting was at its height, the equivalent of the heavy-weight championship might easily have been held by a Bull Terrier. Of all the varied dogs used in it, none was as formidable as that breed. 

Before the breed developed into its present form about 1860, its blood was fermenting in the veins of a type of dog called a Bull-and-Terrier, a cross between a Bulldog and a Terrier that had been bred for fighting, ratting and bull baiting.

You can read about "Border Terier" here

Based on the history, James Rinks, an English breeder and dealer, began developing a pure-white strain with more Terrier than Bulldog lines in the Fifties and succeeded in producing a dog that won instant favor.

For close to seventy-five years this dog not only was the most only variety of Bull Terrier. It become one of the first breeds recognized by the A.K.C., being officially accepted into the family of pure-breeds in 1885. 

One version of the development of the Colored Bull Terrier, now a recognized show type, was that some breeders contended that the lack of pigmentation in the White was causing deafness and other ills. It said that the colored was result of efforts by Edward Lyons to produce miniatures. He crossed a small with a Whit crossed a small Staffordshire with a White, got a colored, like it and attracted others. The colored variety was approved by the A.K.c, in 1936.

The breed combines power, grace and agility with a large measure of friendliness and intelligence. He is a symmetrical dog with no trace of coarseness and weighs from 25 to 60 pounds. Pound for pound,  he is the strongest of all dogs. 

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