HISTORICALLY THE TERM "BULLDOG" HAS HAD TWO VERY DISTINCT MEANINGS.
THE FIRST IS LARGELY A DESCRIPTIVE MEANING DEALING WITH THE APPEARANCE OF A GIVEN DOG. ACCORDING TO THE DESCRIPTIVE DEFINITION, THE "BULLDOG" IS A PARTICULAR TYPE OF DOG DEVELOPED IN WESTERN EUOPE DURING THE LATER HALF OF THE 16TH, AND EARLIER HALF OF THE 17TH CENTURIES FOR PURPOSES OF BAITING BULLS.
THIS DOG HAS TRADITIONALLY BEEN THOUGHT TO HAVE EVOLVED VIA THE PROCESS OF SELECTIVE BREEDING, ESSENTIALLY FROM MASTIFF STOCK. TYPICAL OF THE VAST BODY OF LITERATURE LENDING SUPPORT TO THIS THEORY IS THE COMMENTS OFFERED BY HARRY GLOVER IN HIS BOOK TITLED "A STANDARD GUIDE TO PUREBRED DOGS" PUBLISHED IN 1977.
GLOVER TELL US THAT THE "BULLDOG" ORIGINATED FROM MASTIFF STOCK AND SAYS THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT BY CONTINUOUS SELECTIVE BREEDING, FOR SHORTER AND SHORTER LEGS, THE BULLDOGS WAS PRODUCED. ONCE THE BREED WAS DEVELOPED TO A LEVEL AT WHICH IT SATISFIED THE BULL BAITING OF THE TIME, THE BREED THAT BECAME KNOWN BY THE NAME OF BULLDOG WAS KEPT MORE OR LESS AS A RUREBRED. THE DESCRIPTIVE DEFINITION OF THE TERM BULLDOGS THEN CONTINUES TO REFER TO THE APPEARANCE OF THIS PUREBRED LINE, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT THE DOG IS USED IN BULL BAITING.
