Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1938-05-26
DOGGIE DOINGS
BULL-BAITING AND ITS ORIGIN
AND HISTORY
By M. G. DENLlNGER


les, was discussed in last weeks
Iissue.)
1t was through this sport that
particular type of dog was bred, the
name being handed down through
centuries, as we know him today
The English Bull Dog, Boston Ter
riers, Pet Bull Terriers and English
Bull Terriers,-must not be confused
with the heavy set, bow legged under
shod bull dog, that was used in bull
batting.
When Queen Anne came to the
throne, she discountenanced all such
amusements and respectability imme-
diately voted them low and vulgar.
Rull-baiting survived for nearly an
other century and half, but decent
people began to shun the sport, and
its votaries were shortly to be found
only among the common people. The
newspapers Of Anne's time frequently
contained advertisements of batting
that was to take place, but the very
form in which the announcements
were made prove that the amusement
had fallen from its high estate, and
that a great gulf existed between the
sport of kings of the beginning of the
seventeenth century and the barbar-
Gus recreation which it had become at
its close.
A bill to abolish bull-baiting was
thrown out in the House of Commons
on its second reading, May oath, 1902,
and it was not until 1885 that bill
was passed making the sport illegal.
In explaining the conditions and rules
under which the batting were con-
Quoted Captain Berger Wheeler said:
| A level piece Of ground was chosen;
the bull was secured to stout post,
driven in the ground, by length of
rope about 20 feet long, fixed to a
stout leather collar around the bulls
neck. The rope was fixed to the post
by a ring and swivel, which enabled
+ the bull to move round and face his
antagonist. The bull dogs part in the
game was to try and seize the bull
by the nose and to then hold on,
termed: pinning and holding. The
bull dog got at close quarters with
the bull by creeping on its belly
close to the ground (this was termed
playing low, and making its final
spring when the bulls nose was ex-
posed. The bull tried to protect its
nose, often making a hole in the
soft ground with its feet to rest its
nose in. The bull watched for the least
mistake on the bull dogs part, with
head lowered to toss or gore it the in
slant the opportunity arose. When
the bull dog made pin and held, the
bull made a frantic effort to free
itself, but the pain being SO excru-
ciating it was rendered helpless al
most at once. On the other hand, II
the dog did not make hold, or
missed altogether the bull had him
before he could recover and some
times tossed dog as high as 80 or
40 feet in the air. The bull dog had
handler, who wisely kept just out Of
reach of the bill. If the dog was
tossed the handler made last effort
to save the dog by catching it on his
shoulder land thus breaking its fall.
have in my collection an old print
showing Bull-Baiting 100 years ago.
reach of the bull. If the dog was
loosed at the bull at time and some
times the tips of the bulls horns were
cut off. But these conditions were
governed more by the challenge made
by either side. Young inexperienced
dogs would attack in pairs. Some OF
the bulls made great names for them
selves.
Although bull-baiting is a thing of
the past, it is interesting to bear i'll
mind that not only did this old time
sport create and keep fiourishing the
national breed of England but that
the dogs of today should still have
the essential points required to fit
him for the old time calling. When
the bull dog club (now incorporated)
was forming the standard of the bull
dog in 1875, there is no doubt that
it had in mind the dog that could do
it's ancestral job in the bull-ring, and
the essential good points and the very
bad faults in the breed, as laid down
in the standard, take their origin
from the requirements of the dog
for bull-Daiting purposes. Thus the
pear-shaped body gives weight in
front and not behind and in bull-bait-
ing prevented the dog from being
swung off. Lowness to ground enabled
the dog to (play low at the bull
without being cramped and spelling
it's final spring. The wry face and
twisted jaw Ia bad modern fault)
L Il.