BREED HISTORY
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE AUSTRALASIAN BOSDOG
(previously known as Australian Bulldog)
The Australasian Bosdog adventure did not start from any noble premise or lofty ideals, but evolved into that. In the very early 1990s the writer put a British Bulldog over her husband’s mixed breed bitch, - as she says, more from curiosity than any other altruistic motive and planned to put another British Bulldog over the progeny. Soon after that first litter, and reading about the recent development of several overseas breeds of bulldog type, a more ambitious idea came into being to develop a short faced, smooth coated, thickset, medium sized, family friendly dog, instantly recognisable as a bulldog type and suitable for Australasian climatic conditions. The third British Bulldog she did use for breeding was put over not only the writer’s crossed bitches, but also went over a mixed breed bitch, Dish, owned and bred by another Queensland couple (Jag lines) and in the early years both lines used many of the same male foundation dogs. Only very people friendly, healthy, free whelping mixed breed female dogs were used. The original Register (started in 1997, continuous and unbroken to date) shows that the original Nobes lines are descended from the mixed breed bitches: Lady Chipolata (Wingara lines), Penny (Hamersley lines) and Soda (Ducat lines) and the original Jag lines all descended from one mixed breed bitch - Dish (Jag Dishlex). The overall predominant breeds in the mixed breed bitches, aside from any British Bulldog blood, were boxer, mastiff and English bull terrier with smidgens of other breeds. Only male British Bulldogs were used to make the generational crossings at first. The mixed breed dogs used by the writer all had impeccable temperaments with adults and children alike. Other key non-British Bulldog male dogs used were Cash Donkey Tonk Eeyore and Kestels Tiger Boy. Later on other breeders introduced American Bulldog blood, of which the foremost would be Cauchi lines.
Various publicity ensued, and the idea of a bulldog for
Australia touched a chord with the Australian people.
Demand continued to grow and as a ‘market’ for the dogs became evident, so too did the people trying to breed these dogs. To this day it is still a situation of ‘buyer beware’ and buyers are advised strongly to do their research and buy from reputable breeders of dogs with properly recognised lineage. It became obvious fairly early that breeding too close to the British Bulldog, for instance 7/8 or 87.5% British Bulldog blood provided too much of an anatomically look-alike dog. Likewise 5/8 or 62.5% British Bulldog blood threw too inconsistently with type ‘going out the window’. Percentage wise 75-81% or ¾ to 13/16 British Bulldog blood gave the best result in health and consistency of type. There were of course exceptions to both these, but as a rule 13/16 British blood was aimed for.
Under the auspices of the original Stud Book Register of the breed now known as the Australasian Bosdog, for many years other breeds have not been permitted to be used, with only AB to AB litters being bred and registered. There are now 6th generation AB to AB dogs registered with some 12 to 13 generations recorded behind them. Since 1998 there has been a group of breeders enthusiastically cooperating and coordinating to develop the breed as recorded within the original Stud Book Register begun in 1997. A properly constituted, accountable organisation with democratically elected committee and financial membership was believed to be essential if ever the breed was to be officially recognised by the Australian National Kennel Council and if the future of the breed was to be assured, and to this end The Australian Bulldog Society was formed and became incorporated. This Society is now incorporated as The Australasian Bosdog Society Inc. Originally the breed was called Australian Bulldog, however financial members of the ABS Inc. voted in 2011 to change the breed name to the Australasian Bosdog in order to preserve the uniquely developed lines and fulfil necessary ANKC regulations.
P Nobes
