Bull Terrier Information

Dog Breed

If you are trying to find the most distinctive fellow dog, you will definitely need to go for a Bull Terrier. Perhaps the name will make you get confused and perhaps Bulldogs will come to your imagination but the breed we are referring now is one of the most easily recognized ones since the head shape is deeply curious and funny. These egg shaped headed dogs had surely caught your eye in the street. Let us tell you some other interesting features that this dog breed has as trademarks and you will certainly want to have one at home.

This breed history is quite unusual since they were first brought up to increase the power and resistance of the contestant dogs in violent games such as bullbaiting (in which the dog had to kill a bull by suffocating him and biting harshly his neck) and dog fights.

This sad factor made them come alive around 1830 in England since people wanted to see even more energetic dogs and so they mixed Old English Bulldogs and Old English Terrier specimens, both breeds also used for violent purposes. Nevertheless, these cruel activities quickly became banned and the Bull Terrier went to occupy the role of companions to gentry and aristocratic people. Nowadays, those fierce and wild features have almost disappeared in the breed.

When it comes to physical description these dogs are perhaps one of the most strange ones: they have a strong and compact body, with short and big boned legs. They appear to be heavy dogs. The chest is quite broad and the neck is long in comparison to other parts such as legs. The head is definitely the most interesting physical feature: long and oval shaped the head is also gently curved from top to bottom and gives the animal an elegant but still funny aspect. The eyes should be small, sunken, oval or triangular shaped, and only dark colors are accepted.

The ears should appear naturally erected and the tail tends to be short and must be kept horizontally. The Bull Terrier coat is short and hard, not smooth to touch. The colors in which these dogs may (and should) be seen are pure white, brindle, red, fawn, black or tri-color. The skin should be tight to the body.

The Bull Terrier measures should be the following: 20 to 24 inches height and 45 to 80 pounds of weight. Health issues that you need to take into account are related to skin allergies and parasites, but some of the most important are zinc deficiency (that might cause death), deafness (specially in pure white coated specimens), overabundance of testosterone (which may produce territorial issues) and some types of blood problems.