The Standard and Its Relation to Bull Baiting 

During the bull-bait , a well-bred Bulldog invariagbly attacked the bull in front, directly going for the nose or lip.  during this attack he tried to keep as close as possible to the ground (this was called "playing - low), so as to get in under the bull's horns, the Bulldog's and facilitating this.  If he failed in his objective, he ran great risk of being furiously trampledupon or the bull might suceed in slipping his horns under the dog's belly, and send him soaring up into the air.

The specimens with short thick necks and short backs, with rib up stood the best chance the survival when falling  back on the ground.

The Bulldog's muscular thighs and hind legs, which were long in porportion to the forelegs as well as the placement of his stifles, hocks, and pasterns and his arched loins, allowed him to spring up to reach the bull's head, when it went up in a vain attempt to place it out of reach of his assailant.  Moreover, the bulldogs light hindquarters, small tucked-up belly, and shapely cut-up all played their part in relieving him of useless weight.

The characteristic extension of the lower jaw beyond the upeer allowed the the dog, in running directly from the front (as all good Bulldogs do in making their attack) to grasp the muzzle with greater certainty then would be the case if the mouth were level, and gave a vise-like grip which was increased by the turn-up and the setting of the canine teeth in the wide and powerful-jaws.  A wry-jawed animal would  have been shaken off in no time, and such a flaw is still rightly accounted a very serious fault. 

The large head that the Standard requires, but which some believe to be the cause of so much trouble and mortaility at parturition, has always been regarded as an essential Bulldog feature.

The reason for this is that, the larger the head the greater the area for the attachment of those all important muscles that actuate the jaws.  The typical lay-back with the consequent recession of the nose allowed the dog to maintain his hold without impeding his breathing.  If the jaws were level and the dog down faced, the rapidly swelling portion of the bull's flesh on which the Bulldog fastened, as well as his own upper lip, would be pressed against his nostrils; he would be unable to breathe freely and would soon be compelled to let go.

When the blood poured from the wound he had inflicted and the dog's face was bespattered with slimy froth, he was not blinded, for the widely set eyes and the deep furrow between them served as a channel to draw te fluids away.  The stop kept them from running over his nostrils.

It not infrequently happened that as the bull shook and tossed his head in frantic efforts to dislodge the aggressor, the piece of flesh that the dog had gripped was torn bodily out and the bulldog fell with it to the ground, only to find retribution under his adversary's hoofs.

This more likely to happened in the cas of very heavy dogs and particularly those which were "beefy" in their hind far wrong in placing the exhiquarters, when they should have been comparatively narrow at the loins" as the British Standard states.

In subsequent revison sof the Standard the weight of the Bulldog has been raised.  Surely this is a serious mistake and it is to be hoped that this is not merely the prelude to a further upgrading!  Very heavy dogs are quiete unsuitable for bull-baitin, as our ancestors were well aware.  It is not only that they lack agility; excessive weight would  almost certanly cause the flesh to which the dog fastened to be torn away, the heavy animal caming down 'plomp' after having been tossed maybe thirty or forty feet high.

In conclusion, if we have correctly interpreted the Standard in its relation to bull-baiting, we may say that a judge will not gofar wrong in placing the exhibits after he has examined them carefully in the light of the four following question: "Is the head correct?" "Are the eyes dark?" "Is the tail accoridng to Standard?"and,  "Could this dog bait a bull?" It is no use retorting that he will never be called upon to do so.  He could only do so if he conforms to the Standard.