Natural History

Posted in Identify the species | 20 Comments

20 Responses

1. on January 20, 2013 at 10:23 am massugu

   A Great Dane?

   
   
   • on January 20, 2013 at 10:16 pm Suhail

     I would have said the same, but the dog looks smaller breed to me.

     
     
2. on January 20, 2013 at 11:36 am chervilmeadow

   Stating the obvious – so it probably isn’t – an american staffordshire cross?

   
   
3. on January 20, 2013 at 1:38 pm Fenris

   Guessing a bullenbeiser one of the ancestors of the boxer.

   
   
4. on January 20, 2013 at 2:54 pm Robin White

   Neapolitan Mastiff…

   
   
5. on January 20, 2013 at 3:57 pm Face of Boe

   One of the most famous dog in the Staffordshire Terrier studbook named after a book authored in 1880s with final draft published in 1907. The dog is Jock of the Bushveldt, born 1910. An excerpt from a newspaper clipping accompanying the photograph:

   “Bred by Jack Higham of Chroley, Lancs, was believed by many to be a Stafford- he was certainly game enough for such a claim! Actually he was a direct cross Manchester Terrier sire X an all-brindle Bulldog bitch. It is also a fact he mated white Bull Terrier bitches (coloured Bull Terriers were then non-existent) to capture their nappers to his rich brindle thereby staring off all coloured Bull Terriers. Well, certainly, an influential line of them.”

   
   
   • on January 21, 2013 at 9:56 am megrim43

     I think Face of Boe is right on this one.

     Elizabeth

     
     
   • on January 23, 2013 at 12:54 am Nara

     Correct

     
     
6. on January 20, 2013 at 3:59 pm kittenz

   The way he’s standing reminds me of a Manchester terrier & he appears to be black & tan like a Manchester or Dobe, but the head is different. Maybe a Manchester cross? With a boxer or bulldog of some kind?

   
   
7. on January 20, 2013 at 6:37 pm Ogre Magi

   Maybe an early doberman?

   
   
8. on January 20, 2013 at 9:31 pm Maria Gkinala Fainomenon Danes

   bull x terrier (Face of Boe is correct).

   
   
9. on January 20, 2013 at 11:10 pm EmilyS

   not a “pit bull” because “pit bull” means nothing. OTOH: by “pit bull”, do you mean “pit bull terrier”… i.e. one of several variants of bulldog/terrier mixes, the variant used in the dogfighting pit? (one of the terriers used was the Manchester) The dog that became known as the Staffordshire bull terrier was one of the English varieties of bull and terrier mixes which became a “breed”. The “American pit bull terrier” breed descended from that variant. Most Staffordshire bull terrier fanciers today do NOT regard their breed as “pit bulls” though they have a pit fighting heritage.. so to the extent that Jock was perhaps a Staffordshire bull terrier or a first gen cross that looks like one, then no he wasn’t a “pit bull”.

   
   
   • on January 21, 2013 at 11:07 am Nora

     Emily, there certainly is a breed called an American Pit Bull Terrier, and they were a registered breed before there was an American Staffordshire Terrier (though basically the same dog–they claim the same ancestors). Whether or not Staffordshire Bull Terrier breeders regard their dogs as “pit bulls” or not is immaterial–their original purpose was as pit fighters. Most Staffy Bulls I have met have super temperaments, but your insurance company isn’t going to make that distinction.

     
     
10. on January 21, 2013 at 11:33 am DAC

    I have refrained from commenting on the photo of the Pit Bull type dog shown in this blog; preferring to sit back and read what those more knowledgeable on the subject have to say. But I do have to ad this one thought.
    Though I would have had no way of knowing what some group of people had arbitrarily decided to call the type or breed of dog shown in the photo, its ancestry was obvious: a Bulldog/Terrier crossbreed of some sort. Though the term ‘Pit Bull’ has come to designate the American Pit Bull Terrier, the name itself was derived from the common usage term ‘Pit Bull Terrier’ which was used to identify any dog of a cross between bulldog and some type of terrier to be used for the sport of dog fighting, probably as far back as the 1700s or earlier. The Bull-Terrier part of the name is obvious, and since many dog fighting events were held in actual pits, the term ‘Pit’ became common in naming any animal fighting or baiting arena such as rat pits and bear pits; thus fighting dogs became known as “Pit” dogs, and thus Pit Bull Terriers.
    So I suggest that it would be proper to consider the dog in the photo a “Pit Bull’ inasmuch as any dog herding cattle or sheep in Germany could be considered a ‘German shepherd’, though have little or nothing to do with the breed known as the German Shepherd Dog in the United States today. As Shakespeare wrote, “What’s in a name?”

    
    
    • on January 21, 2013 at 1:23 pm Dave

      A lot of the problems is that the SBT fanciers want to separate themselves from PBT identity. Either the SBT fanciers don’t really understand that “pitbull” is a nebelous terminology or they have an ulterior political motive.

      Fanciers constantly refuse to recognize some of their privileged pedigreed dogs end up in the hands of hunters and average owners who still call them “pitbulls” anyway.

      
      
      • on January 21, 2013 at 4:47 pm Pai

        The earliest example of that I’ve seen is the short-lived attempt to register a new breed called the ‘Yankee Terrier’ out of Pit Bull Terriers in the early 1900s.

        The desire of some to pretend their dogs have no connection to ‘pit bulls’ goes back a long way, it seems.

        
        
      • on January 28, 2013 at 6:46 am bearcoatpei

        Can you blame them with the amount of BSL internationally? Many staffies here in the UK were legally exterminated for being a bit too tall, thus being “of the type”, without ever showing any signs of aggression. At least one KC registered staffie met that fate. Staffies, Pitbulls, Amstaffs, whatever name are all basically the same breed less than 200 years ago. Denying the history doesn’t change it!

        The UK breed bans were a populist, hysterical, political joke. Instead of sticking together, most dog owners and staffie owners in particular, plus our Kennel Club sleepwalked themselves into a classic divide and conquer situation. The former went “thank god it’s not our breed” and kept their mouths shut (staffie owners shot themselves in the foot good and proper as they are the current media devil dog here). The latter refused to recognise AKC American Staffordshire Terriers thus it wasn’t their problem. The funny thing is, the ones wanting status dogs got/imported/crossbred bigger breeds similar to the 4 banned ones. Two decades on there are more pitbulls/dogs “of the type” on the street than there were pre BSL. Ban a breed and you just make it more desirable to the numpties that will make the poor dog a self fulfilling prophecy.

        
        
11. on January 21, 2013 at 11:53 am franko

    That extinct strain of scottish fight bull and terrier called Blue Paul?

    
    
12. on January 22, 2013 at 4:18 am yawar rizvi

    i think its old type of presa canario…..

    
    
13. on February 16, 2013 at 10:27 am Jock of the Bushveldt « The Retriever, Dog, & Wildlife Blog

    […] answer to the question I asked nearly a month ago is that there are three correct […]

    
    

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