Jamie Sweet and the Shorty Bull:
Shorty Bull’s a breed in progress…
“Creating a breed is not a random idea that is immediately acted upon. It is a collection of ideas at first and it becomes a vision. That vision progresses into a reality when you act upon it and pursue the active quest of building the dog you have imagined. Building a new breed is a living breathing form of creative expression.
When I began the quest to build a healthy alternative form of a bulldog, my experience in dogs played a major role. I knew what I wanted, I knew what I did not want and I knew what components I wanted to start with. Using English Bulldog as my base, I knew I wanted a dog no taller than 15". I wanted 14" inches to be exact, but wanted to give myself some room, so I set the height at 15". I knew I wanted to keep bully traits, so the French Bulldog was added to keep bully traits and to ensure we would not exceed the height standard. Being active with dogs and having a background of working dogs, I knew I wanted things that the typical English Bulldog and French Bulldog lacked...I wanted drive, athleticism, longevity, natural births and overall better health. To get the durability and temperament, I used a Staffordshire Bull Terrier to bring those traits, again, not exceeding my height standard. I knew about throwbacks and was picking my battles. Height was a battle I did not want to fight later on in the program. So I began crossing dogs. I quickly found out which traits were strong based on breed AND based on the individual dog of that particular breed. Because a dog of a certain breed certainly does not mean it exudes all of the qualities ideal for the breed. The evolution of the Shorty Bull at Blue River took on the very principles of breeding established breeds... Crossing was all about the individual specimen of that certain breed.
At first, the dogs that were created had glaring faults. I knew a stud dog could not 'fix' the entire combination and so I relied heavily on strong females, breeding them to males that possessed, in potent form, the traits I wanted to keep alive. I evaluated each breeding and the resulting pups. It took time because new breeds do not develop at the same rate or exactly like the breeds used in the creation. One must watch several dogs grow into maturity, keeping in mind what crosses were done and how the individual dogs fell into that exact make up. I quickly learned there was an order to crossing dogs and that many traits are sex linked. It was trial and error and very time consuming. Rushing maturity is the same as guessing... You will have the final result when the dog is grown, not before. It quickly became obvious to me that as much as I wanted to set traits, I had to eliminate other traits and so began the grading process. It was then that I put a value on faults and eliminated the worst faults first. I determined which physical faults had to be dealt with before moving on. It makes no sense to fix a head when the rear chassis is weak and conformationally unsound. Even with established breeds, it is only sensible to build dogs from the back to the front and from the ground up with the head being the finishing touch. Generations came and went and I kept pups back out of almost every single breeding...some were a total wash. Honesty with yourself is so important in the beginning stages... If you are not honest then, the future can never be strong. I eliminated dogs from the program at 8 months, some older than that. I made plenty of mistakes along the way trying to "guess" how they would mature. After a few breeding’s, it was fortunate that a litter was born and it showed major difference from the previous litters...I saw some consistency in the litter and it spurred me to continue
The breed standard was written according to my vision.... It was a blue print for what I wanted to build. It was the guideline of perfection...a dream dog. Evolution of a breed is very different from an old breed where consistency has been set in for years. A new breed requires guidelines at first... A skeleton of a plan, the basics... To me the basics are height and type. A breed must have type...you must be able to recognize a breed by type... You must be able to recognize a breed first by look. The height requirement needed to be strict and weight will naturally cap itself according to height. Muscle and bone do carry weight, so with the development of heavier bone and muscle, weight will increase, but height should never change. So, a standard for a new breed should be basic at first and revised with the progression of a breed. Basically, revision of a standard comes with the fine-tuning of a breed and I look for the standard for Shorty Bull’s to be revised with evolution. Keep in mind, the basics will not change but the standard will become tighter over time.
Many, many years ago, dogs were developed and bred for purpose and then a collection of dogs that could carry out that specific purpose became a breed. This is how breeds developed...a collection of traits related to look, purpose or function. In recent times, dogs have become more humanized than ever and we do not have the same needs as people did 60 or 70 years ago. Although many dogs still perform their original work or purpose, now more than ever, dogs have become members of a family with no purpose necessary but filling a need to be a companion. Everyone should have a dog in their life! Now, more than ever, we see dogs with no specific purpose but look or companionship. They still fill a want for us, although form following function is not nearly as important for our breeds now as it was a hundred years ago. The purpose of my breed is completely companionship. They are fun little novel creatures to enjoy. Although the Shorty Bulls can and do some work, in reality, it is for fun and enjoyment purposes only. I did not wish to disrespect nor mock a real working breed. When naming this new breed, it was important to give it a new name that would be different from the breeds used in the creation. A new name of its own was the entitlement needed to distinguish it amongst the hundreds of other breeds. The name should give a visual description of the product... A short bulldog, and so this new breed was named The Shorty Bull.
To build a breed, one must have resources... A breed cannot be built from four or five dogs in a small yard. The keeping of puppies is crucial in order to watch development and get a grasp on the stages of growth. Keeping many dogs requires space; a patient spouse and family and the tenacity and heart of a bulldog... There are many shortcomings and many struggles. When it is a family project it is one thing, a hobby, a dream.... When a breed goes public, it is a nightmare and I do not use that word lightly. You can only control what is in your own yard, regardless of handshakes, contracts or promises. You quickly learn that creating a breed is a very, very different ideal than merely breeding dogs. People have different motivations, different ideas, different goals and it becomes a very frustrating task when you want to see the breed grow into an established breed that will survive long after a creator is gone. For a creator, it is a lifelong labor, of love, of perseverance and of determination. You must pick your battles wisely. No breed has evolved without trails and tribulation.... Because again: ideas, goals and motivation are very different from the standpoint of creator to the standpoint of dog breeder. In the same token, the dog breeders are necessary to develop a breed. I believe there is no magic number of years or generations as to when a breed can be deemed a "real" breed"...A new breed is a work in progress until the creator can see generations of his/her work handed out to others and without the same skills as the creator, the novice dog breeder can produce dogs that fit the standard for the breed. Never will the dog game be fair.... Some will always have a better eye, more resources, and a better feel for breeding than others...Percentages play a huge part in success of a program. More good dogs lead to more good breeding’s and a higher percentage of good or better dogs being produced. The factors will never be the same across the board, hence my statement, the dog game will NEVER be fair.
Building a breed is as costly as it is rewarding. One must have the want to create before the want to make money. Building a breed has brought learning experiences as unique as the individual dogs themselves. Hands on trial and error continue to be the tried and true method of choice for me and more reliable than any amount of reading. Lessons learned through one's own mistakes are never easily forgotten and there is no perfect dog, no matter how much experience or how great the plan, in dogs, nothing is guaranteed success. Perseverance pays off when you realize going in that there are risks involved and one must agree to take the good with the bad and the happy with the sad as you will experience all of that in dogs whether a creator, a breeder or a fancier. The utmost respect received as creator of a breed is to see others remain loyal to the creator's vision through success and enjoyment of the new breed in their own program”.
Written by DW
