Size:
Males--20 to 24 inches at the withers and weigh from
70 to 90 lbs.
Female--18 to 20 inches at the withers and weigh
from 55 to 75 lbs.
Head:
The overall head is box-shaped, medium in length,
and broad across the skull with pronounced muscular
cheeks. The top of the skull is flat, but
covered with powerful muscles; there should be a
distinct furrow between the eyes. There should
be an abrupt, deep stop.
Eyes:
Medium in size and of any color including blue,
green, marbled, and brown.
Muzzle:
Medium length (2 to 4 inches) square and broad with
a strong under jaw.
Nose Color:
Black or liver
Neck:
Muscular, medium in length, slightly arched,
tapering from shoulders to head, with a slight
dewlap allowed. It must be long enough to
exert power and strong enough to do the job.
Body:
Square, robust, and powerful. The Alapaha is a broad,
wide dog; but this width should not be exaggerated.
The chest should be deep with a good spring of ribs.
The back should be medium length, strong, broad, and
powerful.
Hindquarters:
Very broad, well muscled, and in proportion to the
shoulders.
Coat:
Short, close, glossy, and stiff to the touch.
Color:
The preferred color is white with patches in an
array of colors. The colored patches may be
any shade of merle or brindle, solid blue, black,
chocolate, red, or fawn.
Breed
History:
The Alapaha Blue-Blood Bulldogs' origin is somewhat
undocumented and unverifiable before 1979.
Authorities differ so completely about the origin of
the Alapaha that the name itself is in dispute.
However,
the Alapaha is one of the few breeds that are
emblematic of this storied Nation and there is
little doubt that a species resembling the Alapaha
has existed for over two hundred years in the
southern enclaves.
The Alapaha is believed to
have its origin in a recently extinct species know
as the Mountain Bulldog, Old Southern White, and Old
Country (Big) Bulldog. These dogs were first
brought to America in the early 18th century.
Unlike its "English" counterpart, it was
continuously bred for utility and stamina, whether
it be for guard work, farm work, or as a family
companion. Despite their proven worth in many
areas and ability to reproduce type with
reliability, these strains of bulldogs survived
mainly in small pockets of the south, never being
accepted into the show dog circles. In my
discussions with other breeders, it is estimated
that there are about 1,000 true Alapahas in
existence.
These Bulldogs were
extensively used in the development of many breeds
like the American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT),
Black Mouth Cur and Catahoula Leopard Dog. It would
be ignorant of Alapaha and American Bulldog breeders
to think only the Catahoula and Pit Bull breeders
used the cross breeds they developed in their
breeding programs. Remember, being mostly a
European dog the original bulldog was acclimated to
a much cooler climate than the rural southern United
States. Because of this inherent lack of tolerance
to heat, most stockmen and hunters found that the
cur-type/bulldog crosses made for a better all
around dog. These cur-type dogs are mostly believed
to be results of crosses themselves between Spanish
Mastiff-type War Dogs, Greyhounds, Beauceron, Danish
Hounds (the Great Dane) and the
generic-type Indian curs (the Catahoula red-wolf
hybrid) that roamed the American south. The
southern United States was sparsely populated with
these cur-type/bulldog crosses that were used by
local farmers, ranchers, and hunters. Wild cattle,
feral hogs, bear, and coons were among their
quarry. In short, a varied ancestry befits this
multi-faceted working dog.
This established strain of dog
has resulted from the generations old breeding
programs of several people namely Papa Buck Lane and
William Chester of Georgia and Cecil Evans and Kenny
Houston of Florida. The breed has been known by a
series of names such as Otto, Cowdog, Silver Dollar,
and Catahoula Bulldog. This type of dog was in
danger of extinction until a small group of
Southerners in 1979 in an attempt to rescue the Ol’
Tymey Plantation Bulldog of the South founded the
Alapaha Blue-Blood Bulldog Association® giving it
the aforementioned name and dedicating them to
preserving this exceptional type of dog. They set
about to perpetuate the breed and to establish
breeding standards.
Even though the Alapaha’s job
is harsh and their lives are sometimes shortened by
performing their duties, they remain extremely
loving and loyal family pets. They really love
children and are sensitive to their owner’s
demands. They are affectionate and loyal, and they
thrive best when treated as members of the family.
The Alapaha is a very confident dog and has no fear
of people. They are very easy to train. If
socialized and raised properly they will be very
protective of their home and master.
Unfortunately, the Alapaha has
fallen into the hands of those who thought they
could use a shortcut to creating an “Exotic Breed.”
A variety of different breeds were used to give the
Alapaha a certain 'color,' little did they know that
these qualities were already running in the genetic
make up of the Alapaha. Recently introduced breeds
were, for example, “Blue-merle” Catahoula Cur Dog
mixes, “Blue” Amstaffs, “Harlequin” Great Danes and
contemporary American Bulldogs. This is very
evident when you observe the overall conformation
and inconsistencies in temperament of the dogs
registered with the open registries
(Create-A-Breed
Registries like the
ARF, ACA, NKC, CKC, IOEBA, OREBA, URBA, FIC, DRA and
WWKC). Great
damage has been done to the Alapaha as a breed with
this influx of cross breeding. These mixed bred curs
have maligned the overall idea (to the unknowing
general public) in conformation and
temperament. The Alapaha was never intended to be a
“Blue-Eyed High Belly, Birddog Looking, Beefed up
Terrier.”
Today, the
Alapaha is not only bred in the Southern enclaves of
the United States but all over the world from South
Africa to the Philippines, from China to New
Zealand, as well as Europe and the Americas,
strictly following standards set by the Alapaha
Blue-Blood Bulldog Association® (ABBA).
The Alapaha found in these countries all originate
from the southeastern United States. Breeders who
breed purely for the love of breed, not the love of
money, who follow the same main breeding criteria,
being: #1 Health, #2 Temperament, and #3
Conformation.
Early Bulldog Men and
Bloodlines:
Otto
The pre-registration strain
of Alapaha, like the pre-1970’s American Bulldog
were mostly descendants of the Southeastern
Mountainous stock dog. As for as the Alapaha is
concerned its Otto foundation was permeated by a
handful of breeders like Papa Buck Lane, Alas
Kittles, J. M. Cel Ashley, Louis Hedgewood, Walter
Nations, and David Clark. This type of dog was
little known to the general public. Its primary
use was as a stock dog or varmint eradicator. The
Mountain stockman didn’t tolerate cowardly, shy,
or noise-sensitive dogs; physical soundness was a
prerequisite in this bulldog. To this day, this
type dog persists in its purest state of usage in
the more isolated enclaves of the rural south,
where the mountaineers even today don’t lock their
doors or pen their livestock.
Silver Dollar
William Chester was
another one of the early pioneers of the
pre-registration Alapaha Blue-Blood Bulldogs.
Although never numerically large, his breeding
program had the deepest impact on the foundation
of the Alapaha. The infamous Chester's Black
Jack an outstanding 82 pound bulldog
(sire: BINGO × dam: Missy) named after
Bill's favorite card game, laid the biggest
contribution to the Alapaha's foundation. The
dogs sired by "Jack" that figured prominently in
the Alapaha were, Chester's BOSS, Blue Boy Lane
(sire of Lana's Marcelle) and Waldron's
Samantha. Mr. Chester being an Ol' Pit-Bull Man
himself believed in game testing his dogs on
live-stock vigorously. Though his dogs were
often man-aggressive this was a quality he
didn't personally care for. The Silver Dollar
concoction (Catahoula × Catch-weight APBT ×
Mountain Bulldog) was deadly.
Cowdog
Cecil Evans was a rugged
Cracker Cowboy down from traditional ranch
families that bred and trained catch/herding
dogs in Merritt Island, Florida. In the late
1940’s after several failed attempts at
creating the “Ultimate” working stock dog, he
realized that the local bulldog blood
(namely the now extinct Ol’ Southern White)
he was using was too watered down
(compared to their English counterpart)
by the apparent previous cross breeding it had
endured since being brought over by the
settlers. His breeding program needed some
more potent bulldog blood to produce the
endurable working catch dog he was looking
for. Mr. Evans set out to find a line of
bulldogs known for maintaining its original
bull baiting power and tenacity; something he
felt the local bulldog strains were lacking
and didn’t produce in their progeny when
crossed with his cattle coursing cur dogs. He
came upon an article detailing the breeding
practices of a Mr. Clifford Derwent of London,
England, who was trying to preserve in his
bulldogs the true-grit qualities of the
Blood Sport era. After acquiring a few
of Mr. Derwent’s bulldogs Mr. Evans along with
his brother-in-law Bob Williams developed what
we know today as the Cowdog strain, a working
English Bulldog coursing Cur cross. My.
Granddaddy used to say that “unless one
got a crank tail in a litter, there were no
good heads amongst the puppies,” and to
some extent he was correct. Any time a bull
or cow would attempt to escape a herd, the
Cowdogs were trained to scamper alongside it
barking and nipping until it turned back or to
catch and hold the wild cattle until the
cowboys responded with a signal. This Cowdog
became as important to the local cattlemen as
their mount, whips, and tin coffee cups which
hung from a string on their horse’s saddle.
Catahoula Bull
Kenny Houston
was the owner of a Big Game Hunting outfit outside
of Marianna, Florida. He also bred a strain of
catch dogs for his business interest. His strain
was primarily down from Ol’ Southern Whites crossed
with Catahoula Leopard Dogs. He liked large
athletic dogs in the 90 to 100 lbs range because of
their ability to run with big game and maintain
enough strength to handle themselves once the prey
was bayed. Houston’s most famous dog was Blue
Muskee (sire: DUDE × dam: Silver). Blue
Muskee sired Miller’s Blue Ox, the unknown sire of
Lana’s Sylvia Lane and Quinlan’s Hank and countless
other Lana Lou Lane bred dogs. Ms. Lane was always
interested in that elusive blue-merle color, in
which this dog threw in his progeny time and time
again. Mr. Houston got his first dogs and breeding
practices from a little known cowboy and sportsman
named Howard Carnathan; who in the 1960’s did a lot
of early work in developing this type of dog. Mr.
Carnathan is said to have liked the intelligence,
quickness, endurance and high spirited nature of the
Catahoula Leopard Dog but was not satisfied with its
sometimes aloofness to people and soft bite. Using
some of his Bulldogs, he infused a little Catahoula
to spice things up. This cross was said to be the
perfect fit for what he was looking for saying
“I needed a dog that would be a companion and
protector to my children and home yet I also was in
need of a dog that would help with the farming
duties. The Catahoula Bulldog fit my purpose
exactly.” Many breeders since have made
unsuccessful attempts to replicate this practices
over the years.
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