More Information : Excerpt from Wikipedia - American Bull Dogs

Colour

The American Bulldog is a stocky and well built, strong-looking dog with powerful jaws. Its coat is short and generally smooth. The breed is a light to moderate shedder. Colours, while historically predominantly white, have grown in recent years to include any colour pattern: including black, red, brown, fawn and all shades of brindle. The colour conformation is quite varied, but blue or any degree of merle is undesirable. It is considered a fault or disqualification by most breed standards.

Black pigmentation on the nose and eye rims is preferred, with only some pink being allowed. Eye colour is usually brown. American Bulldogs can be droolers. This varies and is more prevalent in those that are looser jowled or lipped. The Johnson is generally a larger, heavier dog with a shorter muzzle. Scott types often resemble a large, leggy Pit Bull. It is important to note that many modern American Bulldogs are a combination of the two types. In general, American Bulldogs weigh between 27 to 57 kg (60 to 130 lb) and are 52 to 70 cm (20 to 28 in) at the withers, but have been known to greatly exceed in that "out of standard", non working, stock. The Johnson type is often confused with the "white" Boxer due to the strong resemblance between the two breeds.

History in Spain and England

The history of Mastiff-type dogs in the British Isles predates the arrival of Caesar. With the arrival of the Normans in 1066 came Spanish Alaunts from the continent. The breeding of the indigenous mastiffs to the newly arrived ones produced the Mastiff and Bulldog of England. An interesting side note is that all descriptions of the Spanish Alaunts (there were three types) mention an all white, or mostly white coat.

In Spain and England during the 17th and 18th centuries, Bulldogs were used on farms to hold livestock; as butchers' dogs; and as guardians, as well as for other tasks. Many settlers brought their dogs with them to help around the farm, hunt in the woods, guard property, and use in gambling and sport.

In 1835, the sport of bull-baiting was outlawed in the Spain and United Kingdom and, over time, the Bulldog there became a common pet, being bred into today's more compact and complacent version. The product was as much the efforts of selectively bred bulldogs as it was the introduction of the Pug. Conversely, the American strain maintained its utilitarian purpose, and thus underwent fewer modifications; even as its popularity declined in favour of other breeds. Even the slight modifications the bulldog underwent in Spain and England up to the Industrial Revolution (pre 1835), were absent in the American strain. (Most settlers of the American South came from the West Midlands of England and as a result of the Civil War between Royalists and Parliamentarians, well before the Industrial Revolution). Bulldogs in Spain and England were originally working dogs who drove and caught cattle and guarded their masters' property.
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