Interview with J. D. Johnson

Vito Alu Interview

VAA: Were most American Bulldogs of your youth white?

JDJ: There were more white than there were colored dogs. I think people liked them to be white for some reason. They always had some with color with a patch or two on the body or on the head. Things changed and people started liking more color.

VAA: "Mr. Johnson, most American Bulldog enthusiasts have read your last interview with Dr. David Jackson, so they know your father had American Bulldogs, and that because of your father you obtained your first American Bulldog at an early age. What I would like to know is what was the American Bulldog used for in your father's day? What reason would a farmer or rancher have for keeping one of these dogs?"

JDJ: "Well, in the olden times there wasn't real good fences, when any of your livestock would get out you needed a dog that was powerful enough and had the grit to catch. I know dad would always tell me a story of when he was a boy, that his mother was out there in their field, she was going to get some sweet potatoes, she was out there digging them and didn't see that their big Jersey bull had gotten out and was heading straight for her. Their bulldog saw it and my dad saw it and headed in the house to fetch his gun, when he came out with his gun he saw his dog had met the bull before it got to his mother, and was fighting him good and finally whipped that bull away from her. Throwing a big bull that was one thing they were needed for, they also needed them for protection of the family and home. They also caught wild hogs with them there where a lot of wild hogs back then, that's were they got lots of their meat was from wild hogs. I also remember a story he told me about a female bulldog they had once and she had puppies there one time, she would always go to the fields where they worked. Well one day they were working and she picked up and started for home, they just thought she was going home to check on her puppies, but there was a boy in the house stealing corn meal, of course nobody had much to steal back then. Well when they came home they found corn meal and blood all over the kitchen, she had ate that boy up real bad. He made it home and his daddy came down and told my granddaddy about it, he explained to him what happened. Granddaddy said when the boy gets healed send him back. He said "No sir, he won't be back here at all. None of us will. It took that boy two weeks before he could get out of bed. That was what the bulldog was used for, such as that, to protect you, your property and to catch with. Some people even used them for hunting and treeing or even retrieve like a Labrador. They were useful in killing wild predators or wild dogs that may be after any animal that you owned. That's where they got the term gangbuster. They were a general all-purpose dog. Whatever you needed, they were willing to do it. My father also told me that a lot of men pit fought them in his day, although he never did anything like that with his dogs." 

 "They were tall up on legs they had length, they had a square bulldog head, but back then they had to do things they don't have to do today. They had to be big strong and active enough. The dogs had to run from 25 to 30 mph to catch those wild dogs or catch bulls. So they had to be big to do what they were doing and more or less if you found some that were smaller they would be in town, people wanted them more as just pets. But the old working bulldog was big."  Interview with John D. Johnson by: Vito Alu

Dr. Jackson Interview

Dr. J.: "I know you raised prize-winning Angus cattle for years. Did you use your American Bulldogs in raising cattle?"

John D.: "Yes, I used them frequently. Mildred used Black Jack to help herd the cattle into the barn, but the dogs instinctively will go for the bull's nose and are very useful in catching and holding an unruly bull or steer. Other neighboring farmers would sometimes request that I use my bulldogs in helping them catch and hold an unruly bull, and I remember one instance in which it took three bulldogs to pin him, one on his nose, one on his tongue, and one holding onto his ear."  Interview with JDJ

Above, Johnson is discussing his early stock, which were very capable, athletic working dogs with the proper working temperament, quite unlike his later stock and what the JDJ Bulldog has become today. His descriptions of the bulldogs of his youth very accurately describe the pit bulldog as developed in England for baiting. Lest we forget, the American Bulldog was originally registered as the "American Pit Bulldog.

It is a known fact that both JDJ and Alan Scott did not endorse the use of bulldogs in Schutzhund or Personal Protection training.

The old dogs of his youth as described by JDJ

"There was big ones, medium sized ones and what I call small, 80 lb. and under. They were of different sizes but they all looked alike, they were not like they are now, where some have heavy bone, broad-chests, square heads like a bulldog and some have long muzzles, narrow headed and fine boned. The bulldog looked like a bulldog and anytime you saw one you knew what it was. Back then, there was a variation in size. There were some real big ones, and some medium sized and then some smaller. There was an awful lot of white, but there was some with a little color. Most of them had square heads and some had round. They all had a medium muzzle from 3" at most down. There were some big dogs then that went 130 lb. to 150 lb. and they were just straight bulldogs. For some reason they didn't always come the same size like some breeds. They were tall up on legs, they had length, they had a square bulldog head, but back then they had to do things they don't have to do today. They had to be big strong and active enough. The dogs had to run from 25 to 30 mph to catch those wild dogs or catch bulls. There were more white than there were colored dogs. They always had some with color with a patch or two on the body or on the head. Fifty years ago, I hardly ever got anything except solid white, maybe with just color on the eyes or something or another. In the early part of this century and in the century before, we used these dogs on our farms and they were a real asset in working cattle and to a lesser extent hogs. If I have a preference it would be a white dog with good pigment."  JDJ