The Miniature Bull Terrier has a history
as long as that of their bigger relative, the Standard Bull
Terrier, and each of these histories is deeply entwined with
the other.
Great Britain
As far back as the First Great
International Dog Show at the Agricultural Hall, Islington, in
May 1863, despite over 2000 dogs of various breeds
participating, Bull Terriers were the only dog breed to have
more than one class: one being for “Bull Terriers under 10
pounds in weight”. In fact James Hinks, who bred and named the
English Bull Terrier in the 1860s, showed a Bull Terrier in
this “Miniature” class at this show. Rawden B. Lee, esteemed
author of “A History and Description of the Modern Dogs of
Great Britain and Ireland” published in 1894, wrote that the
Bull Terrier “could be obtained at any weight ranging between
4 lbs. and 55 lbs.” These smaller Bull Terriers grew in
popularity before the turn of the century outdoing even their
bigger relatives. Lee tells of a case where thirty two Bull
Terriers were entered in the class for “under 15 lbs” compared
to only nineteen in the class for “over 15 lbs”.
Interestingly, the first recorded Bull Terrier Champion, Mr.
S. E. Shirley’s Nelson, weighed less than 16 lbs – these days
he would be considered a Miniature Bull Terrier (albeit a
small one!). In the early 1900s some so-called Toy Bull
Terriers were shown. One named Pony Queen reputedly weighed as
little as 3lbs. But with very little resemblance to their
familiar bigger cousins, they began to lose favour. Toy and
Miniature Bull Terriers were shown in the same “Miniature”
class but even increasing the maximum weight limit to 18 lbs
did little to renew interest in them. After the First World
War the practise of breeding smaller Bull Terriers almost died
out, and the Miniature Bull Terrier was removed from the
Kennel Club register. Their registration was restored in 1939,
thanks to the efforts of Colonel Richard Glyn after setting up
the Miniature Bull Terrier Club with others who had continued
to breed small Bull Terriers just for sporting purposes.
Although a weight restriction of 20lbs. was included, this was
abandoned after a number of years in order to prevent “the
underfeeding of “border-line” specimens” and only the height
restriction of 14 inches at the shoulder was used instead.
With Challenge Certificates available to Miniature Bull
Terriers now, the first Champion, Deldon Delovely, belonging
to Mrs Gladys Adlam, made up her championship in 1948. The UK
is still the source of most Miniature Bull Terriers and while
the Miniature Bull Terrier Club of 1938 is still very active,
increased interest has spawned another club, the Southern
Miniature Bull Terrier Club, which was established in 1997.
North America
While some small-sized Bull Terriers had
been imported to the USA even before the turn of the 19th
Century, Toy Bull Terriers were last exhibited at Westminister
Kennel Club Show in 1922 and Miniature Bull Terriers were last
exhibited there in 1928. There was no activity with small Bull
Terriers until May 1961 when Ralph and Ruth Gordon from
Mississippi imported an English Champion Miniature Bull
Terrier, Navigation Pinto, and a bitch called Freesail Simone.
In 1963, the Miniature Bull Terrier breed became eligible to
be shown in the American Kennel Club (AKC) but in the
Miscellaneous Class. This class give dog owners a place to
exhibit but no opportunity to earn any points towards a
championship. So although, the Miniature Bull Terrier Club of
America (MBTCA) was founded in 1966, without proper AKC breed
status, interest in Miniature Bull Terriers eventually
dwindled.
In the early 1980s, Mrs Barbara (BJ) Andrews,
together with her husband, Bill, and friends, John and Pam
Glaves, imported four Miniature Bull Terriers from the UK
kennel, Erenden,. These were followed by more imports
(including UK Champion, Erenden Eleanor) which were placed
with serious dog fanciers around the USA and in Canada. The
first MBT Speciality Show was held in October 1985, in
Atlanta, Georgia, in conjunction with the Bull Terrier Club of
America, Silverwood competition. AKC judge, Mrs Winkie
Mackay-Smith, commented favourably on the number and quality
of Miniature Bull Terriers, which had gathered from all over
the country to compete. BJ and her fellow enthusiasts revived
the Miniature Bull Terrier Club in America and as a reward for
their efforts, acquired breed status for the Miniature Bull
Terrier in 1991 – finally MBTs were registered as a separate
breed in the AKC Terrier Group. Today the MBTCA has over 130
members, their own Van Hildrikheusen Trophy for the
Best-American Bred Miniature Bull Terrier and an enthusiastic
and committed support base. The Miniature Bull Terrier Club of
Canada was formed in 2009 to service the growing interest in
that country.
South
America
Miniature Bull Terriers are still scarce in South America with
no dedicated clubs but a few breeders in Brazil,
Argentina, Peru and Mexico.
Western
Europe
Miniature Bull Terriers moved easily over
from the UK to Western Europe where they have become very
popular. There are a number of registered breeding kennels in
14 countries in Western Europe: The Netherlands, Germany,
France, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland,
Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. Most
of these countries have Miniature Bull Terrier members of
their Bull Terrier Clubs but there is a dedicated Miniature
Bull Terrier Club in Switzerland (Miniature Bull Terrier Club
Schweitz) established in 1998 and two clubs in The
Netherlands: Miniature Bull Terrier Vriendenkring established
in 1997; and the Nederlandse Miniatuur Bull Terrier Club
established in 2010 with a strict code for breeding healthy,
pure Miniature Bull Terriers.
Eastern
Europe
As the political
climate changed in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s causing the collapse of
the Soviet Union at the start of the 1990s, the influences
of Western Europe were even seen in the dog world. Miniature
Bull Terriers have an active following in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Croatia, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia and the Baltic states of
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Their popularity is growing
in this part of the worldand there is significant
breeding of Miniature Bull Terriers happening here.
Asia
There are 6
countries in Asia with registered breeders of Miniature Bull
Terriers. These are China, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam,
Philippines and Japan. There are no clubs devoted to Miniature
Bull Terriers in any of these countries yet. What is
extraordinary is that Miniature Bull Terriers in Japan are
more numerous that Standard Bull Terriers! Statistics
available from the Japan Kennel Club show that there were 440
000 registered dogs living in Japan in 2009, of these, only 12
were Standard Bull Terriers (number 122 on the list of popular
dog breeds) while 208 were Miniature Bull Terriers (number 54
on popularity list!). This makes sense when the top 10 most
popular dog breeds are all very small breeds.
Australia & New
Zealand
Further afield, the first Miniature Bull
Terriers were imported into Australia in 1965 by Mr Wally
Webster and Mr John Peek. These were Jetom Jasper and Jetom
Jubilant Tigress both of which became Australian champions.
Unfortunately due to the small population, no imports, the
fact that no interbreeding with Standard Bull Terriers was
allowed, and a tragic kennel fire, the breed died out barely
10 years after they had been introduced. The last litter was
bred in 1971 and the last Miniature Bull Terrier shown in
1974.
Nearly 13 years later, Miniature Bull Terriers
were reintroduced with new imports from the UK. The first who
came to Victoria, in 1986, was Grandopera Ottello of
Warbonnet, a handsome Tricolour, who earned his Australian
championship in less than a year after his arrival. In the New
South Wales area, the first import, Erenden Roxana, made
Australian history by winning Best in Show at the British
Terrier Club just two months after her arrival in 1987. She
proved to be an important ambassador for the breed. Miniature
Bull Terriers have since had a loyal and devoted following in
Australia. Although the interests of Miniature Bull Terrier
owners were looked after by the Standard Bull Terrier Clubs,
particularly the Bull Terrier (and Miniature Bull Terrier)
Association of Western Australia and the Bull Terrier
Miniature Club of Victoria, it is only recently that the
Miniature Bull Terrier Breeders Association of Australia was
formed. This happened in 2008 with an increased need to
monitor health concerns and to breed responsibly. An ongoing
interbreeding programme between Miniatures and Standard Bull
Terriers introduced in 1986 had failed to curb the prevalence
of Primary Lens Luxation (PLL) in Miniatures and had resulted
in more Miniatures over the height restriction than not.
The first
Miniature Bull Terrier imported to New Zealand was Schardale
Mini Maroi from Australia followed closely by Coldstream
Statesman from the UK. More Miniature Bull Terriers moved from
Australia to New Zealand and back again in the late 1980s and
early 1990s. Their popularity in New Zealand was short-lived
though due to health concerns and a decline in imports with
the last litter born in 1996. Ten years later there was a
resurgence of interest, with new imports and two new litters
born. The Miniature Bull Terrier Club was formed on 2005 to
re-establish the breed in New
Zealand.
Africa - South
Africa
According to the Kennel Union of Southern
Africa (KUSA) records, 12 Miniature Bull Terriers were
registered in South Africa before 2005. The first Miniature
Bull Terrier in South Africa was a one year old, Red &
White male called Neptune of Upend, imported from the UK in
1954. Remarkably, 15 years elapsed before any further
Miniature Bull Terriers were imported to South
Africa.
In 1969, Mrs Elizabeth Sarak, who was living in
Bloemfontein at the time, received a Red & White dog,
Seggieden Kirbeon Juan, and a Brindle bitch, Seggieden Harpers
Littesadie from England. Mrs Sarak’s son, Ronnie Ryrie,
remembers the Miniature Bull Terriers as being "poor,
whippety, specimens with very destructive behaviours". Mrs
Sarak showed the pair but KUSA rules at the time prevented her
from winning CCs with them as there were too few members of
the breed in the country. This coupled with their difficult
behaviour caused Mrs Sarak to re-home them after she moved to
East London in the eastern Cape Province.
In 1974, Mrs
Dorothea (Dot) Sandalls imported a white bitch called Kirbeon
YumYum from England. YumYum was a daughter of the famous CC-
record-holding Miniature Bull Terrier of the time, Kirbeon
Bandmaster. YumYum’s subsequent progress in South Africa was
even recorded in the Dog World Annual back in the UK. The
following year, Dot imported a Black Brindle & White dog
called Lenster Little Conductor (Gulliver), and a White bitch
with red markings called Mermaid of Lenster (Nellie) who was
already a UK champion. Dot lived on a farm outside Vryheid in
Kwa-Zulu Natal with her family and just six months later, she
bred Gulliver and Nellie to produce a litter of three puppies.
The only female puppy, Majorette of Sunduza, was bought by
Andre Strydom of Sunduza Kennels in Johannesburg. He remembers
her as a “real little pest that attacked anything that moved”.
Andre showed her but unfortunately she died before her second
birthday, one CC short of being a champion when she was
trampled to death by a cow that she had attacked.
The
other two puppies were both males and remained registered in
Dot’s name. Dot turned both Gulliver and YumYum into champions
in 1976 but unfortunately she passed away soon after this and
all the dogs were sold, but whoever bought them never
registered them in their name.
In September 1995, two
Miniature Bull Terriers were brought into South Africa’s
northern neighbour, Botswana, from the UK. They belonged to Mr
R and Mrs P Allsop who were working on a contract in the
frontier town of Maun. The two Brindle & White minis were
Zedbees Zarab (a year-old male) and Pikaljo Prism (a
3-year-old female). The next year the Allsops bred their dogs
and only one puppy, Boronyani Lucky Lady, was registered as
belonging to a Maun resident. Three years later when the
Allsops returned to the UK, they left the dogs behind in
Botswana.
Back in South Africa, renewed interest in
Miniature Bull Terriers occurred 10 years later, with the
importation of four dogs by Johan and Stephenette du Toit of
Lusahn Kennels near Malmesbury, north of Cape Town. Over a
period of a year, they brought in a 14 month old Brindle male
called Little Chili Peppers Pole Position (Eddy) from Germany,
a two-year old White female called April Snow of new Galloway
who was originally from France, and two young female puppies,
A Koffee Kid and Double Dutch, the last three from Thea
Jacobs’ From Friar’s Point Kennels in The Netherlands. Lusahn
Kennels was now ready to breed Miniature Bull Terriers in
earnest.
At about the same time, a Miniature Bull
Terrier bitch was imported by Mr Klaus Eckstein of Gauteng
when he relocated from Germany to South Africa. Sadly this
mini passed away in 2009 without having the opportunity to
breed and diversify the tiny South African population. In the
same year, an interbred, Shrinkabulls White Diamond, was
imported from Australia by Yolandi van Zyl but passed on to
Ironel Lotter of Avantgarde Kennels just a few months later.
In March 2010, Tracey Butchart imported Irgen Gold CzaCza from
Russia - TsaTsa is the daughter of the export, Lusahn Tiny Red
Chief, now living in the Ukraine, and brings new blood into
the South African gene pool from the successful Mooncraft
Kennel of Estonia.
There are some unregistered dogs
advertised as Miniature Bull Terriers in South Africa but
these are not Miniature Bull Terriers by breed. They seem to
be descendents of small, local Standard Bull Terriers. It is impossible
that they are descendents of Dot Sandalls’ imports as it
has recently come to light that both of her imports, Gulliver
and Nellie, were affected by Primary Lens Luxation, a genetic
eye problem which results in blindness. This made it
impossible for them to produce normal-sighted Miniature Bull Terriers. Any offspring
of these minis, including the ill-fated, Majorette, would
have also gone blind by the time that they were 3 or 4 years
old.
Lusahn Kennels have produced a number of litters
of registered Miniature Bull Terriers (two of whom have been
exported to neighbouring African countries) and all of
these special dogs are attracting growing interest and
popular attention in their communities all around Southern
Africa.
Click here to see the Historical Record of Miniature
Bull Terriers in Southern Africa (PDF 11kB).
Thanks to Ciara Farrel of The Kennel
Club (UK), Pascale Midgley and Dawn Rosier of the Kennel Union
of Southern Africa, Jacquie Thornley of Warbonnet Bull Terriers
& Miniatures, Juliet Shaw of Badlesmere Terriers, Andre
Strydom of Sunduza Bull Terriers, Peter Sandalls and
Ronnie Ryrie for their valuable assistance in compiling
this South African History of the Miniature Bull
Terrier.
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