The initiative of teaching EB owners upon on how to properly take care an English Bulldog despite its breed.
Recently, the Philippine American Bulldog Revolution (PABR) was held at the ERK-9 Training Field in Sucat Paranaque, with the objective of educating American Bulldog owners about the breed and how to start improving it for the better.
Over a dozen owners and their dogs—coming from as far as Ilocos Sur—rose to the challenge of coming together to reinvigorate the breed in the country and identify the issues they will have to work on in order to achieve their goal.
Participants enjoyed the expertise of the preferred training partner for those who work with American Bulldogs, Ferdinand “Choy” Aureus. He guided them and their dogs through an exercise designed to show them what kind of working dog their American Bulldogs were, and in the process, taught them how to evaluate and bring out the dog’s working potential.
First-hand stories and information about the good old days of the breed were shared by one of the original American Bulldog owners in the country, Redd Fuster, followed by a demonstration by organizer Carl Michael G. de Leon of the working capabilities of his own American Bulldogs Zazu (from Mondioring champion Kovu), Zuri, and Nala, to show participants what the breed was truly capable of if their owners continued to harness their potentials.
The Revolution launch event merely provided a glimpse of the possibilities open to American Bulldog owners and their dogs. According to De Leon, there is still more to learn and the event was but the first step in a long journey for the breed in the country. “The PABR initiative must first break the barriers thwarting the growth of the breed in the country. AB standards and conformation topics are…a very divisive issue and though I believe that ‘form follows function’, I still draw a fine line leaning [towards] function as I [place more emphasis on this] working breed’s ability to perform work effectively and efficiently. The initiative just needs to find the common ground on [which] to start solidifying the [foundations] of the local American Bulldog community.”
And these foundations start with returning to the roots of the breed as a working dog while correcting the misconceptions that have sprung up around it. Hence the group’s emphasis on the Mondioring dog sport. Participants were also asked to ponder the question: what and where do they want to see the American Bulldog breed in the generations to come?
The event was organized by Team Kovu, which not only competes in the different dog sport events in the country, but also undertakes adventures such as climbing mountains together, river trekking, and exploring different beach getaways that are dog-friendly.
Team Kovu continuously promotes an active human and dog lifestyle by providing new and exciting avenues in which humans and dogs can spend quality time together and bring their relationship to new heights.
(With reporting by Carl Michael G. de Leon)
This story appeared in Animal Scene’s April 2017 issue.
