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The Cuban Bloodhound
Writings of Theodore Roosevelt Concerning the Cuban Bloodhound
Credit: Theodore Roosevelt
"There have been instances in which five or six of the big so-called bloodhounds of the southern states - not pure bloodhounds at all, but huge, fierce, ban-dogs with a cross of the ferocious Cuban Bloodhound, to give them good scenting powers-have by themselves mastered the cougar and the Black Bear. Such instances occurred in the hunting history of my own fore-fathers on my mother's side, who during the last half of the eighteenth century, and the first half of the present century, lived in Georgia, and over the border in what are now Alabama and Florida. These big dogs can only overcome such foes by rushing in in a body and grappling all together; if they hang back, lunging and snapping, a cougar or bear will destroy them one by one." Hunting the Grisly and Other Sketches: by Theodore Roosevelt
"Most of the trip neither you nor Mother nor Sister would enjoy; but you would all of you be immensely amused with the dogs. There are eleven all told, but really only eight do very much hunting. These eight are all scarred with the wounds they have received this very week in battling with the cougars and lynxes, and they are always threatening to fight one another; but they are as affectionate toward men (and especially toward me, as I pet them) as our own home dogs. At this moment a large hound and a small half-breed bull-dog, both of whom were quite badly wounded this morning by a cougar, are shoving their noses into my lap to be petted, and humming defiance to one another. They are on excellent terms with the ranch cat and kittens. The three chief fighting dogs, who do not follow the trail, are the most affectionate of all,and, moreover, they climb trees! Yesterday we got a big lynx in the top of a pinion tree—a low, spreading kind of pine—about thirty feet tall. Turk, the bloodhound, followed him up, and after much sprawling actually got to the very top, within a couple of feet of him. Then, when the lynx was shot out of the tree, Turk, after a short scramble, took a header down through the branches, landing with a bounce on his back. Tony, one of the half-breed bull-dogs, takes such headers on an average at least once for every animal we put up a tree." "Letter's to his Children" by Theodore Roosevelt
The Cuban Bloodhound is a direct ancestor of the Brindle Bulldog and Big Red Bulldog, (a large, highly aggressive guard dog being red in color, and quite rare), of Louisiana and Mississippi. (It is said that this Big Red Bulldog is a cross of the Cuban Bulldog and Dogue de Bordeaux, and was developed in Louisiana in the 18th and 19th centuries as a ferocious and malevolent guard dog). The Cuban Bloodhound was a key ingredient in the makeup of many guard and hunting type dogs of the south in early American history, thus the highly aggressive behavior, as long bred into the Cuban Bloodhound; the notorious "mean streak;" that has followed bulldogs in American history.
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09-04-2013 04:48 PM
