 |
|
|
| While in the Korean country side one day, I noticed what appeared to be a very small American Bulldog puppy. The only thing was, for a puppy, it was exceptionally quick and agile. I stopped to investigate and to my great surprise (and joy), discovered that the "puppy" was in fact a full grown adult! I had to investigate. I spoke to the dog's owner, a Mr. Kim who told me that the dog I was looking at was a bulldog, and found out that Mr. Kim's grandfather, Grandpa Kim, had been given the ancestors to this particular dog by members of the British government in Korea on a fact finding mission. I realized that I had stumbled upon the toy bulldogs of old! Trembling with excitement, I asked Mr. Kim if there was any chance I might be able to purchase a bulldog or two from him. I explained my love of bulldogs and my involvement with and dedication to ABs and APBTs. Mr. Kim was apparently convinced by my sincerity. Due to his advanced age and weak health, he had been concerned about the future of his bulldogs. After he received assurances from me that I would ensure the continuation of the bulldogs and share them with the outside world, Mr. Kim agreed to transfer to me his entire stock of bulldogs. I also gathered from the area the best specimens of bulldogs descended from the Kim family line of bulldogs which I could find. I am now proud to present to the rest of the world the Mini-Bulldogs of Old ("MBO")! Please note that all rights to the name Mini-Bulldogs of Old have already been reserved. |
| Hidden away in a mist covered mountain of the Korean countryside, St. Croix Mountain to be precise, these 25lbs. bulldogs with "true" bulldog temperment and ability have been preserved and hidden from the rest of the world - until NOW! These are the original toy bulldogs of the 1800s which Edgar Farman and other bulldog experts wrote about and are now available to the rest of the world. As Mr. Kim says (in Korean of course): "They may be small but their hearts are big." Please note Mr. Kim refers to his dogs simply as "bulldogs" because as he put it, "that's what they are". When first received by the Kim family in the 1800's, due to the limited space in Korea and the shortage of food in Korea at the time but a need for a true working dog with great bravery and tenacity, the MBO proved to be an ideal fit in Korea. Mr. Kim told me numerous stories detailing the courage, loyalty and utility of these bulldogs. Some of the stories were about how bulldogs belonging to his family for generations killed the vicious rats the size of cats that infest the rice paddies of Korea. Please note that Mr. Kim's neighbors confirmed to me that a few generations ago, when their ancestors noticed that Mr. Kim's ancestors' rice paddies never had any rat problems because of the bulldogs, they also started to raise bulldogs and solved their rat problem. As a matter of fact, the area around St. Croix Mountain in Korea earned a nickname which translated means "Has Rice Paddies With No Rats". Whenever an MBO was not killing rats in the rice paddies, it was catching the frogs which inhabit the rice paddies. Many a farmer in the St. Croix Mountain area would not have survived the difficult times if it was not for his MBO bringing home the frogs for supper. Moreover, whenever the St. Croix Mountain area of Korea had a locust invasion, woe be the household that did not have at least one MBO ready to defend, with its life if need be, its master and master's home against the locusts. |
| I was also informed that in the early 1900's, Korea's Japanese colonizers heard about the Kim family's amazing bulldogs, came to take a look at them and were so impressed, that they confiscated some of them to take them back to Japan. Two of these Japanese were a major in the Imperial Japanese Army by the name of Tosa Inu San and a sargeant by the name of Akita San who stopped by on his way to Jindo Island. Thus, the MBO was a major contributor to the creation of two of the so-called "Japanese" dogs! Mr. Kim still speaks with great bitterness at the MBOs which were confiscated by the Japanese. Mr. Kim: "The Japs, they couldn't be satisfied with massacring civilians, forcing women folk into prostitution, using people for slave labor, conducting biological warfare experiments on humans, stealing our land, and robbing Korean cultural treasures en masse. No, they also had to steal some of my best bulldogs and inject bulldog blood into their curs! Of course the my bulldogs improved whatever they were trying to create but if they'd kept my bulldogs pure, they would have had better dogs. But they wanted to create their own 'Japanese' breeds. Worst part of it is, even today, they deny stealing my bulldogs just like they deny doing anything else wrong during the pre-war and war years! But I got PROOF! See this picture right here? With the little fellow grimacing in pain with a bulldog hanging from his crotch? Heh, heh. That there is the Tosa Inu seki. That bulldog suffered 34 bayonet wounds from the Jap soldiers and still did not let go of his bite on the little pecker. They finally chopped off his head with a samurai sword and even then his jaws were locked onto the Tosa seki's weiner. He gave his life defending us. He was a true bulldog. My family, we cried and cried for days over his death." I tried to find the two Japanese individuals referred to by Mr. Kim for confirmation purposes but discovered that Mr. Tosa Inu died without leaving any descendants and Mr. Akita claimed that he was a sushi chef in Kyoto during the war years and had never enlisted in the Imperial Japanese Army. Due to my persistent questioning, he eventually referred me to a Japanese history book which described in one paragraph Japanese actions in WWII and in several chapters how Japan was a victim of Western imperialism and how it suffered the atomic bomb. The Japanese history book had a particularly poignant chapter about the sneak attack by U.S. Navy aircraft on Japanese golfers near Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the heroic efforts by Japanese golfers to fight back using their golf balls and irons, the devastating casualties inflicted on Japanese golfers by the U.S. aircraft despite the Japanese downing 196 U.S. Navy aircraft with golfballs, and the comeback Japanese golfers made in Hawaii beginning only in the late 1970's. |
| I asked Mr. Kim if Japanese soldiers were the only ones who expressed interest in his dogs. Mr. Kim: "Oh, there were lots of them coming by my house to look at the dogs. I didn't want to lose them all so if we saw a Jap walking near our house, we hid the dogs. I can't remember most of them but there was this one fella by the name of Sony ( Sony? ) or something or other. He was telling me how things had to be huge and powerful like the Japanese Empire. I told him about my bulldogs and the benefits of having small things that could do the same job, or better, as the larger things. He seemed real interested in the idea, thanked me for sharing my knowledge with him and then went on his way." |
| During the Korean War, Mr. Kim's dogs were conscripted by the Korean government for service to U.S. and South Korean forces in its bitter and vicscious internecine battle with North Korea. Mr. Kim's bulldogs served with bravery and devotion. Below is a picture of one of his dogs packing chocolate bars over the rough hilly terrain of Korea for the U.S. Army. |
 |
| Due to American preoccupation with size, these brave unselfish dogs were neglected by most of the U.S. troops even as they gave their lives to deliver Hershey bars to U.S. troops. Many a bulldog paid the ultimate price with chocolate bars strapped to their backs. Mr. Kim is very proud of the part his dogs played in the effort to prevent the communist takeover of South Korea but he is still bitter and depressed about the heavy casualties suffered by his dogs. Mr. Kim: "It still breaks my heart to picture one of my dogs crawling over the snow, leaving a trail of blood, trying with its last ounce of strength to deliver a bar of chocolate and sometimes packs of cigarettes to the U.S. soldiers. But I guess it had to be done. They told me that if the U.S. soldiers didn't get their daily ration of chocolate, they wouldn't fight for Korea. I'm just glad that the Korean War wasn't like Vietnam where the U.S. troops had to have their beer rations. A can of beer's a lot heavier than a bar of chocolate and as strong as my dogs are, I don't know if they could have handled packing a can of beer over mountainous terrain." Mr. Kim is very proud of the fact that not a single one of his dogs ate a bar of chocolate which was entrusted to them. |
| According to Mr. Kim, the communists were so impressed with the courage, tenacity and toughness of these dogs that some captured examples (badly wounded of course, otherwise they wouldn't have been taken prisoner) were eventually taken to the Soviet Union. There, the Russians were so astounded by the ferocity and heart of these bulldogs that they were used to inject courage and tenacity into a Russian breed, the Caucasian Mountain Dog. The communists weren't the only ones impressed. Some APBT fanciers from the U.S, recognized the four legged jewels for what they were and took back some of these MBOs to the U.S. after their tour of duty was over. I asked Mr. Kim about some of these U.S. soldiers. Mr. Kim: "There was a fella by the name of knife, blade, sword or something..." Me: "Carver?" Mr. Kim: "Yes, that's it. He kept asking me if these dogs could fight and I told him that they were farm utility dogs but yes, they could defend themselves if they had to. He told me he had a large ranch named 'Texas' with monster rats the size of horses and asked if he could have a pup or two. I figured he helped defend my country against the communists so I let him have a few pups. There was also a fella that said his pa would be interested in one. I showed him a dog I called 'Die Bo' ('Bo' was my nickname for Japs, it's short for something else in Korean) and he seemed real happy. I was about to cull a really weird looking bulldog, had amber eyes, red nose, red coat, even red toe nails. But a soldier by the name of ..., I think it was Wallace, was dying to have it so I gave it to him." |
| [I asked Mr. Kim whether or not a MBO could withstand gun shot wounds. Mr. Kim replied as follows: "Well, since we Koreans are not permitted to own personal firearms, I do not know. But I figure if a MBO, like the one that got the Jap's pecker, can withstand all those bayonet wounds, it can withstand multiple shots from an Uzi and still get the attacker. Since it can withstand an Uzi, maybe that Dave fella you were telling me about might be interested in a MBO and write a book about them. I'm sure if we send him pictures for his book, he'll return them if he gives us our word that he will." ] |
| I also asked Mr.
Kim whether he had ever used his dogs to catch a bull. Mr. Kim:
"We tried that once when I was a young man. There was a bull
kept by a fella by the name of Lee for fighting other bulls. Well
one morning, this bull went berserk! Lee came running over to my
house yelling 'Kim,bring them dogs of yours over! My bull's gone
nuts!' I took 48 of my dogs over there. It was something else!
24 of them went for the head area, 20 of them were on the bull's shoulders,
stomach, sides and back, and 4 of them (some inferior ones) were on the
bull's rear or tail. Things were going fine until the bull decided
that he was tired of running around the village with the dogs going for
a ride so he stopped, laid down and rolled to his side. 18 dogs were
squashed to death. Never tried it again." (continued...)
|