The attached press photo appeared in a side story by an American media company – ACME Newspictures, dated November 2, 1933. In Archive #7, we will discuss this unexpected interspecies relationship between a Boston Bulldog named Peaches and a wild rabbit.
When I acquired this photograph into my personal collection, the thing that caught my attention most wasn’t the unexpected relationship between a dog and rabbit.
Or, how a dog like Peaches, who would stereotypically be boxed into a category of having higher levels of aggression towards such animals. No, what caught my eye immediately was the dog was called a Boston Bulldog. What is that?
In prior installments of The Archives blog series we’ve talked about the different breed names pit bull dogs have gone by over the course of history. Much of my attention was spent acquiring archives originating pre-1900, when the American Pit Bull Terrier breed name wasn’t yet prominently used.
As stated in Archive #2 – 1870s Pit Bull Dog and Gentleman, they went by other names such as ‘bull-and–terrier‘. Or, as we’ve seen in the 5th edition of The Archives – the American Bull Terrier.
To add even more confusion, sometimes the name depends on who you are speaking to. For example, in dogfighting circles pit bull dogs are often referred to as simply ‘bulldogs’.
Nevertheless, the list of names used throughout history is long and worthy of examining further.
Using variations of search words, I unsuccessfully attempted to locate another source that used the breed label – Boston Bulldog. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, but if so it’s definitely a more obscure one.
Worthy of noting – The first association that came to mind is the Boston Terrier. But, why wouldn’t they just write Boston Terrier then? Because the Boston Terrier was already a completely separate and independent dog breed by the 1930s.
Through this exercise I learned, in 1893 the Boston Terrier was the first all-American breed of dog recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC). As discussed in Archive #5 and Archive #6, the AKC previously would not recognize pit bull terriers as pure bred dogs.
The general reasoning was they wanted no part with a dog known solely for pit fighting. While that may be true, it’s hard to ignore the fact that Boston Terriers also had this questionable past in their ancestry. And, again, Boston Terriers were accepted into the AKC in the year 1893.
Circling back to Peaches – the rabbit-loving Boston Bulldog… She probably wasn’t a Boston Terrier by modern day standards. She was likely just another pit bull terrier, who perfectly displayed why generalizations are not always accurate. Because, it’s not a choice only between nature and nurture. In more cases than not – it’s both.
A Press Photo is a photograph taken by a staff photographer of a newsroom, to be used for public release. This specific press photo was distributed by ACME Newspictures out of New York. Now defunct, ACME operated during the years 1923-1952.
The Archives is a special blog series that looks at the complicated history of pit bull dogs through photographs, newspaper articles, and other historical items. This blog is part of the documentary film – Once In A Lifetime.
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