100 ‘Bullies’ Put on Their Doleful Face

From a distance, they sounded like a convention of hay-fever sufferers comparing sneezes and snuffles.

But with names like Sir Grubby Glenn of Pedley, Shires Mocha Haagen Doggin and Spanky’s Buddy Buckwheat, they could only be bulldogs.

More than 100 gathered with their owners Saturday at the Huntington Beach Inn for the Pacific Coast Bulldog Club’s 69th annual show.

To the uninitiated, the breed’s finer points may not be apparent, but bulldog fanciers are quick to point out desirable traits of “bullies.”

“I love the face,” said Marcie Dobkin, owner of several bulldogs, including the winner of the junior bitches class, De Soto’s Sundae Drive. Although Dobkin, of Poway in San Diego County, claimed that her prize pooch “loves to show,” Sundae was doggedly determined to hide its face from a stranger immediately following its victory.

Others were more expressive.

Scarlett Richman of Norco, visibly nervous before entering the ring with 6-month-old Sir Fauncey Chauncey, had to laugh as a crowd grew to watch a photographer snap pictures of the dog, whose expressions ranged from quizzical to downright defeated.

According to Virginia Thomas, show secretary, judges look for dogs that most closely match the breed standard: woebegone expression, broad chest with straight legs that look tacked onto the torso, a rolling gait and the “bulldog attitude.”

Although bulldogs were bred centuries ago to fight with chained bulls, a popular pastime in England that has since been outlawed, owners now value the breed’s gentleness and reliability. One show-goer told a companion, “Having a bulldog is better than having a husband.”

For Dobkin, it was the combination of a ferocious appearance and mild demeanor that appealed to her.

As for the snuffling, a respiratory problem that resulted from breeding the dogs for flat noses, Dobkin claims that she “can’t sleep without it.”