JUDAH VON DUKE OF DOVER (PEDIGREE)
IDCR# IDC1282M; NKC# NKC14-900468310
HEIGHT AT WITHERS: 27"
WEIGHT: 88 LBS.

Bella and Judah the day they met...

Here are Bella and Judah some years back, Bella as a puppy and Judah at 2.5 years. This is the day Bella and Judah met and he was so, so very proud - just look at him!

The look on his face is who Judah is: Noble, confident, calm, watchful - a highly intelligent, well-trained alpha dog who takes himself seriously.

Judah and Bella are parents to our boys, Doc, Mambo and Pete and our girls, Lilly and Trinity.

You can go here for more info on our 6th generation, 100% Johnson American Bulldog girl, Bella...

Old Southern White / Alabama Bulldog with Scott Type / Performance Line and Johnson American Bulldog Hybrid, Colorado

Judah was a gentleman and the perfect dog in the house or car. In this shot and the following, we wanted to take his picture, so I just touched the half-wall and said, "here, sit" and up he went to sit down facing me awaiting his next command. I told him, "stay," stepped back and said, "look right," followed by, "look left," - standard field commands, snapping pictures without hassle. Judah was a very good boy who could work effectively with hand signals about 100 yards out for flanking, herding or catch/hold of game or domestic animals or men. He's no longer with us and we miss him.

At one year old, Judah brought in adult hogs. At two he was a man-stopper. Judah is 25% Ole' Southern White / 25% Performance Line American Bulldog / 50% Johnson ("Bully" type) American Bulldog and son to the Duke of Dover, infamous throughout southern Florida as a top hog dog.

That eye patch is Judah's only marking, being otherwise pure white, with a grizzled nose, but plenty of pigment. Other than that grizzled nose - (a technical fault), Judah has excellent conformation. He is 88 pounds of very hard, seemingly fat-free, muscle. He was The Duke's only runt son and he throws puppies looking emphatically like Duke and all over 100 pounds. He's 27" inches at the shoulders, 21.5" head, with almond eyes, perfectly straight toes, feet and legs with great angulation in the rear and legs perfectly beneath him in the front, long and straight; perfectly straight teeth with even bite and larger teeth as typical for the Ole' Southern Whites, as well as the rougher, hog-like fur of the Ole' Southern Whites; he's well balanced, square and amazingly athletic.

Judah was a companion/protection dog, a catch dog used repeatedly on wild hogs and a therapy dog, alerting in advance to Abi's siezures.

Judah under a year old. He loved playing in the water with the kids. Oh my gosh, put the hose on a hard spray, aim right at his face and he'd happily bite at the water for an hour. Point the hose somewhere else and he'd chase the water looking to bite it some more. That dog had the cleanest teeth!

Judah under a year old. As mentioned, Judah's grizzled nose is a major cosmetic fault, but this is common in tightly bred Old Southern Whites, as well as Performance Line dogs. He threw it into some puppies, other puppies not at all, and he had such very high qualities otherwise, so I really didn't care. It's important for breeders to not get to caught up in the cosmetics. If you have a great dog, it deserves to contribute to the gene pool.

 

Judah at 5-years old...

Judah and Bella were like a happily married couple and in heat, Bella had no interest in any other males. She and Judah were always together, cleaning each other, he bringing her mouthfuls of food when she was whelping puppies - just very obviously in love. In this shot, Bella is pregnant about 40-days.

 

Judah cleaning puppies less than 12-hours old. Each puppy is carefully turned over and examined, each is bathed and nosed back into place nice and warm with the others. We tell younger breeders this and they are often surprised. We've come to expect it not only from Judah, but all of our dogs, male and female alike. All are fantastic whelpers and highly attentive to puppies - whether or not the puppies belong to them or another dog. We think that's pretty neat.

Place a human baby on the floor in the room with Judah, prop the bottle on the blanket and when the bottle falls, Judah will be found beside the baby, holding the bottle in place.

Kids and American Bulldogs...

That's our daughter, Kat, fast asleep entangled with her Judah dog. Judah lays there wide awake. I took this picture after he'd laid there like that, wide awake, unwilling to move and wake her for over 2-hours. When she finally rolled off him, Judah jumped up and ran to the door to be let out; he'd just been laying there holding it the whole time. An American Bulldog in a healthy family environment is another family member. Many dogs tolerate kids, but every American Bulldog we've ever seen loves kids.

Judah sitting as he did each morning, waiting for the sun to creep along the fence and reach his favorite spot. When it arrives, he'll lay down for a nap in it. We like to think the Judah dog has another favorite spot now - a place where the sun is even warmer. We like to think that he still does the same thing each morning as he lays down to wait for us. I saw a movie once, "All Dogs Go to Heaven," and that may be true, but if it's not, I'm pretty sure Judah made it in anyway.

It's hard to believe how a dog can so fully become part of you - part of a family. Judah is gone two years at the time of this writing and we are surrounded by other fantastic, very special dogs - a couple in fact that are superior to Judah in every way... but there will never be another Judah for any of us. At 88 pounds, the smallest male we have ever owned still owns a big place in our hearts.

Judah sired Doc, Mambo, Pete, Lilly and quite a few other excellent American Bulldogs, but was only ever bred to our Johnson American Bulldog girl Bella.