An attempt to restore the bulldog, emblem of all that is great about Britain, to its former glory has been derided by the canine establishment.

The efforts of one man to cross the breed and take it back to its Victorian stature, ridding it of modern traits that cause skin disease, respiratory problems and lethargy, have not been greeted with enthusiasm by registered breeders. They maintain that the Victorian bear-baiting dog, symbol of the Empire, is unsuitable for modern life.

While bulldog breed clubs and the Kennel Club are united in recognising that the breed needs to iron out some inbreeding problems, they do not think that it should return to its roots.

Ken Mollett now has the fifth generation of his reformed breed after 14 years and is impressed by the improvement. “I am trying to breed a dog that it unmistakeably a bulldog to look at, but which can enjoy a walk”, he said. He is disappointed with the response from breeders, but not surprised. He dismissed the idea that, since he held up the Victorian Bulldog as an ideal he was reviving aggressive characteristics.

“It is paramount that they are trustworthy. That, and their health, comes before any aesthetic considerations. You have to go back to William IV to find the aggressive characteristics. Bear-baiting was abolished in 1835”, he said. His four children grew up with the dogs. Brian Leonard, of the Kennel Club, said: “there is a degree to which we want couch-potato dogs for couch-potato owners. People want an entertaining character not very interested in exercise.”

Mr Mollett, 44, an Engineering Manager from Pinner, North West London, has crossed the bulldog with Bull Mastiffs and Staffordshire Bull Terriers. Vera May, who had Best of Breed at Crufts four times in the 1960s, is one of the few breeders to back him. She wants a return to breed standards: “A lot of dogs now have the heavy roll above the nostrils – I don't know how they breathe.”

This Article appeared in The Times Newspaper on Thursday 25 th September 1997