History of BSL in Germany 
(the last 30 years)


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In 1971 a book appeared in print entitled:
'Gladiatoren'
The portrait of a fascinating breed',
written by Dr. Dieter Fleig.  What Dr. Fleig wrote in this book began a downward cycle for the breed. In his closing notes he wrote:  
'the fighting dog blood of their ancestors still flows through
the veins of the Bull Terrier today'

The next 2 decades, Fleig wrote several books, and several of them  caught the eye of some politicians in S.W. Germany.  What was found in these books was used by the government during the making of the first BSL laws.  These books were  titled, 'Fighting Dogs I', 'Fighting Dogs II', 'Gladiator I' and 'Gladiator II'.  What caught the politicians eye was located on the back page in two of these books, a list of fighting dog breeds.
(See left column)

Before this time, specifically the early 1980's, the pit bull was rapidly being imported into Germany,
often into the wrong hands for the wrong reasons.
And as was expected, the number of dog bites began increasing, mostly due to irresponsible ownership and
irresponsible breeding by their owners.

As these incidents increased, so did the media coverage.
The problem for the Bull Terrier began during these times,
for each publicized incident concerning a pit bull, a photo
of a standard Bull Terrier appeared in the newspaper or T.V., since the journalists did not have a photo of a pit bull at the time. What did it matter to them,  the names were similar so it must be the same dog.

On the
NEXT PAGE the struggle gets harder and the media does their part in crucifying our breed in the press.


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