Alapaha Bulldog Registry Standard

PURPOSE: Is for Guarding, Protecting, Plantation Work, and being a Family Companion.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: The Alapaha is alert, outgoing with a self-assured attitude..Square,
powerfully built; agile athletic for it size, and alert. Some aloofness with strangers and
assertiveness toward other dogs is not considered a fault. The Alapaha should be
proportionately balanced & correct. The Alapaha should appear lean with muscle definition
when moving.
BALANCE: The Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog’s overall conformation should have “equalized” or
“arranged” elements of the anatomy that result in a harmonic movement. The Alapaha Blue
Blood Bulldog anatomy’s symmetry should be balanced without exaggeration that would inhibit
them from being a working breed of bulldog.
SIZE: Males - 21 to 25 inches at the withers and weigh from 75 to 100 lbs. Females - 19 to 23
inches at the withers, 60 to 80 lbs. *One inch & 5 lbs variant is acceptable.
HEAD: The head should be large or broad, flat across the skull, giving a squared appearance. It
should also be medium length, well-muscled throughout but heavily muscled in males with
pronounced muscular cheeks
• FAULTS* small head or narrow head that doesn’t fit the body’s composition .
Unnoticeable muscle around the jawline.
• SERIOUS FAULT: Excessively narrow skull
EYES: Medium in size and of any color. Almond-shaped to round. All colors, including marble
are acceptable. Asymmetrical coloring of the eyes will also occur and should not be penalized.
• FAULTS* Cherry eye, ectropian, entopian, distichiasis, and crossed eyes. No
pigmentation on either or both eyes.
• SERIOUS FAULT: No pigmentation on either or both eyes.
• DISQUALIFICATION: Crossed eyes
MUZZLE: Medium length should be 2 inches – 3 inches (ABBBs with larger and robust heads are
allowed to have an extra .5 inch of length) square , broad, with a strong well muscled under
jaw. The length of the muzzle of the ABBB is roughly 30 -35 percent of the overall length of the
head. The chin is well defined and must not overlap the upper lip or cover it. Black pigment
lining the lips is preferred but not an essential.
• FAULTS* Pendulous lips, long and narrow muzzle.
• SERIOUS FAULT: Any dog that exhibits difficulty breathing while in the ring.
BITE: The ABBB has a complete set of 42 large, evenly spaced, white teeth.
A definite undershot, 1⁄4 to 3/8 inch is ideal. Teeth should not be visible when mouth is closed.
Broken teeth is also acceptable. Scissor bite is acceptable but not preferred.
• FAULTS* Overbite, wry mouth (crooked bite from angulation of the upper or lower jaw),
visible teeth when mouth closed. Extreme undershot. Tiny, missing, or rotten teeth
• COSMETIC FAULT: Tiny, missing, or rotten teeth
• SERIOUS FAULT: Extreme undershot.
• DISQUALIFICATION: Wry Jaw
NOSE: Full pigment of black or liver is ideal. On black nosed dogs the lips should be black with
some pink allowed. The nares should be open enough to breathe freely. Anything less of 50%
pigment is considered a cosmetic fault after the dog is 3 years old (Adult Class).
• FAULTS* Extreme dry nose or irritated nose. Closed nares.
• COSMETIC FAULT: Less than 50% pigment on adults
• SERIOUS FAULT: Closed Nares
EARS: Rose-ears, medium-size, to half-perked with forward roll, carried close to the head. We
do understand that Alapahas ARE a working breed so cropping is acceptable but natural is
highly preferred.
• FAULTS* Natural full erect ears, Bat ears, rose ears without a forward roll, semi pricked
ears, button ears.
• COSMETIC FAULT: Docked ears
• SERIOUS FAULT: Bat Ears
NECK: Muscular, medium in length, slightly arched, tapering from shoulders to head, with a
very slight dewlap allowed. Evenly muscled, and well tied in with the front legs.
• FAULTS* too short or long, overly thick, lack of girth, profound dewlap, or a weak neck.
CHEST: The chest should be deep and moderately wide, deep with a well sprung ribcage giving
the appearance of power and athletic ability. The front should be straight, well balanced, and
proportioned properly.
• FAULTS* Narrow, barrel chested, or excessively wide.
SHOULDERS: Very muscular with wide sloping blades; giving the appearance of athleticism first
and power second. The front should be straight and well balanced, so elbows are not bowed
out at maturity. Straight line from shoulder to pad.
• FAULTS* Narrow shoulders, excessively large shoulders
LOIN AND BACK: The withers forms the highest part of the back that slopes downward slightly
toward the loin which are imperceptible arched and strong. The belly should be well
shaped and tightly muscled with the rear part of the thorax should swing in a pleasing curve
(tuck-up). A slight Roached back is acceptable
• FAULT* Receding Back, Sway Back, Camel or Roached Back, a back Line that’s too high in
the rear, excessively long or too narrow back, poor tuck up.
• SERIOUS FAULT: Sway Back
BODY: The Alapaha is broad, robust, straight, and well-balanced. The chest should not be
narrow or excessively wide or should the elbows be angled out or pulled in.
• FAULTS* Excessively over proportioned. Too narrow of a body.
HINDQUARTERS: Very broad and well muscled and in proportion to the shoulders. Hips
narrower than shoulders; well muscled, thick, strong, and moderately angulated.
• FAULTS* Narrow or weak hindquarters, bowed legs, cow hocks, open hocks, and weak
pasterns.
LEGS: Strong and straight. Front legs should not set close together nor far apart. Rear legs
should have moderate angulation.
• FAULTS* Excessively bowed in or out at the elbows. Lack of visible angulations of the
stifle on rear legs.
GAIT: Balanced and smooth, powerful and unhindered implying agility with ease, ground
covering strides, showing strong driving action in the hind quarters with corresponding reach in
front. The rear legs should propel, with power, the dog forward, not merely follow along
behind. As speed increases the feet move toward the center line of the body to maintain
balance . The legs should not travel excessively wide. The feet are to follow a single line called
single tracking. Ideally the dog should single-track effortlessly. The top line remains firm and
level, parallel to the line of motion. All legs move parallel to the direction of travel. Back legs
right feet should never cross in motion.
• FAULTS* Any suggestion of clumsiness, tossing and/or rolling of the body, Front or rear
legs moving too close, touching, overtracking, or crossing, side winding, short or stilted
steps, twisting joints, pacing, paddling, or weaving. Elbowing out.
• MINOR FAULTS: Overtracking
• SERIOUS FAULT: Limping, feet crossing from rear view, popping hocks (turning inwards
& outwards)
FEET: Moderate size and medium length toes, well arched and close together. Pasterns should
be upright, straight, and strong. Dew Claws are acceptable.
• FAULTS* Splayfoot (crooked toes).
TAIL: The tail should be long enough to reach the hocks tapering to a point. The tail should be
strong extension of the spine and thick at the root, should be powerful in movement.. The tail is
carried over the back when excited or walking. Dogs with docked tails and or a kinked tail are
still acceptable in any show ring, but not preferred.
• FAULTS* Corkscrew tail. Kinks at the base of the tail. Points deducted for docked and
kinked tails
• DISQUALIFICATIONS: Cranks, or screw tails.
COATS: Short, close, glossy and stiff to the touch with soft undercoat.
• FAULTS* missing hair, long hair especially on the tail, calluses, fluffy coat longer than 1
inch, extreme dry hair.
• DISQUALIFICATIONS: Fluffy coat longer than 1 inch
COLOR: The preferred color pattern is 30% to 70% percent color with patches of white. The
colored patches may be any shade of merle or brindle, solid blue, black, chocolate, red , fawn,
seal, or tri-colored . An all white dog is acceptable, but care must be taken to ascertain that
there are no genetic defects (i.e. deafness, blindness or problematic skin).
• FAULTS* Points deducted for “Solid colors” and “solid whites” since they are not
preferred in the breed and considered to be cosmetic faults.
• COSMETIC FAULTS: All solid or white
• DISQUALIFICATIONS: Problematic skin issues
DISQUALIFICATIONS:
• Unilateral or bilateral cryptorchid
• Cranks, or screw tails.
• Wry Jaw
• Crossed Eyes
• Fluffy coat longer than 1 inch
• Overly aggressive towards the judge or another handler. The Alapaha is intelligent and
should be aware that the judge is not threatening in any way.. The Handler should have
full control of the dog.
DEGREES OF FAULTS:
• A cosmetic fault is one of a minor nature. It does not inhibit the dog in any way
structurally or temperamentally.
• Minor fault or faults not listed as serious shouldn’t be faulted heavily and can be
corrected with careful breeding and doesn’t impact the dog’s ability to perform
according to the breed’s standard.
• A serious fault would be a breed type fault which diminishes the overall look of the
breed from structural problems that inhibits the breed’s ability to perform.
• In a show or other evaluation, the dog is to be penalized in direct proportion to the
degree of the fault. Any fault which is extreme should be considered a serious fault and
should be penalized by the deduction of points appropriately. Attributes other than
cosmetic listed in the standard all relate to the dog’s movement which do include but
are not limited to agility, endurance, leverage, biting, and heat tolerance.
* Spayed or neutered dogs can be shown in their own category*
* Any 6 month or older Male that has only one testicle can be judged but CANNOT move on to
Best of Class.
Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog Puppy Standard
Puppy 6-12 months
Many Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog puppies grow differently. Some may be thick and chunky and
some may be taller and leaner. This class can see many different sizes of the ABBB.
Judging should be based more on Conformation. Conformation plays a bigger role at this age
since front ends should have started to catch up to the backend of some ABBBs.
Confidence level should be much higher.
At this age, puppy and handler relationship should be observed.