BULL TERRIERS OF SOTH AFRICA BOOK JOCK OF THE BUSHVELD

JParanee

Growing up being a hunter and dog fanatic one of my favorite books was Jock Of the Bushveld by Percy Fitzpatrick

I spent some time in Africa and this dog is a huge part of dog lore there

I have friends in South Africa and recently after seeing pics of my bullies I was told of the emmence popularity of the Bull Terrier breed there

They call it the nanny dog and they are a very important dog in that country. Utilized as companions and protection animals

Jock was described in the book as a bull terrier but all pictures paintings and statues have always depicted him as a Staffordshire Terrier or some type of Staffie cross

Either way the classic tale describes a plucky companion dog that was a young mans hunting companion and their adventures. The story truly shows off the magic of the bullie terrier breeds

I recently read an article on a book by a well known South African Bull Terrier breeder and judge on the history of the breed in South Africa and his breeding program

The book is called Bull Terriers of South Africa 1860-1999 by Colin Bohler

I have not received my copy yet but it's in the mail

It's a rather rare book these days and not cheap. I paid 100 bucks for a hard copy first edition signed by the author

What's interesting to me is that the author supposedly goes into great detail that Jock was not a Staffie but truly a Bull Terrier

Since this has always been a favorite read of mine and I read it while in Africa in the bush and I've been to one of the monuments to Jock I'm anxious to read this Bull Terrier book

I thought some would find it interesting

If you've never read Jock of the Bushveld it's a great story and I'm currently reading it again

By the way there are a few movies out there also on the story

JParanee

Meant to write South in the title

JParanee

From WIki

Jock of the Bushveld is a true story by South African author Sir James Percy FitzPatrick.[1] The book tells of FitzPatrick's travels with his dog, Jock, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross,[2][3][4] during the 1880s, when he worked as a storeman, prospector's assistant, journalist and ox-wagon transport-rider in the Bushveld region of the Transvaal (then the South African Republic).[1]

Jock of the Bushveld
JockOfTheBushveld.jpg
Author Percy FitzPatrick
Illustrator Edmund Caldwell
Cover artist Edmund Caldwell
Country South Africa
Language Afrikaans, Dutch, English, French, Xhosa, Zulu, and others.
Subject Jock of the Bushveld
Published 1907
Publisher Longmans, Green, and Co
Publication date
1907
Media type Hardback
Pages 475
ISBN 978-1463788421
OCLC 559436
Contents
Early life Edit

Jock’s mother Jess was the only dog in their camp. FitzPatrick describes her as being "an unattractive bull-terrier with a dull brindled coat–black and grey in shadowy stripes. She had small cross-looking eyes and uncertain always-moving ears; she was bad tempered and most unsociable", but everybody respected her.[3] Jock’s father is only described as an imported dog in the book and there’s an ongoing debate on whether he was an American Staffordshire Terrier or of a breed like the Bull and Terrier.[2][3]

FitzPatrick describes the puppies: "Five of the litter were fat strong yellow chaps with dark muzzles—like their father. The sixth one was about half the size of the others. He wasn't yellow like the others, nor dark brindled like Jess, but a sort of dirty pale half-and-half colour with dark faint wavy lines all over him; and he had a dark little muzzle."[3][4] Since the runt had not been spoken for, Percy slowly came upon the idea of taking him on as his own. He called him Jock and it seemed as if the puppy knew that FitzPatrick was his master from day one. He even followed him home without any coaching.

Reputation Edit

This was the start of many a great adventure. The odd little puppy grew into a great and fearless dog. He was well liked, well respected and well behaved. He lived out his life at Percy's side with unwavering loyalty and his loving memory inspired many a bedtime story to Percy’s three children. However, it was only when FitzPatrick had made his fortune, settled down to have a family and become an established and well-respected member of society that he took pen to paper at the urging of his children and shared these delightful tales with the rest of the world.

FitzPatrick gave Jock to a friend until he had a safer place for him to live in the town, where with his deafness, he was unsafe from traffic and people. The friend, Ted, loaned Jock to a store-owner Tom Barnett, who was having trouble with thieves and kraal dogs.[5]

Publication Edit

FitzPatrick later recounted these adventures as bedtime stories to his four children.[6] Rudyard Kipling, a good friend of FitzPatrick, also took part in these story-telling evenings and eventually persuaded him to collect these tales in book form.[6]

Jock of the Bushveld was first published in 1907 and had an extremely warm reception, being reprinted four times in that year alone. Since then it has achieved the status of a classic South African book and has been also widely read abroad – more than one hundred editions have been printed and it has been translated into Afrikaans, Dutch, French, Xhosa and Zulu, amongst others.[7] Illustrations for the book were done by Edmund Caldwell,[4] a brother of Mary Tourtel, creator of Rupert Bear.[8]

A widely available 'modernised' South African edition published by AD Donker Publishers, according to its editor Linda Rosenberg, has been cleansed of its 'prejudicial racial references', while 'the esoteric charm and innocent philosophical tone have been left scrupulously intact'.[9]

Death Edit

Jock permanently lost his hearing when a kudu antelope cow kicked him.[3] This is attributed as one of the main reasons he died, as he could not hear Tom Barnett when he called him, and was mistakenly shot, because he was thought to be the dog killing chickens on the farm (when Jock had meanwhile already killed the other intruding dog).[3] See Gelert and "Faithful Hound" folk-tale motif, which lives on as an urban legend. It is classified as Aarne–Thompson type 178A.[10]

Statue Edit

Percy FitzPatrick’s daughter and only surviving child, Cecily Niven promoted her father’s legacy in the Lowveld by erecting bronze plaques and statues at places of significance to the story of Jock. The most famous statue of Jock was sculpted by the well-known South African artist, Ivan Mitford-Barberton. It was erected on a farm in the Lowveld, but was moved to the Barberton, Mpumalanga Town Hall in 1984, during the town’s centenary.[11]

Movies Edit

The book was made into a movie in 1986, and featured the music of Johnny Clegg on its soundtrack.[12] The movie did not prove popular with American audiences however, primarily due to its sad ending. Another fictional movie with an ending that was more palatable to this audience was therefore released in 1995.[13]

At the end of 2007 Duncan MacNeillie together with a small team of animators moved from Nelspruit to Johannesburg to start production on Jock of the Bushveld. It took a team of 25 animators 3 years to complete the film. Mid way through 2009 the decision was made to complete the film in Stereoscopic.[14] Scheduling the release of a 3D animated movie called Jock the Hero Dog on 24 July 2012, Canadian singer Bryan Adams voiced the title character.[15]

References Edit

^ a b The Bystander, Volume 16, 2 October 1907, page 38
^ a b "Jock was a bull terrier". Mail and Guardian. 2001-01-26. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
^ a b c d e f FitzPatrick, J. Percy (2011-08-02). Jock of the Bushveld. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
^ a b c "Sir Percy FitzPatrick". Kruger National Park. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
^ Jock of the Bushveld By Phillida Brooke Simons, Angus McBride, Sir Percy FitzPatrick p 31
^ a b Elwyn Jenkins. National character in South African English children's literature – Page 6
^ Eckhardt Fuchs, Benedikt Stuchtey. Across cultural borders: historiography in global perspective – page 53
^ "Mary Tourtel". Canterbury Historical & Archaeological Society. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
^ Percy FitzPatrick. Jock of the Bushveld. Edited by Linda Rosenberg. Illustrated by E Caldwell. 1984. ISBN 978-0-86852-237-1.
^ D. L. Ashliman, Llewellyn and His Dog Gellert and other folktales of Aarne–Thompson type 178A
^ "Get to know the artist behind the Jock statue". Barberton Times. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
^ Jock of the Bushveld (1992)
^ Jock of the Bushveld (1995)
^ "Movie Review - Jock of the Bushveld 3D - Presenter".
^ "Jock of the Bushveld".
External links Edit

Jock of the Bushveld, at Internet Archive (scanned books first editions color illustrated)
Jock of the Bushveld public domain audiobook at LibriVox
Jock Safari Lodge, Kruger National Park
Jock of the Bushveld (1992 film) at IMDB
Jock the Hero Dog (2011 film) at IMDb
SA's best loved legend
Jock of the Bushveld at Project Gutenberg