History of My Trained American Bulldogs

Loran and his Trained American Bulldogs

Hello my name is Loran Cowan, I have Trained American Bulldogs and I would like to tell you a little bit about myself and how I first was introduced to the American Bulldog Breed. I grow up in California and have been an avid hunter all my life. After graduating from high school back in 1979, I met a bear hunter who had hounds. He asked me if I would like to come along on one of his hunts, of course I said yes. Our first time out together we caught and harvested about a 300# boar bear. The dogs made it look easy and I was hooked. So I got some hounds of my own from my new friend and hunting partner Terry. I hunted with Terry for years and also helped him with his guiding service. After a while Terry became the manager of a high fence hunting ranch located in the Tehachapi area. The ranch had 14.5 miles of high fence with lots of brush and trees. After a while the hogs located on the ranch became nocturnal. So to keep our clients happy I started using my dogs, we were hunting 7 days a week and the dogs averaged a 5 day week. The dogs were getting cut up pretty bad so I had some vests made for their protection and also acquired a half walker hound and half pit bull cross named Jolene, she was only about 45#’s but boy was she a great catch dog. The only flaw that I could see with Jolene is that her size limited her on the bigger hogs, not that she didn't give 100% but I could see that she needed help with the larger hogs or she was going to get hurt or worse killed.

In 1993 I moved my family to Alaska and lived there for 17 years. While living in Alaska I became an Alaskan Big Game Hunting and Fishing Guide. On one of my trips back to California to visit family, I got a call from my good friend Leo who worked along with his hounds for the Department of Agriculture as a trapper and hunter. He was on his way to handle a call regarding some problem coyotes that had been getting after some sheep and asked me if I had time to do some varmint calling. He didn't need to ask me twice and what a great way to start a vacation. While driving around looking for the coyotes we did a lot of talking and catching up. He wanted to know if I still had my dogs from when I was working on the hunting ranch, I told him no, but what’s up. He told me about all the hogs he had caught within the Bakersfield City limits and that all the older bigger hogs had gotten too smart for traps, bait and spotlights. I told him that I had seen some dogs in Alaska that looked like giant pit bulls, which I was sure, could catch anything they could get their teeth on. So I made some calls and found a guy that lived in Palmer, Alaska named Ralph McGiboney. Ralph along with his partner Dave Pope raised and bred the type of dogs I had described and found out that they were called American Bulldogs. Ralph said that he had a few dogs at his house that were catch dogs.

When I returned to Alaska I called Ralph and met him at his house to take a look at the dogs he had. Boy were these dogs impressive and I thought this is exactly what we need to hunt these larger problem hogs. After spending the afternoon with Ralph I purchased a 18 month old male named Grouch, he was between 25 and 26 inches at the shoulder and weighed about 97#’s and in very good hunting shape. I have to admit at first he was very intimidating and I didn’t know much about this breed or what to expect. So I headed back to the airport with an American Bulldog named Grouch and prepared to fly back to California and put him to work. When I got back to California I found a male Bluetick – Queensland cross called Ed later to be known as Ed the wonder dog. I partnered up Grouch and Ed and started hunting hogs. Right from the start Grouch was very impressive at catching hogs. If he could get to the hog it was caught. We hunted almost every day and if we weren’t hunting I would run him at least 2 miles a day to keep him in shape.

The following winter my friend Leo came up to Alaska to go on a moose hunt. Leo also brought along his friend Don who was the vice president of operations for the Tejon Ranch in California. The three of us spent twelve days together out in the bush hunting for moose. During those twelve days I got talking to Don about an idea I had about taking disabled veterans and kids on hunting trips. I mentioned to him that I would be interested in leasing a portion of the Tejon Ranch. A short time after Leo and Don returned to California, Don called me and asked if I was still interested in leasing a portion of the ranch, I told him “yes” I was if I was able to use my trained american bulldogs. That was not a problem so I got the lease and permission to hunt the perimeter to keep the hogs out of the agricultural land that bordered the ranch. I spent 3 years guiding, splitting my time between Alaska and California and catching hogs. During my time on Tejon I hunted a strip of land about 70 miles long and 3 miles wide and loaded with hogs. During an average day we would catch 3 to 7 hogs our best day being 24 weighing between 180 to 300#’s and on that day we harvested 6 hogs for our clients. This kind of action was beginning to take its toll on Grouch so on my next trip home to Alaska I picked up a female litter mate named Abby. These two together were a great team. I have no idea how many hogs I caught with this brother and sister team but I know it was in the hundreds and the two became quite well known in the hog dog hunting world. I was contacted by a gentleman named Gary Fuller who was very educated on the Trained American Bulldogs and published the American Bulldog Magazine. Mr. Fuller was very interested in my dogs and wanted to feature them in one of his magazine articles. I have to admit that at the time I was not interested. All I wanted to do was hunt so I didn't even respond which now I can say I do regret.

In 2009 we made the move back to California so that I could focus my time and energy on my non-profit that I had started for the disabled veterans. By this time Abby was retired due to an infection she contacted from a hog cut and Grouch was close, so I got a 6 month old female whom we named Twister from Angel Sierra, Jr. When Twister was two I bred her to Grouch. This cross produced tall standard style dogs with a lot of catch drive and the ability to run long distances. I got in contact with Gary Fuller and asked him if he would like to come to our ranch and watch these pups work, unfortunately Grouch had passed away before Gary made it out. I learned a lot about the American Bulldogs that day. I thought all of them worked like mine but Gary told me differently. Mr. Fuller has probably forgotten more about this breed than I will ever know. Whenever I have questions, guess who I call “Mr. Gary Fuller” the guy I didn't have time for. Gary is a great guy and is full of information about the American Bulldog.

I have produced two litters now with Twister. Grouch being the sire of the first and his four year old son Scratch being the sire of the second. Both litters have produced the standard type with a lot of speed, agility and catch. I know this style is not for everyone but for me this is what I like and this style has been working for more for several years now.

I have owned several different breeds of dogs during my lifetime and I can honestly say that these trained American Bulldogs have become my favorite. They are a great family dog, protection dog as well as a great working dog.