The Blue Paul Terrier's origins are disputed but it was once numerous in various parts of Scotland. One story of the Blue Paul Terrier's origins is that
John Paul Jones brought them from abroad and when he visited his native town of
Kirkcudbright around
1770. The
gypsies around the
Kirkintilloch district kept Blue Paul Terriers for
dog fighting, and they claimed the dogs came from the
Galloway coast. A more likely story is a British military officer posted to the Glasgow area brought with him an
Irish Blue Terrier bitch from the
Earl of Kerry's kennels, when he was reposted he left his bitch with friends who bred her with a white
bull and terrier of the
Duke of Hamilton's breeding to create the breed. Another story states the breed descend from a bitch named
Blue Poll from a village near
Newcastle, and that a visiting Scotsman purchased several of her pups and returned with them to his homeland.
The Blue Paul Terrier was clearly a bull and terrier cross that was most likely bred from bulldogs and terriers in Scotland with infusions other similar dogs brought from England and Ireland. The breed was very popular in Scotland in the mid
19th century, but it progressively lost popularity and is believed to have become extinct in the early
20th century.
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In the mid-19th century, the breed was among the first dogs to arrive in the United States with
British immigrants, along with the bull and terrier.