A rodeo event where a competitor wrestles a running steer to the ground by grabbing its horns and twisting its neck, or the act of pursuing someone persistently and aggressively.
From 'bulldog' (the dog breed) + the gerund suffix '-ing'. The term was coined in the American West to describe the rodeo wrestling event that mimics a bulldog's determined grip and refusal to release.
Bulldogging was invented by Black cowboys like Pickett in the early 1900s and became an official rodeo event, but this history was often erased from popular accounts—the sport's origins tell an important story about who really shaped American frontier culture.
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