The Mother Lode Bulldog Club began in March, 1983. Pioneer members of the club report that the group developed out of a telephone conversation. The parties of that phone call polled other "valley" bulldoggers and the club was on its way.

There are a lot of devoted bulldoggers in the valley. They used to travel to BCNC (Bulldog Club of Northern California) meetings - even though the trip was often 200 miles or more. They deserved a club of their own; it was long overdue. They had a good group of pioneer members including:
 

               John & Sandy Baron (Country Squire Bulldogs)

                Leonard Tachera (Len's Bulldogs)

                Mr. & Mrs. Al Liatys (Grubstake Bulldogs)

                Silvio & Ann Chiorino (Mystic Pride Bulldogs)

                Alvin Soo Hoo

                Mr. & Mrs. Doyle Samples

                Doris Boyd

                Claudia Marcus (Checkerberry Bulldogs)
 

The first several meetings discussed ways of increasing membership - the AKC required proof of significant interest in the Sacramento area. Mother Lode set out to solicit members in the area through newspaper ads, support for other Sacramento area dog groups and pioneering canine educational programs. Along these lines, Mother Lode was one of the first bulldog clubs to join in the work of the American Temperament Testing Association. MLBC sponsored ATTS field trials and encouraged northern California bulldoggers to attend.

MLBC received AKC recognition in December, 1984 after agreeing to add "of Sacramento" to their name. Two B matches were held in 1985; a series of successful matches followed until the club's first AKC sanctioned specialty show, April 13, 1991.

Brenda and Robert Newcomb judged sweeps and classes, respectively, at MLBC's first specialty. Here are their choices at this show:
 

                Best in Sweeps:  Bogie Aloysius (Jiminez)

                WD/BOW:  Bogie Aloysius (Jiminez)

                RWD:  Tsar's Smokey the Bear (Yeager, Exarhos, Kittrell)

                WB:  Almosta Imagine-A-Bull (Reed)

                RWB:  Domino's Primadonna O'Nanmar (Yanez)

                BOB:  Ch. Dygros Golbert (Grogg)

                BOS:  Ch. Brumar's I'm Rosie Too (Martinez)

                BPC:  T.L.C.'s Georgia on my Mind (Lageson & Fleshman)