From 1947 through 1973 were formative years for Arizona bulldog owners. It wasn't until 1972 that the Phoenix Bulldog Club (PBC) was established as a member club of Bulldog Club of America (BCA).The Arizona club had gone through at least six call names. The first was once known as Thunderbird Bulldog Breeders Association, which consisted of no more than 18 members who merged with the Arizona Bulldog Club. The combined club's largest membership, an unsteady 32 members in 1949, began sliding downhill during the 1950s.

“The Bulldog” magazine, a short-lived publication for bulldog owners of that era, contained an Arizona column which stated that in 1950 the Arizona Bulldog Club had been accepted as a BCA member. However, BCA Division III minutes recorded that the club had requested and received BCA Division III membership in 1964.

By 1966 the club was no longer in good standing with the BCA, and at the end of that year a Cactus State Bulldog Club sent its dues to Bulldog Club of America Division III. It was then that BCA Division III asked the AKC if there could be two Bulldog clubs in the same city. But in1968 Arizona Bulldog Club folded in deference to what was to become the Cactus Bulldog Club of Greater Phoenix.