DOG MAN: GET SMART AND GET ON THE WINNING LIST!

Do you ever wonder how some dogmen always seem to stay on the winning list? And you just never quite seem to make it? The problem may be that you are unknowingly making mistakes in raising, schooling, testing and matching your dogs—mistakes that are causing you to cull dogs that might have made the grade had they been evaluated more efficiently and used more effectively. This will be a series of columns designed to help the novice and moderately experienced dogman/woman to examine their own system of raising and training and make some improvements that will bring them into step with the "big boys" and allow their dogs a better chance to win. So if you want to learn how to "do it right"—get on board!

PICKING THE RIGHT DOGS—Before you can raise that "champion" you have to acquire him/her from some source of good dogs. We hope it is needless to say here the newspaper is not generally a good place to look. So, how do you find that great little prospect? Go to the good breeders, is the best advice we know.

There are probably hundreds of kennels selling "game dogs" these days. It is a fact that some good dogs are the result of "accidents", that is, they are produced by novices who have little or no idea what they are doing but just happened to get into a good line or make a lucky breeding. That being said, rest assured consistently producing good dogs is no accident. Chances are, if he doesn't learn WHY certain dogs produce better than others, the "lucky novice" will have his "line" fall apart in a generation or two. It takes years of experience to figure out what types of dogs are the best for brood and it isn’t always the obvious "multi-time winners" either? Why? Gameness, a very misunderstood characteristic in bulldogs these days.

GAMENESS—Obviously we have to define our terms if everyone is to understand what we are discussing—so what is gameness, and why is it so important? Everyone thinks they know. Some don’t think it is important—I mean, dogs that aren’t that game win all the time, right, we’ve all seen it. The hard biting dog takes out the wheels of his lesser opponent who is scratching hard, but just can’t keep up in the punishment department.

So we breed to the winner right?

Well, I don’t know, what kind of dog is he?

. What do you mean? He’s the winner!

Yes, but picking a stud dog isn't quite that simple. How did he win?

The other dog couldn’t (or wouldn’t) scratch. (Or his owner/ handler picked him up to save him.)

Fine, but what would your winner do in the same position that he had the other dog in, i.e. bitten down and whipped? Would your "winner" have scratched if he had been hurt, frustrated and exhausted as badly as the loser was?

Who cares? He didn’t have to, he won!

But we are not talking about matching now, we are talking about breeding. You asked if we breed to the winner, right? I’m saying, not necessarily. Depends on the gameness of the dog. Ever wonder why so many hundreds of dogs are bred every year out of so many "winners" and you never hear about many of them making it to the box? What do you suppose happened?

They quit, I guess, or didn’t have the ability for a match dog.

And why do so many of the offspring of these "winners" quit? If all one has to do to get good dogs is to breed "winners" than why doesn't everyone just breed winners and get more winners?

I don’t know—that’s just the way it is, I guess.

Let me ask you a question. Do you think game dogs or "curs" are more likely to produce game dogs?

Well, game dogs are more likely to produce game dogs, or so I’ve heard.

Right. That is based on the genetic law that "like produces like", in general at least, and in simple cases. Bulldog breeding is much more complex but the "rule" still applies. You are more likely to get game dogs our of game parents than out of non-game parents, okay?

But I’m trying to get winners, not just game dogs.

Of course, but have you ever seen a "winner" standing on the line taking a ten count? Probably not, so you want a dog that will scratch and game dogs keep scratching while "curs" take the count, right?

Yeah, I guess. But you gotta have mouth to win nowadays.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s talk about your "winner" that we discussed earlier. Let’s look past his hard mouth and ask: how did he act during the match? Be honest with yourself. If you aren’t it will only hurt you later. Did he make any turns? Did he growl or cry out when the other dog got a good hold on him? How did he scratch? Like he couldn’t wait to get over and continue, or did he give you a little scare by hesitating or moseying on over like he wasn’t in any big hurry? Or worse, did he take a few seconds before starting out of his corner?

These are all known by experienced dog men as "signs" that a dog may be thinking about quitting and are important in evaluating a prospect for matching and also for choosing good brood stock.

It is a fact that curs win all the time, due to a number of factors. Some have a terribly hard mouth and bite down the opponent before gameness becomes a factor. Sometimes they have a tremendous amount of ability and the other dog can't lay a tooth on them and wears himself out trying but usually it is the hard mouth kind of cur that wins a match or two.

I want a hard mouthed dog that wins!

Well, everyone does but they are pretty rare and mouth is very inconsistent to breed for. Add to that the fact that many times a hard biting dog is given a "free pass" as far as game-testing is concerned and you have a recipe for a breeding disaster.

Back to the subject, okay? Dogs that demonstrate these "bad signs" are not generally game. I have seen instances when they would stick around for a long match, long enough that some would call them game, but the dog would still produce curs when bred. Why? Because he was not genetically game, at least that is my belief. And even dogs that are genetically game and act perfect will produce a few curs.

Where does that leave us? Well, it leaves me at trying to only breed to game dogs, which means to me, dogs that ACT GAME at all times. I would much rather breed to a game two hour loser that never made a bad move or sign in his life than to an untested, growling, snapping face-fighting cur that has won a dozen matches. And I'll get a lot more game dogs breeding that way.

But I want winners! I don't want to have to breed dozens of dogs, raise a bunch of game old plugs and wait for years for a good dog to come along. I want to jump in the box with something now!

Well, if you don't like game dogs why are you getting into the game dog business? I never minded raising old game dogs as I admire that aspect of the breed more than any other. I mean, Rottweilers can bite hard, what's to admire about that? But the bulldog is the only dog that will scratch back into a killing. That is what's rare and unique and worthwhile about the bulldog.

And don't forget that bad-ass biting machine may just run into a game dog that can stay with him one day and when he does which dog do you think is going to win, 'cause I'll tell you, when the hard biting starts the curs start to leave! So where is your bad dog then? And where is your "line" if the best dog you had to bring runs off the first time he gets it put on him like he can dish it out? Is that really a bulldog or just a "freak of nature" like Earl Tudor used to say about his old Blackjack Jr. dog? Anybody have any dogs that go back to Blackjack Jr.? I haven't seen any, at least not being used in the pit.

What has worked best for me is only breeding to dogs that I have seen with my own eyes so that I know they act game. Too many dog men will take every opportunity to call someone else's dog a cur but make excuses for their own. Problem is, you are only hurting yourself with this behavior. It is like taking your race car to the drag strip and timing your quarter mile and the best it has ever done is run in the 14's. But you fib a little and tell your friends it will run in the 12's. Then, when some guy wants to race you and he really does run in the 12's you accept the race because you have told that lie so long you are starting to believe it yourself. The race track will prove your error… and so will the dog pit if you are foolish enough to lie to yourself about the quality of your dogs.

This is one of the few sports left on earth that isn't decided by the opinion of a judge or by accruing points at the end of a given period of time. You are there for the duration, no matter what is going on and the dogs will prove out which is the best and which is the gamest, most of the time. You just have to be willing to accept the truth.

The bottom line here is quality. Game dogs are quality, the gamer the better. It's just like gold: 18 carat is better than 14 carat but none is as good as 24 carat, pure gold! I'd rather breed to a 24 carat pure game dog than one of questionable gameness that has won a hundred matches because experience has taught me that that old game SOB will produce your winners. They'll be dogs that will take everything they have to and come back up from the bottom and dish some back out whether it's at the 20 minute mark or at 3 hours. And that to me, is a real winner!

Rushin Bill