PIT BULL REPORTER COVER, ISSUE # 3

OUR COVER DOG -- SANTA'S GR. CH. MONGOOSE

When I first got into this game, I was told that if you could find a dog that could breath under water, bite like an alligator, and disregards pain, you would have an ace or should I say "Mongoose". I was fortunate enough to get him from my friend Havana Chico who had come into some unfortunate circumstances. To look at him you wouldn't think much. He'll lay on his back and play with puppies, let the birds drink water out of his bowl and in general live his life waiting for you to come home and scratch him behind the ear. But don't ever make him mad!
I was amazed to see the ability this little dog possessed, not only was he quick, he was impervious to pain. This is what made him the ace that he is. There have been many hard mouth dogs to come across a pit, although I have seen lots that couldn't take what they could dish out. The harder "Goose's" opponent would fight the more he liked it. In his five contract matches he destroyed all. The only one to live jumped the pit in 15 minutes. He took dogs apart, bite one got their attention, bite number two made them wish they were someplace else. There never was a need for bite three. He would almost condition himself loving to run, whether alongside you on a bike, or on a mill. Some of his offspring already show his characteristics.
It is my belief that sometime in the near future people will look into the background of a pedigree and hope to find his name. This is not a dog I bred, but was lucky enough to own. You always hear stories about how great a dog is, or was. But here is the culmination of what the old breeders strived for. Game, impervious to pain, and a love for the pit.

Santa (Mike) previously of P&H Kennels

Postscript
The editor asked me to add a little to those nice words about "Goose" as I DID breed him. And I can tell Mike where that "imperviousness to pain" comes from too! It is there because both of
Gr. Ch. "Mongoose's" parents, Rushin "Sabre" and Rushin "Cracker", were deep game dogs, as were many of the dogs before them. Dogs like his grandparents, "Stomper", "Tar Baby", "Bandit" and "Sissy", all game ones themselves. Not to mention ancestors like Ch. Rascal, Gr. Ch.Boomerang, Ch. Honeybunch, Gr. Ch. Pedro, the Plumbers' Black Diamond and so on.
His sire, "Sabre" or "Fuzzy" as I always called him, was a two time winner, one of those accomplished with a badly "wrenched" back but went on to out-scratch his opponent anyway! Because of it he could hardly walk for two weeks after the match and in fact still suffers the after effects to this day. But he still could scratch ...and scratch he did that day, taking home the
"Best in Show" trophy and proving what a game dog he was!
"Goose's" dam, old "Cracker", was, if anything, even gamer! She produced so many game dogs for me that she became (through no actual plan of mine) the "foundation" of the "Rushin Line". So you see Mike, that gameness, that imperviousness to pain, was no accident. It was that old "legacy" passed down to him from his ancestors for many dozens of generations.
Mike didn't even mention that before he or Chico owned him, "Mongoose", in the hands of an idiot, survived being rolled with dogs 40lb. heavier than he and never made a bad sign!
I am proud to say I bred that little dog, and happy that I encountered this great and GAME breed which is unlike any other.
Keep em scratchin, Rushin Bill