Do we still have a top breeder?

DO WE STILL HAVE A TOP BREEDER……?

In this issue I’m going to talk about just my opinion. If you have a different one send it in and we will put it in the next issue.

I have seen some of the fanciers that work hard trying to breed good dogs, but just never seem to get what they are looking for. They will get a dog that can bite hard but is not Game, then when they get a Game dog, they can’t bite hard. I have also seen some men go from one bloodline to the other, then change again when a good dog shows up from a different bloodline than the one he has.

Then there are those that have no bloodline at all, they breed to every good dog they see and pay no mind to how the dog is bred. This man will come up with a few good dogs that are hard to beat, but there percent of good Pit dogs are very low.

How many times have you seen someone get started in the Game with one or two $25.00 dogs that has more curs in their bloodlines than Carter has pills? After they raised their dogs and met up with other fanciers, they will roll their pride and joy, and 9 times out of 10 their dogs show up just like their Cur ancestor’s. From what I’ve seen, there are very few men that will tell the beginner that his dogs are curs and he should get rid of them.

Well as the story goes on, the beginner is dead set on getting some good dogs, so he gets his money together and buys a good bred male pup, and this pup grows up to make a good Pit dog. As his chances are very good as a beginner, he will go all out when getting started. Feeding his dog right, keeping him free of worms, taking him for a good long walk two or three times a week. Not only does he have a good bred dog, he has a dog that will do a lot more for him, because of the way he has raised him.

This is what we call a “man made dog”, and being bred right, it is this kind of dog that is very hard to beat. After the beginner has rolled his dog two or three times and he has come up as top dog, he is going to start breeding some good ones.

Now let’s go back to the two dogs that the beginner started with, do you remember the ones we are talking about, they were both curs, but they were his first dogs and his wife also had a special feeling for them so – he thought he would Keep them as roll dogs. The female comes in season and so he thought he would breed her to his new dog that is doing so good.

Well I think you know the outcome of this mating, one or two out of the litter turns out to be fair Pit dogs and worth a Match, but when you put him in shape and he has to go down the line for an hour or so, then he takes the count on his feet. Then the talk starts, “what went wrong, he has taken much more than that in the rolls, I wonder if I got doped?”

Well lets get back to the subject. A year or two later you ran across a good looking dog that is sure enough a good one and has already won a Match, so you check on the breeding of this dog, looking over his papers, you see some of the best of breeding, but then you come to a female that changes your mind about breeding to this dog. You wonder how in the world did she get in there. Some men will go ahead and breed to this dog and say, she is far enough back that it won’t show up, and the blood will overcome it. Well by now I’m sure most of you are saying, “I have seen this same thing.”

The reason I mentioned the above instance is so you will be able to understand my next story. When we talk of breeders, one of the first names we hear about is J.P. Colby. From what I have read and heard, he had to be the best of his time. One thing that made him number one was he did not just breed a few dogs, he bred a lot of dogs, and his percent of good Match dogs was high. I could name about 4 other breeders that I think were just as good from what I have read and studied about their dogs, but lets go on the Breeder of Today.

I am going to say that the number one breeder of today is Howard Heinzl. From what I have read and studied about Heinzl’s dogs, he did not start with a pure line of dogs. He Started with two or three, or I will even say 4 or 5 lines of dogs. He had some of the best Colby blood, he also has some Hemphill blood, Tudor’s, Corvino’s, Lightner and Feeley’s. Now some of you may read this and say, “what about the other names in the Heinzl dogs”; there are other names but get a pedigree that goes back, there is where you will see the blood he was after. Heinzl Started breeding these dogs together and formed a line of his own, getting it closer and closer, only going back to the same he Started with.

In the 50’s, everyone was trying to get their hands on what was called the Arizona Aces. There were not as many dog men in the Game then as there is now, and it was harder to ruin a good bloodline than it is today. In the late 60’s, the Heinzl bloodline had Started slowing down, and from time to time you would hear someone say, “I wouldn’t have one of those curs.”

What happens to a good line of dogs like this and how do they Turn Cur? It is not the breeders that go wrong, as he still has the same line of dogs and still has just as good of dogs as he ever had. So many people went over to the Heinzl bred dogs that many times they were matched into one another….NO ONE HAD TO LOSE. When you asked what the breeding of the dogs that lost, you would hear just another one of the so called good Heinzl dogs. But when you asked what was the breeding of the winner, you would hear, “Oh he is some of my own stuff.” Now let’s not forget the boys that try crossing his own line of dogs with Heinzl’s line, and the cross does not click and he gets a litter of curs. Then what bloodline do you think gets credit for the curs?

How many times have you seen in magazines – “Check the record, it speaks for itself”? I wonder how many really check the records, if you do I think you will agree with me. We still have a top breeder and he is still breeding first class Pit dogs and his name is Howard Heinzl.

Remember, there are many of us in this Game that can ruin a good line of dogs, but only a few can breed a good line of dogs.

Don Mayfield

 

Great Post.

 

Very good post. I think this was in SDJ in the 80's. But is still good after all these years.