"Myths Of The Dog Business"

"Myths Of The Dog Business"



I received a call from a dog man the other day, who was mad as hell, at a well known and respected dog man. It seems the caller had paid $600.00 dollars to this man for a pup, only to find out the pup had a bushy tail!!! He then went on to tell me how another dog man, upon seeing the pup, told him that only dogs with rat like tails were game dogs, and bushy tailed dogs always turned out to be curs.

This call got me to thinking about the many myths surrounding these damn dogs, and I realized how easily a newcomer could be misled. The following is a list of my favorite myths and some facts to dispel these myths.




"Only Dogs With Rat-Like Tails Are Game Dogs"


Ha Ha Ha..... I have several dogs, that have tails that resembles an over used broom and the base of it, is thick and looks like it was meant to be on a Black Lab. The hair on them, long enough that you can brade with it, he he.....

Yet they are some of the gamest old dogs I've ever seen. "Ch.Timex" and Rebel Kennels "Ch. Turtle", and several others fit this category and there is no dought about their deep gameness.

On the other hand, I have seen and owned many rat-tailed dogs that were curs. If your going to make it in this business, you'll soon realize that dogs are more accurately measured by their gameness, not the size of their tails.



"Undershot Dogs Have No Mouth"


Its a fact, if a dog is severely undershot, it will stop a dog from having a hard and punishing bite. But many of the hardest mouthed dogs I've ever seen were slightly undershot. I had a bitch that was so undershot, that she had a hard time keeping her bottom teeth covered, but when that little girl put the ivory together, things were a mess.

The hardest mouth dog I've ever owned was undershot. Other hard mouth undershot dogs include "Rastus" "Fargo", and Patrick’s "Tater". A nice scissor bite will impress a judge at a conformation show, otherwise it means nothing.




"Stifle Dogs Are Not Game Dogs"


Whoever started this one should be tarred and feathered. The reasoning here is that, a stifle dog will work only the stifle, because there are no teeth back there to bite them, give me a break.....

Anyone who has ever seen a good stifle dog in action has seen that by being a stifle dog, it often leaves its own stifle wide open in the process. I do feel that if a dog is a cur, it will quit quick with another working the nose, the same goes for the stifle dog.

A lot of damage can be done back there and more often than not, a dog will spend most all of its time trying to get the boar off him, as opposed to swapping out the hold.



"Red Nosed Dogs Are Not Game Dogs"


This one is very close to my heart since I feed a number of red nosed dogs. Anderson's "Ch.Tonka", was close to an ace and his nose was as red as "Rudolph's" !!! Need others ?

"Gr.Ch.Buck", "Ch. Iron Bear", and "Ch.Iron Bobcat", and many fine dogs bred down from "Bass Tramp Red Boy". Again, to say a dog "is" or "is not" game based on a certain physical characteristic is crazy.



"Hard Mouth Dogs Are Not Game Dogs"


This is another of my favorites. The thinking here is, that hard mouth dogs are only hard mouth dogs because they are afraid of the other dog. To believe this trivel is to believe dogs like "Gr.Ch. Zebo", "Gr.Ch. Art", "Gr.Ch. Boomerang", "Gr.Ch. Snake", "Gr.Ch. Angus", and countless others were curs.

All of these dogs were exceptional dogs with great mouths, and anyone who would say they are all curs is just plain full of it. Sure, there were many hard mouth Gr.Ch.'s that did eventually quit, but all of the dogs owners, had simple gone to the well one to many times.


"All Dogs From Any Bloodline Produces All Curs"


You've heard it before "Oh, all them damn "Zebo dogs are curs". Not picking on "Zebo", bred dogs but I hear that statement alot, and in fact, I've fed and seen more than my share of curs from that bloodline. But, if you listen long enough, you'll hear that about any strain of dogs.

All bloodlines produce curs and all bloodlines produce game dogs both the same. To say that any bloodline produces nothing but curs is rediculous. "Zebo" himself, produced many fine dogs, and is in fact a "ROM". His offsprings have also produced many fine dogs. I think "Zebo", gets a bad rap, because he was such a hot stud dog, that he undoubtedly was bred to alot of bitches that were'nt worth feeding, let alone breeding to such a fine dog like "Zebo", and these bitches produced nothing but trash.




"Big Head Equals A Hard Mouth"


If this were true the dog men that owned "Staffs", would be unbeatable!!! While I have seen many big headed dogs that could bite the top off a car axle, I've also seen many that could'nt get juice out of a grape.

On the other hand, I've seen some bulldogs with heads that look like they belong on a

"Greyhound", that had a very hard and punishing mouth.

I once saw a little white 32lb. bitch that looked like a rat on steroids, but when this little girl got started, you'd have wished you were wearing a rain coat.



"Inbred Of Dogs Have No Mouth Or Ability"


I myself feed some extremly inbred dogs and many are very talented. I think most people tend to misunderstand the concept of inbreeding, and therefore assume that inbred dogs can not perform.

Well, "Gr.Ch. Art" was bred to several of his daughters and still produced winners. "Bolio", was also bred to his daughters as was "Red Boy", who very often produced hard mouthed and talented dogs even when triple bred. George's "Triple Ott Red Jr", was supose to be a very good dog and he was triple bred off "Triple Ott Red", who in turn was triple bred "Bass Tramp Red Boy", you cant get much tighter than that!!! "The Old Tudor Bred Dogs", have been kept "free" from any outcrosses what so ever. And, just a few months ago, I seen three dogs from this strain that were truely talented and dead game dogs.


"Blood Alone Will Not Make Good Dogs"


What this means is that a well bred cur or cold dog can not produce good dogs. This has been proven false many times over, from "Dibo's", dam "Bambi", who I understand was cold, to "Idi Amin", who quit at least twice and yet still produced some outstanding dogs.

This can also backfire on you. For instance, I know a person who has bred several litters, off what is supposedly the sister of a famous Gr.Ch.. While the bitch did produce a few winners, all but one has quit, and the bitch herself would not be alive today and never would have been bred if owned by most other dog men. I'm not saying that paper work makes a dog, because I dont believe that is true. But, I do believe that well bred dogs off of proven strains, even curs can produce good dogs, but they are the exception and not the rule.

By Gamedog.info.

 

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