Colby blood @ 9 days old and Rest Well Rowdy

I just joined GD this morning. Some might know me and my boy Rowdy from other forums.

Sadly on 15 September, couple of weeks ago, I had to let Rowdy go. Rowdy was diagnosed with grade 3 mast cell cancer and I just couldn't delay or prolong the inevitable and watch a proud strong bulldawg suffer. Rowdy would have been 5 this Thanksgiving.

Rowdy was from unknown origin and pedigree and I haven't had good luck with those. I decided I didn't want to take a chance like that again. I wanted ... no needed ... a bulldog in my life but decided something with a proven pedigree from a known good bloodline would be the best way to go.

With that in mind, I put down a deposit on the 27th for the last male pup available from a litter bred in memory of Lou Colby. Of course I won't actually have the pup for a few weeks. The pups were only 9 days old on the 27th. I had a choice between 1 male or 1 female and chose this male.

The pups will be dual registered ADBA & UKC. The sire and dam are both DNA profiled with both registries. The sire came directly from Lou Colby and the dam came from Lou's son, John. One of the male pups is going back to the Colby yard I'm told.

Here are the peds ... http://www.apbt.online-pedigrees.com/modules.php?name=Public&file=printPedigree&dog_id=388137

This is my pup. As you can see, he hasn't looked at the world yet (or met his best friend, Joe) ~~~











My boy Rowdy ... Travel Well and Run Free Buddy Boy ~~~

 

Nice looking dogs.

 

Beautiful dogs. So sad Rowdy had to pass so soon. Pup looks promising.

 

Thanks chucho and BP !!! Ya never know what you're gonna get with a pup. I feel like I just reached in the box and picked one and I think that's okay with a Colby ... gonna be fun though. I haven't had a pup in a while and I'm just enjoying the calm before the storm coming in about a month HA !!! ... I have a call name picked out ... Lightnin' ... we'll see if it sticks.

 

good luck with the pup joe !!

 

Nice looking pup there Joe... good luck with him.

 

Thanks jacko and JG. I appreciate the well wishes

 

new pup, should do u proud,congrats! so sorry for ur loss.

 

Sorry for your loss, hope the new pup give many years of happiness...

 

Thank you K5 and Bauer. He's just a hairy little slug right now but I can't wait to get him home LOL

 

Good luck!

 

that is a beautiful classic looking Colby dog...looks like two that died at birth out of my Colby bitch bred to my Heinzl boy. Good luck...The Colby blood lives on!! YIS

 

Thanks RRL and BKNLS !!! What was old is new again

 

I do love that lil pup. He looks like the old Colby dogs used to look.

 

Rowdy was a good looking boy. Good luck with the pup.

 

Great looking pup, seems to fit the type quite well!!

What was your inspiration for buying a modern day Colby bred dog?

I owned a couple about 15-16 years ago.

NGK

 

Thanks cliffdog, bgblok68 and NGK !!!

NGK, the smart a55 answer as to why pick a modern day Colby bred dog of course is ... because none of the original ones were available.

And, while that certainly is partially true, let me explain. I'll preface my explanation with the fact that in my humble opinion as a casual observer, I perceive the Colby breeding program with Lou as steward, to be the most consistent and accurately documented bloodline in the ABPT world and I have always had a desire to own a Colby dog.

Often one hears about how dogmen hid the "recipe secret" in the peds but you don't hear that so much with Colby dogs. With Colby, you know what you get from both an historical and bloodline perspective for generation upon generation.

Now, with my bias in mind, consider that I just lost a bulldog from unknown origin and pedigree to cancer at a young age. Suffice to say, I don't want another unknown and possibly genetically faulty dog.

I don't intend to campaign this Colby bred pup. I could not care less about uniformity of markings, nor do I care if either sire or dam are game or gamebred. This isn't a fastlane dog? ... I'm good with that. My only criteria was that I get a pup with a proven pedigree of healthy dogs from a respected bloodline. And while this pup isn't directly off Lou's yard ... look at the peds, it's dang close.

The question is, would Lou have approved of this breeding and I can't answer that. The breeder may or may not have discussed this breeding with Lou, I haven't asked him ...yet. We may never know what Lou would think of this breeding and that of course is the same question that will be asked of every Colby breeding from here on out I suppose. Lou's sons have been breeding Colby bloodline for a number of years and I have every faith they know what they're doing in their own right and will continue one of the last true and pure bloodlines in this breed.

The pups from this litter will likely have more similar traits, characteristics and temperament in common than some other scatterbred litter might have. Look at the peds ... nothing but pure Colby blood there for generation upon generation. All these pups are Colby through and through ... pick any one.

In fact, while it proves absolutely nothing ... I was bored and Just for grins and giggles and because I was bored, I traced the pedigree on my pup directly, sire - sire - sire on one side and dam - dam - dam on the other. It was 20+ generations with lots of dogs in between and virtually every Colby dog you've ever heard of somehow associated with the breedings, but this is as far back as I could directly go with the peds.

Direct sire - sire -sire trace back ...
The Gas House Dog aka McDonalds Grip (9XW)
(Imported) Born 1870 and died 1882



Direct dam - dam - dam trace back ...
Online Pedigree stops at Colby's Gyp I but additional resources trace directly back to Colby's Mag, full sister of Colby's Pincher (24XW) and from there to a dog called Rose's Old English Rose, for whom I can find no information.
This is Colby's Mag, born 1901.



... and my pup ...



I know it's pretentious of me to post the old photos as I did, when prolly every pit bull on the planet can trace back to those dogs in one way or another whether written or not. I just thought it was interesting that I could actually do so, with names at every stop. Exactly how accurate the records are, who's to say Lol ... but it is documented and fun to take a stroll down history lane.

For a puppy from a good breeding like this one (IMO) ... reach in the box and pick one. For a young dog you might be interested in ... there's some things to look for.

I hope that answered your question NGK without causing a riot. I know there's some Colby haters on here and I honestly don't understand why. Colby is what it is ... undeniable, reliable and well documented history ... and most folks would feed one ... even some of the haters if the truth be known.

 

Thank you for your very candid and informative response to my simple question, I appreciate that you didn't beat around the bush or try to sell anything in your response. The Colby dogs are like artifacts of the pitbull world, they come from some of the most renowned dogs known to this breed and in their pedigrees it shows.

I myself owned a pair of Colby dogs purchased from Lou about 15-16 years ago, Unfortunatly my pair did not pan out (for reasons I would rather not disclose) but I must agree with you that they are bred true to their papers (unlike many dogs who are representative of this breed).

Up until this modern time we can see that many a dog was influenced by the Colby bred dogs behind them but few men kept their breedings true to the universal standards of the breed. A few men bred and culled true to the standards with the Colby line of dogs, I could name a handfull of older dogmen but there is no need as im sure those who need to know already know there names.

Indian Sonny was one who tried the Colby line in his lifetime and he had this to say about it after his many years with this breed. The article was called "This here is a pure Colby dog".


Good blood should mean a strain of dogs that consistantly produce good game pit dogs. I have seen strains of dogs that have not produced dogs fitting this description for many years and people who are active in this sport refer to them as "Good Blood" , or "Good Brood Stock". Many of us seem to proceed under the assumption that once a bloodline is good it remains good forever.

Many well meaning people have continued to breed Colby dogs Exclusively, thinking all that was necessary to preserve the quality of the strain was to breed to a dog who had the name Colby on his pedigree.

I beleive we have to continually strive to improve the strain in order to keep it as good as it was or is, (let alone improve it).

It is an accepted theory that in order for an institution to continue to be productive, it must change with the times and continuously seek to improve. The time to save is when you have something, not when there is nothing to save. To preserve a bloodline there is more required than just breeding to dogs whose pedigree shows a particular name.

It is hard work keeping good blood good, and maybe a little luck. Change is required to prevent change in the quality of the dogs produced. The Colby strain was developed by change. The best dogs of various strains were used to produce good dogs and keep them good.

This is a small part of an article from YFM Jan-May 1973, it was written by a very well known and experienced man who was a big part of the "Old Ways of Breeding" and who rubbed shoulders with some of the greatest of all times.

I in no way am trying to belittle the Colby dogs of today, I beleive that they have their place in this world but please, not for one minute, not on their best day, do not make the assumption that they are what they were.

They are a huge part of the history of this breed and for that I am thankful as I am a lover of this breed.

R.I.P. Lou

NGK

 

Excellent post NGK and reads "true" in all respects. I think also that just about any old and pure bloodline name could have been substituted in your post in place of or in regards to "Colby".

Point by point, many folks much more knowledgeable than me about these dogs have responded with a counterpoint concerning speculation about modern day pure Colby dogs. Perhaps the broadest response has been that ... there are few bloodlines in this country that have been kept true to the breeding practices employed when there was still a legal sport. That is speculation of course and if "you're" breeding true, you know it, have nothing to prove here and few people will likely ever even see your dogs, much less own one. It's just that rare. So in terms of a broad general statement, it certainly doesn't seem far fetched in todays social and legal environment to make that statement.

With that in mind, it's not unreasonable to say that the Colby line isn't any LESS true than virtually any other bloodline. In fact, I have often heard those with supposed knowledge say that the Colby line could be returned to a true dog in less breedings than perhaps other bloodlines. That too is opinion and speculation of course.

I will never own a proven dog ... I will never own a dog ready to put in the box "with the best". What I will own is a dog from a pure bloodline. An artifact perhaps indeed.

Consider change and continually striving to improve a strain from a layman's point of view and in consideration of what is acceptable by society and law today ...[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]

These dogs are ALWAYS changing and heading somewhere, just as every breed of animal on earth including man, with his own inherent adversity is. Time stands still for no one or no thing. But where are we and our dogs heading is a good question. Certainly evolving, changing, but to what exactly? Is new ground being broken here or can we look to the past and similar situations to predict the future? [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]My guess is that there will be no extinction of breeds but that due to over breeding with little regards to bettering the breed, I don't think that the historic purpose and associated traits will be preserved in an undiluted state, except for dedicated purists. Others will breed for whatever conformation is popular and widely accepted, whatever type dog does best at sports, agility, hunting and other legal sport as well as those who will "fad" breed. There will always be those who breed only for money. Perhaps some will cater to the pet bull trade and breed only the mildest most gentle lines. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]

[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Then, in another coupla hundred years more or less, people will search for the purists lines, and pure bloodlines and revive them, much in the same way that people have tried to bring back, for example , Native American dogs and other indigenous breeds like "Carolina dogs". There will always be those who have an interest in preserving breeds and bloodlines of animals.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The writing is on the wall. The purists today are becoming fewer and fewer. The circles are closing and becoming necessarily tighter. Few of those dogs, if any, are available to me or perhaps "you".[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]What a Colby bred dog gives us is an artifact if you will. A standard perhaps. A pure undiluted bloodline with which to work. A legacy worthy of being passed on. I will own and feed a piece of that history. Long Live Our Dogs NGK !!!
[/FONT]

 

Just a thought, but does anyone think that by keeping the Colby bloodline pure ... they will at some point. perhaps in the far distant future be considered a breed in and of themselves, distinct from other APBT's? (note that I'm aware there are different strains within the "pure" Colby bloodline).

It's already widely accepted that in general, many Colby's have a distinct "look" easily recognized by breed "experts". So, I wonder ... if the fastlane dogs are changing ... the byb's are just throwing dogs together ... the P. T. Barnum's are reinventing fad dogs ... while the Colby dogs remain pure. What will it all mean?