Dogs of today - better or worse?

"The Armitage book "Thirty Years with Fighting Dogs" has a severe game test that Mr Armitage recommends. He says you should use two rough, hard-biting dogs, much larger than your own dog. He says to roll your dog for twenty minutes with the first big, rough dog and then immediately put the second dog on him for another twenty minutes. He says that if your dog will scratch after that, then he's worth a bet. I agree that a dog which lived through that and scratched, would be worth a bet, if you ever got him healed up. If you tried that Armitage test with todays dogs, you'll kill the dog you're testing more often than not."

I found this above mentioned statement in another thread, but I didn't want to hi-jack the thread with this question, so I will pose it here - do you think dogs of today are better or worse then those of yesteryear & why? Why would the dogs of Armitage's day be able to stand up to such a vigorous test, but the same test performed on a dog of today would likely kill it?

Your opinions & why please.

 

the dogs of today are better. thats why you run the risk of killing the dog being tested, unless he is an ace. i think our average gamedogs are what were considered aces back then and that our % are higher nowadays

 

I think the average talent of the dogs today are better. But i also think that we have much more back yard wanna be's, then they ever had in the old days. I think the dogs of today would be even better if we had more educated and dedicated Pitbull owners. Imagine all the above average dogs that we have all seen, then imagine all the great dogs that may have been ruined or died in the hands of those that should've never owned a dog in the first place. If we can some how limit the idiots that have these dogs, then sky is the limit for the breed, no matter what sport you use them for.

 

I agree with what Feastodg said. Hard mouth back then, is probably average in todays game. I know of some that can finish in less than 15 on a conditioned hog, let alone on a tired one.

 

I have said this before and I will probably die saying it... "These dogs are not for everyone!!!". I totally agree with you PurePit, there are alot more half ass dogs being bred today than back then. The dogs today are by far better than yesteryear IMHO

 

better how ??? not to be smart im seriously curious

 

if the dogs of today are not better than the dogs of ~yesteryear~ then all these breeding programs have failed.
you should be breeding to improve, not maintain the status quo

 

better as far as performace

exactly!

 

Both, there's a 1000 times more of both today... I do however think that most of the average true bulldogs of today are light years above the average true bulldogs of yesteryear. There are also A LOT more currs now than have ever been, and there are also tons more 'Ace' dogs than there once was also... Having MORE doesn't always mean better quality, since there no TRUE way to tell on the good dog / bad dog ratio of today vs. yesteryear it's really impossible to tell... Breed your best...

 

to improve on the dogs of the past but if you dont game test you dogs how are you supposed to know that your dog wont curr out so in all reality you could be breeding currs and you wouldnt even know it

 

the dogs that are breed (right)will always improve in there offspring.

 

but can you be sure b/c if heard of great dogs throwing curs now if you got a cur in you breeding program the likely hood is he will throw currs now this doesnt always happen it usually didnt happen in "yesteryear" because they would breed game tested dogs

 

l dont agree about today's dogs being better than the yesterday's,because how do you test them all and cull 'em like they did back then,automaticaly you have more currs to deal with.So how do you breed top shelf bull dogs when 1/4 of all dogs today are only matched?JMO

 

alot more bulldogs then back then and alot more wannabe breeders. but do you honestly think people still dont game test? people still test and people still match. u can see that from reading all the articles about dog fighting ring bust. and the ones that whom are tested are improvements of the dogs before them... hopefully. if not then they shouldnt be bred

 

I dont know about the usa these days but yeah, sure they do! just not as much as the yesterday's.Now here in europe they have picked up were the usa left off,but that's an other story.JMO

 

you hit that right on the nail

 

for sure i think your 100% right like only 1/4 of the dogs are game tested and where in europe are you from cuz im also european

 

with modern knowlege and better healthcare, dogs are better today, just like the athletes of these days. if you breed best to best your going to improve

 

im going to be hated for this but o well i would have to say the dogs of to day is not as good as the older dogs reason being people back then breed game dogs they depended on there dogs to put food on the table or pay the bills the dogs of today or just breed for sale to make money most people dont test there dogs they just say they game breed dogs and people buy them not knowing if they really getting a game dog are a cur people back then wouldn sale you a game dog with testing the dog very few people still do this they or just in it for the money not the breed of game dogs sorry if i make anyone mad but thats what i think

 

todats are are better ...but ....owners need to cull hard !!! to many shit dog curs with good peds are watering down the good shit !!! 25 -30 years ago a ped did speak alot for a dog ...these days ....i wouldnt say that ...to many peeps think oh my dog is this bloodline ..& when or IF its tested ...a big fuckin cur they decide to breed anyway ....