HOW IT LOOKS TO ME by Howard Heinzl 1955

Many dog men you meet start by telling you how many years they have had Bull Terriers. I got my first one when I was 9 years old, and all of 31 years ago. All this proves to my way of thinking is that I like dogs, and mostly that I'm getting older. The hottest dog man around Arizona now is Charlie Spencer, who started about 4 years ago. He's won 3 or 4 good ones with his 48 pound Toby dog, and the one man to beat him so far was Ken Barney, at 36 pounds. Ken has had Pit Bulls about 2 ½ years now, and will match one at the drop of a hat. Both Spencer's Toby and Kenny's 36 pound dog were bred by Ed Ritcheson, Ed lost three in a row trying to beat dogs of his own breeding with dogs he would buy around the country. From here on Ed tells me he's using his own.

Another dog man bound to be heard from is Clarence Hager, his wife is as much of a fan as he is. He had two dogs stopped in rolls here lately, and he will shake hands with you afterward, and thank you for helping cull his kennel and cut his feed bill, as he put it. We've all seen old timers at the game who would pout and make excuses when one quit. The old timers who did anything don't have to tell you how many years they have had Bull Terriers, you read about them in the records.

I think John P Colby tops as a breeder. The rolls I saw when I was up at Colby's in 1935 or 1936 were better than half the matches I have ever seen in my life. John P called them turn ups. It was hot around Boston so any local action was kept quiet. A lot of people who didn't know any better said J.P never set one down. Three dead game Colby dogs I have had were Sport, Buddy, and Hobo. I think I have some good ones now, but to say a dog that is still living dead game is wishful thinking. None of these three dogs ever made a turn in there life or before they left it. I have over a dozen old Colby pedigrees around the house, and I can't find one of the dogs in them Mr. Pete Sparks mentioned in a recent copy of Bloodlines, I'm sure he was mistaken.

Back in about 1933 in Chicago Bruce Johnson introduced me to Chuck Doyle, at the time he had a brindle bitch with a bad hind leg that was about to whelp. About a year and a half later we matched a 38 pound dog we bought from Jim Corrington, against one of these pups we had Old Sandy in about fair chain shape after all this rookie Doyle couldn't beat us wise old heads, he didn't miss it though I think it lasted about 20 minutes Doyles dog just waved Sandy around like a flag, and he started looking over his shoulder for help so Bruce threw in the sponge. Doyle's dog wasn't even warmed up yet. I believe Tudor is in a class by himself, as a dog fighter I've read about different men being called tops in the business but, if they come close to Tudor's record they must have been matching dogs on another planet.

When Tudor and Art Nemecheck ran a pit they won 23 UKC fights in one month, that's more than myself and a lot of other guys had in a lifetime, win or lose. It wasn't to long back that Tudor had a challenge in Bloodlines to match three dogs for $1,000 with him losing the grand if he didn't win all three go's. He made the first UKC Champion and John P Colby bred him. Tudor's wife Flo is just as good a judge of pit dogs as he is and probably the worlds best cook. A fan out here told me that J.P or his boy's never ever saw a convention, I don't know what that proves, neither did the Farmer Brothers of Chicago Rip, Ryan, George Armitage or Red Considine and they were all pretty fair dog men.

Armitage taught us all a little about making it out here. He said a match well made was half won. Just before Armitage arrived out here Wiz Hubbard matched Hube Yates it was a bitch fight, (Lady vs Trilby) and spotted him 9 pounds Wiz lost about $500.00 but picked his bitch up to save her. Armitage never fought many dogs in his life, but he sure matched them carefully. He thought Clark's Tramp was the best dog that ever lived. Tramp was pure Colby. We have a bunch of dogs out here now, the oldest of them are about 5 years old, some have fought at the convention two in old Mexico and so far they are outstanding. This Spencer's Toby is one and Richeson's Lark, Peggy, Monkey, Jeep ,Pete, and Shiner are a few more of them, that stood the test and are stand out pit dogs.

Five years ago I figured they would fall apart, as did a lot of other people some of course quit like any line will, but for a new cross Ed breeds them back in and sure gets some out standing pit dogs. He got his first ace Jeep by breeding his Jack Meeks Mouse to Hubbards Gimp. He then bred Jeep to Hubbards Sissy and raised his best bitch Spotty who is the dam or grand dam of all aforementioned, dogs there sire was Spike a dog Ed bought from Al Brown, so this old rugged cross is part Meeks breeding part Feeley and half Al Brown's Spike. Spike also had some Feeley blood in his back ground.

One of the best dogs I ever saw was a red nosed dog from Clas Conklin in Lenox South Dakota. I don't think his red nose had anything to do with the size of his heart. Though I've seen and had red nosed dogs that would quit like a turkey, when I start breeding for color I'll sure call them Staffordsires because that's all they will be in a couple of generations. In reading through several back Bloodlines there are lots of pictures of good looking dogs at stud with captions telling how they can fight. I've yet to see an ad with what is a lot more important a record of how some of his sons and daughters have fought and maybe a copy of his breeding. Leading horse magazines always list the achievements of the stallons as not all good performers, are good sires Braddock and Billy Sunday were two great dogs in the pit but never sired any outstanding pups.

I have an 8 year old 40 pound Colby dog Kayo farmed out with some friends he is the sire of Adams Botcher who won in 1 hour and 40 minutes in Mexico, I wasn't down there at the time but have a film of the fight, Botcher went uphill 4 pounds and beat a good dog holding one nose hold 30 minutes which is longer than a lot of dogs will fight. They were both dead game dogs and proved it. Botchers dam was a little cross bred bitch that quit in about 10 minutes I tried to talk Adams out of breeding her to Kayo but, he did and raised some good ones. Old Kayo is by Colby's Tinker out of Colby's Scarlett, he lost his teeth early but, stopped two bigger dogs Phil Iavlkner shipped in from California in 30 minutes each. They were Tar Baby and Timmy. He also stopped a dog Black and Bill Anderson had called the Chicago dog in a little over 32 minutes and with no teeth he went 20 minutes with Lark. The best 50 pound dog we ever had out here, no one else cared to roll anything with Lark. And Leo White came out and wanted to see him go, now the only black mark on Kayo's record should be on mine.

Before Ed Ritcheson and I were partners I matched Kayo into a black dog that Ed had that I didn't think was much. Kayo had poor wind and I thought some Knox gelatin before the fight would give him an added push, he wouldn't drink the beef broth I put in it so I mixed another packet of gelatin in about half a pint of goat milk and it sure choked the old boy down. He gagged and slobbered after the first five minutes he kept coughing up big strings of flem. Ed's dog wasn't hurting him so I let it go after 56 or 58 minutes it was Kayo's turn to scratch and he waddled toward a couple steps gapping like a fish and was counted out he didn't lay down sit down or tuck his head in the corner, like a cur usually does. I picked him up and set him outside the pit. He was really wobbly and the whites of his eyes were solid red but he didn't flop down and rest. When Ed carried his black dog past to his car old Kayo staggered after him. I sure wasn't very proud of my conditioning but I made it up to the old boy, he's got a real good home up in the mountains with some swell people and has the run of there house and yard. I wont say any living dog is dead game but, I think a lesser dog than Kayo would have curled up and died after the going over Lark gave him.

A few of his better offspring are: Ken Barney's Sadie, Stewart Adams' Honest John, General, Botcher and I have a 46 pound son of his that will do, his name is Colonel. I have a pure Lightner stud dog Lightner's Tony, I'm sure Bill Lightner didn't keep him around just for a pet, but I will wait about 6 more months to brag about Tony as the dozen or so pups Ed and I have by him are a little young yet to set down hard but, they all act extra good and are hot to go. It's hard to get two or more people to agree on anything, I imagine that would apply even if they raised sheep. Well Bull Dog people are no exception unless that we are harder headed than most groups. I think it would be interesting if a lot of fanciers would write in with there opinion of the best dog, best conditioner, best handler etc etc. I'm sure it would create quite a bit of interest.

When Art Shinler from Detroit conditioned the Smith Brothers dog against Bruce Johnson and myself he did a top job. Red Considine had Lena in a good a shape as a dog can get in Chicago when she beat Bernero's Jackie in about 1932, Jim Curry had his Midas dog about right as they get for that Spider dog some Texas boys brought to Lexington in 1936. but, I still have to pick Earl Tudor when he is really cracking as boss of em' all. If you match him at a given weight you can't have a dog that is just a little better and win. The best dog I ever owned was Colby's Buddy. The roughest dog was Ed Ritcheson's Lark. The one I'd hate most to go up against and try to beat would be Tudor's Demon about 10 years ago. I haven't the paper or time to tell you about all the curs I've had but, I'm sure we all get them, and it makes those scarce game ones worth all the more. I've got dogs tied to dogs at my place. Any over a year old have been out at least 30 minutes (off the chain). I call them half honest and think in shape will be worth a bet, with all the other dogs of all ages and the care involved the job gets a little old after 30 years but, I guess I'll have them 30 more if I live that long.

HOWARD HEINZL Tempe Arizona 1955
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In Fond Memory, The best I have ever seen by Barney Fife

Many fanciers like to rate match dogs the same way boxing fans categorize professional fighters. Dogs are often rated as being the best at their weight, hardest biter and best pound for pound fighter. I’d like to share some of my views in this area.

The hardest biters I have seen were both bitches and bred from similar bloodlines. Johnson'’ "GR.CH. MISS RAGE" and Meansville’s "CH. HOLLY" were destroyers that could end a match in a hurry. These exceptional bitches were both from Bullyson breeding which is noted for producing top-notch performance dogs.

The most exciting match I saw was Crenshaw’s "HURT" vs. Cable’s "RUSTY". "HURT" was a littermate to Stinson’s "ART" and "RUSTY" was a 2 time winning littermate to the great Cable’s "FANG". "RUSTY" had won over Irish Jerry’s "BLACK BARRON" (a dog I later owned) in 1:45 and I wanted to see him lose. "HURT" came out fast and had and won it in 18 minutes, but it was something to see. That was "HURT’S" first win and he went on to win two more for Crenshaw.

One of the best overall fighting dogs I have seen is not widely known. Mountain Man’s "FESTUS" was a littermate to his "CH. HOMER" dog and was as tough as they come at 38 pounds. "FESTUS" had a terrific bite, and preferred to work the head until he felt out his opponent. Then he would switch to offense and end it. "FESTUS" won over two good dogs in 30 minutes, but lost his life to his brother "CH. HOMER" in a kennel fight. I have yet to see a 38 pounder that could have whipped "FESTUS".

The best pound for pound match dog I have ever seen was "CH. HOLLY". She was the K-9 equivalent of Sugar Ray Robinson. "HOLLY" could go on offense, defense and do whatever it took to win. The difference between "HOLLY" and other destroyers like Johnson’s "GR. CH. RAGE", Mayfield’s "SNAKE" and Matt’s "PANTHER" is that she was such a smart fighter. "HOLLY" was always doing exactly what any handler would want her to do. In addition, "HOLLY" was a great worker so she could be put in top-notch condition. "HOLLY" was by Finley’s "BO" and "HONEYBUNCH" and was a littermate to "CH. JEEP".

There are many top bulldogs that I never saw in action that were probably every bit as good as those bulldogs I have already mentioned. This list would include "ZEBO", "ART", "MOLLY BEE", and "LUTHOR". However, I was not fortunate enough to see these bulldogs, so I could rate them.

Two recent dogs that were exceptional are Fat Bill’s "BOLERO" and Lee’s "GOTCHA". Both these dogs are 2x winners and should be well known in the near future. "GOTCHA" is without a doubt one of the best I have seen in ten years, and really looked good in his win over "CH. RED DOG".

Perhaps this article will get some other fanciers to write about some of the great bulldogs they have seen. Everyone seems to have different ideas about which bulldog was the best, but that is what makes things interesting.

Barney Fife
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Tribute to Bobby Smith

A few years back when I was still pretty new to the game, I had the great fortune of meeting one of the true Texas old timers while he was still somewhat active. The story itself is somewhat comical.

It started off when I was interested in buying a pup off Duhon's Mean Pete. I talked to Ronnie several times about this breeding and as I said still being new, I was full of questions. The subject got around to his dog Duhon's Moon. He was telling me about Moon's gameness. For those that don't know, during a contest in South La., Moon was on top of a down dog. It was the middle of the night and Moon was to scratch to win. Ronnie, being about as Cajun as they come, told me "That dog was about 3/4 gone and couldn't even twitch, let alone stand." To make matters worse he was a black dog and in Ronnie's own words "as black as a witch's heart". The call came to "Face your dogs", and Moon was released. He shot across the pit like his back end was on fire and hit that black dog so hard that the force almost shot them both through the corner of the pit. Well the whole point of this is Ronnie told me a man up in the Dallas area had a video of Moon. So he gave me his phone number and told me to call him. I called, and from that point on my life with the dogs would never be the same.

Come to find out this dogman had a dog that he needed to bring into the vet's office, and this particular vet just happened to be the same one that my family and I had used my entire life. So now it was set, I was to meet him at the Vet's office after closing in a couple of days.

By the time I got there he was pretty much finished, so we went next door to the Dairy Queen and sat and talked. I listened to his stories for what seemed like half the night. He told me about how he'd seen this dog and that dog go, about the big conventions in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. All these dogs I had only read about and he had seen them first hand. Boomerang, Bolio, Barney, Art you name it, Bobby was either there or he was the ref! What more could I ask for? Then it happened. He invited me out to his place for a little get together between friends and they were even going to Bar BQ with of course a little bulldogin too. I got directions and told him I would definitely be there. Now keep in mind this was the first time I had ever met the man, he didn't know me from Adam. We walked outside and he gave me a couple of magazines that he published (Face Your Dog) to read until I came to his house. I could hardly wait.

A couple of days later, I pulled up at his place and found my way over to the barn where everyone seemed to be gathered. He made all the introductions. A number of well known fanciers were there including Coy and L. Keyes. After we all had our fill of the Bar BQ it was time to start weighing some dogs. The first contest was about to begin when he noticed me standing off kinda behind the crowd, keeping to myself. He pulled up a 5 gallon bucket and set it next to the pit wall and said to me "Son, get over here, I gotta job for you", at the same time handing me a stopwatch. That's right, not only was I there but I was keeping time! That night I saw some good ones go, including some off Red Rock, & Banjo and BB Red before they reached their Grand Champion fame.

One of the things I distinctively remember is how he kept going on and on about a movie starring Warren Oates. It's called "CockFighter", and if you ever get the chance, buy it. I recomend it to anyone interested in a game animal.

When the night finally came to a close at about 1:00 am, and all was said and done, my life as a dogman was forever changed. I owe that part of my journey to him. He was honest, trusting and never badmouthed a dog or a dogman. He was probably the only man in America that didn't know "Dogfighting" was against the law! The fraternity definitely suffered a setback with his early and untimely death. To this day I still miss being able to call him up and talking dogs.

This tribute is to the epitome of Texas Dogmen; in fact this man was the epitome of the true Dogman. Bobby Smith, a True Warrior.

Pale Rider 1998
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Tombstone VS Bullyson Jr

Mayfield using a red dog he calls Tombstone. Bobby Hall is using a son Bullyson, he calls Bullyson Jr. Dark brindle or black. The red dog gets a front leg and the black gets in stifle but ends up in a front leg hold. By the 10 minute mark the dogs have established a pattern, front legs and ear holds. The black tries for the stifle at 12 min. Black work for the throat but the red holds him out with ear hold. Red is in the throat at 15 min. Red has a bloody front leg. Black gets a hind foot at 20. Red has skin hold in neck. Black gets a front leg and shakes. Red stays in the throat. Mouth fighting att 22. Black gets in the troat at 25. Red goes down down, black on top. Red gets on his feet but the black slams him down again in a corner and bores into the throat. Red has a cheek hold.

Dogs are on their feet at 30 but the goes down more often. Red gets a foot and the black has an ear. Black is out of hold cathching breath at 31.

Red has a front foot hold. 100 to 80 being offered. Dogs trade stifle holds at 32. 34 and each has a hind foot. 36 black is down and breathing hard.

Red is working an ear. Red is down and the black has a front leg at 39. 40 red is down, black in the throat. Red comes up in a flurry of action, then goes down with the black shaking a leg. Red is being called “Toot”.

50 and dogs stil trading holds. 55 black is working a stifle.

Red is on his back but has a front leg. Black changes and comes back to the ear. From ear to nose. Dogs trade stifle holds at the hour mark. Red is down, stretched out. Black has a nose hold. 1:18 out of hold count started. Pickup, the red to go. Whent over hard to make a good schratch.

At 1:25 min, Bobby picks his dog up and calls it quits, to save his dog. The crowd cheered and Mayfield´s Tombstone the winner in one hour and 25 minutes.

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Irwin Homes AKA Chicken Sam

Irwin Homes (aka "Chicken Sam") with his dog "Pusher". I lost because I used calves liver and not enough fat in my protein source. That's why I was against Barney Fife's Keep in the Journal. I'm sorry Barney died. He was the best he could be and helped a lot of people.

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Maurice Carver
The Silver Fox

Maurice Carver with Wino

Carver and Carver's Redneck

Carver and Carver's Orphan Anny ROM

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Wiz Hubbard

Wiz Hubbard with Gimp.

From Left to Right, Jim Wimberly, Wiz Hubbard, Evelyn Start,
Ed Palmer, and Bill Boaz in front of the "307".

Don Mayfield Pictures

Don Mayfield and Stockton's Swig

Don Mayfield and Tombstone ROM

Earl Tudor

In the mid 1800's when the Breeder of the purest family was COCKEN CHARLIE LLOYD who lived in the New York area, then the next Breeder in the lineage in the late 1800's and the early 1900's was CON FEELEY of the Illinois area. Then in the early 1900's to the mid 1900's the Breeder of the purest bred family of the DIBO DOGS was EARL TUDOR.

Earl Tudor in the Box.

Earl Tudor and Tudor's Dick.

Earl Tudor handling Shipley's Johnny.

In the 1940's, Earl Tudor with Feely's Jake.

Earl Tudor with Jack Swift 1915.

Tudor with Black Jack. He claimed Black Jack was the best dog he had ever seen.

Earl Tudor and Rusty on Turntable

Tribute to Earl Tudor

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Convention of Old Timers

LEFT TO RIGHT: LEO KINARD, MAURICE CARVER, BERT CLOUSE , EARL TUDOR, BOB HEMPHILL, BOB WALLACE, GEORGE SADDLER. FRONT ROW; FLOYD BOUDREAUX, ROB LEWIS, DON MALONEY, SCOTTY NELSON

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World War I Poster

Watchful-Waiting

Three Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue.
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Tribute to Bobby Smith

Tombstone VS Bullyson Jr

National Convention

Irwin Homes AKA Chicken Sam

Maurice Carver
The Silver Fox

Joe Corvino

Barney Fife

Frank Fitzwater

Hemphill

Wiz Hubbard

Don Maloney Photos

Don Mayfield Pictures

Earl Tudor

World War I Poster

Tribute to Bobby Smith

Tombstone VS Bullyson Jr

National Convention

Irwin Homes AKA Chicken Sam

Maurice Carver The Silver Fox

Joe Corvino

Barney Fife

Frank Fitzwater

Hemphill

Wiz Hubbard

Don Maloney Photos

Don Mayfield Pictures

Earl Tudor

World War I Poster

Maurice Carver
The Silver Fox