Having Focus Yet Being Distracted

[S_B]

I'm sure I share these demons with many of you. I'm focused on my yard, always trying to look ahead and create the next Bulldog better than the last. But I can't help having always been distracted by other good solid working stock I see out there.

It's kinda like new car envy! lol It is something I battle with, you can't keep a yard in a forward direction imo if you don't try to remain true to your breedings, but the temptations are a motherfucker. :)

S_B

*When I say true I mean staying within a family of dogs.

[FrostyPaws]

I was distracted like that, to some degree, earlier on when I was in dogs. The longer I was in dogs, and the more I saw out of dogs I thought were distractions, I realized most simply weren't. It wasn't that I always had the best dogs, though there were plenty of times I felt that way. What I did see is that a lot of times, dogs that are distractions on paper aren't so much a distraction in the box. Stories are a distraction. Paperwork is a distraction. All of the distractions disappear once two dogs enter into the arena. Dogs like Titere, that show that capacity to win, were the only distractions I paid any attention to. Or dogs that had a unique ability to produce quality dogs over and over regardless of breeding. To me, those should be the only distractions worth entertaining, and at that point, they are simply dogs you consider may have the ability to move your yard ahead. Anything else is just bullshit for me.

[EWO]

Well said by both. I think when a person stays in the dogs for a number of years a lot of the distractions either seem to fade, or maybe were never really distractions from the start. Or maybe there is a little more focus.

I can remember a time when the dog was either a winner, or getting ready for a shot to be a winner and anything else was a distraction. It was 'the box or bust' mentality.

We dabbled in a lot of different families. It was like our goal was to have a bloodline called winners. We did not breed that much and when we did success was par at best, slightly less than par looking back. Production and puppies and breeding and selection were distractions.

If ol' Joe down the road had some winners I wanted some. If Sam up the road had some, I wanted some of them too. So if a strain or family or string of dogs were winning I would jump on that bandwagon and ride it til she fell. A lot of short term successes not a lot of long term ones.

As I have grown up I can see the flaw in my plan.

It is funny as what you described as distraction we used as focus. Funny how that works.

EWO

[Frank43]

I go back and read these discussions. They are at times the best people to talk to at times. Most people can’t hold these conversations. Starting a family and maintaining it. I don’t want a big yard with a thousand dogs. A concentrated one or two gene pools within a larger gene pool. Now I’m at a point I need compatible crosses to maintain the traits I want.

[CYJ]

Another bad distraction or even a curse might be included. Is having some good and good producing dogs dumped in your lap for free. Then being a green horn beginner with no real dog knowledge of how to do what with what. That was my lot. By the time I started figuring things out from time and experience. My better dogs had grown old and passed away. Being basically a one-man operation, I bred up too many different lines that had me going in too many directions. LOL

If I could go back in time knowing what I know now. I would rather have a good eye for a very good to great dog and the ability to be a great conditioner. Let others worry about the feeding/ raising and breeding up various blood lines. Which can be quite a headache/discouragement and great expense to boot. Earl Tudor said the good ones are where you find them. You can read what he said about certain blood lines being better than others on Randy Fox's dog site if it is still up. Cheers

[Frank43]

That’s something to think about. What do you think a dogs prime years are. To me it’s later than most think if they don’t take a bunch of wear and their early. I actually enjoy the breeding and daily work. Trying to lock in traits and preserve what I have.