levels of gameness.

[Officially Retired]

A lot of the time people just go to the box far to often to ever be 100% healthy. Hell, I just had 1xW that was almost killed due to damage to the chest ( pressure biter), now i come from the medical field, and I would have given the dog at least 5 months off after his hunt. But his owner did him 9wks later with the same animal ( with no work) and lost his purse and the dog. I think people using the same dog too frequently is a major cause of seeing different performance levels in the same individual dog. A lot of active people think just because a scab closes, the wound has healed, and the dog is 100%. If a dog is 100% healthy, you should see the same level of performance or better, but definitely not less unless he's about to stop/quit. JMO

You're exactly right.

I can think of at least one member of this board who still can't seem to understand this concept.

The keep itself is hard on a dog, let alone the punishment taken. Sometimes it takes a year for a dog to recover fully ... and, in some cases, a dog will never recover fully from his ordeal

Part of being a good dogman isn't just the willingness to match dogs ... anytime, anywhere ... it's also having the sense to say NO when the dog needs a break, and to understand that every dog needs time to recover, including from the keep itself, let alone the damage done during the contest.

Jack

[EWO]

I think going to the well one too many times has ruined a lot of good dogs. The majority of my first time out dogs are there for a game check. I find small $$$ matches, get him in good shape and send him to that three way intersection. One he is a match dog. Two, he is a game dog that was outclassed and needs more work but has what I am looking for so I can breed to him down the road. Three, he does not fit either one or two. There are tons of dogs out there who are Ch. and Gr.Ch. that had harder times in school than they did on show night but school can't be counted as W's. But school has to be a major factor in deciding when enough is enough. I have heard it referred to as a gas tank without a gauge. Even when a dog has great gas mileage he will run out of one keeps driving. EWO

[TFX]

Then there was the 14 year old who took 3 dogs for over an hour with her head in the right direction. She makes the quitters look kind of silly. Who really knows? They're all different, but I like the good ones that look good consistently.

[FrostyPaws]

I think it depends on the individual dogs. There are some dogs it never makes any difference with as evidenced by TFX's story of the 14 year old female. I can think of a couple of dogs that never showed any signs of giving it up, and they were hammered throughout their lives for the most part.

While I agree that most all dogs are curs, I think there will always be the few that aren't. The machine cliche is applicable most of the time, but there are dogs out there that can almost make you believe they are machines.

[FarmersChoice]

I think it depends on the individual dogs. There are some dogs it never makes any difference with as evidenced by TFX's story of the 14 year old female. I can think of a couple of dogs that never showed any signs of giving it up, and they were hammered throughout their lives for the most part.

While I agree that most all dogs are curs, I think there will always be the few that aren't. The machine cliche is applicable most of the time, but there are dogs out there that can almost make you believe they are machines.

i have to agree with frosty there are some that just refuse to be a cur hahah but most are gonna be if really put to the right test i respect the hell out that true game dog back when i first started that wasnt the case ohh how green i waz smh

[TFX]

Ozzie Stevens told the story many years ago of a game cock man who had a quest to find a dog that was "as game as the gamest chicken". As I recall the story, the fancier finally found one of those kind after some fooling around with and showing the dogs, and then promptly got out of the game satisfied that they actually exist.