HOLLINGSWORTH DOGS

[Officially Retired]

i believe the saying "form follows function" should always be applied. a physical defect (especially one that does not hinder performance) is something minor that can be corrected through selective breeding. all of the other traits and characteristics you are absolutely pleased with may be harder to find, or like-bred relatives may not be to your standard, and you could potentially "dispose" of a genetic goldmine of a dog.
i would look back at the dog's genetic make-up, starting with his littermates. do any of them have physical defects? if so, are they the same as your dog's, or found elsewhere? from there, i would analyze the parents, their littermates, and down the line.
and like you said, i too would breed the dog, cull the ones with the passed flaw, and continue on.

Good post, except the highlighted part.

What if the dogs "with the flaw" could whip the asses of the dogs without the flaw?

Who do you cull then?

Jack

[evolutionkennels]

In a word: Selection.

Exactly. I believe Gaston did well with the Buck dogs he had around him, but I liked the confirmation on grand champion yellowbuck better and went and bought a dog out of mayday bred to yellowbuck cold sister Blondie rom. I then bred Macha to champion 357 who was a perfect confirmation as well as killing deadgame throat dog. What did I get... Machobuck, a mayday bodied Buck ability assassin in the throat.

[bianchi]

Good post, except the highlighted part.

What if the dogs "with the flaw" could whip the asses of the dogs without the flaw?

Who do you cull then?

Jack

id probaly cull the lot , do a repeat breeding and do so untill that one your looking for is bred .. ? hoping that that dog will breed on the better confirmation and gameness ..

[scratchin dog]

In a word: Selection.

I totally agree. I would say the dogs are being selected on their performance, not their looks. But the defects seem to be typical with these dogs and not nearly as prevalent in other lines. I was wondering where it started from since the base of this line is well structured Hollingsworth and Buck dogs.

[just_cory]

Good post, except the highlighted part.

What if the dogs "with the flaw" could whip the asses of the dogs without the flaw?

Who do you cull then?

Jack

it's always performance > conformation for me, hence the "form follows function" line.

if the one with the "flaw" is your best performer, it's without a doubt a keeper. if the breeder's plan is to correct that physical flaw, i would think he/she should continue with smart breeding with the true standards in mind first followed with selective individuals (that are of his/her liking performance and structure-wise) to get a complete package.

[scratchin dog]

Culling for physical defects "visually" is only a show-breeder's mentality, and it generally weakens a line of dogs. (OFRN Hemphill dogs are the classic example of a "visually-pleasing" line that has been rendered almost useless by breeding for pedigree and "looks.")

I should have clarified. When I said "if you have a dog that is everything you want in a dog", I meant gameness, ability, mouth, wind, etc., the total package.

Some of the baddest dogs in history had structural defects, and (in my experience) some of my own very best dogs had structural defects: Stormbringer was too stocky; Icon was undershot and had straight stifles. Yet these dogs would utterly trash any "conformationally-flawless" animal they met. Sure, it is nice to get both great structure as well as great performance in one dog, but if one is to sacrifice one for the other, then the sacrifice should be of "looks" in favor of keeping optimal performance alive.

I agree, but I think the goal of the breeder is to breed for both structure and performance. Like just_cory said, form follows function. How can a dog have the power to drive forward if his drive train is compromised from luxating patellas. He would tire out or end up crippled way before the dog with a correct and healthy hind end. If there has to be a sacrifice then i agree, let it be with structure. But i sure wouldn't want to look around my yard and see all the dogs hobbling and gimping around. Some defects are not as bad as others and don't affect performance as much. For instance, an under bite is not nearly as bad as hip dysplasia. A stocky dog is not as bad off as one with luxating patellas. What if a conformationally-flawless ace of a dog that was every bit as good as Stormbringer or Icon, met? Wouldn't the conformation then be one of the deciding factors?

Therefore, to cull through a litter based on conformation alone would be essentially to turn the Hollingsworth dogs into another sad Hemphill story, which (unfortunately) a lot of people have done. I had the RTK's Ali dog, for example, and although he had a "tight pedigree," and was outwardly pretty, he was essentially a caricature of a true Hollingsworth dog (which themselves needed help in certain aspects). Athletically, Ali was mush-bodied and weak (rather than powerful and strong), and he had a congenital heart defect. I honestly think my 32-lb Icon dog could have spotted him the 14 lb and whipped his ass. (Don't laugh, when he was 9 months old, Icon got into a kennel accident with Phoenix, spotted him the same amount of weight, and whipped his ass!)

I never rolled Ali, because I found out he had a hole in his heart, but he clearly was not a world class athlete. In fact, he would labor in his breathing because of his heart defect, and after he got bit by a brown recluse spider, he died. I had other dogs get bit by these spiders that recovered without a problem.

Anyway, sorry for digressing, but I would caution you to put your show background in check when making breeding decisions, and based such decisions solely on gameness and ability. For example, on my yard, although Duke Nukem won the ADBA Nationals for his class, and although Stormbringer didn't have Duke's perfect physique, Stormy would kill 3 of Duke Nukem looking for a fight ... so if I could magically make only one of them re-appear on my yard again, I can promise you it wouldn't be Duke Nukem

Jack

You are preaching to the choir here, I don't believe in making breedings based solely on conformation. There is more to breeding than gameness and ability as well, but you already know that.

[scratchin dog]

it's always performance > conformation for me, hence the "form follows function" line.

if the one with the "flaw" is your best performer, it's without a doubt a keeper. if the breeder's plan is to correct that physical flaw, i would think he/she should continue with smart breeding with the true standards in mind first followed with selective individuals (that are of his/her liking performance and structure-wise) to get a complete package.

True, in order to correct the flaw, the dog with the flaw should be bred to one that does not have the same flaw. But that dog should also be a great performer as well as structurally correct.

[bianchi]

Jack , of what i can gather you never bred poncho to any of his sisters ? any reason why ? i noticed hollingsworth never done too many matings like that "bro/sis"..

[scratchin dog]

Jack , of what i can gather you never bred poncho to any of his sisters ? any reason why ? i noticed hollingsworth never done too many matings like that "bro/sis"..

Jack bred Poncho to his sister Missy.

[bianchi]

no worries ,, ive got WSK yard dvd 90/91 which has alot of the hollingsworth dogs in it as well WSK dogs .the hollingworths definetly stand out in the crowd ,very uniformed and powerfull looking , impresive dogs for sure !!