V. Jackson's Hank (2XW)

I was reading a 2010 topic on the V. Jackson's Hank dog over on the on lines pedigree site. There was a lot of misinformation given. I have given the corrections over there and will on our site as well.

The Hank dog was a late starter that many dog men would have shot before he was two years old. Hank did not fully develop into the great dog he became till around three years old. Besides Molly Bee and a few others, the Hank dog was the hardest pressure biting dog I had seen in my time era. Hank had a crushing bite that could break chest, shoulders and hip bones. Not to mention foul fighting into the stifle and gut area once a dog was disabled.

Hank's first match was into R. Byrd's two time winner Arizona Red. Byrd was high on this dog and Arizona Red was popular up his way. Hank's dog pull was the last match on the dog show event. Most thought this dog pull would be a cinch for Arizona Red and least important. Sort of like that match Mr. Fox and Mr. Burton had. Hank was loaned out to me and A. Howle to work and V. Jackson handled. Bill Cotton of Bullet fame asked Vernon how Hank was bred. When he found out he was one of Mayfield's breeding. Mr. Cotton took numerous bets getting great odds on this unknown dog. Mr. Teal took some of those bets and went with Arizona Red. Hank won a decisive win over Red and became another over night sensation, putting V.J. on the dog map. After this dog pulling event, Mr. Cotton offered V.J. a good price back then for the Hank dog. Vernon wisely declined.

Second dog show was V.J. into I. Jerry at a multi dog show deep in the Georgia back woods. Jerry campaigned a very good dog maybe off his Trim Moody dogs or maybe something off The Holt's dog yard. Since they were there all the way from Texas. I never found out the breeding on that dog. Jerry's dog was black and white, well built and well conditioned. I was V.J.'s corner man and did the weighing and washing etc. V.J. conditioned and handled Hank. Jerry's dog took a terrible beating in the dog pull from the get go and proved to be a dead game dog. Never turned and or made one whimper.

Now to the breeding's off the Hank dog. V. Jackson's Hank was bred to only two bitches before Hank died around four years old. First was to my Young's Tina bitch and the second bitch was Rast's Queenie bitch dog. Were good game dogs to great dogs in both litters. I had hoped to breed some of my bitches off Hank back to Hank and the Kelley's Willie dog. Was never able to pull it off. Hank up and died and Willie having to be bred by artificial semen method. Seems when good breeding are out there to be had. Will be a money problem or some other weird scenario blocking your way.

There is a third breeding shown off the V.J.'s Hank dog to a bitch called Chavis' Spudette. This is a Sire error since Hank was dead before the Carver's Stompanato dog was born or breedings made off him.

Another story told was J. Crenshaw's Cholly died while being bred to V. Jackson's Hank. Recently I had a enjoyable person to person talk and visit in my home with V.J. and wife. Has been close to 20 years since we last saw each other. Was a great reunion. I told Vernon about these matings. He got a good laugh about it. Maybe J. Crenshaw's bitch died while being bred to Burton's Hank dog and the Sire to Chavis' Spudette was Burton's Hank. Maybe some one on here can correct those breeding errors.

The Hank dog was found dead on his chain. Was very hot that day, and may have succumbed to the heat. Could have also had heart worms to boot. All of this heart worm and dog blood diseases were new to us. V.J. lived in the lowlands of Beaufort S.C. back then. Had to keep his whole yard sprayed every so often to keep down the fleas, ticks and something called a sand flea. Was a sad day for all of us. Who knows what this dog could have produced if bred to more good blood lines. Cheers

I have seen recent pictures on another pedigree site showing a picture of the V. Jackson's Hank dog. That is a picture of maybe Jocko or one of Mr. Tant's or Mr. Burn's dogs. The Hank dog was supple and wiry built with a very deep breathing chest and strong back end. Hank was a buckskin with four white stocking feet, white tip on end of tail with coal black eyes. A slight white blaze through the middle of the head.

The Kelly's Willie dog being another Mayfield/Hathaway bred dog was marked and built the same way, just a larger dog and was black and white colored. Willie probably won around four matches. But was almost impossible to breed the normal way. Most likely why Middleton never made a repeated mating of his Betty bitch to Willie. Cheers

CYJ, was there ever any question on Hank's breeding those years ago? Before Don died, he told a story that Hank was not bred as papered. I know Don said that about a lot of dogs over the years before his death, but I was curious if you believe that, or not, or know any difference.

Ditto Frosty Paws. V. Jackson paid Don Mayfield $100.00 dollars for the Hank dog as a puppy. Directly off Don's dog yard in person. Don also gave Vernon his dog papers and Hank was a ADBA registered dog. There was another rumor that Hank was a full brother to the Panama Red dog or something to that effect. At that time Don and Vernon were on good terms and Don helped V.J. with good advise on dog conditioning. Which I felt Vernon ended up simplifying Don's keep and made it more efficient, cheaper and less burdensome to do.

Don's mind got very bad due to his cancer and maybe excessive pot smoking etc. combined. Or he was just jealous of other up coming dog men being more successful than him over time, even with his dogs. One of the reason my last dogs were more Carver bred. At least Carver encouraged and worked with the dog men that used his dogs. Don seemed to want to cut off his nose to spite his face.

He got mad with Vernon about I reckon the puppy deal off the breeding of the Mayfield Snake x Tina bitch litter. I did not know what him and V.j. had worked out. I sent him a extra 5 month old female puppy out of that litter. He even later kept two of our best bitches off Sunshine x Tina and Sunshine x Pokey when we shipped them to him to be bred to Snake or Sunshine. Before that occurred Vernon had gotten that last young dog Banjo from him.

I did call Don personally about the matter and that article. He told me he was sorry for doing it and was pissed with Vernon. I had never shipped a puppy and this puppy out of Snake x Tina, was in great shape when it left out for Texas by plane. Even had to buy a large shipping crate etc. to boot. I also paid the shipping fees. The puppy arrived all stressed out and dehydrated. He got mad about that, what else could I do.

After that we used the dogs we had and did no more dealings with Don. Don I am afraid would let you have a breeding of this or that, but would not allow any line or inbreeding back to his studs. At least not us. Raymond and Sharon Holt did the same with Cecil Middleton, when he wanted to breed Betty back to Jerimiah. LOL

Don did not even contact Me or Vernon when he sold the Snake dog. Even Mr. Truett later tried to find the man that bought Snake from the info Don gave him. Mr. Truett was the last owner of the CH Ginger bitch off Mayfield's Snake x Young's Tina. Mr. Truett called her Jenny Lou. Snake and his new owner according to what that man's family told Mr. Truett. Had been missing for weeks and the man and the Snake dog were never seen again.

After Don swore in his dog yard, in mine and Vernon's presence, along with some other Texas dog men. That his Easy bitch that lost to the Stepp's Ruby bitch had been rubbed. When we left that day, I told Vernon to continue on with those earlier dogs we had bred up. That I was going to try a different direction.

Later on Vernon came down and left his Tunney dog with me to breed to my Face/Monkey and Sally bitch. Sally did not catch, but Face and Monkey did. I did this out of our friendship and years together in the dogs off and on. His dogs were getting to small and fine boned with some having skittish ways like that Garner's Frisco dog.

I would have preferred Tunney's full sibling brother Son. The one that got his front paw cut off by the lawn mower accident. Believe Son had gotten recently killed in a kennel accident and Tunney was the last of those dogs. Tunney like Frisco was a shy acting dog when approached on his chain, acted ok off the chain. I did not particularly care for shy acting dogs.

Everyone one was breeding up those Jocko-Red Boy/Jeep-Red Boy/Paladin-Red Boy dogs. Majority of these dogs came bigger in size to catch weight dogs. The little dogs like we use to have and little dogs like Ca. Jack had were becoming very rare around our parts. Another reason I took a interest in Jack's dogs. Little dogs built up like a big dog are a delight to own and match. Most of the dogs coming on the scene were forty five to Catch weight dogs sizes. Cheers