The Undesirables

[Officially Retired]

I don't see gameness in degrees.

You simply lack vision then, or comprehension.

If you have ever said, "Dog A is gamer than Dog B," then by default you DO believe in degrees of gameness.

You may not "see" (or comprehend) that this is what you believe, but the fact remains that is essentially what you're saying.

I do see everything listed as mismanagement or reasons one may quit. Still it takes away from a game dog to put it as degrees because of a situation or mismanagement. We do expect a lot of the dogs and experience shows us many mistakes but the classification is based on outcome. The choices, excuse, and opinion of what may have went wrong or caused a dog to quit is more subjective or plain we as humans blew it. In that case you have a choice to move forward with that individual in your program or not. We can't redefine gameness though our standards and decisions as humans will always vary IMO.

If a dog simply **IS** game, if this fact is an unchangeable truth about the dog, then there is nothing that will change this fact.

However, if gameness comes in degrees, and can vary, ONLY THEN can "mismanagement" (age/health/condition, etc.) affect the dog's will to win.

For example, it is an unchangeable truth that an animal is either A DOG (or it's not).

No amount of "management/mismanagement" is going to affect the FACT that a particular animal is either Canis familiaris or it's not.

The trait of gameness is nothing like this.

As I clearly stated (but which you still lack the comprehension to grasp), gameness DOES come in degrees, and it CAN vary across individuals, as well as within a given individual, which is WHY management/owner competence matter.

Same thing as strength/mouth, etc. come in degrees.

Yes, certain dogs are going to simply have MORE mouth/strength than other dogs, but (depending on the circumstances) these traits can likewise be enhanced, or diminished, based on owner competence.

Similarly, some dogs are simply going to be GAMER than other dogs, and this desire to win can also be enhanced (or detracted) by health/condition also, within whatever genetic aptitudes the individual has.

If you "don't see" gameness in degrees, this is a statement about either your vision or comprehension, not with the pretty obvious fact that this trait (like every other sliding-scale trait) varies.

Jack