Great posts

@ Jack, this is something i quoted from another topic.

Therefore, although I stopped competing, I was able to continuously succeed as a breeder because I understood the Cajun Rules as well as the basic rules of fighting, which is "Protect yourself at all times."

To me, any dog that didn't have a high degree of athleticism + the sense to keep itself from "getting bit back" was a loser dog to me. A lot of people may "be happy" watching 2 dogs "swap it out," but the reality is such dogs are stupid palookas and not World Class animals in my book. A World Class dog does all the biting without getting bit much in return. Even if he's a killer, to my way of thinking a truly good killer is still killing in such a way as to position himself out of harm's way.

After having schooled dogs with people from coast-to-coast, and getting feedback from several hundred matches, it is my firm conviction that most people accept dogs that aren't really all that athletic or bright ... they're mainly "rough and predictable" ... and they're not too game, either. Because that's another thing I have always enjoyed more than the average guy in dogs is some f***ing incredibly game dogs. 9.5x out of 10, if any match with one of my dogs goes over the hour mark, it's the Vise-Grip dog that's going to win on the scratching. Very rarely do my dogs ever lose a scratching contest ... which, essentially is what a Cajun Rules contest is ... and that has been proven time-and-time-again.

So winning consistently isn't just about "you being happy," it's about really knowing fighting strategy in general. It may "make you happy" to watch one-dimensional stifle dogs driving for the back end, but I promise you will never achieve a 9x/10 win record choosing dogs of this style to continuously breed for. You may get an occasional ace that can make that work, but you will be losing (and counting to 10) more often than winning. Further, producing dogs that win consistently goes beyond knowing what a winning style looks like, it's also about selecting the right dogs (and family) that display this winning style to breed together, and then continuously making the right choices as to how to sustain (and improve upon) the gene pool you're working with to keep it that way (or improve upon it).
I will write that this is by no means meant to offend anyone, so that this is clear..lol. Not saying getting damaged, bitten on ugly spots or being in pain is the only reason for a dog to stop. But i wonder how dogs that hardly ever get bit themselves can proof (proof to you) they are game for real? I think dogs or a line of dogs who hardly get bit and almost always win a scratching contest is just great and more then i could wish for. But i think it says more about other ability's then gameness. Or as they say "game enough to win"