Darth Vader was sold to Ricky Franklin in MS. Ricky was another guy who seemed pretty nice on the phone, but didn't have much sense. Ricky matched Darth Vader at 10 months into the Xmen, and won. He matched into the Xmen again, at 13 months, and lost. The Xmen told Ricky to sit on the dog as he acted like a puppy. (That is probably because he wasOriginally Posted by Lasse
) I got mad at Ricky because of that and cussed him out and lost contact with him. This was back in '96.
Later, in 2001, Zeus and Frank Jr. of the Xmen came to my yard and bought 3-4 dogs from me. While they were visiting, they told me Ricky wound up winning 12 fights with Darth Vader. As far as how "legit" these wins were, I don't know. The Xmen told me Darth Vader was an awesome head dog that would go to the throat. They said in the right hands, as a fully-mature dog, he would have been unbeatable at his weight. The Xmen have owned enough good dogs (Ch Barbarian, Ch Gunther, etc.) for their statements to carry some weight with me. Our Moderator here, FrostyPaws, is from MS and may know how to contact Ricky, I don't know. I put 12xW, 1xL on Darth Vader because that is what the Xmen told me when they visited. They said they tried to contact Ricky later on, to breed to Darth Vader, but that the dog died of heartworm, never bred.
As to why I didn't continue to breed Red Angel dogs, I bred her to Truman first, back in 1990, then to Poncho twice after that (1993, 1995). Unfortunately, most of the Truman pups grew up to be cold, or not very good, so I just spayed Red Angel in 1995 (after like the 4th pup had stopped off Truman) and sold all the Poncho pups pretty cheap. By the time the Poncho pups actually started growing up, they all started kicking ass and winning fights, decimating dogs in rolls, etc. But it was too late: my rash decision of spaying Red Angel was done. This is an example of how "jumping to conclusions," based on just one breeding, can cost a person. It is also an example of just how prepotent Poncho was. One of Red Angel's daughters, (ADBA)Ch Cinnamon, was almost a triple-crown dog (Schutzhund I, ADBA Ch, and a 2xW). She also threw a double-champ, Vera's Ch Beau-San. It was a HUGE mistake on my part to spay Red Angel based on the shitty turnout of the Truman litter.
It would be like spaying Honeybunch after she was bred to Zebo, because all the pups turned out to be shit in the Zebo breeding. People need to realize that sometimes certain breedings just don't click. Honeybunch produced her ass off bred different ways, and Red Angel produced her ass off bred to Poncho. Still, I have a feeling it was more a case of Poncho just producing his ass off, regardless of what he was bred to, more than anything else.
Yes, the Hollingsworth dogs were big dogs, but Ch Hammer was a 32, and Coca Cola was a 26, and these dogs influenced my line more than the Hollingsworth dogs did. They were just as game as the Hollingsworth dogs, but better fighters. I just bred in the direction of what I liked, athletically, and most of my dogs lost the Hollingsworth "look" (and size) ... and took on a look of their own.
Yes it does, thanks againYou're welcome! The pedigree looks way better with the photo attached.
Jack
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