Quote Originally Posted by No Quarter Kennel View Post
Another thing about breeding dogs to remember, when dealing with cross-type dogs, is your first effort to inbreed might be disappointing ... but if you linebreed it back again, you get what you're hoping for

Jack, can you expand on this please?
For example, I made the outcross to Ch Big John and 4 out of 7 pups wound up quitting.

Of those 4 quitters, 2 of them were still decent dogs, Little Big John (who stopped totally exhausted at 1:39) and Siren Girl (who beat a 1xW, then a 4xW, but who then quit in 1:00 on her Championship bid, her 3rd match in 1 year)]. Siren Girl also stopped every dog and bitch on the yard of her previous owner.

Then there were 2 rank curs, Dr. Death and Anthrax, who quit in :12 and :19 on my yard to Poncho Jr. and Duke Nukem, respectively. These two rank curs had looked great on other people's dogs on their first couple of rolls, so I bred Doc back to his mother Screamer, and I bred Anthrax to his half- (and Duke Nukem's full-) sister Athena Red ... a bit prematurely, before having put them with legitimately good dogs. We also bred Anthrax to Poncho Jr.'s sister Cindy.

Anyway, after these dogs quit, I got rid of them ... and sold all their pups cheap ... but, over time, nearly every single one of these pups either won matches or passed severe game tests, one becoming a Champion, another couple winning 100% dead game (literally dying minutes after they stayed with it long enough to win), one beating Stone City in 2:12, another being so devastating and talented it prompted Killer Bees to call me and say, "That is the best dog I have seen in 15 years." Not a single dog from any of these "second-step" breedings back to my core dogs quit (though a few I never heard about after I sold them).

So my point is even the RANKEST of my outcrosses, when bred back to my core game stock, threw Champions, winners, and DG dogs in very high percentages like I'm used to getting.

Therefore, when you make that "killer cross" ... which proves disappointing at the first step (like Zebo/Honeybunch) ... don't be afraid to breed one of those pups back to one side or the other of the pedigree, because there is where the greatness may well be found, in that next step (not the first one)

Jack