((( Great Pit Dogs who were NOT APBTs )))

[Officially Retired]

I don't believe there has been a breeder in that part of the world who has been so focused in a similar way to yourself Jack. I understand what you are saying & agree on your thoughts on putting Duke back to a daughter out of the stafford female. Go from there & run the full litter on would have been a good idea. Also,this would have been the early 80's & a lot of the lads were green,so would have most probably culled any failures. In truth that is what most would do today in that part of
the world,regardless on how they were bred.

There is no reason to cull average dogs. A breeder needs to understand that all things revert back to the average, and that all you need to do is re-shuffle the deck, and you'll get your aces again.
Sure it is better to breed to the ace end of the litter, but great dogs can still come from mediocre ones, if you line up the genes right. Gr Ch Buck, for example, came out of two average linebred Bolio dogs.

It is
hard to keep sporting dogs there so any yard
would be limited in size & most lads were moving
over to the bulldogs at that time. Selling the
staffords to help pay for them.

I know that all-too-well ... I have sold a ton of dogs I wish I had kept ... and yet I have never had any problem breeding world class dogs from what's right here on the yard either.

You could say the
re-introduction of the bulldog was the beginning
of the end for the sporting stafford. It would have
been interesting if this never happened,where the stafford would be today.
There is still some titled staffords in Europe who
have proven themselves to be good dogs,but there
is a major lack of yards who work them.

All of these laws are basically doing what they intend to do, and that is exterminating the breed. If things weren't so bad, I would still have 80-100 dogs. But because of the way they are, I have sold-off all my dogs, and mostly provide information about them now. I am sure it is like that over there, and made worse (for the Staffords) by the fact bulldogs are more mainstream. But I really can't tell the difference between a Stafford and a Bulldog, physically!

Also,don't let the writings mislead you in thinking
there was or is world class staffords who could
compete with likewise bulldogs. World class
staffords yes,but i am pretty sure they would
struggle against a world class bulldog of the same weight.

I don't know enough about them to comment, but it sounds like some of them whipped the best bulldogs too. With the right breeding program, and enough specimens, I am sure a good breeder could keep them highly-competitive.

Rare you get an interest from a bulldog man like yourself,so it is good to see you appreciate the breed.

I just like game dogs, my friend, and I find it kind of a refreshing change/twist to discuss the history and accomplishments of another (and closely-related) breed

Jack