Project Pit BullTM
Lines Types. What are they and why does anyone care?
What are line types and why should you care? First of all this isn't for everybody. Some of you with
rescue dogs or those of us who don't really care about pedigree will probably find this a bit boring.
However, as a student of the breed it would be a wise decision to further your education in line
types.
When you start learning about the breed one of the first things you encounter is the debate
about this line or that line and how one line is better than another. At first it can be overwhelming
and confusing. This month we'll talk about line types and give you a better understanding of the topic.
Line types are dogs that have been bred for specific traits by a specific breeder
for generations.
One of the oldest known lines of American Pit Bull Terriers is the Colby Line started by John Pritchard Colby in 1889. The Colby line still continues to this day and is now 116 years old.
What makes this a line type is after years of breeding Colby dogs started to show similar characteristics with each breeding. They were bred to a strict standard but J.P. also bred for specific traits he personally liked. A dog with gameness was obvious high on his list so he only bred the gamest of his dogs.
Thus, this establishes a line of dogs.
There are many line types. Hemphill, Wilder, Gotti (though a non-standard line type), Alligator, Turtle buster, Sorrell, Old Family Red Nose, Crenshaw and dozens of other lines exist these days.
Many people confuse breed type with line type and even more people use the wrong name to identify their dog. A hear a lot of people saying they have the red nose type. This is not a type, this is a nose color. The only time the red nose is used to identify a line is when you are referring to the Old Family Irish Red/Red Nose. These dogs are some what rare these days and some fanciers believe them to be extinct.
Nose color does not mean anything in regards to line type.
A certain line may throw (produce) a certain nose color over time but it has nothing to do with the overall line type or the quality of the dog. Red nose, black nose, blue nose, green nose, whatever color nose tells us nothing about the dog. Except it has a certain color nose.
Line types can also be called by the foundation dog. One example is Jocko. Jocko sired many a game dog and you will run across people saying, "My dog is out of the Jocko line." Meaning, their dog's pedigree is heavy with Jocko sired pups bred down from him.
Famous lines were started by breeders and gamedog fanciers like Carver, Hemphill, Colby, Crenshaw, Bourdeux, and Heinzl.
Other lines include, Alligator, Turtle Buster, Gotti (big blue dogs), Lar Sans, Matrix, and Tatanka.
I'm partial to the older line types. Colby, Heinzl, Crenshaw, Sorrell, and breeders that use a combination of these dogs in their lines to produce game dogs with good solid drives.
I'm partial of any high drive line that produces a dog that fits the breed standard and has a solid temperament.
As with any line you will get your bad apples. Chinaman for example was a people aggressive game dog that bit at least three people. Yet another example that biting game dogs were not culled as strictly as people would like to believe.
If you want to find your dogs line, study their pedigrees and contact the registry for more information about a specific line of dogs. You can also search out information on the web to dig into your dogs pedigree even deeper. Don't be surprised if you all you find is puppies for sale ads though. Most of these lines are not documented to any degree and only the original breeders would be able to give you a lot of detailed insight into how the line started.
What it boils down to is, does your dog have a solid temperament and adhere to the ADBA and/or the UKC standard? If not, then I would avoid whatever line your dog came out of in the future.
Pit Bull Training Tip of the Month:
Is Your Dog Really Trained? Or My Dog Does this Great at Home I Don't Know Why She/He Won't Do it Here.
To the right you will see my dog Angel sitting on a foot stool and waiting patiently as I take the picture.
This is a three part obedience sequence that starts with, "go to your place," "sit," "wait."
Go to your place is how I direct my dogs to specific spots I want them to go to. The rest of the routine is pretty standard. Sit, wait and don't move until I tell you that you can.
Why am I showing you this and talking about it? Well one of the biggest problems people face is teaching their dog(s) that sit means sit regardless of where they are and down means down regardless of where they are etc...
As a trainer I get this line from people all the time, "He/she does this all the time at home, I don't know why he/she isn't doing it now." I step in and say, "Because he/she hasn't learned the cue."
When your dog(s) know a command (referred to by me as a cue) you can say it anywhere, anytime, and the dog will comply with 80-90% reliablity. 80-90% reliablity? That's all? There isn't a dog on this planet that is 100% reliable in all situations. To think your dog should be is unrealistic and unfair to your dog.
If you ask your dog to sit and your dog is facing away from you, they should still sit. Angel recently learned this behavior and while it took a minute to get the message across, she knew the cue, she just didn't know that she could do it without facing me.
A lot of dogs that are of Angels level are like this. Immediately after we worked on it another advanced dog worked on it and well, she responded the same way. Though she learned it quicker than Angel.
What about teaching the down/wait while you keep moving and call your dog to you after 20 yards? Down/wait means down/wait regardless of the situation. If you are walking along and you tell your dog to down and then tell them to wait, the fact you
are still moving should not make any difference. They should respond as if you were standing right there in front of them.
Now don't be fooled, these situations are not easy to train and are for advanced dogs. However, if you are teaching sit in the kitchen and not in the living room with a beginning dog, you need to move to other rooms to teach your dog that sit means sit regardless of what room you are in. Repeat this for every behavior you teach your dog.
I'm often asked how long I have been working with Angel. I respond, "5 years." Basically since the moment she came to live with me at 3 1/2 months I have been working on one thing or another with her. She is still not fully trained.
Fact is, none of my dogs will ever be fully trained because training doesn't stop until they pass away.
But He/She does this great at home, I swear!
Remember what I just said, training doesn't stop until your dog passes away. Training should be done every day, all day. But Jason, my instructor says to work for 5-20 minutes per day, yet you say you need to work with your dog all day.
I know you work or you have other things to do, I should have said, work as often as you can with your dog for as long as you can with your dog. One easy way around the puny 15-20 minute sessions is to intergrate obedience into every day life.
At Fido's feeding time require a sit/wait before you put the food down. Before you allow Fido in the car he should stand/wait until you say it's okay to get in. The same goes for getting out of the car. The same goes for going up stairs, down stairs, into other rooms and outside.
While you are out walking put Fido on a down/wait for 1 minute before you continue on your journey.
While at the in-law's house require Fido to down/stay for 25 minutes while you chit-chat.
When company comes over Fido should be required to down/wait until every one is in the house and
then he should be required to go to his spot for another 20 minutes until he settles in and your
guest are comfortable. Then you can allow interaction between guest and dog.
Fido should be required to behave and respond in every situation imagined. In the car, on walks, running after a squirrel, out in the yard, at your friends BBQ, at the in-laws, at your grandparents, when you kids friends come over, at the shopping mall parking lot, the list goes on and on. I think you're getting the point by now though.
In order to have a well trained dog (notice I didn't say fully trained) you have to work every single behavior in every day life, every day, as often as you possible can.
For Those With Puppies
I told you this issue was going to be full of information. :o)
Puppies, oh the darling little furballs of death! I'm kidding. Most puppies are what they are and that is a growing dog that needs to learn how to (A) be a dog (B) be a well behaved dog and (C) respect and listen to you, their leader (aka the GrandPubba).
I would start out by socializing the puppy to everything I could. Especially during the 8-14 week period. This is the critical point for puppies to develop life long associations with good stuff. What puppy loves at 8-14 weeks, puppy will usually love for the rest of their life unless something tragic happens.
I can not stress socializing your dog between the ages of 8-14 weeks enough. It is so important that many a dog is made or broken during this period for the rest of their lives.
If you miss it, you can not get a do over and you can't take it back. You will be playing catch up for the rest of your dogs life. It is especially important to get your dog around other dogs, big, small, hyper, calm, playful, old, young, dogs of colors and breeds.
People are equally important with an emphasis on children. Getting your dog used to children is of the utmost importance. Start with older kids that can be taught how to behave around your puppy and this way your puppy will start to learn how to behave around children.
Gradually introduce babies to the puppy and toddlers. Being careful to supervise both puppy and child as they interact. Don't put the baby on the floor and never raise your puppy above a kids head or give them higher status than the child.
One example is letting the dog up on the couch while your baby plays on the floor. The dog should never be allowed to be higher than any child.
I would also suggest you implement a set of leadership rules as well. You can learn more about Leadership Rules and Exercises for Pit Bull Puppies and Adult dogs by clicking here.
In conclusion
Training is a life long process that you and your dog must work on every day in order to stay sharp. You have to keep using the skills you teach your dog in order for your dog to be reliable under heavy distraction. The goal by the way is to have your dog as reliable as possible under the heaviest of distractions.
Once you reach that goal, you can say, "My dog is well trained." Remember, there isn't a dog on earth that is 100% reliable in every situation and to expect any dog to achieve that is unrealistic and you're setting the bar too high.
Personally, I shoot for 95% reliable under the heaviest of distractions. Though none of my dogs are that reliable as of yet.
Subscriber Questions
How do I fight Breed Specific Legislation or BSL?
Jason, I want to fight breed specific legislation, how do I get started?
I would first suggest you visit http://www.Understand-a-bull.com and do some research on breed specific legislation and to keep informed about new BSL proposals too.
Once you are there you will find information about how to fight, prevent, and address BSL in your local area and around the nation.
Understand-a-bull is one of the best sites out there concerning the issue of breed specific legislation. I refer to it often.
Start fighting BSL by staying abreast of any possible proposals in your area or surrounding areas and start writing letters, voicing your concerns to law makers, and appearing at the public hearings these issues are brought up at. You can do that by contacting your local government and getting information from them.
You can start a local group of dog owners and start organizing events in your area that would help go towards breed education to inform the general public about the breed, how laws effect all dog owners, and to present the breed in a positive light.
Research the laws and current BSL around the nation to educate yourself about the issues these laws bring into the community. Like for example they drive out law abiding citizens to surrounding areas which creates a tidal wave of BSL due to the over flow of owners moving into non-bsl restricted areas.
Not to mention it takes money from the community, voters from the polls, and families out of the homes they have worked hard to obtain.
Breed Specific Legislation is pure non-sense and anyone who supports it is either completely igorant about how the laws work or they think it will never happen to their precious labardoodles and lap dogs.
Educating the public is the single more important step when fighting breed specific legislation.
Remember to go to: http://www.Understand-a-bull.com for more information and ideas.
Date: May 16th 2006
