Ive known Gary for 25 years. The first dogs I got from Gary were directly off Pig, Vito, Andy L, Rufin. We were originally trying some of those to catch cattle. I had a 29 lb female named Rose that could catch a cow and flip her end over end. She was out of a Hammonds female and sired by Ratliff's Gus. Those dogs back then were "smarter" than your average game dog and could be trained for catch work and could be trained to socialize with other dogs. We had a male named Jiggerboo that was a catching machine. He was sired by Hammonds Rufin and his mother was Sarah Belle (a daughter of Perry's Miss Pacman). He would catch cattle or hogs and could be called off. When he was about 2 years old, he "turned on" and killed a Catahoula, and was useless after that. The moral of the story is . . . any bulldog from game lines, has to be watched. Just because they catch good one day, there is always that chance that all of sudden they become interested in dogs instead of hogs. Once they "click on" to dogs, you almost can't turn em back off. I have used gamebred bulldogs to catch and I have used non-gamebred ones as well. In my opinion, the non-game bulldogs consistently make the best catch dogs because they don't come with all the problems, and they still catch good.
Crossing game lines into non-game lines is the way to go. You get the "fire" that comes with the game dog side, and you can kind of docile em back up with the other side (if that makes any sense). If I were looking for a line to cross my non-game blood with, Hammonds line would be a good choice. But all bulldogs are individuals. There are good ones and bad ones in every family of dogs.
And for those of you who don't know . . . "Catch Dog Enterprises" is just a name. It really doesn't mean that Gary is running a "catch dog" breeding program over there in Mansfield, TX. I don't think Gary is a hog hunter or has ever been. However, he is real good honest man.
Very well said! I'm in the process of the non-game/game crosses. I have some right now and are very making very nice pups. It will take years to see the rest of it through.
