28/01/2022
When I decided to start my own line I knew I had to start with a pure family of dogs. Colby I always considered to be the purest but as Mr. Coggins noted... Don Mayfield was the Man of his Era. I purchased a female, Daisy Mae, and a friend purchased Rock. We got the pups from Paul Sofiakis (RIP). Within a couple of weeks my friend called me and asked if I wanted to buy Rock. I said sure, but why are you selling him? Turns out the local Peanut Gallery had teased him, shamed him and basically told him he was a fool for buying a Mayfield dog. They said "Mayfield ain't done nothin with a dog in (50) years!!! I said "Ok, I'll buy Rock. I purchased Rock and his sister for $1,000.00/each. Soon after that I talked to Don Mayfield. He was funny as s**t!!! I Never heard nobody in my Life as high on their dogs as that Man!!! LOL!!!!! If I talked like that about my dogs I'd have been hated for Life!!! LOL!!! As Rock and his sister began to grow older it was obvious that they were a little different. I had about (12) dogs then, Rock and Mae, one on each side of the yard. Out of the (12) dogs the cats would only go to Rock and Mae. When I saw the cats rubbing up against them I was more than a little taken aback! I continued to talk to Don and began to learn his philosophy. You see he liked his dogs to behave that way... he called it being "well socialized". He said that way they had more sense. He talked a lot, oftentimes in looping circles, you really had to listen, to pay attention to understand. I really started to get him when he talked about raising pups. He'd put them in a large fenced enclosure with a lot of fallen trees/logs. As the pups ran, played and chased each other they had to run, jump and dodge the logs. This way he was giving them their first exercises in agility. What I learned from Mr. Mayfield was that the Dog Game was a Lifestyle. When Rock got to be (18) months my brother and I decided it was time to check him. Very game, very powerful, but short in the mouth department. I didn't worry to much about this because after all he was very in**ed and I knew he wasn't going to be doing too much hunting as I neede him most to produce. At different stages of inbreeding we pool the genes but we can expect that they'll loose some traits of the line. Not actually "loose" because genetically we stack and pool the genes of the line. *I used inbreeding to pool the genes, thus preserving the line, to use for future breeding.
I bred Rock to Mae several times and she'd eat (all) the pups before I ever got to see a one! One of Rocks first breedings was to an in**ed Panama Red bitch named Baby. I purchased Baby and her (2) littermate sisters, Little Girl and Lottie. I paid $300 for Little Girl, $500 for Baby and $600 for Lottie! Little girl actually turned out to be the best... fast and could break a hogs leg! Baby, however was not to be underestimated. We first turned her loose on a hog and with lightning speed she ran straight through the front legs and came out the other end with a stifle. The crowd errupted and that was the East coast's introduction to the Panama Red line. I bred Rock to Baby and that produced a litter of (10) pups. My pick of the litter was a little red pup that would always find a way to get out and come looking for me... I called him Kango. My brother's pick was a small red male with a blk muzzle... a reincarnation of Dibo! We called him Storm. We also kept a female out of that litter a red, red nose we called Henny. When they were about (2.5) years old a friend took the three hog hunting. All three were great hunters... all three Winners.
Henny was actually the best of the three, but all were exceptional dogs. I sold Kango to a friend and he went on to do great things and Rock would go on to make ROM. My journey with the Mayfield dogs was an uphill battle.
I knew I'd reached a level of success when the dogs started drifting down South and I started getting calls from some of the biggest of the heavy hitters! The Dogs are a "Thinking Man's Game, a very competitive game. I won by staying focused, I had tunnel vision and I never bred to a male I didn't own. I remained loyal to my friends and they had access to anything on my yard. But the opposition... I didn't give a damn about what the other man was doing. Yours in sport
Fictional Story
Not intended for any illegal purposes
WK Stewart
