Who stole gr. Ch. Art?

The Times

WHO STOLE GR. CH. ART?​

Most of the people stealing dogs are not dogmen. They just pretend to be. And any of the high class dogs, and pit winners stolen, are taken by people who wouldn't know what to do with a great dog. These dogs are rolled once or twice a week, and just wasted away.

Dog thieves won't bring the dog out where everyone can recognize him. And their friends are quite protective of each other, and won't report them. They hide them out in their own little area. These dog thieves are most always inexperienced "A" holes, that couldn't take care of a pet hamster let alone a high performance animal such as a true pitdog.

If you are worried about your dog being stolen, then you must take measures to protect them:

(1) Keep unknown people out of your yard and kennels.<O:p</O:p

(2) Don't make it a habit to let people come to see all your dogs.<O:p</O:p

(3) Someone should always be home to keep an eye on your dogs.<O:p</O:p

Gr. Ch. Art was bought from Jim Stinson of Texas. He had won five fights. Dave Adams and Bruce Crutchfield bought Art for $2,500 dollars after Crutchfield lost to Art in a match. They matched and won over Phil Cumper's POLAR, as his name implies he was a white dog. This match went one hour twelve minutes.

ART was now just over three years old, and didn't even have so much as a chipped tooth and was in perfect health. Adams had been studding ART for a while and was now ready to get busy, and match ART again when the worst thing possible happened. ART was stolen -- this was in 1977. Everyone was stunned and felt a great loss. A $3,000 dollar reward was offered, no questions asked.

But unfortunately ART was never returned. Richard Stratton wrote ART probably spent the rest of his life with people who couldn't qualify to carry his water. But this was not the case, as Art did not live out his life with these people, they were too stupid.

Many, many people would travel from good distances to see GR. CH. ART. There was always a lot of action going on at Adams' place. And, along with the good dog people, a certain percentage of low-lifes would come. One of these people came back at night and stole ART. As the years went by ART was forgotten.

I met a fellow at a convention, and I had seen him at several other conventions where he matched dogs. We talked, and we got onto the subject of CH. ART. He said he knew who stole ART.

This fellow was born and raised in Cleveland, and he knew just about everyone in the area. He said a young man openly bragged that he had stolen ART, and rolled "The Grand Champion" until he had killed him, using a sixty-five pound dog. The braggard's name was told to me as "Fat Gary."

For someone to steal a valuable dog like ART and just take him and waste him is ridiculous. It goes to show you of the low level of intelligence this person had. He had better hope that when Dave Adams reads this article, that he (Adams) doesn't come looking for "Fat Gary."

I know I would.

~ Ozzie Stevens​

 

As much as Ozzie is a dogman that I think very highly of, it was fairly common knowledge to western fanciers that Art ended up in Arizona, and lived a long life siring puppies ...........with different paperwork. Most people today have not heard of the man who reportedly had him, so please don't guess or speculate. Art was even reported to have even been brought out to an ADBA show in the 80's as an old dog, and the whispers went through the crowd to those in the know that "it was Art". I got this firsthand from a man who was at the same show with his own aged 5X winner.
Coincidentally, one of my very best friends to this day showed his first dog out of the kennel from this same man who supposedly had Art, with the dog winning in something like 2:40. I met my friend some 5-6 years after I got the story of Art at the ADBA show from the other fellow, and my friend; without knowing I knew anything about it, told me he suspected that this dog he had won with was really a heavy Art dog. He lived 20 hours away from the man who told me the story and ran in completely different circles. I'll say this, ff Art wasn't in Arizona, then a lot of western dog fanicers sure were misguided in their thinking. As for me, I think they knew exactly what they were talking about.

 

Since most stolen dogs are never found,....how would anyone know.
I've had a dog stolen and known plenty who have,....most of the time the finger points to ex-friends/ex-partners/people with a grudge;.... generally people who know you, your habits, and what they're after. Now, my dog may have only been worth shit to me,....but I know of a lot of good ones that went,...and most often the disappearance coincided with a falling out, someone talking too much, or some other bullshit incident. Those that were lucky enough to be found were often closer than believed,......if not in distance,....then in acquaintance. And very often some time after the deed, stories would circulate naming names they knew and reasons they thought nobody else did.

Of course opportunists and assholes steal dogs for whatever reasons.....hell, when I was small I watched through a window as a school kid who walked by my uncle's yard every day reached through the gate, took a pup out of a litter and kept walking home. Like Hannibal Lector said in Silence of the Lambs,......we covet what we see every day. And as with most thefts,.....dog thefts are often commited by folks we live near, are close to us,....or know more about us than they should.

Now, as far as the Art case goes,.....well-known dogs owned by well-known are always extra large targets....and extraordinary shit can/does happen. However, for most......when you lose a dog,.......check your enemies once and your friends twice.

 

Thanx for the insight bro... I heard AZ as well, but didn't know how true it was.

YIS

 

preach!!

yis

 

The story that ozzie tells is the rumor here in cleveland. I have came in contact with said theif about 13 years ago, and was warned bya couple of older seasoned dogmen to stay clear of this guy he stole gr ch art. One of the gentlemen that warned me knew ozzie and ran some ozzie stevens dogs. So this rings a bell with me.

 

i heard he was in cincinnati

 

Thanks for that instresting artical

 

I really don't mean to preach,....and seriouly, it really is cool to see some of the stuff you're putting up again. However, I just think that in this day and age the bullshit stereptype tales being told about how we got into the mess we're in need to be debunked, examined,...or at least put in perspective.

 

that hound that art went into was a old j.rozmus bred dog which is old bob neblett blood they say it was the hardest hunt art had ....polar was a young dog wow the good old days ....great post

 

i think same blood a gr ch bear trap/// polars brother grch fido the wonder dog

 

It sounds like an old Elvis song.Most of the time its someone that has been to your yard. An ex-partner or someone that knows u pretty well I would check first.Look at other great dogs that was stolen Pit General and Indian Bolio.

 

I met an older guy that ran in those circles that said Mr. Adams had a thing for the ladies and a guy took the dog because he had messed around wife his wife/girlfriend knew where he was, but didn't dare go to get him. Just what he told me don't know how true it was. $3000 it's hard to beleive that dog didn't turn up. I had my yard almost wiped out and when I found out who it was he was a guy I knew forever and was smiling in my face. I don't have alot of visitors to my yard now.

 

I believe i would have knocked out all of his teeth so his smile wasn't so good anymore the bastard

 

i don't think art was in ohio when he was stolen ?

 

could you walk right into daves yard & just take what you wanted ?

 

yes he was... he was at dave adams house when he was stolen[/QUOTE]

I see, so that's how Adams got to see a short roll between GR Ch Art and GR CH Zebo.

 

didnt know they had met. had they made GrCh title when they rolled?

 

I bet that was an accident. imagine if one had killed the other??? thats like playing chicken in Ferrari against a Lamborghini, too much to lose IMO... clash of the titans