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M.Carver's Pre-Keep

Discussion in 'APBT History' started by F.W.K., Nov 18, 2020.

  1. F.W.K.

    F.W.K. CH Dog

    MAURICE CARVER'S
    PRE-KEEP
    HOW I FEED A DOG OUT
    TO DETERMINE HIS FIGHTING WEIGHT

    [​IMG]

    First of all, this dog is 2 years old. He lives on the chain, in good shape,
    about 50 lbs.. I’ve been rolling him since he was 16 months old. He’s been
    rolled about 5 times. He has a good bite, he’s a strong wrestler and WELL-BRED. Now, I want you to understand that this is a “for instance”. I’ve cleaned my dog up, worms, etc.. It takes about 20 to 30 days to put him at the weight
    I think he should fight at. This depends on whether his fat is hard or soft.

    About 5:00 in the afternoon, I give him 5 miles of road work. I keep the dog’s pace at about 6 or 7 miles per hour beside the car, on about 25 feet of rope.
    In this 5 miles of work, I windsprint him twice for about 50 yards. When I get back to the house, I put him in his condition house for about 45 minutes.
    The water I give him is thoroughly boiled and cooled. I let him drink until
    he lifts his head.

    The food consists of ¼ lb. Lean ground meat, cooked about half done, 2 - 12 minute boiled eggs, 2 cups of All-Bran, 1 cocktail can of tomato juice. This is all he gets. I feed vitamins in this pre-keep----this is very important! I kill two birds with one stone. This pup has not been tested yet. The day that he comes to the weight I think he should fight at, I completely change his ration, for 7 days.
    I give him about 2 lbs. of meat and 2 tea cups of Purina. I give him his last feeding the 6th day. What I’m trying to explain is, he does not get any food
    or drink for about 18 to 24 hours before he’s tested.

    I put a big, rough dog, about 15 to 20 lbs. bigger on him for about 20 to 25 minutes. Then, I start scratching him. Now, you must remember that this dog has been in pre-keep and your big dog might get in trouble for air. If he does, I’d pick him up and put another rough one on him. You usually don’t have to use the second dog, especially if your big dog has been pulled down to about 5 or 7 lbs. of his fighting weight. Some say I am too rough but this is a rough game.

    Now your pup is ready to go to the Vet and get medication. I’ve always been lucky about having a good Vet that understands.

    Take good care of him and he’ll be ready to match in about 90 days. With good care and medication, it takes about 62 days for his blood to purify after a hard go. Remember, a dog from 13 to 18 lbs. over his fighting weight, doesn’t have but about 7 minutes of air in him and damn sure can be stopped, especially if he is young. There has been many a fat dog called cur. Take good care of a good prospect. There’s a lot of good dogs ruined every year by the owners drinking too much and rolling their dogs. It does not go together!
    I have done this myself and messed up.

    I am the third generation in the dog game. My grandfather got dogs from Ireland, from an uncle of his, long before I ever came. He told my father that the family of dogs he had were bred right and were all game. If they turned out bad, he’d blame it on their upbringing.

    You young men, or not so young men, that are just starting, don’t hesitate
    to ask questions because most any older man in the dog game will help you. There’s not many big secrets that are real, just good horse sense is the big secret! This was not written to cause controversy, just to help a beginner
    that’s interested in the game. ~Maurice B. Carver~
     
  2. corvettedex

    corvettedex CH Dog

    Nice share "FWK" i like reading and hearing stories about "The Siver Fox "
     
    david63 and F.W.K. like this.
  3. slim12

    slim12 Super Moderator Staff Member

    Those are always good reads. Even when I read them again and again they still are a good read.

    I sometimes try to think back into the times as back then that was cutting edge information.

    The guy that turned me onto dogs way back when did things really similar. Like the Dogs of Velvet and Steel was state of the art/cutting edge information at the time it was written.

    Things have changed a bunch but the principles are pretty much the same. Most people skip over the part about the dog being empty and especially about allowing the dog to heal and flush afterwards. That may be getting close to the 'lost art' part of the dogs.

    S
     
  4. FrankDublin

    FrankDublin CH Dog

    really good read if I have a dog thats gotten busted up while hunting I tend to like to wait 4 months before doing any more hunting with him

    lucky we have all these protective vest and collars now because a boar can really mangle a dog and you

    with open wounds comes blood count issues that lead to muscle issues and illness so for me 4mnths was a rule of thumb
    but i guess three is fair
     
    oldguy and F.W.K. like this.
  5. tomjones2

    tomjones2 Big Dog

    Great share... gold
     
    oldguy and F.W.K. like this.
  6. F.W.K.

    F.W.K. CH Dog

    Time to recover and getting healed up is just that important as the work which is put inside them. So I agreed with you.
     
    oldguy and Dusty Road like this.
  7. slim12

    slim12 Super Moderator Staff Member

    I don't think a lot of people understand the importance. Most of the time the prep going in, the immediate after care and the time to heal/recover plays a huge role in the next show...or the ability to come back out.

    S
     
    oldguy, tomjones2 and AGK like this.
  8. F.W.K.

    F.W.K. CH Dog

    As Tudor once said, every scar takes something out of them.
     
    oldguy and david63 like this.
  9. old goat

    old goat CH Dog

    There once was an old Bulldog that started his career late in life and won 3 in 11 months at the age of 5.5 years .
     
    oldguy likes this.
  10. ben brockton

    ben brockton CH Dog

    Them old guys had the numbers so it didn't matter if they ruined one young. Dude left snooty on the ground after rascal got in that ass and went home. I believe lots of potentially great dogs were ruined back then.
     
    oldguy likes this.
  11. slim12

    slim12 Super Moderator Staff Member

    Not just back then.

    I knew a guy once who had maybe the gamest strain of Eli dogs ever. For my taste, he started dogs way too young and he was way too hard on them til they earned a chain spot.

    If a dog was still there at 2 years old it was a known fact he had seen the other side. He more than likely buried countless numbers of winners/champions.

    One of the old fellows use to say, "If you set out looking for curs you will find them but if you go about it looking for bulldogs, you can find them too". or in so many words.

    S
     
  12. ben brockton

    ben brockton CH Dog

    Me personally never seen one better at 16 months than at 24 months but I never had more than 8/10 mature dogs on the yard at a time.
     
    oldguy likes this.
  13. slim12

    slim12 Super Moderator Staff Member

    So true. And I will sort of double down and say no dog has ever suffered from waiting. At least that is my opinion.

    But agree with BB wholeheartedly.

    S


     
  14. FrankDublin

    FrankDublin CH Dog

    Time makes for a very
    Time makes for a very different and better hunting dog young dogs show bad signs out of immaturity alone so Im guessing the same principle applies for sore and injured animals
     

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