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Interview with War Eagle Kennels Harry Hargrove

Discussion in 'APBT History' started by AGK, Sep 12, 2014.

  1. slim12

    slim12 Super Moderator Staff Member

    Like I said, what he did in the dogs ranks him up there with the best of them. Like it is said in the interview or maybe in another post he did not sell an awful lot of dogs, especially pups. For whatever reason, dogs that produce and people that sell puppies get remembered and in turn are held in high regard.

    Honeybunch was known as maybe the most prolific female producer of all time. No one ever talks about her winning 4
    matches and no one ever speaks of her last scratch when she was thrown/pushed out of the corner. Many a notable dogman who was there said she was not coming. But the 4 wins and the questionable ending to her last show was soon forgotten as the number of winners she produced climbed.

    Molly Bee, to me, is the greatest match dog of all time, male or female, but there were not enough litters to say she was a prodcuer and of the dogs off her you could ride up and down the road with 1 or 2, but four or five would not stay. Molly Bee then gets lost in the shuffle of the greats of all time.

    War Eagle's best trait, maybe more so than the use of the slat mill, was playing to a dog's individual strength. He did not have a keep that he applied to his dogs. He had dogs that he applied to his keep, if that makes sense. Every workout was hand tailored to that particular dog.

    He was hard on his dogs and when they made it to two years old, coupled with his ability to shape, War Eagle was the odds on favorite going in, regardless of who as on the other side. His dogs had mouth and intensity and they had the tools to finish early, but they were game and conditioned and would stay all night if need be. It was hard to handle that complete package.

    He hand picked a few people and taught the use of the slat mill, a very few. Carolina Hot Boys was one and they brought those RBJ dogs back to the forefront in the 90's. Not knocking on the RBJ dogs at all, but the puppy sales had started to soar and the present day accomplishments had slipped, or maybe just planed off. CHB provided a spark. He was good with the dogs and War Eagle was his foundation.

    As War Eagle got older people took advantage. Freak Girl was good with the dogs when she was with RC but between the pills and what not she became a real rock star. The drugs sent her down a bad path. She wound up living on the War Eagle property. In hindsight that might have been the beginning of the end. The War Eagle spot went from a predominantly private yard with only a very few being invited, to a place where the dope over ruled the dogs, and what came with the dope was the door that opened and led to his being arrested.

    I know a couple of people who tried to get him to move and get away from what was created. They both say his 70's were not kind to him and the years were piling up on his health, especially his mental health. People that knew him personally said he was not fit to stand trial and at worst, should have been committed to a hospital vs. sentenced to prison. Some say he admitted to things that he did not do, things where there were no possibility he was apart of, but when the government ball started rolling they did very little fact checking of what was said.

    None of the crap that happened to him would have happened years earlier, not because of morals or ethics or he was such a stand up guy, but because it would have gotten in the way of winning. And for him, winning was the only passing grade the dog (or even the War Eagle) could get. It was the "every kid does not get a trophy" approach. I am thinking for me, even with the pointing from the back of the car, his ultimate desire was to win matches and he has my deepest respect when it comes to the dogs. For him, it was all about winning. I dig that.

    The bottom line is that they took advantage of a feeble minded old man at a time when he could not defend himself for things he did many years before. He was tried/convicted for WHO he was in years past not for WHAT he was charged with at the time, if that makes sense.

    Best of luck to the War Eagle going forward. I'm thinking in his own way, and in his own mind, he is still scratching. Can't ask for much more than that.

    S
     
  2. I no mate.it's like that in all circles,not just dogs.how do these big phoney gangsters stay out of jail?,coz there all fucking grasses that's why mate..some of them pay judges of(if they got enough money that is),some of them are on the pay roll!,and some of them just pass info over about all the other crummy crimes going on.....
    That's just a example..but when there's a lot at stake,most folk will just hang up the towel,give up,cur out...blame every one else.use a scape goat....turn grass.

    The ones what don't..are like diamonds.
    Yeah dogs are way more loyal the humans.
     
  3. How long was the U.K.Pitbull news going for?..I've never read it.seems mad to consider a mag even being published in this part of the world about that stuff..crazy times.a different world man..
    Is there anyway to get old copys??.like can you get them on EBay or Amazon??...or were they ever copied to be down loaded,or is there a sight for them?or anything?
     
  4. oldguy

    oldguy CH Dog

    A different world all right mate.. A world where you either worked dogs or didn't count, worked them or didn't get to have an opinion, worked them or never got invited .. Times have changed and not for better!
     
  5. oldguy

    oldguy CH Dog

    @slim12 Thanks for the above insight into HH slim, you wrote it both fair and informative, dope and women is quicksand for many man.. Getting old and making a donkey's ass of yourself is never pretty.. I should know!
     
  6. slim12

    slim12 Super Moderator Staff Member

    Sometimes a person can do one thing and that one bad thing overshadows a lifetime of good. And sometimes rightfully so.

    He dropped the dime on a number of people but I guess I had always been consumed with the winning aspect of these dogs I looked past a lot.

    I can remember hearing that, Mofo'ing, GD'ing, blah blah blah. And I was thinking but he sure does bring a good dog when comes but I did not say it out loud til I was grown and out from under the umbrella. LOL

    Again, I think he did good things and I think he made some bad decisions. His later decisions on who he allowed to be on his property did him in. The dope, the dope boys and the dope girls played out and he took the brunt of it, going to jail.

    I hated that for him as I think he was convicted for what he did long ago not what his charges at the time.

    Regardless of the things he did I have the utmost respect for him when he was the old HH doing dogs when I was a kid.

    S
     
  7. corvettedex

    corvettedex CH Dog

    Great info and I certainly appreciate the way you kept it real Slim..
     
  8. Blackpoison

    Blackpoison CH Dog

    why start another thread when you can continue in this good thread..

    By Fat Bill wrangler.jpg cotton.jpg
    I saw Champion Wrangler matched twice with ay own eyes. He was as ace pitdog and a garbler's delight. Being the type of dog that was not to inpressive to look at or watch in action for the first few minutes, when! he was matched into a worthy opponent.
    The southeast late 1980's it is a nice bitter southern night as a group of pit Dog man fron around the world had gathered for a the fast lane
    action at hand. There were five matches that night starting at 8:00pm The first set of males was BlueGrass Kennels wrangler and Cottingham’s Champion Cotton both dogs make weight and are pitted on go The cotton dog came out like a cannonball and went straight to the rear end of Wrangler. Wrangler was totally overwhelmed by this and that is to say nothing of the reaction of Bluegrass as they were just breaking into big time “. The Cottinghan brothers on the other hand were in very good spirits as the Cotton dog took the lead and Wrangler had no defense for the onslaught that was upon hin. Wrangler at the 30 Minute Mark starts doubling over and trying to get cotton off with nose holds. He is not being effective enough because at this point Cotton has pitched a tent in Wrangler's ass end. Cotton beat a good dog named Jacki Red campaigned by P&P Kennels. he was a brother to Whitley's stub Garner's Lever Red. Cotton used this same style to defeat this in a hour, Wrangler by 45 ainutes look like he was surely going to loose, but the Snapping and attempts to get cotton out had caused Cotton not to do the damage that would be expected. Also during this first 45 minutes Wrangler actually chewed his own tail in half as he was trying to get Cotton out.
    Then just at the hour mark Wrangler got on the nose good and hard Up on all four feet for the first time and was shaking his hold with vigor. The crowd was amazed the Cottonham’s were amazed and the Betting started going the other way. Bluegrass Danny was covering all the Bets as Bluegrass Greg seemed to be getting his bearing as he was finally able to relax a bit, but not much. For the next TWO HOURS these dogs capped it out in the grandeur style then at 3:21 minutes with the last 20 of it having Wrangler standing on Cotton's nose, Cotton let out a yelp.
    The cottinghans were the best of the day at this time and you could see the communication between then as they were doing everything within the Rules to win. This match had come down to the fact that two aces were in the pit and the question was, which handler knew what to do to win this match, or at least get out with their own Money and the dog. 3:40 minutes it is obvious that both dogs are going to die if something does not happen, for a turn had been called on Cotton, but a handle could not be made. Wrangler looked like a fresh dog at this point of the match as he was all over Cotton's head and was not coming out of hold. If Wrangler had let go for practically a nano second Durant could have got the handle, but this was not the case. Cottingham Boys at this point told Bluegrass that there dog was surely going to die if they did not stop the match and call it a draw. When this talk began Triple Ott George called out a 5,000 dollar bet that Wrangler would scratch, if called upon to do so. Man this was a cool match I wish you all could have been there, the talk was getting to Bluegrass and they offered Durant a draw and a request that both dogs courtesy scratch. No bets to be paid. The dogs are separated and Cotton is put on the line at 3:54 ninutes to scratch, he doesn't cone. Then Wrangler to go at THREE HOURS AND FIFTY FIVE MINUTES HE GOES , HARD !!! This was a super fight between to top notch dogs and two top notch camps. Both dogs survived to be watched again. Cotton was matched a few months later into JC Shaw's Tugboat in the hills of Georgia. Cotton left his best fight behind that night he went into Wrangler for he was handled at 45 minutes and taken from the Pit, he was spent. The dog that beat him turned out not to be near the Calibre of Wrangler for Tugboat quit in 58 minutes to Carolina Kennel's Champion Termite.
    Wrangler meanwhile went on to win another one in the hands of Greg Lester and then was sent to the Cottinghans to condition for his fourth Joe T and his entry out of Louisiana. Joe I had a big red dog that looked Much bigger than the weight, but when time care to make weight he did Durant had two big time males going that night as he had conditioned Champion Wrangler, Hick's Grand Champion Assassin 2 and Wildside’s Miss Rufus for this Show. At the word pit the Red Dog of Joe T’s came out and Hammered Wrangler but only for a few minutes because Wrangler Grab him by the nose, tucked his tail and took the botton. This was Wrangler's well known style back home and these people from Louisiana were betting heavy on Joe T's Red. Red had beaten Bob Boyd's 2 time winner Demon in quick fashion one year ago and to the crowd it looked as if he was going to be the winner again.
    Around the 15 minute mark Wrangler came to the top and shook that dog with everything he had as he had Red by the nose and was clearly putting the mustard on hin. By the 40 minute mark Red took the count making Wrangler a 4 time winner. Also that night Assassin II won his 6th match and Miss Rufus won hers too! That night the Cottinghan's with some of the best dogs alive at the time in tow took, Best of Show, Gamest In Show, and Best Female. Not bad traveling 500 miles with 20 people and three dogs.
    Wrangler was sold shortly after this and died as the result of breeding him to a bitch with an infection. He contracted the infection she had and died as a result a short time later. Champion Wrangler was a very special dog and he was surely a credit to the breed. Signed Fat Bill
     
    Jerzboy42084, stedz and AGK like this.
  9. Blackpoison

    Blackpoison CH Dog

    credit to C.S for post above
     
  10. stedz

    stedz Top Dog

    I remember reading somewhere that HH and DC went into each other so many times,they used to share a thermos of coffee in the square,while the action was going on,lol.
     

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