Dogs of today - better or worse?

"The Armitage book "Thirty Years with Fighting Dogs" has a severe game test that Mr Armitage recommends. He says you should use two rough, hard-biting dogs, much larger than your own dog. He says to roll your dog for twenty minutes with the first big, rough dog and then immediately put the second dog on him for another twenty minutes. He says that if your dog will scratch after that, then he's worth a bet. I agree that a dog which lived through that and scratched, would be worth a bet, if you ever got him healed up. If you tried that Armitage test with todays dogs, you'll kill the dog you're testing more often than not."

I found this above mentioned statement in another thread, but I didn't want to hi-jack that thread with this question, so I will pose it here - do you think dogs of today are better or worse then those of yesteryear & why? Why would the dogs of Armitage's day be able to stand up to such a vigorous test, but the same test performed on a dog of today would likely kill it?

Your opinions & why please.
<!-- / message --> <!-- controls -->

 

The dog that can push uphill for 40 min.with rough, hard biting dogs is not your average dog then or now. those that could take it then, could take it now, and I'm sure they lost a few then also. It was the smart ones that were worth the bet.

 

Those dogs that made it had to been something special...

 

I am not saying if it happened or not, I don't know I wasn't there.

Don't believe anything unless you see it with your own eyes.

 

Dogs if today are way better then the dogs of yesteryear! JMHO

 

anyone with a brain will tell you that dogs today are better than yesterday. back then they bred for gameness. now days people are breeding for destroyers. there are more freaks today than then and thats why you will end up killing your dogs. its because there are way more hard mouthed, punishing dogs out there. and then to go against one with a five pound weight advantage, not once but twice? forget about it.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^[thanx]^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

haha sorry clkennels, I wasnt speaking about anyone in particular. Just saying that as dogs are bred they get better(assuming the breeders are doing what they are supposed to) and the dogs of today are a product of the dogs of yesterday.

 

how far back are yall talking about ? because im pretty sure you could find dogs from the 40' 50' 60' 70' that would still be bulldogs no matter what year they were in the box.

 

Good question ben b, I don't believe the freaks of today could hold up against the source dogs of the 70's because to many don't see the value of GAME

 

its called gameness and I agree for the most part. I also know that a dog like chinaman or gr ch virgil could kill and there are a host of others that do these days. How many did it that regularly back in the days in question? O stevens homer was a freak killer also. He doesnt get the recognition for it but jeep is the only one to live after the match. He killed a ch his first time out that was from florida if memory serves correctly. Nobody says the dogs of old werent awesome, great, and all that. As evolution happens, traits improve, the dogs are faster, stronger(some due to artificial means) smarter, etc...

 

I'll say it be the same. Its not like it takes a blue moon to find a good dog now and then.

 

a bulldog is a bulldog no matter what era it's from. you will always get those killing dog just like you get them dogs that would scratch till the cur come out. you show the best you got that's what it came down to.

 

Sorry for the off topic but
brockton, CLK by your avatars I see you are in the same breed of chinese dogs and if my memory serves me right they are both world champions in their categories the bold, brockton one, some time ago the other one more recently.

 

That just goes to show even in Armitage's day they lied. LOL Please dont think any one pushes up hill 40 min with two harder dogs. I call bullshit. I dont know how long ago you guys are going back But the truth is the dogs back in the 70s were just as good as anything today. FACT. And I am sorry but if you guys are just breeding for killers your going to get your feelings hurt down the road. Gameness should allways come first. Sure I love ruff ass dogs the harder the better But if they arent game then they dont get bred. I have allways used mouthy dogs first but you can damn sure bet they have shown me they like to hunt.

 

I guess I can weigh in on this one a little bit maybe. My opinion is that I truely believe the dogs of yesteryear were gametested a little more honestly. I think the age of the dog was right and I think the test itself was "right".
I hear way too often that some goofball has rolled his 1 yr old puppy against an older dog because he just couldn't stand to wait until the dog was 18 months old like it was once the norm.
I hear way too often that some dimwit has rolled his not age appropriate dog against another not age appropriate dog, decided his pup was game, rolled him again, let him win and called him a 1XW.
There just isn't enough old school "schooling" going on. I am not saying there are NO real guys out there. There certainly are. Just sadly few and far beween.. Rough dogs are great, love em to bits, but the best dog is the dog that was schooled properly on different styles and is GAME.
JMO

 

I agree w/ scooter.Its hard for some to cut the cord.