The psycho/Northford Strain

Some more info i got

The Northford / Psycho Strain is probably the most known strain of what is referred to as the Irish Stafford’s. Like the formation of the Dublin Red Strain, the formation originated with good quality English Stafford’s sent over to Ireland and bred for one purpose only, to work.
The well known English Staffordshire Bull Terrier breeder, Bill Boylan bred one of his Ch. Stafford's, Ch. Brinstock Glenagow to a bitch called Dealer's Delight. This mating produced the start of a very game line of dogs, starting with a dog called Black Tiger. This famous trail dog changed owners a great many times and was bred many times. His owners include names like Terry Byrne, George Hegarty and Gerry Allen. This dog was put across a bitch called Cork Rose, who was owned by George Hegarty and if you take a look at Psycho's pedigree, you will see her name 6 times in the 4th generation. Cork Rose was also put across George Crotty's Sam and Tom Haughey's North Star, who’s Sire and Dam were straight Stafford/EBT crosses.
When Black Tiger was mated to Cork Rose they produced a dog that became very known in the Irish Trails as a very good badger dog. This dog was known as The Great Geronimo and as a result of his performance in the trials you will find many top class dogs that has his name in their pedigrees. Geronimo was also put across a bitch called Evergreen’s Tiny Peggy who was also known as Doneal Flynn’s Old Peggy producing Allen’s Peggy.
When Allen’s Peggy was mated to Martin Walsh’s Whitey the result was Allen’s Major and Molly. Major was said to have won a few matches and were also said to be as game as any other well bred Stafford and his sister Molly was used in the badger trails and unfortunately got a cut in her artery and bled to death out on a dig, but before her death she was put to her brother Major and from this breeding Gerry Allen got three pups.
Allen’s Bruce was a white male who died from an illness when he was about one year old. Hanlon’s Rahora Lass was a white female with a black patch over her left eye. She was a very small bitch (under 30lbs) and ended up on the yard of P. Murphy who also had the Stormer dog.
Psycho’s first match was against C. Mc.C’s Rocky a two time winning dog who was going for his championship. The match was held at 40lbs top, with T. Lee acting as referee. Psycho won in 37 minutes.
His second match was against Bo & Chester’s Nero, with the match held at 40lbs top. T. Lee acted as referee and Nero was picked up 1hr 02mins, making Psycho the winner.
His third was a rematch against Bo & Chester’s Nero. The other party wanted the match at 42lbs, but at the weigh-in both dogs were under 40lbs. “John-the-dog” of London refereed and Psycho won his championship in 1hr 51mins.
His fourth was against Declan Gilling’s Black Sam a very hard biting one-time winner. The match was held at 42lbs top, but this time Sam wouldn't scratch at 29 minutes making Ch. Psycho the winner.
His fifth was against Murphy & Cooper’s Stormer, with the match being held at 43lbs top. Boston Blacky of Bronson Kennels acted as referee. Ch. Psycho weighed in at 40 1/4lbs and Stormer the bigger dog at 42lbs. Stormer had the best of the later half of the match and Stevie B picked Ch. Psycho up at 1hr 03mins, making Stormer the winner.
After his retirement Psycho unfortunately died in a kennel fight with one of his sons named Moonshine out of Northford Brady. After this accident, Moonshine was rolled into many dogs and it was said that he was a good dog. It was however also said that he quit at more than one occasion, first into a Stafford named Lance after 12 minutes and then when he met an APBT out of Ed Reid's lines he wouldn't start. After this he was matched twice and rumor says that he died after the second match.

All the dogs in Ch. Psycho’s pedigree were tested out and proved to be game in the badger trails of Ireland and much has been said about this breeding. There are many who will say that Ch. Psycho were not a pure Stafford strain since there are some EBT blood in this breeding and in my opinion they are right.
There is a small amount of EBT blood in this line and it comes from Haughey's North Star as both his Sire and Dam were Stafford / EBT crosses.A friend from Derry, Ireland wrote us a letter saying that the strain contained some EBT blood and I'll quote his words.
"”I can say that the Psycho blood is not pure Staff blood, and in that pedigree you will see the name Rowdy. She was owned by Tom Haughey when I met him in Lurgan Trail 1962-63. She was a first class badger bitch who was 1/2 bred Stafford X Bull Terrier. She produced two great sons, Tom's own North Star and his litter brother Blunder's Lad, owned by Jerry McIntyre, who is the brother to Jerome McIntyre. When "Rowdy produced these two sons the Sire was Kilwickie Lad, a great badger dog in the early 1960's, and he too was a 1/2 bred Stafford to Bull Terrier. However, all blood lines produce good and bad. So you take it as you find it.”
Kilwickie Lad
Ricky sold Ch. Psycho to Stevie, which renamed him to Ch. Hagler and apart from now owning the well known Psycho, Stevie already had made a name for himself with his prefix "Northford" and his line of dogs. Being from Northern Ireland, he simply took North out of Northern and added ford out of Stafford and voila, a new prefix was born. A closer look at the pedigrees of the Northford dogs will show you that these dogs goes back to good game proven badger dogs, and when put to Psycho a new Strain became known as the Northford / Psycho Strain.
The foundation dogs to the Northford strain were from the same lines as the Flynn strains along with some game show lines that were tested in the Irish Trail. If we follow their pedigrees (below and in the pedigree section) we should be able to find common ancestors on both the Sire and Dam's side.

Let's start with Allen's Geronimo dog. Nicky Sheehan owned a sister of Geronimo and when she was put to Billy Rickard's Tyrone of Cuileog she produced Jackie Adams' Socks aka Derry Macash Rascal and Dick Holland's Mournview Chieftain, which were both known in Ireland for their ability at the badger trails.

Northford Bruce was a half brother of these two well known dogs on the Sire's side and when put to Northford Piggy from the Rapparee line they produced Dave Cooper's Old Sheila, which when bred to Tom Haughey's Northern Rust out of Pinky Fleville's Wolf Island Rose and Derry Macash Rascal produced Northford Sheila II. When Sheila II was put to Ch. Psycho it resulted in Northford Minter, Pepper, Jonah, Silver and Blue Bell

Derry Macash Rascal and his son Northern Rust were both put to a bitch called McGrath's Sheila, and when put to Derry Macash Rascal she produced both Northford Brindle and Northford Spice and when put to Northern Rust she produced Northford Barley and Northford Trooper. Trooper and Spice gave Northford Cheyenne and when Spice and Barley were put together they gave Northford Brooke, which when put to Ch. Psycho produced Ch. Marvin and Northford Ruby, which was a 1 x winner.

Marvin was known as a 4 x Winner and some say that he also was good at weight pulling too. In his 5th match Marvin lost to a dog called Rocky, who was out of pure show lines. Rocky later on became a Gr. Ch after beating a dog called Bomber in 1 hour and 10 minutes. Marvin's matches against Susie and Rocky were reported as below.

Matt P's Susie * Terry T's Marvin M/F31 Bill T.​

Susie a red bitch from an Oscar bloodline. Marvin a 28 Lb male, a son of Ch. Psycho.
Marvin ahead when he turns at 8.
Marvin is the stronger and while Susie does well from the bottom she wont run her 2nd

Winner Terry T's Marvin 26 min

Ch. Rocky -V- Ch. Marvin 32 Lbs Top​

Rocky dominated and controlled Marvin who was forced to fight from the bottom.
Marvin was able to punish the chest from underneath but Rocky being stronger and rangier pulled steadily ahead, and at 1:48 Marvin's owner was forced to pick up a very game animal. Marvin made a game tumbling scratch tail up and waging
Winner: Ch. Rocky 1:48
Rocky Northford Ruby
Candy is a 34 Lbs Staff/Bull cross.
Ruby 32 Lbs is a Ch. Psycho/ Northford full bred Staff, a late replacement for a guy that withdrew.
Candy has an awesome bite and punishes shoulder and chest for 10 Minutes when Ruby's handler calls a turn on her. Ruby runs a hard scratch at 12, gets on top, and Candy won't at 17

Winner: Northford Ruby 17 minutes
Marvin's sister Ruby was mated to Northford Jonah, who was her half brother and produced a 2 x Winner called Hagler II and his litter brother Northford Whitey. She was also put to Dock's Gr. Ch Duke producing McGill's Buster and Sahlen's Victor. Victor was sent to Sweden and there have been some stories about Victor being used for Elk hunting in Sweden, but that is in my opinion pure bullshit. When Victor was put across a bitch called Charlotte she produced Daisy which in turn produced a 1 x Winner named Fearless Jim, who went 2,5 Kilo's uphill against J.H.'s Red strain dog "Big Red" and won in 17 minutes. Jim was game tested prior to the match against a imported APBT from Ed Reid's Skipper ROM and went 6,5 Kilo's uphill before he was finally picked up more or less dead, but game at 29 minutes. Jim was put across a daughter of McGill's Buster, Bayfarm's Red Ant, who was originally bought by a kennel in Sweden and was given as a gift to Eastford Kennels where she was renamed to Eastford's Sally.
Eastford's Sally was said to be a very good bitch, but unfortunately the first owner wanted her back since she was tested. She was given back on one condition, that she should be bred with Sahlen's Victor and the deal was made and hands were shaken, but the original owner for no obvious reason put the Sally bitch to sleep soon after. Sally was said to be an above average game bitch with a hard bite. Her 2 first rolls were against APBT's were she did well, and then she was rolled with different Staffords before she was game tested. She was matched against an APBT, a Jeep/Tonka bitch at 14,5 kilos and were locked to the Jeep bitch with a nose hold and was in the lead when she was picked up at 25 since she went into shock.
She was put to the Jim dog and she had a litter of nine, but the four females in the litter died when they were born, leaving Eastford kennels with 5 males. Three of the males from that litter were tested and out of those three, Chico and Balder were rolled at the age of 8 months old and went for 27 minutes before both were picked up and Spock was very promising, but unfortunately got an illness and had to be put to sleep.

While Ricky owned Ch. Psycho he was put to Lee’s Cykes a very good one-time loser (1:30) out of Barriskill's Cindy by Lee's Crib. All the other matings were done by Stevie and the Farmer Boys.
The mating with Cykes produced two very good males, Lee’s Mac who died when he was about a year old and Lee’s Max a very good one-time loser (2:15). When put across Northford Blaze out of McCain's Bitch by Allen's Major, Max sired Farmers Boys Jocko and when put across Cykes he produced Carroll’s Sally. Jocko was then put across his half sister Sally to produce Carroll's Ceasar, which in turn was put across Carrol's Tammy, a daughter of Sally by Lee's Butch, resulting in Ricky's Rocky Lee.
Jocko was also put across Lofty's Beanie out of Caughey's Susie Q by Scratch Kennel's Hagler II, producing Bullpower's Merlin, East Street's Junior, Wood's Rock and when put across Northford Tara, out of Northford Angel by Northford Conan it resulted in East Street Kennel's Kerry, which was put back to Jocko to produce Judas, Bogar and China.
Judas was put to many bitches incl a 1xW from the dublin red line and FFB's Fly, out of that breeding came Pride of the Irish Suzie.
Judas was sent to BMC and some years back Judas was sent to the UK where he ended his life. China was also put across Scratch Kennel's Hagler II and produced 1 bitch and 3 dogs and later on China and the bitch called Storm and one of the dogs called Herbie went to Eastford Kennels. East Streets Mac and Grip remained in the UK.

Scratch Kennel's Hagler II was reputed to be a very good dog and it is said that he won two matches, one being against Bobby & Winty's Psycho II, a Stafford / EBT cross, which was said to be a 2 x Winner out of Ch. Marvin and a EBT called "Sprig", who was said to be a 1 x winner. Hagler II's match against Psycho II was reported in Pit Bull News as below.

Scratch Kennel's Hagler II -V- Bobby & Winty's Psycho II Stafford's Male -36 Lb ​

Psycho II starts the scratching at 12 minutes, and after 8 each he's picked up at 1.12,
giving a game stumbling scratch.
The winner flies his courtesy

Winner: Scratch Kennels "Hagler II".
Hagler II were mated with several bitches, passing on his qualities and in turn they also passed it on to their litter and so on. One of the bitches that Hagler II was put across was a Stafford / EBT cross which was said to be a 2 x Winner called Caughey's "Judy", which was out of Lee's Max and Smith's "Bitch", a game proven EBT. This mating resulted in a dog which later was matched under the name Scratch Kennel's Rickey. Rickey had a few owners in his time, but he ended up at Eastford Kennels where he ended his life at the age of 15.

Scratch Kennels Ricky -v- Mick's Henry. Stafford males 38lb​

Scratching starts at 11 minutes and after 9 each at 1:45 Henry is picked up and gives game courtesy.
Ricky flies his courtesy

Winner: Scratch Kennel's Rickey 1:45.
Flanders Field Boy's Beanie
Hagler II was also mated with a bitch called Caughey's Susie Q, out of Farmer Boys Peggy by Farmer Boys Zack and the result was Lofty's Beanie, a 2xw. She was bred twice when she was owned by Lofty before he sold her to the Flanders Field Boys where she ended her life. When Beanie was put to Milo, which was out of Farmer Boys Blue Bell by Farmer Boys Blue, she produced a dog called Ben and a bitch called Beanie II. Beanie II was put across East Streets Mac (Hagler II x China) and produced FFB's Beanie III, which has been put to FFB's Jack.
Beanie was then put to the Jocko dog and produced 3 dogs, Merlin showed good in his first roll when he stopped an APBT in 25 minutess, after this Merlin quit when rolled in to Rustlers Ch Bilko going 3 lbs uphill in 30 minutes, the second was Jocko Jr, he was game proven but had terrible wind, the 3th male was Rock he was rolled a few times and passed away due to cancer not long ago.
In the hands of the Flanders Field Boys, Beanie was put to FFB's Barney, FFB's Pilot, Eastford's Rickey and FFB's Jack. When put to Barney, Beanie produced 4 bitches and 2 dogs.
Nero died young looked promising in his early rolls.
Flynn was a deep game dog that were very hard tested and won 2 matches.
Droopy lost his only match when he was over conditioned by a formal partner, he had top class ability but lacked bite.
Slane was said to be a cur and Sharon was a very game bitch, but with limited ability and no mouth.
Beth was a very small 27lbs bitch with a hard mouth, good wind and more then enough ability and was tested severely hard going many pounds uphill on different occasions always in to APBT's.
When FFB’s Droopy was put to Pride of the Irish Suzie out of Judas and Fly the result was 3 dogs en 6 bitches incl, Pride of the Irish Beanie and Dizzy Devil.
[COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Bookman Old Style]When put to Pilot out of Fair & Square's Midge by Fair & Square's Milo, Beanie produced 5 dogs and 3 bitches, but a couple was lost when one of their partners was raided. 2 of the males quit when rolled hard at very young age, both had good bite and ability but was ruined as young dogs. A dog called Tyson was 2 dogged once and nearly killed both dogs. He was the best match worthy dog of that litter, but his owner dropped out. A bitch called Fly is still alive and has very good ability and is proven game.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Bookman Old Style][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Bookman Old Style]When Beanie was put to Eastford's Rickey she produced 2 dogs and 4 bitches.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[FONT=Bookman Old Style][COLOR=windowtext]Rickey Jr proved dead game in his last match when he beat a Snooty/Eli bred APBT called 2Pac in 1hour10.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Bookman Old Style][COLOR=windowtext]Jack won over another Stafford called War paint in 45 minutes. Pebbles was cold and ended up in the US.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Bookman Old Style][COLOR=windowtext]Ruby was two dogged at Eastford's yard and proved to be deep game.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Bookman Old Style][COLOR=windowtext]Judy quit twice at Eastford's yard, first after 12 minutes, then again at 20 minutes.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Bookman Old Style][COLOR=windowtext]Benshi looked very promising in her first roll but was taken by the RSPCA.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Bookman Old Style][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Bookman Old Style]Jack was put across his Dam Beanie and produced 1 dog and 4 bitches, out of which they kept the dog and a bitch, and sent the rest to Lofty.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Bookman Old Style]The dog was put to a psycho/Dublin red bitch resulting in Pride of the Irish Aileen.[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR]

 

fantastic read love reading this stuff

 

cheers for sharing most interesting read

 

My pleasure

 

Thanks Beanieman thats good stuff

 

excellent read thanx for sharing...atb Alza

 

thanks bud