Tombstone VS Bullyson Jr

Mayfield using a red dog he calls Tombstone. Bobby Hall is using a son of Bullyson, he calls Bullyson Jr. Dark brindle or black. The red dog gets a front leg and the black gets in stifle but ends up in a front leg hold. By the 10 minute mark the dogs have established a pattern, front legs and ear holds. The black tries for the stifle at 12 min. Black worked for the throat but the red holds him out with ear hold. Red is in the throat at 15 min. Red has a bloody front leg. Black gets a hind foot at 20. Red has skin hold in neck. Black gets a front leg and shakes. Red stays in the throat. Mouth fighting at 22. Black gets in the throat at 25. Red goes down down, black on top. Red gets on his feet but the black slams him down again in a corner and bores into the throat. Red has a cheek hold.

Dogs are on their feet at 30 but the goes down more often. Red gets a foot and the black has an ear. Black is out of hold catching breath at 31.

Red has a front foot hold. 100 to 80 being offered. Dogs trade stifle holds at 32. 34 and each has a hind foot. 36 black is down and breathing hard.

Red is working an ear. Red is down and the black has a front leg at 39. 40 red is down, black in the throat. Red comes up in a flurry of action, then goes down with the black shaking a leg. Red is being called “Toot”.

50 and dogs still trading holds. 55 black is working a stifle.

Red is on his back but has a front leg. Black changes and comes back to the ear. From ear to nose. Dogs trade stifle holds at the hour mark. Red is down, stretched out. Black has a nose hold. 1:18 out of hold count started. Pickup, the red to go. Went over hard to make a good scratch.

At 1:25 min, Bobby picks his dog up and calls it quits, to save his dog. The crowd cheered and Mayfield´s Tombstone the winner in one hour and 25 minutes.

Louis Kreiger’s Crip Vs Charles Lloyd Pilot
October 19,1881

For this Fight an advertisement was placed seeking the best fighting dog in the United States. Louis Kreiger, the owner of the white Imported male ,Crip From the city of Louisville, advertised in the Police Gazette a Fight with his dog with a stake of $1000 dollars each by the two dog owners. This challenge was accepted by Charles Lloyd (Cockney Charly) From New York for his brindled male, Pilot, also an imported dog The fighting weight for both dogs was 28 pounds. The fight took place on October 19,1881 on Garr,s Farm in Louisville Two hundred spectators paid the entrance fee of a dollar to see the fight in the big barn in which the pit was set up. The Old Cockney Charley marched though the crowd and offered 25 Dollars on Pilot!””$50 Dollars On Pilot! $100 Dollars On Pilot $3000 was bet, in addition to the $2000 dollars put up by the two dog owners. When we consider the value of this money in the year 1881, we can understand the chances and risks involved in dog fights. With good reason, the pit bull terrier was called the million dollar breed. After the dog were washed clean and tasted ( Licked), and the rubbed dry, they appeared in the ring. This is taken from the original account::

Hughes , Chief of the Louisville Fire department, announced that at the request of the referee, the two dog handlers searched each other's clothing, to satisfy themselves that nothing was hidden that could injure their own dog. When this examination was over, at 9:20am the command was given to loose the dogs. Their covers and muzzles were quickly removed and the dogs were released.

Both growled deeply and with a wild charge crip rushed to pilot’s corner and attacked his opponent. He seized pilot by the nose, but the brindled do shook him off and seized him by the right front paw. Then pilot released his grip on crip’s foot to get a better grip on his throat. Crip was able to free himself and again seized pilot by the nose, but suddenly let go and gripped pilot on the back of the head and ear. And threw him to the ground. Lying on the ground, Pilot seized crip by the chest and threw him to the ground. Lying on the ground, Pilot seized Crip by the chest and applied a terrible bite. Because he could not get a proper hold here, however, he let go and gripped Crip by the left ear. Then Pilot again released his ear hold and put Crib’s left front foot between his molars. He closed his jaws more ans more tightly and the bones of crib,s leg crunched. This terrible pain seemed only to enrage the dog from Louisville even more, and with a tremendous effort with his ear hold he tossed Pilot to the ground five times in a row. Now Crip again seized Pilot by the nose, which consequently became his main point of attack, and again threw the dog from New York to the ground. Then he suddenly let go of Pilot’s nose and began to gnaw on pilot’s on Pilot’s leg. With the fighting style that Crip now showed, he appeared to the people from Louisville to be the sure winner of the fight. But now it was Pilot’s turn to carry the fight , and the way in which he gnawed on Crib left leg was a terrible to see. Crib freed himself with a wild growl , before being seized immediately in the same way again. With another try Crip again gained his freedom and for a full five minutes the dogs fought with various ear holds until finally pilot forced his way under Crip and slammed his head repeatedly against the floor of the pit. Crip now secured a hold on Pilot’s throat and although he now fought on only three legs he was able to throw his opponent to the ground. This again served only to incite Pilot. He threw down Crip with a throat hold and then seized a hind leg. Crib countered by taking hold of Pilots leg. At this moment $1000 bet was placed on Crip to win. This was accepted immediately by Cockney Charley, Pilots owner. The fight had now lasted 42 minutes. Crib now succeeded in escaping from under his opponent, but the poor fighter's courage had disappeared. He turned to the side of the pit and was ready to run out when he was seized again by the brindled dog and pulled back into the middle of the pit. At this moment Crib was a beaten dog , but Pilot was not yet satisfied with his victory. Rather , he was determined to kill his rival, now that he seemed to have the chance. Crib again turned to the side of the pit, and this time made it, with Pilot in hot pursuit. Now pilot seized the lower jaw of the Louisville Lapdog and refused to let go. By doing this he forced the handlers to pick up the dogs together and return them to the ring. Pilot tossed Crip into the corner with an ear hold and held him securely there. Kreiger vigorously fanned air to Crip with his hat, but this did not help the dog, which quickly lost its strength. From this moment on Pilot's only goal was to try to shake the little remaining life out of Crib. The fight lasted exactly one hour and 25 minutes. Other than various severe bites on the head and shoulder, Pilot was only slightly injured.

Battle of the Grand Champions

S.T.P.'s Gr Ch Buck is pictured on our historic pit bulls page.

I was conditioning Super Gnat's Gr.Ch. Ace for his 4th match when I received a call from S.T.P. He explained that his Gr.Ch. Buck was contracted into Ricky Jones and Gr.Ch. Sandman, at 48 lbs. Both dogs were exceptionally seasoned match dogs with similar styles and S.T.P. predicted that the match would be a long one. S.T.P. wanted me to provide the veterinary care after the match. I was honored that S.T.P. would trust my veterinary skills and I told him how to get to my house on his trip south to meet Rebel Kennels Gr.Ch. Sandman.

As a pup Buck was sold to a physician. He proved to be an unsatisfactory pet and was sold to the late Alan Waldman who matched and won with Buck in the low 50's. Fortunately for Buck, S.T.P. purchased the dog and campaigned him at his correct weight, 46 lbs. In S.T.P.'s hands, Buck demolished all of his competition, which included some highly regarded match dogs. Buck did not dazzle fanciers with ten-minute wins, but he had virtually no weakness as a match dog and always dominated his opponent, no matter what style.

Rebel Kennels Gr.Ch. Sandman was bred and raised by Ricky Jones from a Rascal/Jeep and Boomerang cross. Word had it that Ricky was able to take some of the unwanted dogs from some very good dogmen, and by sheer determination and good sense Ricky had bred bulldogs that could compete and win over the best in the country. Some of the best match dogs, at any weight, were either owned by Rebel Kennels, or were matched into Rebel Kennels.

My friend Peter from Holland wanted to learn more about conditioning so he stayed at Rebel Kennels conditioning match dogs. Peter owned St. B.'s Dylan and was already a noted conditioner prior to his trip to Ricky's place.

Two of the most dominant kennels using two of the foremost bloodlines were matched into each other. While Boomerang/Jeep/Rascal blood was dominating southern matches, blood through Boyles' Dirty Mary was just starting to establish itself in the south.

S.T.P.'s mini van pulled up in my driveway. He had been on the road for over seven hours and intended to make the remaining three-hour drive without resting. Buck was standing up in his sky kennel and had been doing that for the entire trip. Buck was let out of his kennel to empty out and rake up a bunch of leaves and dirt. He looked good with good muscle tone. As always, I asked about Buck's conditioning program. S.T.P. told me that Buck was worked on two different treadmills. One day he would work the free turning mill and the next day he would run a hard turning mill. By the peak day, (One week prior to the match), Buck had run for two hours at a good pace, on the easy turning treadmill. S.T.P. went over the plan we would follow when we arrived at the match site. Buck would have emptied out prior to arriving at the site and would stay in his sky kennel until the last possible moment, because he would go wild once he saw the pit.

We drove down and got a motel room where we could return after the match. Everyone was a little nervous about the match because Buck was going into a great dog owned by a good dogman.

We drove to the site and found out that Ricky and Sandman had been staying in the area for the past five days. Most of the dogmen favored Sandman and made no secret of their preference. Buck weighed in right on the weight and we were told that Sandman was also right on weight, but when Sandman was put on the scale he was 1 1/4 lbs. over the weight. S.T.P. played this situation perfectly, saying that he would take the forfeit and go home. Ricky started talking trash, saying that S.T.P. was scared and so on. Finally, Ricky said that he would give them odds in the betting. S.T.P. never intended to take the forfeit but he convinced Ricky that he was going to take the forfeit and go. After taking considerable verbal abuse, S.T.P. came back to the van grinning like a Cheshire cat. He had gotten everything he had wanted in the betting. The betting on both sides was brisk, fanciers from all over the world were betting on their favorite. Ricky was ready to cover huge side bets, which by far exceeded the original bet.

There were about 25 fanciers waiting for the match to start. My friend Peter from Holland was betting on Sandman, while I was betting on Buck. This was the first time we were not on the same side of the betting. The dogs were released and Sandman shot over like a rocket and got a good hold. When Sandman got to the stifle, Buck slowly and deliberately got him out. Ricky got all excited and said that Bucks stifle was broken. For the first 20 minutes Sandman was all over Buck, but then Buck started to dominate the action. Buck was a little stronger and had a little heavier. He was taking the match to Sandman, but neither could get much of a lead over the other.

Ricky's wife was holding their baby and was quite verbal as she yelled for Sandman to whip Buck. It was a credit to the spectators that none of them asked Ricky's wife to quit her monotonous and repetitive yelling for Sandman. The yelling went on for hours as the two Grand Champions battled on into the night.

Both dogs could hardly be held in their corner as they rocketed across on their scratches. About an hour and a half into the match Sandman got a good hold on Buck's neck. As Buck tried to twist out of this hold, Sandman held on and a stalemate ensued. Sandman would not release his hold and Buck could not get free, so the two Grand Champions were locked motionless and time dragged on. It seemed that both dogs were asleep. Buck started to vocalize his frustration at being unable to move. Ricky became even more excited, interpreting the noise as a sign of Buck wanting to quit. Nothing could be further from the truth as Buck finally extricated from the hold and resumed his dominance over Sandman. Ricky not only began to denigrate Buck but also S.T.P. At one point he said that he was going to kick Buck's ribs in because he was such a cur. I encouraged him to go ahead and do it since the foul would leave Buck the winner. I think that Ricky began to realize that Buck was going to beat his Sandman dog and this was his way of dealing with that possibility. No matter how many times and how many ways Ricky verbally abused Buck and S.T.P. he never let it bother him. S.T.P. stayed with his dog and ignored all the outside shenanigans. S.T.P. gave fanciers a good demonstration of coolness and decisiveness in a tough situation.

At the end Sandman began to falter and it was clear that Buck was going to win. At three hours and 17 minutes, Sandman didn't scratch. Buck's courtesy scratch was a running one and he slammed into Sandman. We hustled Buck into a nearby shed and I started an intravenous line. Buck received 10 cc's of Azium in about 800 mls of Ringers before he ripped the line out of his leg. In an adjacent shed, Ricky worked in an effort to save Sandman. I was told that he gave Sandman an injection of Epinephrine, which is often used by human rescue personnel. The shot of "Epi" as it is known to the members of the rescue squad, killed Sandman immediately. Buck would not be still so I stopped the IV, which had leaked into the surrounding tissue.

The level of euphoria was high as we drove back to the motel. We were all singing a 50's song playing on the radio. Even S.T.P., who is normally a reserved person, sang loudly as we drove through the night. We stayed at the motel that night, but I couldn't get a catheter sealed in Buck's veins. It wasn't until the next day that I did get a catheter in Buck's front leg and he continued to receive IV fluids. Buck also got a shot of Lasix to help him urinate all the fluid we were giving him.

Buck stayed at my house for two weeks after the match, recovering from his ordeal. At 5:00 AM every morning, Buck would start his scream/howl, which echoed throughout the house. When I walked him outside, Buck would try to lunge at the other dogs in my yard, even though he could hardly stand up. It was obvious that his spirit had not been broken in spite of the lengthy battle with Sandman.

I returned Buck to S.T.P. and the old warrior lived the good life, breeding bitches and eating good food until he died.

Barney Fife

Males at 53 lbs.

Cajun Rules

Floyd Boudreaux - Referee

This was the big one. Maurice Carver with Red Walling's "Bully Bon", a winner of two matches in short order. He would fight into a dog like a wildcat, barnstorming his opponent and never giving him a chance to get started. Rick Halliburton has come up with a son of "Bully Son", called "Benny Bob", that he got from C.J. Creel. Rick tested "Benny" with a 40 min. roll and he acted game, then later tested him with a hard biter and fast fighter. He still looked good, so he thought he had what it would take to win over "Bully Son".

Dogs meet hard in the center of the pit and "Bully" goes for the shoulder, but misses and gets a skin hold. "Benny" gets passed "Bully" into a stifle and shakes but loses his hold. Dogs wrestle for holds and "Bully" gets into the stifle of "Benny". "Benny" attempts to get "Bully" out, get himself a stifle, and dogs swap it out, each with a stifle hold. "Benny" comes out of the stifle and get a nose hold. Dogs have been fighting for 5 minutes and it was easy to see, if "Bully" won this, it was not going to be by barnstorming "Benny".

The crowd was very excited, jumping and cheering their favorite on, and you guessed it, down came the bleachers, one by one, about 5 minutes apart. At 15 minutes the dogs are fighting even, one top then the other, swapping holds and taking each other out of holds. At 30 minutes, a turn is called on "Bully Son" and "Benny Bob" is taking over the fight, working one hold then another. A pick-up and "Bully" makes a good scratch. Another pick-up and "Benny" runs a fast scratch and works "Bully" over in his corner. "Bully" makes another scratch, then "Benny" makes another fast hard scratch. Maurice Carver, showing good sportsmanship, gives up the fight, making

Rick Halliburton and "Benny Bob" the winner in 43 minutes.