I'm sure not everyone that loves games are breeding them for illegal purposes. I love game dogs, still have one that I know will hang on to anything, no matter how much punishment he absortbs, untill he's physically broken off of it. I do wish he could be outed with a verbal command, he's worthless for protrection training because it's not a game to him, but priceless for protection of my property. I intended him to be weight pull dog, but that just isn't his thing, though he was great at it when he wanted to be. He isn't much of a barker, and growls at people or dogs only if they try to touch him, me or are on my propertty without me there to let him know they're not a threat. I know he and my last female were dead game due to a mistake I made of letting them play unsupervised while I went in to get a cup of coffee. I do not own a real breaker bar because law enforcement considers one evidence that I'm fighting my dogs, so it took me 15 minutes to seperate them, and I thought she was dead. The second she regained consciosness, she hit the fence of the pen where I had laid her, trying to get back and finish it. For the rest of her life I had to keep them seperated unless she was in heat, and even then they needed close supervision. I will not go into my younger days, but you can see I know something of game mentallity in animals originally bred for the pit. I can legally test my dogs for game by hunting them, and would like to hunt hogs, but too crippled up to go down south and hunt hogs, and actually have no need of the level of game my dogs have. My last pup has never been tested for anything other than weght pulling, and though from dead game parents, may not have a lick of fight game in him............................ and I don't care.Gresh, you have a PM...
OK. First, those who try and preserve the "game" breeds do not necessarily fight their birds, OK? As a responsible breeder of American pit bulls I have struggled very hard to retain the grit, determination, athletic ability and sheer heart that makes them the world's most amazing breed. If I bred only for "how they look" I would be breeding "shells", otherwise known as show type American Staffs. I sure as hell don't fight my dogs. "Breeding for game" is NOT the same as being a cockfighter. Just as breeding GOOD American pit bulls is not the same as being a dog fighter. The so called "game breeds" are under a very, very real threat of extinction from HSUS/PETA. And both organizations have stated clearly that their first step in ending pet ownership is to get "breed bans" in place. Because "pet animal people" so often have their heads up their arses when it comes to recognizing this very real threat in the guise of "animal welfare", they just look the other way when laws go into place to restrict how a bird can be housed, or how many roosters you can own.
Steve, you have no place on this thread if you want to get "all" mention of "game" cleaned from this thread. This is a thread about gamebirds. You might be surprised how many people want to preserve these birds who are not involved in fighting them. You, yourself take pride in saying that you sought out "game bred" birds for yourself - for your own purposes - but THATS ok... Well, maybe others have ideas too. The fact that you thought you could take game bred birds (thousands of years in the making) and make them into "pet rocks" in a couple of generations, well, I'm sorry to say it shows a real lack of understanding of animals/fowl/genetics. Without this being a personal attack (please consider it a "chiding"!) I'd have to say that you remind me of the am staff (and some pit bull people) who are the first to complain about "gameness", the first to assume they can remove 3 thousand years of selection with the wave of a hand, and also the first to proudly proclaim that THEY have "gamebred" animals - but of course not for fighting.
I'm very glad there is a young person interested in the preservation of these oldest of chickens. It's important. We've all been worried about the loss of wild species - now is the time to be worried about the loss of domestic species as well!
These two little gals did not look like the real deal to me, and came from a neighbor who owns mostly hatchery stock. I wanted them for their meaty bodies[though too small] , hard feathers, color, and mothering instinct. It wasn't untill I observed them in my yard that I went back to find out where they came from. I have another neighbor who's retired from an illegal activity only because he's no longer sober enough to even care for the birds. These gals were bred for game and nothing else, so were of no use to me., They might have served as nice broodies if I still had them, but were bred too game for anything else I needed. Pit game can be bred only by testing to see if it's there. Either it's just a guess, or it's based on illegal testing on other game birds.