Breeding Bulldogs

(Disclaimer: I am not a professional dog breeder of "aces"  and caused havoc in the dog world since the days of Jimmy Boots and Benny Bob, but I have bred and raised what I consider to be superior specimens that can be called true "bulldogs" by anyone  like any.)

Much has been written about breeding strategies and techniques that have been used successfully to produce ace dogs. Inbreeding, linebreeding, outcrossing, and crossbreeding are breeding strategies that all have their place in the overall breeding program. These methods, when used appropriately, offer the breeder the best chance to maintain bloodlines and to produce consistently competitive gamedogs. The breeder should keep in mind that the foundation of any breeding method is to breed physically and mentally sound studs and bitches that come from winning families.

Before I discuss breeding methods, a quick discussion of basic genetics is needed. Genetics is a very complex subject. The inheritance and expression of DNA is subject to several known and unknown mechanisms of action, of which college textbooks cover in great detail. Complex genetic interactions, the inheritance of sex-linked traits, and traits influenced by multiple genes are certainly relevant to  breeding bulldogs  but are beyond the scope of this article.

Genes are made up of pieces of DNA, which carries the information about a particular trait. The genotype is the sum of all genes present on the chromosomes. The phenotype is the appearance of the traits, a visual expression of the genotype. Genes almost always occur in pairs. This means that each stud or female has two copies of any given gene for a specific trait, one derived from the father and one from the mother. A dog that has two different genes for a specific trait is said to be heterozygous for that trait. A dog that has the same two genes for a given trait is homozygous for that trait.

Some genes and their corresponding traits are dominant or incompletely dominant and others are recessive. A dog that is heterozygous for a particular trait (has one dominant gene and one recessive gene) will generally look the same as, or similar to (incomplete dominance), to one that is homozygous dominant (has two of the same dominant genes) for that trait. Recessive genes are hidden when paired with a dominant gene. When recessive genes are in a homozygous state (both are identical), they are expressed in the phenotype. An example of this is the nose color. The gene for Black nose is dominant to the gene for black nose, meaning a black nosed dog  could have one gene for black nose (B)and one gene for red nose (r), or two genes for black nose (Bb). If two heterozygous black nosed dogs were bred together (Br x Br), the offspring would be approximately 75% black nosed [Bb or Br] and 25 % red nosed [rr] because there is a same probability that the parents will pass the black or red nose gene to the offspring. In this case, the ratio of genes in the offspring would be 1 BB: 2 Br : 1 rr. Another way to say this is that 75% of the pups would carry the dominant gene for black nose and 25% would receive a recessive red nose gene from each parent. In this case where the recessive red nose gene is in a homozygous state, it is expressed in the phenotype as red nose.

Inbreeding is the breeding of two individuals who are related to each other. Typically all dogs from the same family are related to some degree, thus inbreeding is practiced whenever we maintain a “pure” line. Linebreeding is a form of inbreeding where particularly superior individuals are used in several generations, which tends to emphasize the genetic influence of the individual in the family. Inbreeding increases the probability that the two copies of any given gene for a particular trait will be identical, or homozygous for that gene. If the stud and bitch are related, there is a chance that the two genes in the offspring are both identical copies contributed by the common ancestor. Close inbreeding uncovers hidden, often undesirable homozygous recessive genes that are carried by both parent fowl. Inbreeding depression is a term used to describe the reduction in performance caused by the expression of these recessive genes in inbred individuals. Some breeders will use this as a tool to test a new bloodline by fighting young dogs from a brother/sister mating, since this intensive form of inbreeding will quickly bring undesirable qualities to the surface such as lack of gameness.

Since mating related and phenotypically-identical individuals also tends to increase the number of homozygous dominant genes in the progeny, bulldogs become more uniform in those traits emphasized in the breeding program. Although true with any breeding system, additional care must be taken with intensive inbreeding (breeding closely related, inbred individuals). Only the very best physical specimens should be retained for maintaining the bloodline and crossing with other bloodlines. Producing these exceptional individuals require whelping and raising a lot of dogs and proper selection to increase the probability of the right genetic combination occurring in the offspring.

Increasing homozygous genes in a family through inbreeding increases the probability of producing “prepotent” individuals. Prepotency is the ability of an individual to pass their desirable dominant genes to their offspring. For this reason, prepotent individuals are extremely valuable in linebreeding systems to improve and maintain bloodlines. Although inbreeding will increase the probability of producing prepotency, in my own experience an ace crossbred bitch was prepotent. Nearly all of his pups were virtually identical to the dam, including fighting style, body shape and station, nose color, and fur color. They even sounded the same as they all had his distinctive bark.

Outcrossing is the mating of individuals within the same bloodline but having no close ancestral relationships. For example, a same-sire pair of brothers were bred into a same-sire dam, and out of them came out several pups. When the pups matured, they were fought and the best multiple time winners were selected for breeding purposes. The original dams were bred to their best sons, and the original studs were used once in the third generation in each family. For the next 8 generations, the two lines were kept separate, and the original dam and her exceptional son were bred several times in the following generations to increase their genetic contribution to each family. After 16 or so generations, the lines were bred together, resulting in an outcross. The offspring from this mating were tested and the best individuals were bred back to the separate lines. This method of breeding, along with careful selection and progeny testing, can be used to maintain pure families without introducing outside blood. Using line-bred, prepotent individuals is highly desirable when outcrossing. Think of it as crossing  Eli Jr. strains to remotely related Bullyson strains. (Example: McCool dogs to later Boudreaux dogs)

Crossbreeding occurs when two unrelated dogs are mated. Crossbred individuals have many more heterozygous dominant genes present in their genotype. In a heterozygous genotype, dominant genes mask the influence of undesirable or desirable recessive genes. Many of the most successful battlecrosses are produced from crossing two or more unrelated, inbred families of dogs. In fact, the primary reason for maintaining inbred families of dogs is to produce individuals that can be used in crossbreeding systems. This is because crossing two unrelated, inbred bloodlines often results in hybrid vigor in the offspring. Hybrid vigor, or ‘heterosis,’ is the term used when a crossbred individual outperforms the parent. Crossbreeding is widely used in commercialanimal production and has proven successful. Hybrid animals and plants tend to grow faster, be more productive and more resistant to stress and disease. Once again, it must be emphasized that the greatest degree of heterosis is seen when inbred, prepotent individuals are used as the parents.

So how does one select the bloodlines to cross? Some breeders advocate crossing dogs that complement each other, such as breeding a heavy mouth stud over game bitches, in hopes of producing the ultimate combination of desirable qualities. Others advocate breeding dogs that are similar in type and action, contending that the resulting offspring are more likely to be consistent and predictable.

In my opinion, both schools of thought are likely correct because both have proven to be successful. For example, the popular cross of various Jeep and Red Boy families clearly indicate the theory of complementary families is valid. Highly competitive crosses made up of similar families like the Bullyson and Alligator dogs prove that crossing families that have similar attributes is also effective. The success and failure of any cross is dependent upon the compatibility of the genes and the only way of knowing if the dog will be a "hit” is to breed them together and test their progeny.

While some might think that breeding outcrossed and cross-bred dogs as foundations of a yard is unsound, some two-way or 50-50 crosses nick with a third or even a fourth bloodline. Example, some of the best dogs I have ever raised were out of a JD  x Scud-Señorita stud and a JD x Linear-Señorita bitch.  Since all four of the original parent dogs are from inbred families, this 4-way cross was very consistent in appearance and style. This is something you may want to try if you have four inbred families.

All modern breeders acknowledge that the dogs used to develop today’s bloodlines were crosses. However, the successful bloodlines the great breeders in the past developed from these crosses were refined over many years through selection of superior individuals, inbreeding, testing and extensive culling.

Yours In Sport

Push this button

God is missing. At least that's what Archangel Gabriel told me the other night. I came across him while I was biking. He was riding this brilliant white Trek Remedy. I think it's a carbon-fiber front triangle 9.9 with a one-off custom finish. These celestial types always want to be unique. Anyway, he told me that nobody could get a hold of God. I told him that maybe God was just at Amsterdam in a bar somewhere there probably with Moses or Judas (His most trusted disciple) or at Vegas with some random cherub, but Gabe (he absolutely hates it when I call him that) just moved his head from side to side. He said God just went fishing some weeks back and He never came back. The last one who saw Him was Maurice Carver, and according to the latter, God went to his little spot in heaven so that He could look into his new litter of Grand Champion Banjo pups, and after a few beers but not until they watched some young prospects get schooled, God rode his storm grey 1970 Charger and went on to the Nile to fish. Nobody had seen Him since. The archangel told me that He already did this sort of thing before and we now know that period in time as "The Dark Ages."

I did not think too much about it and when I got home, I wiped my Trek Fuel Ex and got some Gatorade to drink as my ride was sort of something short of epic. I biked for about three (3) hours and my body felt refreshed from all the sweat I managed to squeeze out of my half-sedentary body. In my quiet time, I realized that Gabe was a chatty biker. Usually, I get annoyed by the kind but since Gabe is a mighty archangel of The Lord, I took exception and found his company to be relatively enjoyable since his angelic glow shown on the path and I actually turned off my Nite Rider headlight since with that light coming out from all over his earthly body, I found them to be superfluous. God was missing. Well what do you know...

The next morning I heard a voice inside my head seconds before I opened my eyes. I was already awake but still to lazy to do anything but go back to sleep. The voice said: Jorge, wake up, I will test you.

"Test? What test?" I sheepishly retorted. Then I realized that it was His voice. God's.

God was sitting on the foot of my bed ridiculously tanned for June, He looked like He stayed at Bora for a week or two without sunscreen or a shirt on His back. His magnificent white beard still shone like the sun and the black of His eyes still looked like miniature black holes that suck everything. He still looked like freakin' Jerry Garcia from The Grateful Dead.

"Answer me my son, if the Philippines and the United States go to war against the Chinese, who should I will to win?" I almost instantly answered the first party, myself being a Flip and all. But knowing God like I do, I knew from the very start that this was a silly trick question. There are no straight answers with God. If there was, then anybody would just be able to know what will happen to their prayers. So I pondered a bit and slowly inhaled and exhaled, just like before answering the very first question on the very first test on my Bar examinations roughly four (4) years ago.

"The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more if no calculations were done at all? It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose." I quoted The Art of War in verbatim.

"Are you really a lawyer?" asked The Almighty.

"Are you really God?" I asked back, injured by the rhetorical but kept looking up waiting for lightning to smite my blasphemous existence.

"Your answer is not responsive to the question!" God was now shaking His head.

"But Lord, if You come to terms with it, technically, every answer is a response!" I was really screwing myself big time, but I simply just cannot stoop-down like a slave when someone, whoever-in-the-green-hell he may be, question my capability and qualification as a member of the Bar. He who mocks me shall be mocked much more scornfully, and he who exalts me shall share with all I have. It turned out that God was just bluffing. He rarely bluffs but when He does, you must be ready to call it. The daughters of Job failed to do so, and I have learned that lesson a very long time ago.

"..." God paused for dramatic effect. He was sort of like Pacino, in II.

God, in all His wisdom, took out what looked like a Marshall foot switch from his pocket. Its a handy black box with a single red button in the middle. He handed it over to me.

"Push the button and it will all be over." God declared.

"What will be over?" I asked, though I had some clue on what he was talking about.

"There would be no war. Nobody will be blamed and to the opinion of some, the world would become a better place...Push that red button and all the lives of all Chinamen all over the world shall instantly end."

I pondered into it a little bit, the Confucian that I am. But after a second and a half, I handed the black box back to The Almighty.

"I can't do it. No, I won't do it." I said while chuckling like a gambler who refused to go all in despite the magnificent hand.

"OK." God turned His back, flicked His pepper hair over his shoulders and walked right through my bedroom wall like it was made of thin air. Just like in the B-movies.

But His voiced echoed all over the room after He left. "Tell Gabe that I was fishing at the Spratlys last week. The some Chinese boats came around and caught them all in their huge nets...I'll try the coast of Nova Scotia this week...maybe I could catch lobster there without any fuss. Gabe is often too much of a pussy...On the second thought, scratch that last one"

And there went God, The Fisherman. Finally I could go back to sleep. Then I reached for the A/C remote, pushed the button, but it did not work.

The Inexorable Twilight Post

If the world would end if I do not make a choice between the three "Twilight" movies, I sort of liked the newest offering, eclipse, the most. Seeing the first one, twilight, was like watching a music video of Paramore or My Chemical Romance. Imagine watching emo music videos for to (2) hours straight--that's a perfect recipe for a headache. The second one, new moon, was filled with film cliches and yes, boring as waiting for a Digitel Customer Service Representative to answer when you call them to report your notoriously faulty DSL connection. The third one, eclipse--a half hour script streched into two hours so moviegoers could finish their tub sized popcorns and megatron sized Pepsis--is surprisingly not half bad. I liked the drama between the jock werewolf, the outsider vampire and the slutty female lead. It's like watching Gossip Girl but with superpowers!

I only read twilight and after putting it down, I thought the writing was decent, but way short of spectacular, unlike the hype surrounding the series. Then they botched it in the first movie. Like I said, the writing in twilight was OK but it didn't make me want to read the next three (3) books. After seeing eclipse, however, I have to see the next and hopefully the last (oh dear God please) twilight movie before I die. Or get bitten by a blood-sucking female vampire who, if there is a preference, look like Cristine Reyes or Angel Locsin.

Post partum

Ut desint vires, tamen est laudanda voluntas (Although the power is lacking, the will is commendable.)

-Ovid

The Philippine election "fever" is finished. The masses have spoken. BSA, or rather as the man prefers it, "P-Noy" is the new president. Everybody seems to be happy. Everyone seems jolly and gay. Well, not everyone, but most people.

While I think it superficial, P-Noy's walang wang-wang (what a mouthful) policy is great--for most of us, at least. It's not too great for his security team--in fact, it's their hellish nightmare. It's great for those who would plan on doing an unthinkable thing which I dare not type here, but it's not too great for those people who were accustomed to acting (and feeling) like VIPs. Its not too great for the likes of BF, who travels all the time in black sirened SUVs on the wrong side of the road like they are in a hurry to save the world from an imminent alien threat or a catastrophic meteor collission. Perhaps P-Noy, by commuting like a commoner, would better understand the traffic situation in the Metro and through his experience, someone in his car would provide a suggestion for a remedy.

I haven't seen the presidential inauguration on TV. I didn't have the time. I was doing more important stuff. I was on a marathon. The 24 season 8 marathon on DVD. I just heard bits and pieces of P-Noy's speech on Mike E's radio program the next day while I was on my way to work. Everybody heard when P-Noy said we are his boss(es). I wonder if the farmworkers of Hacienda Luisita are included in that statement since he made no mention about agrarian reform, nor any substantial plan to make the country a better place. The parts of the speech I heard are still the same motherhood statements and platitudes which if you analyze the same, it has the same amout of meaning as Hey Diddle Diddle. Like all who went before him, of course, the Filipino masses (including this representation) is willing to give P-Noy the benefit of the doubt. I would be the happiest if he proves that he is worthy of his parents' names. We'll see.

How much money do I need? Part 1: The House

Let's see. I need money to build a decent home for my family. We already have a lot in Avida where we could build on, but not enough cash to build a home. I think about 5 to 7 Mil would do the trick. There ain't gonna be no swimmin' pools and gold doorknobs and shit. I plan to keep it homely as possible. It should be a "happy" house after all. Not a party house, no ma'am. I plan to build a home where my kids can grow to be good kids and away from all the evils and the cheapness of today's hooligan like youth culture. Anyway...

The top floor is to have a master's bedroom with a huge walk-in closet to store my lovely wife's armada of handbags from snotty companies like LV, RL, DB, Coach, etc.. The master's bedroom should also have a spacious bathroom to fit a couple of bookshelves for my Honda Tuning magazines and other interesting toilet reading. The bathroom must be big enough for me and my kids to brush our teeth at the same time. The master's should have a big wall-mounted TV set-up. I have to watch my Al Pacino & Robert de Niro DVDs somewhere. The master's bed should be big enough to help "make some magic happen." The top floor should have adjacent boys and girls rooms. My boy Andres and her little sister Amber must sleep sometime. Outside these rooms is a den, where my kids can do their school work, play their video games, and do whatever it is kids do those days. A veranda with a rocking chair where I could read the Sunday paper and smoke in peace would also be nice.

At the ground floor, the usual American/Western house scheme would suffice--kitchen, living room, dining table, maid's quarters, etc.,etc.. My wife could take care of that easy. I just want a basement office/library--that has an access to the garage, just like Tony's Soprano's. I want that room to be dark, in contrast to the rest of the house, to build a little mystery, perhaps. A couple of replica Juan Luna's would perhaps do the trick. Match those with some public library style stand up bookshelves and there you have it. Then the garage: I want an automatic garage door garage which houses two cars inside and a sheltered driveway large enough to park four more cars if needed. The inside space is for my project/show car and my saturday track car. The sheltered diveway is for me and my wife's daily drivers.

This is just for the house. Summary: 1 master's bedroom, two kid's rooms, den, veranda, living room-kitchen-dining, maid's quarters, 3 t/bs, basement office, garage.

Count as of the first money post: 5 to 7 Mil (PhP).