-JKD Bulldog's Kennel- When I first got into the dog game
and worked my first dog I worked him with roadwork and walk. I showed up with a
top conditioned dog and won in 1 hour, and 10 minutes. The next dog I worked was
with a treadmill plus roadwork and walk. She too, was in good shape and won in
1hour and 15minutes, if I remember correctly. I lost with one the same day but
it was not because of my conditioning.

The next thing I found out when working a dog is that they can be put in
shape most anyway a person sees fit.
Since I was working on a job most of the
time, the next thing I started working on was an easy way to work a dog. I had
seen everyone else's way of working a dog by now, but I had something else in
mind. I wanted to work a dog like a wild dog would work if he had to hunt and
kill his food, more so like the big cats do, or like an eagle. They make their
kill when they are very thin with no fat whatsoever on them. This is the time
when most wild animals kill for food. Their blood count is on a natural high and
there is no fat to make them breathe hot. This is when they are their sharpest
and make their kill. Their condition at the time of the kill will not return
until they are ready for their next kill. In between times the wild will tend to
get fat and slow and lazy and they will have miss after miss until they lose all
their fat and get sharp, hunting and working their bodies into shape.

In my way of thing the cat mill was the machine I was looking for. Frank
Fitzwater showed me his, he had a big wagon wheel on a hub with a 2x4 sticking
out about 12 feet with a chain on it and another 2x4 in front of it with a box
attached. Frank told me that it was a cat mill but nobody he knew would use one
because they were afraid they would half kill their dog and that you could never
get the dog to the pit in one piece.

At this time every dogman I had met worked his dog with a harness on them and
myself, being a newcomer, also worked my dogs with a harness on them. Besides it
looked good on a dog. A harness has it's own place for the dog. And the only
place I found to use it is when taking a picture.

I liked the catmill I had seen a franks' but I could plainly see that it was
very out-dated. I then went home and made one with 20 feet from the center of
the track. I still nearly killed the first dog I worked on it even at 20 feet. I
then dug out my track and put a bank three feet high on the outside of the
track. This did the trick and when my dog would run hard on the mill he would
run up on the bank. When he slowed down he would walk or trot in the bottom of
the track. I also had a drain to keep the water out of the track.

This catmill had its downfalls but for ten years it had every top conditioner
in the game asking me how I worked my dogs. The first ones were Leo Kinard and
George Saddler, in fact they both asked me the same day. That was the day I won
with the first dog I had ever worked on it. The match went 2 hrs. 16 min. with
my dog scratching 27 times and never taking a deep breath or never off his feet.
This same dog had won his last match when worked by his owner Frank Fitzwater
but was labeled a cur, something Heinzl had bred to sale and make a little feed
bill money. This dog had been tried when 2 ½ years old and would not fight.
Frank bought this dog known as Fitzwaters' Goldie for 15.00, as they were going
to kill the dog. When I won with Goldie he was over 7 years old. Goldie was the
sire of the Zeke dog, which was the sire of the Indian's Bolio, the dog Pat
Patrick stole.

I worked dogs on this catmill for 10 years and the trouble I had keeping feet
under a dog, you would never believe. So, from then on I started looking for
something that would out do the catmill.

I went a little to the treadmill until this welder friend of mine called
maverick and myself built a catmill 57 feet from one side of the track to the
other, with both sides of the mill 28 ½ feet from the center and both sides the
same so the weight would be the same. Wit this mill I was able to improve my
conditioning but I was still having trouble keeping feet under the dog. After
trying many different things, I found the only thing to do would be to put
something in the track like hay and let it rot. It made a good soft track. I was
still having trouble keeping shoulders under my dogs and with this mill I was
knocking out more than before. The mill is free wheeling and when a dog runs on
it hard, then slows down the mill will keep on going fast and will go over the
dog pulling the shoulders right out of joint thus, crippling them for a few days
this is about the time I found out what a harness was good for so I went over to
a good wide working collar. This time my dogs started showing up with a much
stronger neck and a faster mouth. I was beginning to see more and more of what I
was looking for. For a while I would quit using my common senses and I would
walk my dog from two to five miles before I would work him. This took a lot of
time, so something had to go. This is when I quit walking my dogs from two to
five miles and started walking them about one mile with a 100 foot light weight
rope and the dogs would walk about the same. I then started walking my dogs less
and less until I got to where I'm at now. About 25 yards… I found that all the
talk I had heard about walk your dog or he would not be in shape was about to
become a thing of the past. With the catmill keep this is true.

At this time I had worked three dogs for one show. I then worked five dogs
for one show, then six dogs, then six dogs again, with all the dogs showing up
in top condition. Out of 20 dogs worked on my catmill only 3 lost. About this
time, I started noticing a catmill in almost everyone's' yard. More and more
people coming by and taking notes about the catmill and the keep I was using
with it. I learned a lot from other people like George saddler. He told me to
work a dog in the same way for 3 days before increasing his work again. By
listening and understanding it helped me with my keep. Earl Tudor once told me
that the best thing for a tired dog is rest, this too helped my keep. Later you
will see how two small bits of advice from the two top conditioners ever in the
dog game helped me with my keep, after I had understood what I had learned from
them.

When you start working a dog for a match, you need 10 weeks of good work to
have him ready and fit. You never go to a vet the entire keep you start out by
worming your dog for whips and hooks, then 5 days later then worm his for tapes
and rounds plus hooks. 5 days after that worm him again for whips and hooks,
then 5 days later tapes and round plus hooks, this should have him clean. You
will worm him one more time at 2 ½ weeks before the match, each time you worm
the dog give him 3 cc. Combiotics and when you worm your dog make it after you
have worked him then rest him the next day, giving him dry dog chow with castor
oil (one ounce over his feed) and always have fresh water for him to drink.

Start your dog out slow on the mill with a coon in a small wire pin about 2
feet from the dog. We like to use coon because a coon is not scared of a dog and
they enjoy the ride on the mill and like to tease the dog. Keep a milk jug in
front of your dog letting it bounce just out of reach for the dog. The kind of
jug I am talking about is a one-gallon plastic jug, tied with a good rope from
the front arm where the coon is in the pin. Put this jug on the mill after you
get your dog working 30minutes.

Have your dog on his pit weight; he should look on the side with no fat
showing. His head should be full with no bones showing have your dogs feet in
good shape by making a mixture of one part linseed oil, one part turpentine and
one part burnt motor oil. With a paintbrush paint the feet every time you take
the dog off the mill. Use corona ointment, or any good antiseptic lubricant in a
salve form, then put this salve on the feet every time you put your dog on the
mill and every day afterwards, even a few times a week when he is resting.

You should be up to 30 minutes now, jump your dog up 30 minutes every other
day till you get him up to 6 hours. Give your dog a 30 min rub down every time
you take him off the mill. The way a dog should be rubbed down is on a small
table, a little over waist high. Stand behind the dog at the end of the table
and start by rubbing the front legs down, from the shoulders down, then take
your right hand going under the right side of the dog to the front of the left
shoulder pulling back down the chest all the way back to the top right side of
the top right stifle up high in the gut. Do the same with the other hand, going
to the opposite side every other time. From they're down the back, from behind
the ears to the tip of the tail, and down the side of the rib cage. This way the
hair grows. The back legs are the next place to rub down. Rub down the way the
hair grows, from the top to the bottom of the leg. You should give each area
about 5 minutes. Last, come to the head. Turn the dog around; rub the head just
like the rest of the body, the way the hair grows. Have a mixture of 1 pint
water and two tablespoons of powdered ammonia alum, dip your fingers into the
mixture and with wet fingers rub the inside of the lips and gums. Trying to get
as much as possible on the inside of the top lip and gums with the dog swollen
as little as possible. When you rub the outside of the top lip, rub from the
nose to the ear with wet fingers using the alum mixture. When rubbing your dog,
rub with the light weight of the hand, using baby oil every fourth day, getting
the hands wet with oil then rubbing then dry, covering the dog in oil, keeping
away from the eyes. Once a week pour about 3 cc's of hydrogen peroxide solution
into each ear then let him shake his head do the same with rubbing alcohol. Make
his last rub down with baby oil 5 days prior to the match. With his last rub
down, two days prior to the match, stop the alum mixture. His work should also
stop five days before the match. With his last week of work jumping up to 8
hours or even 10 hours, trying to have your dog tired 5 days in front of his
match, and when I say tired I like to see them not wanting to run out of the dog
house to meet you.

On the eleventh and ninth days before the match give them 2 cc's of
combiotics and cut work in half. On the tenth and ninth day give first shot
after work and on the eleventh day before the match. When the dog is up to about
two hours take the plastic jug and let the rope out so the dog can reach it.
Start this after the dog has been working about one hour, teasing the dog with
it, trying to get the dog to take a hold of it, as when they take a hold it
should not be close to the ground. The dog will then start shaking and backing
up with the jug. You should talk to your dog for around a min or two just like
you were talking to him in the pit, watching his eyes as he will watch yours.
Then letting him start to tire, never letting any slack in the rope. The dog
will start walking forward to keep him from losing the jug, (by now most dogs
won't need a coon in front of them, just the jug) start letting your dog have 30
min of jug work every other day in his work, letting the jug bounce close to his
nose so he may catch it a few times a work out. Working for at least 30 min and
work up to about 1 hour with this jug in his mouth. End this work 5 days prior
to the match.

The next work is to have your dog on a cable run from one tree limb to
another if possible, about 300 feet apart, with a heavy chain of about 20 feet
long and the cable 10 feet from the ground, after the 20 foot chain has been
clamped with a rivot. Swivels should be at both ends of the chain, and a ring
big enough for a 2 inch collar to go through, a good leather collar with baby
oil put on it every week to keep it safe. Have this setup as close to the mill
as possible about 7 to 8 feet would be perfect, but make sure that it is as
close as they can get. Have a good house for your dog with a good shade where he
can get cool air and fresh water under hi shade. His house should be far enough
back that his chain will not hang on his house. Always have good bedding in his
house and a cool shade for the hot days. Every other day from the jug work, take
a coon tail on a short, light pole and work him up to 30 min after starting at 5
min a day. Keep the tail low to the ground with the dog at the end of his chain
pulling out after the coon tail, with the heavy chain and cable pulling him
back. Go from side to side making your dog move fast, then slow. Do this work
for 15 min before his millwork and for 15 min after his millwork. Then work him
up to 30 min before and after millwork. This work should be ended 6 days before
the match.

The walk should never be any more than just far enough to get your dog to
empty before each day's work and it will get shorter and shorter. When your dog
empties get a stick and look through this dump. If you ever see blood on the
outside wall, your dog will have whipworms. If it is blood running through the
stool it is hookworms. If there are little white worms coming out of the stool,
flat like, they are tapeworms. The stool should always be form never hard and
never loose. After you check the stool, start walking your dog to the mill
sending him on. Just like you would send a dog in a match. Always try to walk
him as close to the mill so he may walk to the mill after he has empties. The
feed should start with a good hi-protein dry feed about 2 cups at first with ¼
cup of wheat germ, ¼ a can mustard greens, a cup of corn bread, with vitamins of
desiccated liver-tablets (7 ½ grains, start at 5 a day and work up to 15 a day)
give one vitamin E (400iu) give one vitamin C (1000 milligrams) 4 papaya
digestive aid, 1 iron with molasses. Try and have all your vitamins natural
vitamins, you should add to your dry dog feed as much as need be. To hold you're
dog at about 2 pounds over his pit-weight. Come off this vitamin E five days in
front of the match. Add about 1/8 to ¼ a cup of water to his feed just enough to
wet it, just before you feed.

Four weeks in front of the match start with his meat, good heavy beef like
bull-neck, cut the meat into small chunks about ½ in square. Start with ½ lb and
add up to 1/2 lb. To ¾ lb 5 days in front of the match. Always cut all the fat
out of the meat. Use only red, lean meat. Sear the meat in as little as possible
and pour this juice over the meat and mix. (Just so it will be wet going down,
but dry when it gets to the stomach.

At least two times on your dogs;' rest day, get a big joint leg bone from the
butcher, boil it in water for about 20 min, let it cool and cut your feed in
half and give this bone after feeding. The next evening after feeding him ½ a
feeding on his rest day, take the bone away from him. When feeding this bone
always feed ½ feeding the day before the next day and give the bone that day.
Then feed ½ feeding on the rest day. This bone should be fed, about 2 ½ weeks
before the match.

The water should be put in front of the dog each morning, fresh and in a
bucket. The first two weeks of work, walk your dog till he cools all the way
after his work on the mill. After his rub down let him drink. After two weeks of
work put the dog in front of his fresh water and let him drink as much as he
wants to until 5 days before the match. Always feed dry so your dog will drink a
lot of water. Always let him drink as soon as he comes off the mill after 2
weeks of work. Give one tablespoon of raw honey every three days over the
feed.

This should bring everything up to 5 days in front of the match. In the next
issue of pit pal I will explain the last week of keep. This will show you how to
point a dog. The week that will let you know if you can do it or not.
For the
first eight weeks give half a teaspoon of salt two times a week, make sure you
give it in their feed two days in a row, then five days no salt, then two days
salt. The last salt is to be given 14 days in front of the match.
To
understand just what the salt will do to your temperament, go without salt in
your food for 14 days, the eat salt over your food and drink lots of water for
three days, your temperament will change from easy to get along with and very
friendly to a short tempered, very grippe person the closer the fourteenth day
comes around.

To understand what the salt will do to the blood is to understand what a high
red-blood count is and what a low-red-blood count is. To know how to get a high
red-blood count is to go without salt and your body will pull away from water
and when your body pulls away from water it will start to dehydrate. Your blood
will start to concentrate, as you will get a very high red-blood count. In order
to get your red-blood count down low, eat salt for three days and drink a lot of
water and you will see your red-blood count will go down as your body will take
on water and once more you will have a smile on your face.

The reason for a high red-blood count is that the blood will be concentrated
and that means more red-blood cells to go through the body to the lungs to cool
off and back through the body to cool it off, so it will keep a dog from getting
hot, as the hotter the body gets, the weaker it will get.

Another reason for a high red-blood count is the blood, when concentrated,
the dog can get an artery cut and in just a few seconds the bleeding will stop
because the blood is so pure it will seal, and stop the loss of blood.
So, to
understand, this is a peak, that you must try and reach the last five days, is
to understand what a person is talking about when he talks of drying a dog out.
The last five days in front of the match your dog should be put into a crate and
kept in a quiet, cool place (I keep mine in my bedroom). The water should be
given to your dog by hand, and not left in front of him. He should have soft
bedding in his crate, clean dry hay. He should weigh one and a half pounds to
two pounds over his pit weight.

For the last 5 days the feed should start to change. Feed more red meat and
less Purina high-protein and more wheat germ and cereal. Also, start cutting the
mustard greens. The next to the last feeding should be not more than a half a
cup of Purina high-protein, a half a cup of wheat germ cereal and a half a pound
of red, lean meat. Cooked in no water. Should be seared on all sides, very rare,
cut in one-inch cubes, with all vitamins.

The last feeding should be fed twenty-six hours before his match. Red, lean
beef, cut in one-inch cubes with ¾ cup of wheat germ cereal with his vitamins.
The meat should be seared in no water, very rare but, seared on all four sides
with two tablespoons full of honey.

The dog should be walked four times a day for the first three of the last
five days before the match. The first walk should be 30 min after daybreak. Walk
two miles in a field with a fifteen-foot lead rope, so that the dog can walk
slow and empty, taking his time. Then when starting back to the crate, walk
behind him with a short lead rope of six to eight feet, letting him pull back to
the crate, as you talk to him, sending him on. He should be walked the same, one
hour before dark. He should be taken for a short walk of ½ mile between his
first walk and his walk before dark. He should have his second short walk about
two hours after dark. The last two days your dog should be walked the same four
times, but no longer than ¼ of a mile in the morning and ¼ of a mile in the
evening, before dark. The walk between the morning and the evening should be ¼ a
mile, the same as the walk you take two hours after dark. But, on the day of the
match, the dog should have his last ¼ of a mile walk one hour before his match.
Five minutes before the match he should be given a very short walk to empty his
kidneys. The walks the last two days, you should never send your dog on making
him pull, try and have him save all the strength he can as he will need all of
it at match time.

To understand the peak you are after from the feeding and the walking for the
last five days is to understand the feed. The feed went from carbohydrates and
protein to protein with just enough, so the dog will weigh in on weight, keeping
the stool as firm as possible, as to much feed will make the stool loose and not
enough feed will weaken him. To understand the reason for this walk is to
understand fully the peak you are after. Have all the inners empty at match
time.

To water a dog the last five days before the match you should give him water
after his morning walk with a tablespoon full of honey in the water, letting the
dog drink what you think he might need. To make weight, as he should be weighed
after each walk and watered two times a day for the first two of the last five
days before the match, the next two days water only one time a day making the
last water 26 hours before the match. To understand the peak you are after when
watering and feeding and weighing your dog after each walk, is to understand how
much feed and water you put in your dog before the match, the last five days
while he is resting take the water away from him slow letting his weight drop to
right on pit weight. The day of the fight if your dog starts to drop under his
weight, turn the hot water on in the shower, making the air very wet as the dog
breathes the wet air his weight will go up, if your dog is loosing weight too
slow you should turn on the air-conditioner so the air will be very dry, his
weight will start to fall.

To understand condition and to see a body put into the best condition
possible, is a thing of beauty. To put a body in this condition you have got to
try and get as close to nature as you can, like we say about the eagle and the
condition of his body, the eagle, scoring the blue skies, overlooking the land
of the wild, his eyes open wide, looking for his prey as he feels the pain of
hunger in his inners with his ears open wide he can hear the chatter of his
mate, as she tries to content their offspring's, while they cry out from hunger.
Then with the movement of an object from under the huge trees, he dives from
instincts traveling at his top speed, turning his body from side to side, to
miss the limbs of the huge trees sweeping down to killing a rabbit, as it sits
very still with his ears cocked to hear the air being cut by an eagle. This is
condition, this is survival the only way any living thing can put there bodies
at there peak is to live by the law of the land your body must stay as close to
it's peak or you will not survive to understand the meaning of the condition is
to see every part of the body at it's peak. That is what you are after when you
get a dog ready to fight for life or death.

Two small bits of advice from two of the top dog men in the dog game-increase
the work and rest a tired dog. To understand this is to understand what a tired
dog looks like when he is over worked and needs a day of rest.