Tony Lee's Max

The reason for my writing this article, is because we have all heard of "Jocko" and most of us have read about how good he was in his days back in Ireland, but what most newcomers fail to realise are the contributory factors that made the dog so good.  Obviously there is conditioning and nutrition, but I'm not going to start with these subjects as there are other people that know more than I do in respect of that. What I am concerned with, is breeding. Breeding is a major part in producing a great dog and one such great dog, which people rarely talk about, is Tony Lee's "Max". A lot of people talk about Ch."Stormer" and how he beat Ch."Psycho", but there was more to that match than met the eye, which I will go into at a later date. There's no doubt that Ch."Stormer" was a good fighter, but it takes more than being a good fighter to make a great dog. A dog must also be able to pass on his "game" genes, which as past match reports have proved, Ch."Stormer" has not. Not only did Ch."Psycho" pass on "game" genes to his sons and daughters, but they too have passed on "gameness" again. Lee's "Max" was a dead-game son of Ch."Psycho" over a dead-game bitch called Lee's "Cykes". As well as producing "Jocko", "Max" also had a part in producing a Champion and a Grand Champion, namely Ch."Sunny" and Gr.Ch."Ned". Ch."Sunny" was out of Ch."Billy Brokentail" over a bitch called "Kelly", and "Kelly" was out of "Max" over a pitbull called Howe's "Gypsy".

Gr.Ch."Ned" was out of Ch."Billy Brokentail" over a bitch known as Connor's "White Bitch". This bitch was in-bred, with "Max" going across his own mother Lee's "Cykes.

There are some that say Lee's "Cykes" had as much to do with "Max" being such a good dog as Ch."Psycho" did. Both "Max" and his mother "Cykes" were proven dead-game, with "Max" going 2.20, he scratched, then died on his way home. "Cykes" went 1.30 and scratched, then died the following day. So I'm told, "Cykes" last scratch was particularly game and the owner remarked that he'd never had a Stafford of her like since. Both "Max" and "Cykes" lost their only matches, but lost them in unquestionable order. To a breeder, it doesn't matter whether a dog wins or loses, but in what fashion they do it. These matches took place in Ireland many years ago.

In my opinion, Lee's "Max" has to be one of the best, if not "the" best producing Stafford dog of modern times. Some of the credit though, would have to go to his mother "Cykes".

As pedigree's go, "Jocko's" is particularly interesting, being a son of "Max" and coming through a bitch called "Blaze", which was also known as Lee's "Collie". "Blaze" was a half-sister to Ch."Psycho", coming through "Major" over M. Kain's "Bitch", that was out of Walsh's "Whitey" ("Major's" sire). This makes the "Major" x M. Kain's "Bitch" a half-brother/sister mating.

If you have been sold a line-bred dog, then you should be able to go through the pedigree, and find dogs related to one another with a common ancestor in both the sire and dam. "Jocko's" pedigree reads as follows

Jocko" is now gone, but will be remembered as a very good 2 x W going 1.57 and 0.57.

Most "Psycho" bred dogs are line-bred on on Ch."Psycho". In other words, "Psycho" is in their pedigree's more than once. But when I use a stud dog, I am not really thinking of "Psycho" any more, because the likes of "Max" and "Jocko" are considered by those who saw them go to be better than "Psycho" (a statement in itself)

If we look at "Apollo's" pedigree,

he is obviously line-bred on Ch."Psycho" but also on Lee's "Max". "Apollo" is out of "Jocko" over Simon's "Tara" and she is out of a very good Irish import called "Ricky", who is out of "Hagler II" over a good bitch called "Judy" and she is a daughter to "Max" (all winning Staffords) His pedigree looks like The main thing in being a good breeder I think, is to have some knowledge of the dogs in your pedigree, so that you will know if the stud dog you're going to use is going to click with the existing dogs in your pedigree. Some breeders believe that just breeding best to best is as good as anything. This means that the dogs in the pedigrees may have nothing to do with one another, but doing it this way, means that every dog in the pedigree must be well proven, because there is more chance of one particular dog coming through, if there's one that is not "game" or not "proven". To clarify:- Each good dog in a best to best breeding has a lot of other dogs in their pedigrees, brothers, sisters, etc. Say for example, your dog may be called "Tom" and he is a very good dog. But "Tom" may have a litter brother called "Charlie" who is a "cur". So when "Tom" goes across a good bitch he may throw more of "Charlie's" genes, which might give you more "cur" dog than good dog in the pedigree. In my opinion, there is less chance of this happening with a line-bred dog because you are breeding through a common ancestor, such as "Psycho", "Max", "Jocko" or whatever the case may be.

My opinion is not the only one in respect of breeding and there will be some that will agree and some that will not. "Whatever", I know that what I have said makes sense and may in some way help to enlighten people in their understanding of the subject.

your's in the dogs 'Simon'