American Bully: The breeders eye

STOP! If you skipped the breed standard for an American Bully’s body and back go read it. After you’ve read it I want you to look at the diagram highlighting everything from a correct back to the sway back. Then fix your eye on in my opinion is the most TO STANDARD top line I’ve ever seen. yes there is no perfect dog but Grch The Bear has THEE STANDARD BACK for the American Bully. Top line perfection!

You can probably guess that this article is not going to tell you everything you need to know all at once about how you need to start seeing American Bullies. I don’t know if I’m breaking it up so you all don’t get board while reading it or if I’m taking my time to explain to make sure you come back to my page in a few days. Either way its fine I think. So, as for helping you all develop what I call breeders eye I’m going to break this down into 3 different phases of sight. One, The observer phase. Phase two, The completely blind and clueless. Then phase 3, those who have the eyes can see with clarity. This article was written to teach you to have a higher understanding when your looking at a dog. If you’re not a breeder reading this keep reading, it may just change the way you see some animals. Also, always remember the understanding I’m going to show you only applies when you’re looking for a dog to breed to or comparing a dog to the standard. Don’t let your understanding stop you from appreciating a slightly flawed dog because even a flawed can still be a beautiful loving animal.

The Observer Phase

This phase is exactly what it sounds like. This phase is for beginners. Don’t think you passed up this stage when you first got into the game because no one does. In the beginning almost, every dog is beautiful. In a way that is always true but there’s no comparison going on in their head. When they see a dog quite often they like or don’t like the dog because of the color. There really isn’t anything wrong with this stage other than people are producing litters while they have little to no understanding what the breed standard is. How can you produce any dogs within a breed but not have a clear understanding of the standard? I can’t answer that, but it happens. If your here don’t worry I’m not knocking you. Just know that if your thinking you should breed any time soon don’t. Give it a couple of years before you produce a litter and I promise you’ll thank me for it.

The Completely blind and clueless

I know that some of those reading this article very well may be in this category, but you probably won’t admit it. This is reserved I believe for 75 to 80 percent of the community its self. Why you ask? Because if 75 to 80 percent of the community weren’t in this phase there wouldn’t be dogs being breed all from hype. You heard me right. If we were a more educated community some of these so call top studs would not be top studs. Often when I see tops studs I see glaring things wrong with the dogs. Things that I would not look past to breed to them. For me all I see is an inferior dog’s genetics being spread over and over into the community making the American Bully a lot weaker. The people in this group often are willing to take an excess feature with a feature that is lacking. Things like big head and neck with a high rear. Or even reverse, breeding to an absolutely tested structurally true dog but lacks breed type. This means that the dog more closely resembles an American pit bull terrier or staffy not an American Bully. There are those in this community as well and trust me its just as bad as breeding to a dog because it has a big head.

Those with the eyes!

To be a breeder with a progressive program that is producing better and better dogs it is imperative you have an in depth understanding of the standard. If you’re in this stage, you’ll often catch yourself sizing animals up all shapes and sizes and not just dogs. I caught myself looking at a giraffe and thinking, that thing could never win a conformation show. The neck and legs match but the body is ridiculous short. I encourage anyone reading this blog to be able to see things as clearly as those that are in this phase. They are not influenced by hype nor or cheap marketing tricks. The only way to reach this stage is to see a dog how a judge would see a dog. Breaking down a dog from tip of the nose to tip of the tail and comparing them to the standard in their head. twenty percent of the community have this deeply of an understanding. Once we increase that number will increase the consistency within the breed.

Conclusion

When you look at an American Bully look closely. If that dog has a high rear, see if you can figure out why. Some symptoms of high rears included, weak pasterns, bad shoulder set, short upper or forearm, straight stifles, straight hocks, or maybe the dogs suffers from more than one of those abnormalities. I suggest you guy familiarize yourselves with the three pictures above. I’ve included the standard, the types of backs, and one dog that exemplifies the standard. Also, like I mentioned before just because you know better it shouldn’t stop you from appreciating a nice dog. There’s a lot of dogs I really like that do not exemplify some features within the standard but that doesn’t mean I don’t love the dog. That just means I would never breed to the dog. I hope you all can always discern between the two.