History

Tango Kennels began breeding the American Gamedog in the year 1978 with a Colby bitch from the yard of Walter Komosinsky and a Tudor/Corvino cross male.

The experience obtained throughout the years with the breed led me to become acquainted with the legendary Don Mayfield. From him I learned everything about the breed and its history as well as the techniques of conditioning a dog.

After studying and researching the history of the breed for 3 years under the tutelage of Don Mayfield, we received our first gamedogs from the Tudor/Mayfield family of dogs, the purest and closest genetically linked family of dogs to Tudor's Dibo in existance.

Our main stud dog is Kershner's What-Not, who is one of only 3 living sons of Kershner's Or-Not, who was the purest dog in the world based on Tudor's Dibo. Our bitches were selected due to their outstanding qualities and together with our stud dog produce offspring that are loyal to their genetic traits.

Our objective is to continue to breed the family of dogs passed on to us by Earl Tudor and Don Mayfield, applying the knowledge we have obtained from them to our dogs and selecting only the best to continue on with the heritage in which this family of American Gamedogs is based.

Historical Photos

History of the American Pit Bull Terrier

Descendence

Around the year 60 A.D. there were dogs bred in Rome called Cat-Dogs, and Bear-Dogs. These dogs were used by the Romans in the arenas to combat against bears and lions for the peoples entertainment. When Rome invaded England, the different families of the Roman Cat and Bear Dogs were imported to that country by the soldiers and were then bred by the people of Britain into what became known as the English Bulldog, a dog that is now extinct that was used to combat bulls. The different families of these dogs were then bred into pure families of Bulldogs by the English and Irish people that became known as the English Staffordshire Terriers and the Irish Staffordshire Terriers. Around the year 1600, the Roman-English people that emmigrated to the English Colonies arrived on the shores of the state of Virginia with their different families of English Bulldogs. These were bred together to create what was known as the American Bulldog. At the same time in the north-eastern part of the Colonies, those who emmigrated to Nueva York brought with them their different families of English and Irish Staffordshire Terriers. One of the most influential people to import these families of dogs was Charlie "Cockney" Lloyd. These families of English and Irish Staffordshire Terriers were then bred together to create the American Staffordshire Terriers (not the modern day AST but the old fighting staffs). These different families of the American Bulldogs and the American Staffordshire Terriers were bred together and in the 1900's the American Bull Terrier also known as the American Bull and Terrier was created. During the 1970's these dogs became known as the modern day American Pit Bull Terrier and they are the dogs we know today. It is worthy to note that these dogs have remained practically unchanged during their trajectory to the present day. They were created by pure families by crossing them together and then bred pure of each family again to obtain what is today the American Gamedog.

The "Pit"

The Pit is where a gamedog proves his quality and his gameness. Gameness is defined within the breed as having a will to succeed that is greater than the will to survive when faced with insurmountable difficulties. This characteristic can be likened to being a martyr in the human experience. This is not a normal behavior in animals and has been bred into this breed of dogs by man during the past 500 years. Gameness and aggressiveness are not the same thing, in fact usually the most aggressive dogs are the least game dogs. A dogs gameness can only be tested by the original methods of pitting a dog against another and submitting it to extreme stress and difficulty. If after this the dog still has the will to go on, then that dog is said to be game. In the pit a dog is tested in every way including his gameness and his combat qualities and this is the proof of a dogs value.

Titles

Below is a list of titles that may be awarded to a gamedog:

ROM - Register of Merit, obtained by siring 3 champion sons or grand champions. After obtaining the ROM title, one point is given for each Champion and 2 points are given for each Grand Champion.
Grand Champion - This title is given to a dog for having won 5 matches with no losses. If a dog loses a match it is still considered a Champion but can not become a Grand Champion.
Champion - This title is given to a dog for having won 3 matches.