INTERVIEW WITH VICTOR AYCART OF SOUTHERN KENNELS

When did you get started with the dogs and how? 

Well my friend, it is a long story. Just when I was a kid, like ten, eleven, twelve years old, I already liked dog fights. And with a couple of friends in my town, Guayaquil Ecuador, always we try to see which one was the king there, and we make almost all nights road work on our bikes, with our dogs and see if we can find any fight for them. Of course they were Pointers, German Shepherd, Collies, Boxer, Doberman and including some of them non recognized pure breed, mix; but some of them looked good. I remember I saw a fight for thirty-five minutes between the two best dogs in the town; one was no breed, his mom was picked from one of our beaches in Ecuador and she was in heat with many dogs behind her, the other dog looked like a Hunt bred dog. Anyway, I'm just trying to explain to you how I was a fanatic about dogfighting even when I was a kid. Later on, I don't do anymore dog fights until I was like twenty-one years old. I met an English gentleman, Mr. Stanley Moss; he had two Staffordshire dogs imported from England. They were Baron and Sussy, when I saw those two dogs they represented exactly what I was looking for in a dog for years. They were compact, strong, electric dogs and they are fighting machines. Of course they fought against nothing but street bred mutt dogs of Salinas, Ecuadorian Beach. Immediately when they had pups I bought two of them; one I male I named Killer and the female Bonnie. I match with those little dogs; they beat all kinds of breeds of dogs, German Shepherds, Dobermans, Etc..... I was the number one fighter in my town, hehehehe, that is what I liked, having the best ones. I was very happy, I enjoyed them for a while but then I had a lot of work and I just had them at my parent's house. I walked them sometimes but that was it. As they got older I just walked them once a week. When I was around twenty-seven years old I got in my hands a book written by Mr. Richard Stratton, where I saw a big picture of Going Light Barney. He was supposedly a multiple time winner. He wrote great accounts about him and his battles, that opened up my eyes. I said, WOW! These are official matches. There are some people who practice professional dogfights with rules, weights, etc.... From that point, I was anxious about Pit Bulls. Then I got a subscription to a magazine called The Gazette (ADBA) and imported some Pit Bull conformation show dogs into Ecuador. He was line bred on the great Going Light Barney, then we started competing in Ecuador. In a few months we realized they were nothing, no gameness was there. All of them stopped at fifteen, twenty, or maximum thirty minutes; we were very frustrated. Then in 1985 I was thirty years old, I had moved to Miami Florida with my family for business and started my new life there. Then through the same Gazette, I met a person who had good Eli Jr. dogs bred from Grand Champion Nigerino lines. This friend lived in Sacramento California and I lived in Miami. Anyway, we had a good relationship and we were partnership owners of a good dog named Perry and Aycart's Miss Pacman, then we bred her and he sent me pups. This same friend introduced me to SDJ, that was my big window to the dogs; then I saw many good dogs and bloodlines. For the first time in my life I saw real Champions and Grand Champions like: Havana Boys CH Maggie ROM, Havana Boys GR CH Rodney, half brother to my Mayday, Havana Boys CH budweiser, etc..... Immediately after that, I made contact with the local people through the magazine and started on my direct contacts with a real Pit Bull's world in the USA.

CH PERRY & AYCART'S MS. PACMAN (3XW)

How did Southern Kennels get started and who are the members of Southern Kennels? Also, who helped you in the game? 

After I invested a lot of money on dogs of different bloodlines like heavy Bullyson/Eli Jr., Pure Red Boy, Red Boy/Jocko, Snooty and Jeep. I tried all the more important bloodlines on the market, but I could not get good result. I had many fights but too many losses!?!?!? So I thought if we had one hundred well bred dogs at that time, why we can't get success? I was originally associated with Havana Tito, soon I realized this guy will not go anywhere with dogs. Then I was associated with the Latin Boys, the boss of the two was Latin's Oscar; a lot better than Havana Tito of course. He conditioned good and he loved the sport, but definitely something was wrong there. We bought good dogs and work hard on conditioning steps, but what really make me separate from that Latin Boys was when we made a Grand Champion ourselves, you said how? Hehehehehe, well, we lost five matches, one behind another one, I was very frustrated. Too many good dogs, too much time and money was involved and we couldn't get success, only losses and losses. Oscar was a good boy, but not good enough to win.Then after all this long story of bad experiences, I started to look around. Who consistently won matches? I found the record of The Exterminator Kennels, who had won five out of five matches, that was the opposite of Latin Boys' record, that made me think. Then I started to study who was the boss there, and who is the person who really had to do with the success of the kennel? They were as far as I could tell two partners, Bert and Danny. Danny was the main contributor. They had some kind of disagreement and both of them, after years of working together, parted ways. At that moment I was conditioning my Champion Pretty Girl for her first match and I went to Captain D (Danny) and ask him for his help. He didn't have a partner then so I believed he would help me with my conditioning program.

I had too many well bred dogs, I had almost two hundred at that time, all I needed was a good conditioner; someone serious, professional, and dedicated. That person was the famous Captain D, but it was a big surprise to me when he told me that he had to request authroization from the person who showed him how to condition dogs. That person was Dr. Pepe from a lab. He got that authorization from his boss, but he needed another person to help us. He mentioned Jose to me and we started to work on Pretty Girl, that was a very important experience for me. This Captain D was really a good conditioner, not only for his knowledge on nutrition, working, etc.... but how he was like a military soldier. He never was five minutes late, he never made excuses or said he couldn't go on any particular night to work the dogs. He not only showed me conditioning and proper nutrition, but he also shoed me to take the dogs serious. I always remembered him saying that every day you put a little bit more in the dog, a little more thing, a little more that, at the end of the program that every days "little" will make a BIG difference in the box. That showed to be the truth. He was always there at the right time. He was a very strict teacher, rough and tough at times and with strong character; but that was the way he showed me. I learned what I had to do to be a successful Dogman. Always I will be thankful to Captain D. Everybody has good and bad things about Captain D, I have to recognize like the man he was, a great support to Southern Kennels. That will make the difference in the future. We hope we will have much success with all his lessons. We worked together, Captain D, Jose and me for years, but then the hurricane Andrew destroyed our farm and the human society came to our place. After that I had a terrible legal fight with them for like two years. Even thought I won the legal battle, the Captain D didn't want to condition any other dog in his life. Maybe some day he will return, and if that happens, good competition will come back around the Florida area. He always will be a postitive support to the sport. After that, Jose still worked with me for a while; he was there when I started with Mayday, Dragon Lady, Madonna and Choice, but he left adter a few months. After that I met my good friend Angel. He was a very important key to the future success.

My friend Angel was an expert on nutrition. He showed me what Captain D did not. Remember I said before that he was a rough person. All that he did not mention to me, Angel did. At that moment, with all that valuable information, Mayday and his sisters started to win in fast lane competition. 50% is the dog and 50% is his owner. I can say that because I confirmed it with my own experiences. After that, I was alone for years. I worked my dogs with technical support from my good friend Angel. We later developed a ver close personal friendship. Later I med Pepe from the lab, Captain D's teacher; he was a very good friend to me too, he gave some good advice. During Mayday's fourth match Champion Buddah broke his front right leg; my vet said he would never be conditioned again. Within a few days of working his bones would make him feel a lot of pain. During my last two years in the USA I had the privilege of meeting a good friend, Cuban Missing Link. He really supported Southern Kennels. He said to me that Mayday could be conditioned one more time. I said to him, 'No, that was impossible'. He said that I was crazy if I let him sit there as a 4X winner without trying to make him a Grand Champion. This was already one year after his last contest; he could only walk on three legs. He told me to put him through a pre-keep and if he pulled though we would hook him for his fifth. Missing Link told me in advance that he would make Mayday look two years younger, supposedly nobody would recognize which leg was broken. I laughed and told him he was crazy; nevertheless, we started. The first day, when we took him out at 5:00am, he could not walk right. He was a three legged dog, not doubt about it. But that was only because I never walked him after the injury; later on we realized the leg was perfect. He did great during his workouts. I have to recognize that if it wasn't for my good friend Cuban Missing Link, Mayday would never have won his fifth match. His conditioned program was something new to me. It really put a seal and lock on all of my experience conditioning. Of course, always with the valuable support from my friend Angel who went everywher with our dogs and Razorback's J.C. Today, Southern Kennels is only me, but we still maintain a strong relationship with Angel, Missing Link, and J.C. Even from the middle of the world where I live now. We work together matching dogs and supporting each other in many different ways. It was truly a tremendous experience, Finally I get some merit. It was a lot of work and many bad experiences but that is the price we have to pay for success.

Which was your first dog? 

She was the great Perry and Aycart's Miss Pacman (Eli Jr./Bullyson). She was a great dog, never could a dog can't prove her gameness. She was too intense and rough, we beat the great Senorita dog who later on was a Champion dog and was on the cover of SDJ. Miss Pacman was born on November 30th 1984. Breeder Jeff McManus died when humane association jump into Jim Perry's house. Then, my first two Champion I had like Southern Kennels, when our winning and success time started were: Champion White Head and Champion Pretty Girl. Both bred and raised by us. Both Champion White Head and Champion Pretty Girl were awesome, unbeatable dogs with a lot of mouth, smarts, talent and were hard scratchers. We have here a short, nice history to tell everybody. Just after Captain D, there was a lot of jealousy in the Florida area. They started to say the Captain D was nothing of a conditioner, so many things were said. We knew we had to stop the talk and go into action. After all this talk, we went into the Pit Bull business and we matched three dogs into three different kennels in Florida. We named this convention Southern Kennels Vs. The Rest of Florida Kennels. Of course, that was not the case, but everybody wanted to see our "new name" lose. The big important thing of this convention was that Mr. Oscar, Latin Boys, my old partner, hooked a female called Yury against Pretty Girl. They had a little roll convention where they chose that Yury dog for Pretty Girl. She was rolled against a fifty pound male; she toyed with him for a few minutes, then finished him. She was a rough, intense and so far, game dog. They swore that the Yury dog was going to kill our Pretty Girl or make her jump the pit in thirty minutes. This was because Pretty Boy was famous for producing rough thirty minute curs??? This time however, he was bred into a dead game bitch, Miss Maggie (GR. CH. Buck 7x ROM x Havana Boy's CH Maggie 3x ROM). So these two dogs, White Head and Pretty Girl, are 3/4 Bullyson & 1/4 Patrick.

That was a phenomenal combination. Unfortunately for them, these two dogs were born complete. They took good mouth and intensity from their Bullyson family and all the gameness and smart style from the Mr. Patrick's breeding. I can say that they were almost unbeatable; also we had a great conditioning program. Captain D promised a great convention, there was a lot of expectations in South Florida. I remember there were like forty cars in the farm and at least one hundred and twenty persons there. It was incredible how many people came to that little convention. We had a male out of Champion Rattler & Harringer's Little Dumpling at forty-four pounds, Bubba Son, a male out of Boudreaux' Pretty Boy & Miss Maggie at forty- two pounds, White Head, a female littermate to White Head, Pretty Girl at thirty-five pounds. Bubba won his first match realtively easy under :45 against the Ft. Lauderdale Kennel who brought a good dog, but not good enough to beat Bubba Son. Then the dog who went into White Head, they called him Hard Drive, was an awesome, real hard driving dog with tremendous mouth, good enough to kill dogs in twenty minutes. At this moment White Head was a one time winner already, we beat Hurricane Kennels when they used a two time winner called Butter who was a good dog, but White Head won over that two time winner in under an hour. So these same guys, Hurricane Kennels, choose this Hard Drive dog to beat our White Head. It was a rough, intensive match where the first thirty minutes were even, until White Head started to lead the contest and start to finish that Hard Drive Dog; under the hour mark too, we play money against all of them and they were very surprised. At this moment, we won two out of two dogs, so the logical tell you we have to lose the third one, until the best dog they bring was the female. And they play their life that Yury dog will win against Pretty Girl 1x, so they go ahead and play the last penny they had in their pocket, it was so intense. Two fighting machine little girls met their that night, that contest was so intensive, fast, strong, hard and high speed. Yury was in front until twenty minutes when Pretty girl started to take control of that situation and start to work very hard. Finally, at like thirty-five minutes, after Pretty Girl show to Yury she will stay there all night long if she need it, Yury start to jump the pit. But Pretty Girl bite her stifle and bring her down into the box to continue the match. A few minutes after that we handled the dogs and the great Yury don't make it. Pretty Girl did an impressive scratch to win, because she was in very bad shape, just Yury was a real bad dog. On that day, Southern Kennels won three matches out of three fights in that little convention, the boys has to come back home with their pockets empty after losing all three matches. Champion White Head and Champion Pretty Girl born on March 14th 1989, breeder Havana Tito and Victor Aycart. Champion White Head was sold to Taiwan later on and Champion Pretty girl died with cancer a few years later at Southern Kennels' yard.

What are the qualities you look for in a stud dog and brood bitches? 

For breeding it is very important to research the bloodlines very well before making the breeding. We have to maintain in our mind the fact that the pedigrees, or papers, do not make Champions, but a good, game, winning dog makes his pedigree look great. Anyway, I just wanted to touch on this subject. When we are talking about stud dogs or brood bitches, we are talking about the future and many years invested in food, space, time and money. So we have to make a very, very strict selection before deciding to breed any male or female. This step will push you up or down, so it's da*n important decision. The attributes that I look for in any male or brood bitch are as follows: 

#1- Gameness,

#2- Durability,

#3- Stamina, 

#4- Wrestling Ability,

#5- Intelligence,

#6- Mouth. 

Now, these are the qualities of a great match dog and I believe we have to breed pit winners to produce more winners. No dog can be bred before you game test him very well. As a consequence of any kind of inbreeding, he can lose ability, mouth, air or intelligence. But what we can never lose is his gameness; I don't care how good he is bred, if he is not game he will not jump onto any of my females. Then, on the other hand, maybe you can have a female very inbred, like brother X sister or something like that. If she is cold dog you can try and breed her to high caliber match dog and wait and see what she can produce. I'm able to breed any cold female if she is well inbred dog, but the male has to be a winning match dog. In my personal opinion, if you breed winners you have a better chance to produce winners.

What type of dog do you prefer as far as fighting style? 

As far as I know we have, A.- Hard driving dogs, B.- Face, head and nose, defensive dogs, C.- Some of them with good, natural air. Others, not without going into any more extreme details about a specific style, what I really like is a complete dog. For example, if you have a rough, hard biting dog, intensive and try to eat his opponent in one minute, but he realizes that he is in front of another very good dog with same mouth or better, he has to develop a new style immediately. That is the natural intelligence of the dog, then he will go on face, jaws, nose or whatever he has to do for win. That is a winning dog, and in my opinion what all of us are looking for in a dog, WINNERS! You have a pretty good chance to win in a fast lane competition when you have a complete dog like that. Without trying to advertise Mayday, he is what I am talking about; he is extremely rough and with a terrible hard mouth. But he will change to any style he needs for the win. All we need is those kinds of dogs, the ones that will do whatever they have to do to take control of the situation and win. The first complete dog I had was Southern Kennels' Champion White Head; he was rough, hard puncher, but smart as hell. When he had to go into a defensive mode no one could catch him and when he went inside, he went like a bull and got his goal. I can see in his face, Champion White Head, when I was with him in the pit, in his eyes, and I can feel he knew everything that was happening around him and he knew when he had to switch his style. At that time I said he's so da*n smart, all he needs now is to talk. Then, Grand Champion Mayday, Champion Dragon Lady and Madonna had the same attributes. Champion Choice was the only one that didn't; she was only a hard driving dog with a terrible heavy mouth and dead game, no doubt about that. For that reason, she is no longer with us anymore, Rest In Peace. And finally, include as part of whatever style, had to be gameness. No matter what style your dog is, if he has the firm decision to stay there, trying and trying to the last minute, that will be a great support to win the contest. One more factor, it is not only important what kind of style your dog is, or how good he is, but always remember it is 50% you and 50% your dog. If you bring him in great shape, you already make your part; but sometimes I have to see great dogs, deep game, in very poor shape lose a contests against inferior dogs, but in better shape. So it's not only how good is the dog, but it is very important too, how good a Dogman is his or her owner.

GR CH Mayday, CH Choice & CH Dragon Lady were great dogs, but is there any secret 

about the success of this litter? 

GR CH SOUTHERN KENNEL'S MAYDAY ROM

CH SOUTHERN KENNEL'S DRAGON LADY

Yes, they are great dogs; there is no doubt about it. But the key of the success on this litter was that they came into the right Dogmen, at the right moment and they were the right dogs too.

Sometimes, the people said, "Oh, that guys Southern Kennels were very lucky when they get that great dogs". And I will accept the concept "lucky", if we agree that lucky as a final result, will be a combination of other situations that comes with a lucky's term; like a final of the history. For me, luck is: Capacity + Experience+ Tenacity+ Opportunity= "Lucky". We worked very hard during years and years with a lot of time and money involved in dogs; with many bad experiences, but we were enough game to come back and still scratching until we get it. So, we paid the price of the successful and when I said these great dogs come into my hands at the right moment it's because at that moment I was ready to handle this quality of dogs. Maybe if they come to me five years earlier nothing happen, we will never know. But I'm trying to explain, at that moment when I bought these dogs; I was already with enough experience about Pit Bulls and with a firm determination to make something great and big on my Pit Bull's steps in my life. I was completely decided to put all the energy, time and money to build something special that will put the name of my dogs and our kennel forever in the history of the Pit Bull's world. If I have to say about any secret about the success, priority I have to say great dogs, like they are, and then the firm decision from us to make that dream come true, ROM litter. Now we are working on the next step, that is put our dogs everywhere and breed them with the proper standards and try to produce great dogs like are already in the market, like Grand Champion Lukane and Champion Da Brat. 

GR CH S.T.P.'S LUKANE (5XW) ROM

CH GOING HARD'S DA BRAT

We will still try to push this particular bloodline of dogs until we build a new strain of Bulldogs with Grand Champion Mayday as the main stud dog. We will see in the near future, I promise I will do my best in honor of the truth. I can't finish this particular question without first mentioning the friends who gave to me many different keys, at different times, but all of their knowledge was important support to build the success that made the final result, "Lucky". These friends are the next ones, it's not the importance the order what I mentioned, just that order represents the time when they appear during my Pit Bull's life, they are: Captain D, Razorback (J.C.), Dr. Pepe from a lab (Mr. Joe P.), Angel, and Cuban Missing Link ( This one represents the lock and seal of all my conditioning programs, he is a great conditioner and one of my best friends- Thanks forever Bro!) All of them, in different times and different ways, taught me at the right time when great dogs came into my hands and I want to make public, my gratitude to all of them. Always I consider all of them part of Southern Kennels' succes.

Did you try to match Mayday with any particular dog but you couldn't? 

I know you had a lot of problems matching him after his second match. I always tried to match Mayday into anyone available. After he made Champion, I decided to go into a Champion, or a very will recognized Dogman. I was never picky, I advertised him "Open to the world". If anyone was willing, I was more than happy to travel to their back yard, that was the kind of confidence I had in Mayday. He was an unbeatable dog, period. The only match that was chosen specifically was the one against Mr. Tant, it was nothing personal. Jealous people started to say that Mayday could win against other bloodlines but couldn't beat anything coming from his own renowned game blood. That is why I pushed so hard to go into Mr. Tant. We went to Mr. Tant's backyard in almost impossible conditions and still won.

I know that you traveled a lot when you matched your dogs, what do you think about traveling to a match? 

Traveling to a match is ok if you have two conditions: A.- The Dogman has to know how to do it. He has to arrive at the right time, not too early, not too late. The dog has to be in great shape. B.- The dog you use for traveling has to be the kind of dog that is able to do it well. He has to be able to do it any place, any time and be able to handle the travel stress. He has to be able to handle sleeping in a different place and weather changes. He has to have a strong enough will to adapt to different people and strange circumstances. When you travel you will always lose at least 20% of your chance of winning. You need a good dog in great shape.

Without giving away any secrets,could you give our readers some of your views on conditioning, feeding and handling? 

I will say that conditioning is the "art" of working the dog very hard without over training and good enough to go any amount of time he needs to win, without destroying any of his natural attributes, like strength, power, and natural air they have off of the chain. We can see many times, one dog goes out off the chain and is game tested thirty to forty-five minutes without any problem and then on his real show time, he goes down in just twenty minutes, even run hot or too weak. Overtraining? I will give this basic advice: A.-Good workouts without over training, B.-Good rest when he needs it, C.- The best nutrition you can find for him.

What was the hardest match you ever had? 

That was Dragon Lady 2x against Sassy 2x. We were looking for the best forty-seven pound dog in the country for Dragon Lady's third match. Her first two she won in Puerto Rico, both were under the hour mark. Our friends, Power House Kennels, found us a real good one, Sassy. Dead End Kennels Waldo conditioned Dragon Lady in Puerto Rico; he did a great job with her. The following is what transpired.....We flew into his own backyard, from Puerto Rico all the way to Pennsylvania. We arrived a few days before that contest. We didn't know where the match would take place. Unfortunately, the day of the contest we found out that we had to drive three hours to arrive to the place; that was very bad news. We were very upset with the Power House Kennels; they had not handled the situation properly. We were supposed to be as close as possible to the show. Anyway, we had to drive three house and Dragon Lady didn't want to sit down and rest. She was standing up in her kennel for the whole three hours. At that point, I was very nervous. There was too much going against Dragon Lady: A.- Conditioned in Puerto Rico, B.-Flight to Pennsylvania, C.- Drive three hours to arrive at the match place, D.- Ten minutes after we arrived at that place we were weighing the dogs, next washing then going into the arena. E.- We arrived at their own backyard where the other dog was conditioned, fed and had lived for at least the previous eight weeks. In addition to all of this, Dragon Lady went into another two time winner that was "open to the world" and very well bred. She was heavy Snooty on top and heavy Red Boy/Jocko down from the S.T.P's Champion Toro on bottom. To make this long story short, I will say these two great dogs were even for 1:45, we didn't know who would win at this time. Then, Dragon Lady started to lead the contest by just a little bit, not much, until the two hour mark. Then she started doing a whole lot better than Sassy. At 2:10 Sassy was picked up to save her life. Dragon Lady was working hard on her, but both girls made rocket fast and impressive courtesy scratches. It is very important to say that they went 2:10 with no turns and no out of holds. We were never able to make a handle on either girl. They started and never stopped until they picked up Sassy. This match was what I call a "classic match".

What's the greatest fight you ever witnessed? 

That was Grand Champion Mayday against Tant's Cody. Not only because of how good Cody was, who later showed to be dead game, but because of all the circumstances surrounding the contest. It was almost impossible for Mayday to win this match; the odds were stacked 99% against us. Mr. Tant didn't know that he was going into Mayday. My good friend Angel hooked Mayday into Mr. Tant for us. We respect Mr. Tant like as a good breeder and Dogman, but we had to show that Mayday could handle any Red Boy/Jocko dog as well. So, we went into the main source of the Grand Champion Yellow blood, Mr. Tant. We conditioned Mayday in Florida and flew into South caroline a few days before the contest. That match was hooked at sixty-five pounds. We made a mistake on his last feedand we were at sixty-five and a half pounds, just a half bound over weight, so we had to pay the forfeit. Mr. Tant was ok with that; he still wanted to do it. At sixty-five and a half pound would not make that big a difference; we paid it and started to wash Mayday. Toward the end of the wash, Mr. Tant started to look at Mayday and he started saying, " That is a nice looking dog, he looks just like my Yellow dogs. Is he who I'm thinking he is?" At this point we were getting edgy, then he asked us directly, "Is this dog Champion Mayday?" Well, what could we say, we had to admit it. He was very upset, I couldn't blame him. He said he didn't want to go into his dogs. I told him that yes, Mayday is off of Grand Champion Yellow, but you weren't the breeder. The breeder was Mr. Hollingsworth who paid the stud fee. All you did was collect the money. he is only 50% your bloodline, the other 50% is Hollingsworth's careful blend of Bolio/ Tombstone. Anyways, after he collected our forfeit, he ran out of the place with his dog and left us there with Mayday all wet. We didn't even have a chance to finish washing him, hehehe. We were very frustrated, I told myself that was the last time I will condition Maday! It was extremely difficult finding any dog able to go into him. A few friends like Cuban Missing Link were there in the car and I asked him to just take him back to Miami in his car that same night. Of course, we didn't feed Mayday that night; he was in the car all night long until they arrived home in the morning. At that time, they just gave Mayday a cup of dog food. Everything was gone; we already lost the chance to make the match. That Sunday morning, when i wake up, I was very hyper and disappointed. I decided to call Mr. Tant and have a meeting with him. I wanted to renegotiate the situation and make that match possible. After a two hour conversation, we agreed to the following terms: A.- We will do it Thursday night, B.- Not sixty five pounds, but catch weight, C.- We will play for only $1,000 against Champion Dragon Lady) Champion Dragon Lady was well known as the best forty-seven pounder in the world and Mr. Tant wanted to snatch her from us), D.-I had to take it or leave it, like that, so I took his offer. Immediately I called my friends in Florida and told them what I had decided to do. All of them screamed over the phone that I was crazy!!! All of them told me that Mayday looked terrible. He was completely stressed, skinny and under pit weight. On top of that, I had to put him back on the airplane. My friends refused to send me my dog, but I told them he was MY DOG and that I would take responsibility for him. I spoke to them firmly and they finally sent the dog. Dr. Pepe from the lab was the one who sent Mayday. After he shipped him he called and said Mayday was in terrible shape. he said he was very stressed, tired and unrested, not to mention way under pit weight. All my friends said I was crazy and that all I was going to do was lose a great dog. They said it was impossible for me to win. When Mayday arrived in South Carolina for the second time he was just bones! I started to think that maybe my friends were right. The circumstances were too much, even for the greatest dog of all time. He looked completely destroyed, I have a picture of him that day; he was a completely different Mayday, he was a package of bones. My great friend Angel was the only friend I had left that was willing to help me in my task. He helped me to recover Mayday in only four days. He stayed with me and worked along side me; we had him on IV's. Forget conditioning, forget the keep, all we were trying to do was recover Mayday from all the long hours of travel and malnutrition. Well, we arrived there Thursday night and Mr. Tant brought Cody at seventy-two pounds, he was a horse. That was a smart move, he gave Cody all the rest he needed and very good food. On top of that, he let him gain seven pounds. Now we will have to go into a bigger, stronger and completely rested dog. Things were looking bad. Mayday looked a lot smaller than Cody and was all stressed from the travel back and forth. Release your dogs.... and the party started. As we expected, Cody led the contest early, pushing and punching very hard into Mayday for the first thirty-five minutes. Mayday was just trying to keep that big strong dog out with defense. He held onto the nose, face and throat. A few times Mayday tried to go into the back end, but Cody was too strong and kept him out. Finally Mayday understood that he was infront of a lot stronger dog than him. So, he never tried to go into the back again, he just kept working up front, nose face and throat. After thirty-five to forty-five minutes, Mayday started to show the lead a little bit! Mayday had got a good throat hold on Cody; he held that spot for a few minutes. At the :51 mark, Mayday was on top of Cody and was really working his throat hold. Mr. Tant asked us to scratch to continue; Cody wasn't moving, wasn't breathing or anything. He was like a dead dog. So we said ok, we didn't think there was any way possible Cody could scratch. Boy! Were we surprised when that Cody dog started to scream in the corner like a maniac! We were in front of a dead game dog, Cody worked Mayday over really hard for a few more minutes, then Mayday caught him in the same throat hold again at 1:03! Tant asked us again to scratch Cody to continue and we said, "No! You either pick that dead game dog up or Mayday will finish him right there in the middle of the box!" Mr. Tant made the right decision and both boys made a good, hard courtesy scratch. Mayday was on fire! He was screaming and pulling in the corner and looked like he was ready to party for another hour. We were finally able to calm him down after about fifteen minutes. This was his fifth match and is also the greatest fight I ever witnessed.

GR CH TANT'S YELLOW (6XW) ROM

What is the best fighting dog you ever saw, the games? 

Champion Dragon Lady, the best fighter, smartest and gamest dog I have ever seen.

Which are the best producers of today? 

Well, records speak for themselves. Champion Jeep has the #1 spot on the ROM list, but Grand Champion Yellow and Grand Champion Buck are my favorites. They are right up there on the list. Mayday was a phenomenal show dog, now we have to see if his sons and daughters can measure up to their sire in the next few years. I'm 100% sure they will. The way he is bred, I'm sure he will be one of the best producers of all time. Only time will tell if I'm wrong or not. However, we have very high expectations of the big boy reproducing the qualities that made him Grand Champion.

If you had to start again in the game, which line of dogs would you use?

Yellow/Dolly (Red Boy/Jocko x Bolio/Tombstone). I would love to start with young dogs coming from Grand Champion Mayday; he is producing way beyond even my expectations.

HOLLINGSWORTH'S DOLLY ROM

I believe that Mayday is your favorite dog of all times, am I right? 

Yes, you are right, he is a "once in a lifetime" dog. The best I ever saw and of course my favorite.

VICTOR AYCART WHIT GR CH MAYDAY ROM