Blue is the hot color?

[Dave]

I've never seen so many blue dogs as I have in the last year or so. It used to be a rare color. We have several at the shelter now. Is it a magical color? Some kind of juju attached to it? I've heard of breeders mating blue sire and dam, too. Bad practice, breeding dilutes together.

What's so magical about the blues? I have to admit that Rocky (blue fawn) is very handsome, but he has problems. I've had several people ask to stud him, even with his very obvious problem. What gives? He's neutered, of course. Turns alot of people off, too.

I must admit that even though the blues are nice, red nosed dogs are what I love the best. I guess they have pretty much died out.

Just a side note... I seem to gravitate to the needy dogs. Or is it the needy ones are attracted to me? Who knows...

[catstina]

Blues are really popular now. I don't really know why. They certainly are beautiful dogs, but so are reds, brindles, tris and any color I can think of! I've always love red-heads, but I would never choose a dog based on color.

[RealPitBull]

Blue has been the "it" color for a while. I love dilutes (blues and blue fawns) in AmStaffs. Not a fan of the color in APBTs (I know, go figure )

I am a rednose gal when it comes to the APBTs.

Constantly trying to tell people, "It's just colors, NOT TYPES"!!!!!!!

And Dave, I don't see many rednose dogs around here, either.
My bet is there are going to be more and more blue dogs with all the American Bully people breeding - they LOVE em sum blue dawgs, and breed those like crazy.

[michele5611]

Agree that Blues are really popular and I think they are adorable....but then again aren't they all!

[maryellen]

$$$$$$$$$$$$ thats why. up here the blue dogs go for twice as much as the regular colors.. pretty sad actually.

[michele5611]

That is true ME...since the Blues and Reds are touted as a "rare" type of pit bull by a lot of people/breeders.

[RealPitBull]

Comments by Diane Jessup about blue dogs:

There is no "rare" pit bull color. And the color of a dog's nose does not indicate it is a certain "type" of pit bull. Color is simply an expression of genetic code concerning coat color.

It might surprise you to learn that today the so called "rare blue pit bull" is in fact not rare, and not a pit bull! The blue color is a dilute of black, and occurs in the American Staffordshire breed. How it popped up in those dogs is any one's guess. Blue is a mastiff color, not a bulldog color. (There are no blue English bulldogs, but the English mastiff did used to come in blue, as do some other mastiff breeds).

Here is what Louis Colby has to say about the "blue" dogs, and I can't think of any better authority: "As a boy growing up, and listening to multiple conversations between my father and visitors such as Collagan, Heinzl Vose, Donovan, and other dogmen from all over the country..never did the word blue appear. There never was a blue Colby dog in my father's yard, nor mine.To my knowledge there was never a blue colored dog reported in any match or sporting event."

[maryellen]

if someone never saw the color before then to a newbie its "rare" which is why so many byb's think its truly rare- idiots... hell alot of people up here think that brindle is a separate kind of pitbull lol.....

[sugar]

Yeah, its funny that even if you tell people all the problems that come with breeding exclusively for color they still don't care. I've told people about how Chubs (redhead, or at least cinnamon-ish) has horrible allergies, and constant skin problems and *still* have them telling me what a shame it is that he is neutered.

[mhaze]

I don't have it in front of me to look, but can someone tell me if the blue brindle's pictured in Diane Jessup's "The Working Pit Bull" are labeled as APBT's or AST's? I thought they were APBT's according to the captions. Just curious.

There's a Merle 'pit bull' at the end of our street (kept outside barking all the time). I know for sure that's not in the standard, but I bet the guy paid a lot for it. I'm sure they're the next 'rare' thing coming to a shelter near you. What's next?

[melonie]

The first time I saw a photo of a 'blue' pit bull, I couldn't figure out why they were calling it blue....looked silver to me

There is no such thing as a 'merle pit bull'. A 'merle pit bull is a mutt.

[mhaze]

Nov 3, 2010 13:30:51 GMT -5 melonie said:

There is no such thing as a 'merle pit bull'. A 'merle pit bull is a mutt.

I agree, and it's a disqualification in the standard. There's more about it here:
www.apbtconformation.com/merle.htm

[pittilove29]

I got my "blue" pit mix from the shelter for $80. There were plenty more just like her there too. I find it ridiculous that people think I paid $300 for her at a "breeder" and that it's a rare color. I also find it ridiculous that people want me to breed her so they can have a pup. She's spayed of course. I just tell them to go to the shelter. Also, every blue bully/mix I see has various forms of skin issues. Lady has some kind of skin allergy where she chews and licks her feet like crazy. Not saying it's something ONLY blue dogs have, but it's something I've seen in EVERY blue dog I've met. We had a blue merle pit mix in the shelter not too long ago. She was obviously bred before arriving there. I'm SO sick of the dirty BYBs around here!

[wannabeowner]

Nov 3, 2010 14:50:22 GMT -5 pittilove29 said:

Also, every blue bully/mix I see has various forms of skin issues. Lady has some kind of skin allergy where she chews and licks her feet like crazy. Not saying it's something ONLY blue dogs have, but it's something I've seen in EVERY blue dog I've met.

YES!!!! My Andrew is a red with a red-nose and some white markings and his feet are UBER sensitive. He has fits if I make him go outside when it is/has been raining. I've sat and literally listened to him lick his paws for 35mins straight after coming inside from the rain. He also had a vicious case of demodex when I picked him up as a stray in the neighborhood and after almost a year still has some bald spots despite being cleared of mites.

Sorry about the OT.

About blues, I've seen so many ads touting "rare blues" or even "rare red-nose" and shake my head.

[Dave]

Nov 3, 2010 8:53:49 GMT -5 maryellen said:

$$$$$$$$$$$$ thats why. up here the blue dogs go for twice as much as the regular colors.. pretty sad actually.

Maybe I shouldn't have neutered my weeble... ;D

Mary, I didn't know that about APBTs not blue. I tend to lump them all into a great big gene pool, y'know they're all mixes if they don't have a pedigree. I've been in the shelter biz too long...

[RealPitBull]

Well, Diane Jessup doesn't see APBT and AmStaff as the same breed - similar but not the same. I see them as the same, but now with the new UKC registration rules, APBT and AmStaff are going to further divurge in terms of bloodlines. IMO they will pretty much always be the same breed, especially in terms of UKC dogs and AKC dogs. (The gamebred dogs are in a whole other ballpark then both the UKC show dogs and the AKC AmStaffs.)

As far as blue never having been a traditional color in Pit Bulls, it really wasn't, BUT there is evidence for a dog called the Blue Paul (an early bloodline of fighting pit bulldog, before APBTs were a solidified, recognized breed) which may have introduced the color early on and made its way into the lines that ended up being AmStaff bloodlines. As far as I am concerned, there ARE "blue" Pit Bulls (APBTs), they just tend to be the dogs with the AmStaff bloodlines (you won't typically find any blue dogs in gamedog yards), dogs who were reg'd as AmStaffs, then dual reg'd back into the UKC with subsequent litters being dual reg'd or just reg'd with the UKC.

Here is another article to check out (warning: there is talk of pit matches, and if that stuff bothers you, don't read - but it is an interesting article from a historical standpoint; and hey, this IS our breed's history. They had to LIVE it; IMO reading about it to better understand our dogs and where they came from is the least we can do) :

Going Light Barney and Blue Dogs

by Richard Stratton

Although I have been often referenced as the authority on Going Light Barney, I must confess that I never even saw Barney in holds. I found it quite fascinating, however, that he was one of the most controversial dogs of which I ever knew. I think part of the reason for that fact was Barney’s flamboyant owner, who is still alive as I write this. Although not a bad fellow, he had a way of stirring up the dander of other dog men. Consequently, all of Barney’s accomplishments were always scrutinized with a jaundiced eye. Since I had my picture taken with Barney, a lot of people seem to think that Barney once belonged to me, but such was not the case, although I did own a daughter of his which I bred back to him. That breeding produced George, one of my finest all-time dogs from a pit dog perspective.

It is hard to believe now, but Barney was whelped way back in the sixties, so he is definitely an old timer. He was the product of breeding a daughter of Johnston’s fabulous Goofy dog to a Rascal bitch. That produced Barney’s mother, Penny, and she was nothing to write home about–possibly a cold bitch and a trifle shy. She was bred to Rootberg’s Booger, strictly on the basis of his being a pure Corvino dog. So it is not surprising that not much was expected of the litter, but it produced Barney and several females which were renowned for their gameness, one of them, Going Light Babe, winning a Best in Show down South in a losing effort!

Barney had a storied career. He had been farmed out to some guy in the inner city to raise and was rolled from the time he was six months old, something no educated dog man would do. After he killed Two-Dollar George, a highly valued pit dog in a pick up match when he was only a little over a year old, he was reclaimed by his owner, who called himself Larry Light in the pit circuit. He was matched into fast company down in Mississippi against a Carver dog and won handily in about twenty minutes. This was the convention which also featured Boomerang and the immortal Bolio. Bolio won best in show because he won over the dog with the highest reputation, a dog which was thought to be unbeatable.

The controversy comes from the fact that Barney was counted out in his third match in Dallas. Larry swore up and down that he was doped, as the dog didn’t know where he was, and he had lost his equilibrium for several hours. Whatever happened, Barney came back to win six in row against the best the other side could come up with. One match was raided and the dogs confiscated. This was before the felony laws, and the dogs were broken out of the pound in which they were held. The match was held, and Barney won in an hour and five minutes. Barney was dyed black and shipped to a preacher in New Mexico. Part of the reason for all of this chicanery was that Larry was suing the animal control people for losing possession of his dog!

Barney’s toughest match was against another ear dog, extremely well thought of, and the match went nearly two hours before Barney prevailed. That was back in the oil crisis days, in which you couldn’t plan a long trip, as you might run out of fuel. Larry and his cohorts loaded up a station wagon with several gallons of gasoline so that they could make the trip there and back without having to stop or having to worry about fuel. I was invited to go along, but I was not of a mind to travel in that rolling bomb! Hence, I missed my chance to see a great match. Barney usually had an easy time with his opponents, controlling them with ear holds until the dog was worn down, and then Barney went in for the kill. I think it was the "quit" in Dallas that made it possible for Larry to go on finding matches for Barney.

After the above mentioned match, a fellow named Jobe, who put out a pit dog magazine, did a cover story on Barney. He had been there at the match, and he dubbed Barney a "grand champion." That was the first time I had ever seen that term used. Now, he would not be eligible for the title because of the loss in his second match. Mitigating circumstances don’t count, and besides, Larry was never able to prove anything.

Barney was known more for ability than for gameness, but he was game enough to win, and the loss came under suspicious circumstances. Barney was an unusual Bulldog in that he had an aloof personality, in direct contradistinction to most Bulldogs. He won Larry’s wife over because he would sit up and do tricks on the chain or in the kennel run, but once he was taken out, his demeanor changed completely. He had achieved his goal, so the charm was gone, and he simply was off to do what he wanted. Larry, who was a real estate speculator who owned half the land in San Diego county, loved the deviousness of the dog. He was also delighted that his wife, who abhorred the pit dog game, was Barney’s stoutest ally–although she certainly never went to a match.

Barney was never open to stud, and he was never bred much, as Larry seemed to concentrate his breeding program on breeding dogs that were down from Penny and in breeding Barney’s sisters, in particular Babe. Larry was one of those guys who kept track of litters by naming all the pups with the same letter, but somehow one in this litter got named Scarlet. Although a fine pit dog, she escaped Larry’s ownership. Another game sister of Barney was Belle, who won several matches.

As for blue dogs, most of them are sought out today by those who want a dog for appearance. I have even heard it said that all blue dogs stem from Staf blood. Being of a skeptical nature, I tend to doubt that "fact." One of the best dogs I ever saw was a blue dog and his brother in a Las Vegas convention. They were both talented and game, but I was never able to ascertain their breeding–but they certainly seemed to have no Staf blood in them. Besides, the Staf standard calls for a black nose, so I doubt that would be the source of the blue dogs. In truth, there are probably a multitude of sources, as it seems to be a simple Mendelian trait.

Readers may be amused to learn that Heinzl once informed me that the last Stratton he knew was an African-American gentleman who had a strain of blue dogs. Again, he didn’t know the breeding on them, but Howard said they were as game a line as he had ever seen. And Howard was tough to please!

People with a little experience are quick to denounce Barney and the blue dogs. I would suggest a little caution in that respect. Barney may have not been the greatest dog of his time, but he beat some really good dogs. And not all blue dogs are alike.

[RealPitBull]

Just a quick comment.....Diane Jessup and apparently Colby don't seem to believe blue dogs ever existed as far as old school gamedog lines go, but Stratton believes otherwise and I have heard other people of the, shall we say, old school mindset when it comes to these dogs talk about blue dogs absolutely being in game lines. Just not commonly. But the color is there - heck, it had to be! AmStaffs can be blue and quite often are, and AmStaffs ARE APBTs, just with a different name in a different registry.

An example of a color TRULY not part of the Pit Bull's past history is the color merle. That color was introduced through outcrossing to other breeds, and used as a "selling point" by unscrupulous breeders.

[RealPitBull]

Another article on blue in this breed. Again, for those bothered by historical references, please don't read, BUT there are some reeeeeeeeally interesting notes about why "rednose" is an APBT color and "blue" typically considered an AmStaff color (and in gamedog circles isn't popular) - it's mostly talk of bloodlines and what APBT lines were the original AmStaff lines:

www.scribd.com/doc/25602563/History-of-Amstaff-Blue-APBTS-Pit-Bull-Forums

[mhaze]

Very interesting. We can learn things from history without admiring it. It is a very old breed, after all. Thanks for sharing.

[RealPitBull]

Nov 5, 2010 10:56:39 GMT -5 mhaze said:

We can learn things from history without admiring it.

That is a great way of putting it. Thanks, Mike!