El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-12-24

4 every twenty-four hours IL feyerlsh
| the dog is sometimes given aS"cup OF
| tea by its trainer. Both in and out OF
| doors, during the training period the
! dogs are always blanketed, and the
| treadmill is covered with carpet to pro-
| tect the animals feet
Dogs destined for the fight pit are
| carefully watched from puppydom- A
litter of bull terriers may furnish sew
eral promising fighters and these are
separated when they are very young,
as the pugnacious instinct develops
early in life. TIE future champion
fighter is allowed to have many COM
bats while still a puppy but the careful
trainer sees that a crushing defeat Is
never suffered, for this would take the
courage of the dog and would make him
useless for prize pit. The prime essen
tial for a good fighting dog is perfect
teeth, for in the last analysis II IS the
dogs ability to hold on with the te-
nacity of bull dog that decides most
combats The teeth must be even. and
must meet exactly A fighter is ready
for his prize encounter when he is
two years old, and the length of his
fighting days is dependent almost en-
tirely upon endurance, the strength of
his opponents and the number of fights
for which he is matched. dog, even
If vigorous frequently comes out of
throat or with one eye gone.
Last Public Dog Fight.
One of the last great public dog
fights held in this country was that
which determined an interstate cham
pionship. the contesting dogs being the
famous Kentucky terrier Crib" and the
New York fighter Pilot" The fight
was held within five miles of Louis
Vile Kentucky, in October, 1881, and
oil
sections OF the country. Wagers of
$1,000 had been posted by each side and
the preliminaries were carried out with
all the precision of some great cere-
mony of state. Dog tasting was vigor-
ously insisted upon as underhand meth
DDS had been expected by both bellig
erents. The finish OF this fight is de-
scribed in typical dog-pit circle Ian
guage by one Of the sporting papers Of
that time from which this paragraph
is taken:
The fight had now lasted forty-two
minutes Crib succeeded in getting
from under his adversary, but the poor
critters gameness was gone. He turned
to the side Of the pit, and was in the
act OF leaping out when he was grabbed
by the brindle dog and dragged back
into the field of battle. Crib was
whipped dog at this moment but Pilot,
not content with the vicOry already
achieved, determined to kill MS antagon-
list while the opportunity of so doing
was at his command. Crib once more
turned to the side of the pit and this
time succeeded in getting outside fol-
lowed by Pilot, who seized the Louis
vile pet by the under jaw. and cling
ing on to him, refused to loosen his
hold, necessitating the picking up of
both dogs together and placing them
again in the pit. Pilot threw Crib in
the corner with an ear hold and held
him there. Kreiger (the owner famed
Crib vigorously With his hat but did the
dog no good. for ne was fast failing.
From this time out Pilot did nothing
but endeavor TO shake the little life out
Of Crib that still remained This
battle last an hour and % minutes. de-
Gliding the championship in favor of
New York. The longest battle on record
lasted four hours and So minutes.
Hard to Separate.
In handling bull terriers it is almost
impossible to separate the two dogs
after they have fastened their teeth in
each ether There are only two sue
cessful methods-one to choke the dogs
into insensibility and the other to pry
they jaws apart with wagon spoke
or some similar weapon. The latter
method has the disadvantage of fire.
quently breaking the dogs teeth. which
of course cripples him in all future
combats.
Dog pits are seldom found in these
days, so vigilant nave the officers of
the s P c. A. been in suppressing them,
but occasionally they are to be seen In
the rear of some cheap saloon in the
outskirts of large cities. The pits vary
in size from a boarded arena IS feet
long by 10 feet wide, and 80 inches high
to square eight by eight, or a circle
eight feet in diameter. They are used
not only for dog fights but for rat kill
ing contests, in which each dog is sup.
posed to kill one rat for every pound Of
his weight In some localities dogs are
matched against balloons. armed with
clubs. and against chained bears.