Gamefowl Breeder

The establishment or â€Å"fixing† of such characteristics Is accomplished by repeated Infusions of those heartsickness without concern for genealogical purity or so called breed names. All which follows is merely an expansion and development of those principles. Throughout the following pages you will find the pronoun â€Å"l† used frequently. It Is strictly a style of writing. An informal conversation style, as If we were talking together, which makes for easier reading and clearer understanding.Definitely it is not a â€Å"know it all† attitude or any desire to pose as an authority. Rather it represents an honest expression of opinion based upon my own experiences. – Narragansett Chapter 1 The Uncertainties of Breeding The transmission of hereditary characteristics is beyond the comprehension of mankind. Our greatest scientists have identified, classified, named, and theorized upon the numerous factors involved, yet have never been able to create a livi ng organism or to predict with certainty what the various elements in combination would produce.Accordingly, it is no wonder that the most scientific practices result in failure, whereas an obscure and Improbable combination occasionally produces phenomenal results. An example of the latter comes to mind: (a) The Berg Blue Muffs which first were produced by a 16-year-old boy from a wild combination of game fowl. (b) The world's champion harness horse, Peter Manning, which was sired by an obscure young stallion mated to a slab sided mare which Warren Wright hitched to his wagon while delivering his yeast cakes. C) The Thomas W, Murphy family of â€Å"Abraham† fowl which resulted from a stolen nest mating of an unknown cook and a stray hen which hatched and raised her brood of chicks upon the grounds of Mr.. Murphy's neighbor, Abraham Strauss. Hence the name Abraham. These are but a few examples, no doubt you can enumerate many more. They are what I call â€Å"lottery ticketâ €  mating. You buy a lottery ticket for 50 cents and win a thousand dollars. Occasionally. But it can be done and has been done. It is the breeding practice followed by most cockers.Once in a great while they hit the jackpot, but 99% of the time they have to tear up the ticket and buy another one. From these examples you should recognize that there Is no sure fire formula for producing 100% winners. The most that we can hope to do is present a breeding system which on average will Improve your chances AT ruling above TTT level. 10 want extent you exceed sun bevel depends upon your personal qualifications of observation, selectivity and perseverance, remembering always that there are a hundred requirements for winning a cook fight, and a thousand ways to lose one.Breeding is only one of the many factors involved, but it is an important one, so lets see what we can do to improve our chances in that respect. Chapter 2 Things to Avoid I abhor the term PURE as applied to game fowl. In my 45 years experience I never found such to exist. Not genetically pure. You frequently hear reference to pure Hatch, or pure Keels, or pure Murphy. I knew intimately all three of these men during heir lifetimes yet never once did I ever hear one of them use the term pure when referring to his own or anyone else's fowl.They might say â€Å"this is what I call my number four yard, I've bred them together for several years along with their offspring, but they are coming small now and getting a bit fragile so I think next year I'll put another one of my socks in there to stiffen them up. † Or, â€Å"Walter sent me this cook which I've bred for a couple of years with good success. † But never † my pure No. 4 yard† or a â€Å"pure Keels cook. † They knew that such things did not exist, and never had existed, either on their yards or anyone else's.So many times people get a hen and a cook from a prominent breeder's yards and thereafter refer to them as p ure this, that or the other. That's crazy. The breeder himself, if he were honest, would not describe them in such terms. Just because both sides of the mating came from the same source does not make them pure. Far from it. Chances are that the prominent breeder has a dozen or more breeding yards on his place. Probably many of them are more or less related. Some may be inbred or lingered to a greater extent than the others. But it is a certainty that no two of them are the same, and not one of hem is pure.So how can the fowl you get from him be pure in the genetic sense and thereby be capable of transmitting characteristics with unfailing certainty? My great objection to the word pure is the harm it does to cockers who lean upon such erroneous term and rely upon those MIS-named fowl to transmit consistently the characteristics for which the family is noted. That's bad. Leads to all sorts of disappointments and loss of confidence. Breed Names Breed names are another one of my pet pee ves. People toss them around as if they were talking about some stable uniform substance like salt or sugar or soda.The truth is that such names so inaccurately describe the fowl being discussed as to be practically meaningless. A bird is referred to as being a pure Dad Glenn Whitehall, or a straight Albany, or an old-time Carney. The bird may be a good one, so far as that is concerned, but so far as his being what his name implied, it's dollars to doughnuts that the relationship does not exceed 10%. Here again the harm in using breed names is that it misleads others into thinking that they can procure the same good results as you have experienced simply by using a bird bearing the same breed name.The chances are that the two birds are not 5% related. For 32 years I was state distributor for Dodge automobiles. Upon countless occasions customers would come in and announce There's no need for you to give me a sales pitch, I know all about a Dodge. † So long as he was satisfied t here was no need to say witling, out ten truth was Tanat tender was not a nut, Dolt, Lemons, or engineering principle which was the same in this present Dodge as in the two or three he had owned previously. Only the name remained unchanged. The same situation exists in respect of breed names in game fowl.So, let's forget â€Å"breed names† and â€Å"purity† and examine the essential characteristics our brood fowl must possess, for such characteristics form a basis or foundation for this breeding system. Chapter 3 What to Look For Gameness Proper brood fowl must have many essential characteristics. Chief among them is that which commonly is called gameness. There has been so much written on this subject that I hate to mention it. All these three day tests, punishment tests, descriptive requirements have been worn threadbare. So I'll treat the subject here briefly and then drop it.If fowl do not measure up to my idea of gameness, I simply am not interested in them. Here it is: † An unquenchable determination to kill. † No matter what the conditions– ahead, behind, rattled, blinded, broken leg, no matter what. I want to see my brood cook ever and always trying to kill his opponent. All defensive fighting or â€Å"lying on his side, picking for an hour in a 120 degree sun† does not impress me at all. If he is not trying with all his heart every second to kill his opponent, regardless of all handicaps and circumstances, I Just am not interested. You can continue the discussion as long as you wish, but count me out.Proponents Let's start with the cook. Do you think with the acquisition of an ideal brood cook will be easy? Don't kid yourself. No matter how much money you spend, or how many high class events you attend, or how many top cockers you know, your chances of procuring an ideal brood cook on your first, second, or third attempt is very low. You could strike gold on your first claim, but the chances are that you will no t. But, don't give up. Persistence is one of the prime prerequisites of a successful breeder. In the first place the cook must be proponent. That is, he must be capable of passing along his own excellent qualities to his offspring.There is no way of determining whether or not a cook possesses this quality of proponents other than by trial and experience. No matter how marvelous a performer he is himself, if he does not pass along such qualities to his offspring he is of no value to you. I have seen countless instances, and probably you have too, where a fellow paid a big price for an outstanding performing cook only to have him produce nothing of merit. But because the fellow paid a big price for him he stuck with him year after year, and in the end it cost him many times the original price through using the worthless offspring.So be ever on the alert for this quality of proponents. A cook either has it or he hasn't. But if he does not have it, heave him right now. You can't change the situation, and you will only waste many years and much money by sticking by him, regardless of his source or price. The probabilities, and note that I say probabilities, for there is no certainty about it, are that a cook is more apt to be proponent if he is somewhat lingered or inbred rather tan Delving ten product AT a TLS cross. You wall nave to determine tens Trot ten man who bred him.Also you should ascertain if such cock's brothers, father, uncles on tot sides, etc. , If they did, your chances are improved. But if you find wide variations, where this fellow is merely an outstanding performer in a widely variable and commonplace family, you had better stop right there, for the probability of this guy reproducing himself is dim. Health Health. Robust, vigorous, teeming health. Big appetite. Easy mould. Ever aggressive. â€Å"Spring Busting Out All Over† type of health. It's one of the most important characteristics your brood cook can possess.Without it you are not go ing to be able to go very far in the breeding line before you break down. Peter Horrors use to pay more attention to a fowl's health record and that of his ancestors, and the conditions under which they where raised, than he did any other characteristic when selecting his brood stock. So give this feature great weight when selecting your own brood fowl. If you start out with some spindly, weak, thin feathered inbred â€Å"pure† cook of such and such a â€Å"breed name† you are not going to get very far. And the longer you stick with him the more time and money you are going to waste.Power More or less the same importance attaches to the feature of power. You can improve his quality by breeding to big strong brood hens, but each time you do it you are breeding away from the brood cook, thereby reducing his influence upon the line. Remember, what we are talking about now is the selection of a brood cook whose characteristics you wish to perpetuate. Accordingly, you shoul d start out with power as a prime prerequisite. It is a top requirement for a successful pit cook, so don't handicap yourself from the outset by selecting a brood cook which is deficient in this repeat.Cutting High on the list of priorities for a brood cook is that of cutting. If a cook does not have his quality I simply will not use him in the brood yard no matter how many other desirable qualifications he may possess. He may be healthy, game, strong as a bull, but if he is not a superior cutter I am not interested in using him in the brood yard. Butting is largely a matter of heel pinpointing a manner of striking. It is astonishing how many socks strike on the curve of the blade, or with their hocks or the bottom of their feet. Likewise, many socks never complete their stroke.They don't follow through. In baseball parlance they bunt, instead of swing. Their wings may make a great Mack which gives the erroneous impression of delivering a mighty blow, but their heels are bunting ins tead of swinging. Many times you will here someone say † now he is getting tired he will begin to cut. † And he does. But I always felt that such cutting was more the result of the adversary standing still or being immobile than it was of the first cook cutting better. In other words, he could hit a sitting duck but not one on the fly. I am not impressed by that sort of cutting.Any shooter can hit a tin can setting on a Thence post. I want ten Klan Tanat can â€Å"molten on ten TTYL. † It I for the eye to follow the movements of a cock's heels. At leas it is for me. But almost anyone can see the results of a blow. After each buckle or exchange of blows if you see that one cook appears to have shrunk about a pound, you can be sure that the opposing cook has done some effective cutting. â€Å"Look where he hits. † This is an obsession with me. If a cook does not look were he is hitting and strikes nothing, I want no part of him.So many socks have good leg act ion and strike properly but don't look were they are striking. They fan the air in all directions but hit nothing, wear themselves out and do no damage. On the other hand certain socks â€Å"draw a dead,† as gunners say, with every shot. If you are in the pit with him, or close by, you can see his eyes focus upon a certain portion his opponent's anatomy-head, breast, back- and strike within a quarter inch of where he is looking. It does not take many blows so directed to bring an opponent down. One such crack is more effective than a hundred wild failings in the air.Years ago old M. J. Bowen sent me a stag which had won seven times in short heels in his first season and was up for his eighth fight. I told M. J. To â€Å"cut it out† and send him to me, which he did. When the stag arrived I was gusted with him, long flat body, narrow shoulders, built Just like a duck. Nothing prepossessing about him. But when I sparred him I could see those beady eyes concentrate on a de finite spot every stroke he hit with marksmanship accuracy, and in no time at all he had my prize brood cook on the ropes. He taught me a lesson I have never forgotten.Weaknesses Rare is the cook which does not have a weakness of some sort. He may have a host of grand qualities, but if he has even one pronounced weakness his opponent is almost sure to find it and take advantage of it. The weakness could be any one of many: low- datedness, ducking,etc. You can breed out this weakness in time,but while doing so you are breeding out his good qualities as well. The result is that his influence in the line becomes lost entirely and you might Just as welling have started with him in the first place. You can't breed out the faults and remain the virtues.When one goes they all go. So in selecting your brood cook make sure he has no prominent weakness which you must get rid of. Chapter 4 Fighting Characteristics No two pope agree on how a cook should fight. Even after a fight is over they se ldom agree as to what enabled the one to win and caused the other to lose. One man is impressed by certain characteristics the other man by different ones entirely. The type of heel used causes further differences if opinion. Undoubtedly all of us are influenced by our early teachings. Subconsciously we remember what Uncle Ben or Old Man Smith told us years ago.Their teachings could be right or might well be wrong. I've seen men who've been fighting chickens for 60 years who were the poorest Judges of a cock's fighting form of anyone at pit side. Many times a man's wife sees more, is more realistic and factual, and is a far better Judge than the cocker himself. The latter is handicapped by prejudices and early teachings. The wife is not. She sees things as they are. Accordingly, it is vitally important for the cocker-breeder to develop a correct standard of fighting counterblasts AT Nils own. I T en does not ay tens – Tree Trot prejudice or sentiment- he is not going to get f ar.We have already discussed the important fighting characteristics of gameness, cutting, power, deliberate accurate striking, ability to remain punch, balance and the absence of any pronounced fighting weakness or fault. There are numerous features to be considered and evaluated. I call them my â€Å"check sit. † Before every mating season I go over them as they apply to each individual in the brood pens. They serve as reminders, for it is so easy to forget or overlook important requirements. 1 . Quickness. I emphasize quickness as opposed to reckless and purposeless speed.Quickness takes a variety of forms: (a) Quick to take advantage of an opening or opportunity. (b) Quick to beat opponent to the punch and keep him off balance. (c) Quick to get a second lick in the same buckle. What boxers term the 1-2 punch Many times it is this second lick, delivered when the opponent is off balance or motionless, which does he damage. (d) Quick to kick instantly on both his own and his opponent's bill hold. This is both an offensive and defensive move. All long heel men are acutely aware of the importance of this characteristic, since a single failure could bring disaster. E) Quickness is largely a matter of reflexes which can be sharpened by conditioning, but it is also inherited, so be mindful of is existence. 2. Fight High. It is an advantage of a cook to fight over on top of his adversary rather than being underneath him at all times. This refers not merely to the opening break but throughout the battle. Some socks naturally fight high, others tend to fight low. The style is largely inherited, so watch out for it when selecting your brood cook. 3. Reaching Out. Some socks reach out in front of them with their blows much farther than others. Hose are usually the ones which are â€Å"in† first. At present I am breeding a cook, in preference to one of his many brothers, solely because he reaches out so far with his blows. I first noticed this while catchin g him when he was still ugly and wild. Overtime I attempted to grab him he hit me not on my hand but on my elbow. He really reached out every shot. He did the same thing in his battle. Dropped his man the first shot. One time I was fighting a main against Tom Murphy who was the finest judge of a cock's fighting style I ever knew.After the main (which I won 5-4) he said to me, â€Å"l thought that second cook you fought was the best bird of the day. † I felt complimented but at that time was in the prejudiced â€Å"beauty† stage and replied,†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ rather preferred my fourth cook. † He cast a withering eye at me such as a school teacher might use upon a second grader, and said,† You did! Well I didn't That second cook of yours broke high, head back, feet way out front. That's the kind that an kill you with one lick and that's Just what happened. † It occurred years ago, but it was a lesson I never forgot. I hope to pass it along to you.It's what I mean when I said â€Å"you must develop a standard of fighting characteristics of your own, free from prejudice and sentiment. † 4. Finishing. Some socks tend to loaf once they get in front. That's bad. It gives the opponent a chance to recuperate and to even up the battle with an effective blow of Nils own. Once a cook gets out Toronto en snouts Tallow up to Nils advantage. Nils Is t e time for him to show his killer instinct and put his opponent away then and there. One well known cocker put it this way,†Any cook which knocks his opponent down then lets him get away is no cook at all. That is the time for the top cook to become doubly bitter and revengeful. If he doesn't, well, you heard what the man said. 5. High Head Years ago low-headiness was a common fault among shorten socks of the northeast. The advent of fast heels and greater acquaintanceship with long heel fighting was pretty well eradicated that defect though you still see occasional evidence of its exis tence. It is a serious fault. Avoid it. 6. Fight. Tom Foley who ran the famous pit at 7 SST. Marry Eave. , Troy, N,Y. Use to wrap up all these qualifications by using a single word. â€Å"Dimmit all,† he would say,† they can FIGHT. By that he meant that the cook was pushing the battle all the way, aggressive at all times, lashing out with straight line shots, landing in perfect balance, ready instantly to shoot again, cutting every fly, â€Å"sharpshooters† he used to call them, constantly moving about , never allowing himself to be a standing target. â€Å"l want to see him be doing something all the time,† he used to say,† I don't care what it is, but I want to see him be doing something and not Just standing around waiting to get killed. Tom didn't give one whoop for pedigrees, breed names, color, conformation, or anything else. He wasn't even too fussy about gameness.He wanted a cook that could FIGHT. 7. See For Yourself. Before concluding this c hapter on Fighting Characteristics, let's go back to the initial statement which said,†No two people seem to agree as to how a cook should fight. † You are the breeder. You are the open who must make the initial selection of brood stock and likewise all the subsequent selections which equally careful discrimination. How skillfully you do this depends upon your own personal observations and judgment. But one thing is certain: you must absolutely see the fowl fight yourself. You can,t depend upon others. No two of them will see the bird or the fight the same way.If you accept the Judgment of everyone, Dick, and Harry you will end up with a Hodge-podgy which can't lick anything. You, yourself must be consistent and persevering in what you are trying to accomplish in the brood yard. In order for you to do this you must absolutely see the individuals perform yourself and pass judgment on their qualifications for fitting into your line. Time after time I have visited a breeder who pointed with pride to a certain cook and said,†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ am setting side this cook to breed then he would go on and on as to the marvelous qualities the cook has exhibited the battle as described by the trainer or handler.The breeder has not seen the fight. I had. I would not have accepted the cook as a gift; for breeding, fighting, or anything else. Wouldn't have him on the place. Yet the breeder, accepting someone else's word, was going to breed him! The breeder did not know that I had seen the fight, nor did I tell him. Why start an argument and lose friends? But it does show the absolute necessity for you yourself to see the cook in action and appraise his qualities according to your own standards. Deliberate Striking This is closely related to â€Å"Look where he hits. How many times have you been miles out In Toronto, to 20, Ana all Tanat when, Dang! Ana well -Loretta alternate snot NAS dropped you cold? This was no accident, it happens all the time. It shows the val ue of deliberate striking. Pay attention to it when selecting your brood cook. Holding His Punch In all probability you have seen a great big fine looking cook, shoulders on him like an All American tackle, legs as big as a turkey, strong enough to pull a plough, yet at the ND of a few fittings could not lift his legs two inches from the ground, let alone cut or strike anything. No condition† some peptides comments. That's not it at all. Chances are that his inferior looking opponent who is whaling the daylights out of him is not in nearly as good physical shape. The difference between the two is a matter of back muscles. The homely looking bird has them. The big fine looking cook which is built like Apollo does not. The latter may well be able to pull a plough, but if he does not have well developed back muscles he is not going to kick very long. Which reminds me of the All Pro football player who went to a dude ranch.At the end of a four hour horseback ride the little scrawn y wrangler hopped off as spry as could be. The football player Just sat there. He was so sore and tired that he could not dismount, and would have been unable to stand if he had. The difference between the two men was that the alternating had saddle muscles and the football player did not. He was helpless even though he could have squashed the wrangler with one hand. This matter of back muscles seems to be a hereditary trait. You can't develop them a great deal through exercise or feeding. A cook either has them or he doesn't.You may be able to improve the deficiency by breeding the cook to hens which are well endowed in this respect, but it is much better to start off with a cook which does not have such a deficiency. The only sure way to determine this important characteristic is to see him or his brothers in action. The trait seems to run in families. If one brother is good or bad in such respect, the other brothers are apt to be the same. Where this appears to be a hereditary tr ait it is especially important for you to be sure that your brood cook is well developed in this respect. Balance Proper balance is another characteristic of great importance.It, too, is hereditary. A cook must be a great cutter and all that even though ill balanced, but he could do the job a lot easier if he were balanced properly. Besides, his sons very probably would inherit the bad balance without the old man's skill in cutting. Proper balance's difficult to describe in words. It has to do with the position of the bird's legs with respect to his body, the shape of the body and it's weight distribution, and a lot of other things. A duck's legs are set on ideally for swimming, but not for walking or striking. That gives you an exaggerated example.You look at enough game socks long enough with this thought in mind and pretty soon you'll be able to see which ones are well balanced and which ones are not. Some families are far better balanced than others. A poorly balanced bird is ap t to fall on his tail or his nose after delivering a blow, or land in a heap which is worse. He is a sitting duck for a well- balanced bird. On the other hand a properly balanced bird will deliver his blow, land in perfect balance ready instantly to strike again or avoid his opponent's blow. One of ten greatest Dressers I ever Knew placed great store on tens Pensacola centralists.He call it â€Å"balance† and was ever and always referring to it. We use to poke fun at him by saying â€Å"balance† when he was not around, but he impressed the importance of this feature upon me, and I hope I can do the same for you. The only way you can procure â€Å"balance† is to breed for it. You can't change it by feed or exercise. A bird either has it or doesn't have it from day one for as long as he lives. So start out by seeing that your brood cook is properly balanced, for a deficiency in this respect is difficult to breed out of a family, Just as it is difficult to breed ou t low headiness or ducking. Size I don't like to breed from a big cook.About 5-4 for a cook in fighting trim or 4-14 for a stag is as large as I care to go. This matter of size is different for hens, bought we will go into that later. I want the cook to be full of action, cutting ability, and all the other pit qualities to be described later. But size is not a primary factor provided he is solidly built. As an example, right now I am breeding a cook which fought at 4-4 as a stag. He was full of action and cut. But I would not think of breeding his sister who was proportionally as small for a female. Youth vs. Age Especially in the brood yard. I am a great believer in youth.You hear about the â€Å"grand old hen† and the â€Å"great $10,000 cook,† but most of the time your best performers will come from young stock. Some people term it in the percentage. I have the utmost respect for proven old producers, but most of the time age is a handicap. Certain mating of cook an d hen will turn out phenomenal offspring. But even in this case I would rather have the produce of their early years than after they were â€Å"getting along. † I have had a few such mating myself which I kept together for several years. Probably longer than I should. But in every case the quality of their offspring dropped noticeably with each passing year.In my opinion more good families have been â€Å"lost' through endeavoring to perpetuate them through the use of old parents than from any other reason. Accordingly, if you are fortunate enough to locate a truly superior combination, plan to carry them on through the use of vigorous offspring of their earlier years rather than â€Å"breeding back† to the original individuals after they have gone by. This is particularly true of the hen. She may look and act like a pullet, but her reproductive apparatus has deteriorated, even though you can't see it. For some reason or another the cook seems to last longer so far as reproductive qualities are concerned.Many times he turns out good ones as long as he remains vigorous and fertile. But such is not the case with the hen. My grand mentor,old Balance, absolutely refused to breed a hen after her fourth year. This theory or practice will offend many old timers, and they can hurl a barrage of evidence at me. But you can believe them or believe me. This has been my experience. Many times in the past I have tried to â€Å"revive† famous old families by breeding to the Queen Bee of the dynasty. The grand old hen who was now a eager. One time Lenin Law sent me such a hen.Many of her sons had won at Orlando which at that time conducted the premier cocking event in America. I could scarcely believe my good fortune. Bred her the finest young cook that I owned. What GE A Duncan AT weaklings! I guess Law Knew want en was long when en gave her to me. Hopefully in time you will have occasion to do a certain amount of inbreeding or line breeding. I endeavor to avoid intensive consanguineous mating as far as possible, but in time it catches up with you. Under such circumstances carry on with the best specimens of your young stock in the family. The younger the better. Don't â€Å"go back† to your old worn out originals.This is contrary to general practice, but it is definitely my recommendation. Chapter 5 Physical Characteristics Many writings on breeding game socks begin, and end, with a description of the physical characteristics a good brood cook should possess. These writers consider such requirements of primary importance. In their opinion they rank first. With me they rank last. Championship performers in all sports come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. With me it is only the performance which counts. Physical heartsickness are important only insofar as they enable the individual to perform more easily and effectively.We are not breeding fowl for beauty contests or to win a ribbon at the County fair, we are breed ing them to win in the pit. There are certain physical characteristics, however, which enable a cook to perform more easily and effectively. They are no guarantee that the cook will do the Job, but only that he is not handicapped physically in such effort. We will discuss them here briefly in order that you may be on the lookout for them. Body Personally I prefer a well-rounded body, where the keel bone is relatively short from rent to back, and also short from top to bottom.Such confirmation usually makes for good balance, the value of which has been discussed previously. I don't go for these excessively broad shouldered heavy breasted type with all the weight out front. The â€Å"flat iron† type. Such confirmation is a handicap to a cock's ability to cut. He is apt to straddle with his blows, since he can't â€Å"close in† with his shots due to that heavy breast getting in his way. Rather, I prefer for him to be built like a football-more or less pointed at both ends . Station I like for a cook to be above average station, but not excessively so.The length should be in the thigh bone, not in the shank or scaly part. Length in the thigh enables him to â€Å"reach out† farther. Likewise a pronounced bend at the hock Joint is essential. Somehow or another it seems to help in the cutting department. I never saw a cook whose legs were straight up and down like a stork's which could cut much. If a cook is somewhat knock-kneed that is alright too. It's not pretty to look at, but nearly every knock-kneed cook is a cutter. Some people are real fussy about having a cock's heels set down close to his feet. Probably that is O. K. But I never paid much attention to it.Other things were more important. One thing which is essential is for his legs to be set on him properly so that he is in perfect balance. This usually means that his legs are set pretty well forward. One good Judge expressed the same thing in reverse by saying, â€Å"l like to see plen ty of body behind his legs. † The old guy got me to start looking at a cook in the same way. Actually it is easier to see the amount of body behind the body than it is to see if the hip Joint is set well to the front. At least it is for me. Another thing which you might look for is the way he walks. If he puts one foot