| PLUMBER'S "CH"ALLIGATOR" |
| PLUMBER'S "CH"ALLIGATOR" |
| Mr. Williams, of Ft. Worth, Texas, had a big black bitch named Satin Lady that was bred by the late Maurice Carver. She was a scatter bred bitch, like most of the older Carver bred dogs, but was cold, unlike most Carver dogs. When it came time to breed Satin Lady, Mr. Williams traveled to Witchita Falls, Texas to breed her to Tudor's old Nigger dog, who was owned at that time, by J. E. King. Nigger was some of the last of the old Tudor blood and was on numerous dogman yards before Mr. King got him. The breeding was made and produced a litter of three exceptional bulldogs. They were Soko, Susan Renee, and Alligator. Mr. Williams kept Alligator until he was just over a year old, so he could breed him back to his dam, which he did. Soko had shown well for the Plumbers, so they went in together to purchase Alligator. The Plumbers consisted of David McKinney and Doug Blair, who started out with a good bunch of dogs, but never felt they had the luxury of a methodical schooling process. They were great dogmen, but were extremely hard on their dogs. They felt a dog had to be an ace or near ace or they were out, with little room for mediocrity. In there quest for perfection, they made a request to use Trussell's Dum Dum dog to see if Gator was truly game, as he demolished all of the smaller dogs he was rolled against. Dummy was a game dog that was even bigger than Gator. See in those days a scattered bred or a real rough dog was suspected of being just rough curs, so the Plumbers did everything they could to stop Gator. When they got to Trussell's they ran Gator on the treadmill for an hour and a half, then fifteen more minutes of road work, to cool him down, then took him to the pit to be rolled against a larger dog. The roll lasted 1:30, with Alligator going across on wobbly legs, proving his gameness. This roll was also a pretty good test for Dum Dum. Gator's first official match was a ten match show at Maurice Carvers. He went in as an underdog, going into Tommy Bryant's Satan, another son of Nigger, at 58 lbs.. The two dogs meet in the center of the pit with Gator getting a leg and Satan a nose. At :10 both in the stifle, at :15 Satan is out front. At :26 a turn is called on Satan with a handle at :30. At :40 Gator makes a good scratch, taking Satan down with leg holds. At :45 Satan takes the count. His second was into a catchweight dog named Jack. Jack a Staff looking dog that out weighs Gator by eight to ten pounds. Jack takes Gator down and works him over for about twenty minutes. By :30 Gator has come to the top on Jack, who was a well seasoned dog, that never met his match. At the 1:00 mark Jack takes the ten count. Jack's stomach and chest area was wrecked by Gator, when he was on the bottom. The Plumbers had all but given up on a third match for Gator, when word came from Oklahoma that a man named Brown had a dog he would run at Gator. Mr. Brown did his homework and didn't bring a punisher, but one that was smart, versatile, and possessed a punishing bite. The match was set at 57 lbs., Gator conditioned by D. Burton and Joker by Fox. Joker's defensive style was to frustrate his opponent, which he did, and kept Gator on the bottom until a turn is called on Joker at :25. A handle was finally made at :52 and Joker scratched strong. By now Gator has started to dominate the match. At 1:09 Gator is screaming out of his corner to finish Joker off. At 1:12 he does, and Joker takes the count. After the Joker match Gator was retired as an official Champion. Many say there were only a few big dogs in Alligator's league and they were Gr. Ch. Hank, Tombstone, Hooten's Ch. Butcher Boy and Sampson (Gator's half brother) who ended each other's careers in 1:45. And there was Jeff, a dog owned by Caddell, who was out of Lightner and Colby stock that showed to be the closest thing to Gator's equal. During a roll between the two, Jeff and Gator was going at it fast and furiously, until it had to be stopped early due to a bleeder being hit on Gator. Alligator was not just a great combat dog, but also a great producer. It seems his traits can dominate anything he was bred to, which is typical of heavy Dibo dogs, and can be crossed with any other line of family dogs. His blood has become the cornerstone to the Gary Hammonds line of dogs. Many called Gator the best big match dog they had ever seen. |
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