I know very little about him and would like to know more about him myself. But here is an article I found thats pretty interesting.
www.cdecomputer.net/dover/wright_site/breeding.htmWe breed for several things:
Working Confirmation - We want a dog that can last in the heat all day, handle any terrain and ground conditions, hot or cold. Speed is very critical, this includes start, top end, agility, and side quickness. Good feet, wide chest from the front, side view should show deep chest, high tight flank, long back with a slight arch, long legs, some say most of our dogs have six inches too much leg under them. I feel they can never have too much, as long as the coordination is there.
Working style and ability - a straight front end lead dog first. When I'm driving, a dog had better not get behind to bark, or I will cull him fast. I can push cattle fast as I want, run them through every fence in Texas. I don't need a dog for that, I need a dog for front end control. On rank cattle, no five men can control that front end even on the best horses money can buy. Two outstanding lead dogs can do amazing things, and your horse never busts out in more than a trot!
Catch abilty - These are catch dogs with sense. If a cow runs off I don't care how rough they get, just stop her and bring her back. On rough rank cattle a dog that won't put a mouth on a cow can take her to Oklahoma and she may never come back... there just isn't enough pressure to stop her and bring her back. On gentle dog-broke cattle you don't need a dog this rough, but we don't pen many gentle cattle, so rough as they have to be is best. I have heard too little dog is better than too much, but this is bull. I can work and control an of these dogs. Control is the key. If you have the control on a rough "catchy" dog, you can use him anywhere, and if you need that catch it is there. Willard Bush once said if the dog has no catch you can't put it there, however, if a dog has catch you can control it and it is there when you need it.
Windmill - a dog to have plenty of windmill, or circle, or he will never settle rank cattle. FACT! At the same time, that windmiller has to have the front end when you start driving. On rank cattle, I like a dog that quarters back while driving. This gives more control, however, it takes a dog with lots of speed to handle this job on a large set of cattle.
Grit - a dog must have the grit to stay on rank cattle, and if stomped or fell on he better come up and stay.
Nose - a dog must run a six hour old track. When finished, the man must understand certain conditions affect any dog, any breed, but under normal conditions we want that track ability, and if he needs to go a few miles to find he better get there.
Winding ability - we breed for more winding ability. I want a dog to wind a cow a mile off or further on a good slow breeze day. This saves time and energy, and winding ability is a must for us.
Drive and desire - we want an intense dog that has nightmares about cattle before his eyes are open. I want a dog to mortally hate whatever they are working. A dog that hates a cow will work harder, I guarantee. I want that dog to work so intense and with such a high drive and desire that you could drive a train between him and cattle, and all he sees is cattle. I have dogs that there eyes look glazed over green when they are working, and all they know exists is them and cattle. These dogs will stay and take whatever is dished.
Intelligence and heart - this our #1 focus. An intelligent dog can find a way to get where he needs to be no matter what. If he lacks something elsewhere, he can make up for it with intelligence everytime. Intelligent dogs learn fast and are easily trained. A hard headed dog lacks intelligence and are always harder trained. Think about it. Heart... after you get through with drive and desire there is a thing called heart. Heart is hard to define, but easily recognized. I have had dogs overheated, breaking down, and we were driving cattle next to a creek. They stayed in front and wouldn't quit for water... we had to stop the cattle and make the dogs get out for water. This is heart. A dog cut up and dying on hogs, they keep working until they drop. This is heart and must be in a working cow dog. Why, you may ask, you say I had rather my dog go to water than to die in front of cattle. You are not penning very manyrough rank cattle. If your dogs quit you on rough rank cattle, simply put, you ain't penning that set with those dogs today. We always guaranteed to pen or catch whatever we went after, with quitting dogs we would have gone broke a long time ago penning rank cattle. I am speaking on some things of finished dogs. Young dogs can't have some things, they simply haven't worked enough to know all they need to know. However, in general, these qualities are a must in all our dogs. Simply put, a dog has to be a natural in all areas. If they are not naturals, 90% are culls. A few can be man-made, however they are few and far between. A natural can do anything they are bred for, and can reproduce that ability. A dog that is not a natural can not.
Fact: two men on good cow horses and two outstanding cow dogs can do more on a hundred head of cattle than fifteen men mounted on the best horses money can buy, and this includes these men being outstanding dead shot ropers.
There are many other things that go into our breeding program, but these are our primary working and breeding guidelines. Genetics, mouth, like working styles, ability, the list goes on and on. Succesful breeding programs are complicated and time consuming, however, the listed things are for the working cowboy and will make the difference between success and failure.
Weatherford's Ben is a Yellow Blackmouth Cur, maybe the best dog I'll ever own. He is our genetic basis, and the nation's #1 producing (Blackmouth Cur) stud dog. Between Bobby Weatherford and myself we've bred 29 females, producing 38 littlers. After breeding his daughters, granddaughters, great granddaughters, cousins, and to cross gyps, every pup has made above average to outstanding dogs. His youngest pups are outstanding for their age and improve every time out. He is the genetic basis for at least eight other major breeding programs, and every breeding program set up around his genetics has had outstanding success.
We carry several other bloodlines for outcrosses. Some of our outcrosses include Weatherford, Burkhart, Beaver, and Rio Grande up close. Other distant blood is there, some tracing to the 50's and further. The key to our success is the old breeders, they made it all possible for today's breeders.
Genetics: Weatherford's Ben is our primary focus. We have seven sons of Ben, from 50 to 75% (percentage of same blood shown on the pedigree) along with one 50% grandson, daughters, and granddaughters in the breeding program. He is a dominant sire every trip out in linebreeding and outcrossing. We keep only the amount of females we can work, finish, and prove. We are constantly keeping pups to prove, and our main motto is "improve".
You have to keep those young dogs too see what works. We only breed above average to outstanding dogs, both genetically and in working ability. Breeding one genetic cull can ruin twenty years of breeding success. When we cull it is a permanent cull, no chance of that cull reproducing elsewhere. Every breeder has to be honest with themselves and cull even that average dog. Never get satisfied with your dogs, always work to improve. When a breeder gets satisfied, his breeding program strts slipping, and failure is close behind.
We keep one outcross male, Wright's Markley Jake. He is a distant cousin to Ben on the top and a complete outcross on the bottom. We have several outcross females, however, we linebreed Ben heavily because it works for us and other folks in 39 states and parts of Canada. I don't claim to breed the best dogs walking, but the dogs we have suit us better than most, that's why we hunt and work these dogs.
Whenever anyone thinks they have the best, they will sure get shown somewhere, sometime, there will be something bred better. Our dogs are bred for cattle, hogs, and big game. We have dogs in Arizona being used to track people in search and rescue units and for convicts. We have produced many dogs that made outstanding tree dogs, blood tracking dogs for guides, guard dogs, the list goes on and on.When you get out of the stock and big game ability, this is where the things I listed earlier come in, and intelligence is the main factor that makes them work on other things and in so many uses
This article is a reprint from the July/August issue of COW DOG MAGAZINE. Written by Randy Wright of Bullard, Texas
Chris
