The background to the Dublin Red Strain is made up of descendants of Ch. Gentleman Jim, both Brindle Devil and Bankhead Bullfighter, were from his lines and were exported to Ireland from England. Brindle Devil also had offspring sent to the U.S.A, but we will get back to that part later on. In the middle of the 1950`s, Harry Payne from Yorkshire, England mated his bitch "Chelmont Grand Duchess" with the show champion Pal of Aveth and in that litter there was a dog who was named Brindle Devil. Mr. Payne certainly did the Irish Stafford scene a great favor when he sent Brindle Devil to Ireland, the dogs excellent qualities carried on into his sons and daughters and into their sons and daughters and so on. The most common of his linage were the Battling prefix dogs. These appear a great many times in modern Red strain dogs pedigrees.

From left: Ch. Brindle Wee Lass, a Kerry Blue, Delaney's Red Saint and Ch. Pal of Aveth

Brindle Devil was owned by Willie Delaney from Dublin, Ireland who with Bob Watt from Dublin was the founder of the Dublin Red Strain of dogs. At that time Bob Watts owned a bitch named Battling Beauty, a daughter of Fearless Cavalier and Spring Beauty, and after she was mated to Brindle Devil she gave birth to two great dogs, Battling Duchess, and Battling Devil.

Both Duchess and Devil were show winners, but they were also great badger dogs. Seamus McNutt a well known Stafford fancier in Ireland bought her from Bob Watt in 1962 when she was 3 years old and he later claimed that she was one of the best bitches he ever owned. She was also was used in the Badger trials of Ireland which she passed with Honors. Ch. Brindle Devil was also mated to Ch. Brindle Wee Lass, and in that litter there was two exceptional dogs, Great Roger and his famous brother Satan's son.

Both The Great Roger and Fawn and Fancy were said to be game dogs and I guess their certificates gives us an indication of how tough they could be. It has been said that they had one too many kennel fights and as a result the Great Roger ended Fawn and Fancy's life.

Battling Lass, a daughter of Watt's Battling Beauty was mated with Delaney's Great Roger and she produced McNutt's Fearless Devil. This dog was put across a bitch by the name Wychcome Bernadette, which was a sister of the English show Champion Ch. Cambodian Contender out of Ch. Game Penny by Ch. Rellim Ferryvale Victor.

The author, John F. Gordon bought a number of these pups out of Bernadette and this led the bloodline back to England again along with a litter after Bandits Princella and Battling Devil.

When Bobby Watt's mated his Battling Duchess to her half brother Satan's Son she produced the Red Commando. He was a show winner and a very game dog and when put to Peter Kane's Matador Maid they produced two great dogs. One was a bitch named Granitefields Reba's Beauty and the other was the Wolf Island boy. Wolf Island Boy was famous for his ability at the Badger and he won the best dog award at the trials twice, once in 1975 and then in 1977. He was also known as Lord Rommel, and his sister Wolf Island Girl and offspring's went under both prefixes. Despite his great ability at the trails it was said that he would not fight other dogs.

Wolf Island Boy also had a famous half sister called Cardonagia Red, which was out of Red Duchess and the Red Commando. When the Red Commando was put across Cardonagia Red she produced Mandy of Rommel and this bitch in turn was put across Byrne's Satan's Son, producing the well known Frazer of Ireland. Frazer of Ireland or Boomerang as he also was known in Ireland was brought over to England by M. Dann and it was said that Frazer was one of the gamest Stafford's Maurice ever owned. M. Dann also imported a bitch named Mandy of Dublin, another game dog of this line and with both Frazer and Mandy he had his foundation dogs for his Strain of Stafford's.

Red Warrior was a result of Frazer and Mandy and was regarded as a very game dog, winning many battles. Nearly all off the Dublin Red strain have this dog in their pedigrees and he was the sire to many game dogs like, Ch Red Joe, Ginger, Leo, and Rocky. Red Warrior was also known as Dann's Choice and it is said that he died of parvo in 1983, but nevertheless he sired many great Red Strain dogs, which in their turn passed on the genes and the result is the Red Strains we see today.

When bred to the Red Dart of Asquith he produced Russell's Ch. Red Joe, a 3x winner. Out of all Red Warriors sons Ch. Red Joe is probably the most known and probably most frequent used as a stud dog. It is claimed that he has sired over 75 pups, some going to Sweden, Norway, Holland, U.S.A, and even Israel and that shows how sought after his blood was. He has had 4 contracted matches and won 3, but lost one against John's Dillenger, out of Jasmarc Jama Jay and Brindle Molly in 1 hour and 3 minutes. He has however fought more than this unrecorded.

Leo the litter brother of Ch. Red Joe was matched at 48lbs into an APBT named Heather's Zack, which was weighing much more than him. Rocky was scheduled for this match, but had to withdraw and Leo took his place. The APBT was a good dog and unfortunately Leo lost the match and also his life.

Dann's Rocky was out of Dann's Tasha by Red Warrior. Hard biting like his Sire, but unfortunately rated as a cur by many. It was claimed that he was always overweight when he was matched and that he was also very lazy. Some claim that he was a 2x winner and some say he was a 3x winner, but one thing that is for certain is that he lost 3 times. He lost to his half brothers, Red Joe and Leo and to an APBT named Reno.
Despite his strange career he sired dogs like, Josh, Buzz, Dillenger and Albert. When Rocky was bred to the Red Dart of Asquith she produced Josh and Buzz. Red Dart or Hopcroft's Bess as she was also known as was considered to be a very game bitch by Russell, which was the owner of Red Joe. He had seen Bess being rolled on a couple occasions, once against Mitzy and he said that he would have laid money down on Bess as the winner if it had been a match.

Red Dart of Asquith AKA Hopcroft's Bess and Dann's Rocky

Ch. Smuggler (APBT)

Josh was a very well respected dog, game, intelligent and strong and with a bite like his father. Josh fought and won over an imported APBT from Pat Patrick named Moonshine in 40 odd minutes, killing him in the pit. Then on his second outing he lost game to Stormer in 1 hour and 27 minutes Have in mind that this is the same Ch. Stormer who stopped Ch. Psycho in 1 hour and 3 minutes so he sure was facing top quality when he fought.

Then on his third outing he lost to Cooper, a Patrick dog born in quarantine in England. Josh lost in 1 hour and 35 minutes, but Cooper could not be matched again after that and never could make a third match to become a Champion. Then Josh came out again to face Nigger, a son of Cooper, and won in 1 hour and 15 minutes. Then he lost to Ch. Smuggler an APBT in 54 minutes.

Buzz, Rocky's litter brother was said to be a bit strange. He seemed to only fight when he felt for it. When he did decide to fight he was said to be devastating, but he lost to Ch. Jim and Ch. Stormer in less than 2 minutes and he lost in his match with Ch. Ben after 1 hour and 38 minutes. He did however win over an EBT called Governor in 1 hour and 38 minutes.

The Stormer Vs Josh match as reported in the English magazine "Pit Bull News". 1986

Stormer Vs Josh Males 44 Lbs

Stormer handled by Roger comes in at 42 ½ Lbs. Josh comes in spot on. The dogs are placed in the pit, the referee says "Face them" and then "Pit". When released, Josh runs across and Stormer turns as though he don't want to go! Josh takes a hold, and Stormer goes into action with a vengeance.

At 5 minutes it's even, Josh on the head and Stormer working the legs and shoulders, keeping Josh from doing the damage he's noted for.

At 10 minutes the dogs are vying for position and swapping holds, but Josh has the better of it.
At the 12 minute mark Josh has a good hold on the muzzle. They go loose at 14 , and Josh makes a turn, which is called and allowed.

At 15 minutes a pick up and Josh to go. The referee calls "Pit" and over Josh goes. 20 minutes gone and Stormer shaking a front leg with Josh trying to get him off by working the head.

At the half hour mark the match is even, both dogs in good shape. Josh is pushing the pace with Stormer content to wait, and pace himself. Up to the hour mark and Josh is ahead with Stormer trying to catch up. Just after the hour mark it's five scratches each with Stormer going over like a steamroller.

At 1.10 Stormer goes in front as Josh begins to tire. Stormer senses this and looks to push his advantage.
The hour and a quarter mark comes and Stormer seems to have stepped up a gear, he is now doing all the work and biting harder, although Josh continues to scratch well and is trying hard to catch up.
Josh is picked up at 1.27 with Stormer looking as though he could go another hour.

Dillenger was a result of Dann's Rocky and Hey's Mitzy. He was matched against Cox's Billy, a son of Buzz and he lost in 1 hour and 1 minute. Dillenger's Dam was also matched once, but the other dog got a hold of her tongue and she had to be picked up. Billy went on to face Gr. Ch. Jack after his match with Dillenger, but lost in 25 minutes.
Albert was out of Dann's Rocky and a bitch named Mad Mariah. He was rolled out and showed that he had a hard bite like his Sire Rocky. He was the brother to Brindle Dina and Red Rose, which was the Dam of the famous Gr. Ch. Big Red.

Gr. Ch. Big Red was a son of Ch. Red Joe out of Middleton's Mad Mariah and got his title at Ed Reid's Intercontinental Kennel Clubs confirmation shows. As you can see on the picture he was a very muscular dog who proved himself in weight pulling events and even as a pup he was getting all the awards.

Dann's Ginger was out of Red Warrior and the Young Mandy of Dublin, which was a grand daughter of Wolf Island Boy and when bred to her half brother Red Joe she produced Ch. Jim. There has been claimed that even though Ginger was game she was lacking in ability and had a weak bite. But she was tested and showed that even under a great deal of pressure she would not quit.

Jim was rolled out at an early age against Dann's Irish Black Jack, which was said to be a good fighter and trial dog from Ireland and in this roll Jim was said to have done so well that a month later he was matched into a dog called " Bull ", which quit after 18 minutes. A few months later he was matched into a 1x winner called " Sam ", which was picked up game at 26 minutes making Jim a 2x winner. In Jim's Championship match he was matched into Buzz, the litter brother to Josh and won in about 2 minutes making him a Champion.

His 4th match was very controversial since it was claimed that he lost due to a fault and a bad referee. This match was against a 4x winner name Ch. Sam who was going for his Grand Championship. It was said that when it was Jim's turn to scratch and the referee said, " Release the dogs " both handlers did so. It seems like Sam's handler had accepted that Jim had made his scratch since he also released Sam, but then the weirdest thing happened, Sam started to spin around in his corner very fast chasing his tail when Jim shot across trying to mouth him without success and was counted out by the referee who awarded the match to Sam after 1 hour and 5 min and said that Jim didn't make the scratch.

Later on Jim was matched into a dog called Ben who had won over a good dog in 1 hour. Jim won this match since Ben was unable to scratch at 1 hour and 37 min. A few months later Jim was matched into a EBT/Staff cross called Rocky, which quit standing on the line after 29 minutes making Jim a 5x winner. Many considered this dog a Gr.Ch. even though he lost to Gr. Ch. Sam due to a fault and a bad referee.
When Ch. Jim was bred to Ruby out of Hey's Dylan and Hey's Mandy she produced Jess. Her matches were reported to the Sporting Dog Journal in the U.S.A, which until more recent times also registered Stafford's in their Champion lists.

Springview's Sinbad out of Ch. Jim and Ch. Jess was claimed to be a Gr. Ch. since he had beaten 4 APBT's and a good staff, all winning dogs until they met Sinbad in the early 90's. In his first match he faced a APBT and won in 2 hours and 42 minutes, but it has been contested by many that this dog even existed, Other claims that he was a paper Ch or Gr Ch as no one can come up with witnesses willing to come forward with any evidence to any of the matches taken place. We managed to find this below when we dug into some old Sporting Dog Journals.

His second outing was reported as this in the S.D.J.

When bred to his Dam, Jess he produced another claimed Gr. Ch named Red, a 6x winner over Stafford's and half-breeds. He also had a litter brother named Morris, which ended up as a pet in Derry, Ireland.

Another dog out of Ch Jim was Springview's Paddy, which was mated to D & L's Sally to produce City Dude's Jodie and her brother Jim, two really good looking dogs as you can see on the pictures below.

As Dann and Springview was breeding their dogs in England the litter brother and sisters to the dogs they imported were also being bred with good results by men like T and B. Lee over in Ireland. The dogs that they had were as good, if not even better than the ones that went to England.

Apart from owning the Red Commando T. Lee also had offspring from him, which in their turn were among the founders of some of Lee's best stock. Lee's Kane and Rose were both known as good badger trial dogs and when Kane was mated to Rose they produced Lee's Gypsy, who was bred to Lee's Starsky aka Red Warrior to give Lee's Bucko. Lee's Ruby was also bred to Wolf Island Warrior and produced Lee's Juggler, which was also known as Lee's Juckles. Juggler was sent to England and it is said that he won 3 matches making him a Champion. Juggler was bred to Barriskill's Cindy, which appears in a large amount of dogs from the Dublin area, including the Northford / Psycho dogs. The mating with Juckles and Cindy produced a bitch called Lee's Bright Light, which bred to Lee's Bucko produced some of Lee's best stock, including Lee's Lightfoot. Lightfoot was bred to a dog with an excellent reputation, called Johnson producing Sylus.

Sylas was said to be a very good dog and it was also said that Limey Kennels used him as a roll dog for their APBT's. Sylas's Sire, Johnson was a son of another dog that M. Dann brought over from Ireland, that being Dann's Irish Jack. Irish Jack or Irish Black Jack as he was also known as was said to be a good pit and working trail dog. He was a bit scatter bred, containing blood from the Flynn, Red Strain and some English Bull Terrier blood.

His Sire, Dockerskull was out of Barney's Girl who was a daughter of Barney, a good Stafford x EBT trial dog. Dockerskull's Sire was a son of the great Geronimo, giving Irish Jack a decent top half of his pedigree. Jack's Dam was a bitch called Rommel's Girl, a daughter of Wolf Island Boy and Evergreen Patsy, making Rommel's Girl ½ Red Strain and ½ Flynn. There is no doubt that the Red Strain is a very highly regarded strain even today nearly 50 years after it was founded.