In 1977 I had my first pit bull. His name was Rocky. I named him after the movie character from the film the year before. We moved around a bit before settling in Long Beach, Long Island. After a while, do to complications in my life at that time, I gave him to a friend of my stepfathers. Off he went. I didn’t own another pit bull for sometime after that, but kept up on the breed. I had read a great deal about the breed and went out with a girl whose father had some traditionally bred dogs that were very impressive from great lineage. I learned a great deal about these dogs from this man.
At that time pit bulls were not as popular as they are now. As a result many friends and friends of friends would ask me questions about the breed and some who owned them would ask my opinions on breeding them as well as help with the actual breedings. My ex-girlfriends father offered me a Sorrell’s dog I couldn’t keep in 1982. I placed him with a friend. I began hobby breeding. I started this in 1983. By the late 80’s I had some Sorrell’s dogs. They were from a breeder in Brooklyn that specialized in Sorrell and Crenshaw bloodlines. Their names were Nalla, Price and Cody. Later, I had acquired a dog off of a young, “Garrett’s Floyd” later to be better known as, “Chan’s Floyd.” His name was Dakota and he was one of the best dogs I ever owned. He had been Jeep/Chinaman bred.
I continued to read about the breed and talk to breeders all around the country taking in as much information as possible on pit bulls. I decided I wanted to try to cross Grand Champion Art blood with Ruffian blood. I felt that Art had been a very intelligent animal (Something that was paramount to my breeding program) I was well aware of his ability to produce as well as his ability to pass on such abilities to his offspring. (This is known as “Pre-potent” An animal’s ability to produce well.)
I wanted the Ruffian blood because the history I had studied revealed that Ruffian blood was really the purest form of the old Tudor’s Grand Champion Black Jack blood that could be found today. I felt the ancestry of my line was very important in order to have a solid foundation. I had read where the Black Jack dogs were noted for their lack of psychological problems. The Black Jack dogs were good acting dogs that were also highly intelligent and were not people biters. Intelligence alone would not cut it for the program I wanted. A stable temperament would be essential.
I knew that by crossing the Ruffian blood with the Art blood I would achieve * “hybrid vigor” in my breedings, producing dogs of great intelligence and with a trait pit bulls are not innately known for…the ability to become guard dogs. Pit bulls, in spite of the media, are not innate people biters. They are very friendly with strangers in most cases. A reason they are often stolen.
I had reasoned I could produce dogs that would become protective of their families and property and that would be intelligent enough not to become vicious as long as raised properly. I would produce Pit bulls that would rise to the occasion when the situation was deemed necessary by the animal itself. I felt as long as they were properly raised they would be amazing animals. I felt I could also make them beautiful animals that would meet the strictest of conformation requirements and standards. I would later find I was right.
I had spoken to a woman named Stephaine Turpin at a kennel named T-N-T while seeking out the Art blood and the Ruffian blood from breeders all around the country. I had hoped to find one of each bloodline and breed them. I had spoken to Stephaine and her junior partner, Gail Condra a number of times before Stephaine revealed to me, that they had Art and Ruffian bloodline crosses!!! Needless to say, I immediately purchased a puppy from her named “Butch.” Not long after the puppy passed away. Stephaine offered me the pick of Minter’s Miss Sheba’s litter out of Turpin’s Champion Blue Trouble as a replacement for the puppy I lost!!! A litter that was not being offered to the public!!! A very honorable thing to do, I thought. That dog’s name was Adamo’s Blue Hercules…the best dog I ever owned.
Minter’s Miss Sheba was a cross of Grand Champion Art blood and a bloodline known as Watchdog. The Courtiers had a registry at that time and they had founded the Watchdog bloodline. Watchdog blood, was a cross of Boudreaux’s Eli Blood and Ruffian blood. This worked for me because Boudreaux’s Eli was also Art’s grandfather through Clayton’s Eli jr. (Art’s sire) The Watchdog dogs also went back to such dogs as “Ross’ Red Devil, Bolio, Tombstone, Champion Centipede and Mason’s Champion Hog. “ They were all quality animals. The Courtiers also owned American Bulldogs. To the best of my knowledge, they closed down the pit bull registry and went into the American Bulldogs full time and sold the Watchdog bloodline to a fellow by the name of Ken Sunderland in Philly. He crossed them with McCoy blood once he owned what others hadn’t purchased. Ken had purchased the bulk of the bloodline.
Stephaine had bred Minter’s Miss Sheba to a pure Ruffian male named “Nobles Blaze of Glory” to produce Champion Trouble; who had been the runt of the litter.
I asked about a breeding I would be interested in between Champion Trouble and a dog Gail had named, “Annie” that was also off of Trouble. (Who was not yet a champion.) When the breeding was done I took two more dogs, Terror and Midnight.
Not long after, my best friend Valentin Olteanu fell in love with my dogs and when I told him a sister to Hercules was available, he told me he wanted her. She is now known as Olteanu’s Miss Raven. She has appeared on Animal Planet, America’s funniest home video’s and Reel TV as well as TV shows abroad. Miss Raven had an amazing ability to climb trees higher than a four story building!!! She also, sang and did a host of other tricks. Val moved to California where I shipped Terror for a one time breeding to Miss Raven. That litter produced a dog Val kept named Tiger. Tiger was bred back to Miss Raven at least eight times; and Val would ship the puppies to me here in New York to sell and breed.
Stephaine Turpin began experimenting and bringing in some of the more popular bloodlines into her yard while I tried to keep the T-N-T line pure, with the foundation dogs I purchased from her off of Champion Trouble and Sheba. Only Terror and Miss Raven are still alive today. Miss Raven is the last living offspring off of Champion Trouble and Sheba.
We now strive to produce the best Pit bulls that can be found. Our dogs compete in weight pull and conformation shows and are now working in shutzhund training. Our program produces dogs of above average intelligence and do to the * “hybrid vigor” in the line, they will protect your home and family while friends and people you want in your home can enter without feeling “threatened” when you say it is ”okay.” They do not need to be trained for this. It is innate in them. Just love them and raise them in a normal setting and they will give you back far more than you might have imagined.
Thank you for taking the time to read about our kennel,
Frankie Adamo
Founder Adamo Pit Bulls
Hy’brid vi’gor: The increase in growth, intelligence, yield, or other characters in hybrids over those of the parents.
Another definition: hybrid vigor
n.
Increased vigor or other superior qualities arising from the crossbreeding of genetically different plants or animals. Also called heterosis.
Not to be confused with Heterotic string theory.
Heterosis is a term used in genetics and selective breeding. The term heterosis, also known as hybrid vigor (or hybrid vigour) or outbreeding enhancement, describes the increased strength of different characteristics in hybrids; the possibility to obtain a "better" individual by combining the virtues of its parents.
A mixed-breed dog
Heterosis is often the opposite process of inbreeding depression, which increases homozygosity. Although it is believed that heterosis is the action of many genes of small effect, whereas inbreeding depression is the action of a few genes of large effect. The term often causes controversy, particularly in terms of the selective breeding of domestic animals, because it is sometimes believed that all crossbred plants or animals are better than their parents; this is not necessarily true. Rather, when a hybrid is seen to be superior to its parents, this is known as hybrid vigor. It may also happen that a hybrid inherits such different traits from their parents that make them unfit for survival. This is known as outbreeding depression, typical examples of which are crosses between wild and hatchery fish that have incompatible adaptations. Heterosis can be classified into mid-parent heterosis, in which the hybrid shows increased strength which is greater than the average of both parents, and best-parent heterosis, in which the hybrid's increased strength is greater than that of the strongest parent. Mid-parent heterosis is more common in nature, and it is easier to explain (by mechanism of gene dominance; see below).
Genetic basis of heterosis. Deleterious recessive genes avoidance hypothesis. Scenario A. Fewer genes are under-expressed in the homozygous individual. As well, gene expression in the offspring is equal to the expression of the best parent. Overdominance hypothesis. Scenario B. Over-expression of certain genes in the homozygous. (The size of the circle depicts the expression level of gene A)
Two leading hypotheses explain the genetic basis for fitness advantage in heterosis.
The overdominance hypothesis implies that the combination of divergent alleles at a particular locus will result in a higher fitness in the heterozygote than in the homozygote. Take the example of parasite resistance controlled by gene A, with two alleles A and a. The heterozygous individual will then be able to express a broader array of parasite resistance alleles and thus resist a broader array of parasites. The homozygous individual, on the other hand, will only express one allele of gene A (either A or a) and therefore will not resist as many parasites as the heterozygote.
The second hypothesis involves avoidance of deleterious recessive genes (also called the general dominance hypothesis), such that heterozygous individuals will express less deleterious recessive alleles than its homozygous counterpart.
The two hypotheses will have different consequences on the gene expression profile of the individuals. If over-dominance is the main cause for the fitness advantages of heterosis, then there should be an over-expression of certain genes in the heterozygous offspring compared to the homozygous parents. On the other hand, if avoidance of deleterious recessive genes is the cause, then there should be fewer genes that are under-expressed in the heterozygous offspring compared to the parents. Furthermore, for any given gene, the expression should be comparable to the one observed in the best of the two parents.
Nearly all the field corn now grown in the United States and most other developed nations is hybrid corn. Modern corn hybrids substantially outyield conventional cultivars and respond better to fertilization.
Heterosis in maize was famously demonstrated in the early 20th century by George H. Shull and Edward M. East after hybrid corn was invented by Dr. William James Beal of Michigan State University based on work begun in 1879 at the urging of Charles Darwin. Dr. Beal's work led to the first published account of a field experiment demonstrating hybrid vigor in corn, by Eugene Davenport and Perry Holden, 1881. These various pioneers of botany and related fields showed that crosses of inbred lines made from a Southern dent and a Northern flint, respectively, showed substantial heterosis and outyielded conventional cultivars of that era. However, at that time such hybrids could not be economically made on a large scale for use by farmers. Donald F. Jones at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven invented the first practical method of producing a high-yielding hybrid maize in 1914-1917. Jones' method produced a double-cross hybrid, which requires two crossing steps working from four distinct original inbred lines. Later work by corn breeders produced inbred lines with sufficient vigor for practical production of a commercial hybrid in a single step, the single-cross hybrids. Single-cross hybrids are made from just two original parent inbreds. They are generally more vigorous and also more uniform than the earlier double-cross hybrids. The process of creating these hybrids often involves detasseling.
The concept of heterosis is also applied in the production of commercial livestock. In cattle, hybrids between Black Angus and Hereford produce a hybrid known as a “black baldy.” In swine, “blue butts” are produced by the cross of Hampshire and Yorkshire. Other more exotic hybrids such as “beefalo” are also used for specialty markets.
Within poultry, sex-linked genes have been used to create hybrids in which males and females can be sorted at one day old by color. Specific genes used for this are genes for barring and wing feather growth. Crosses of this sort create what are sold as Black Sex-links, Red Sex-links, and various other crosses that are known by trade names.
Commercial broilers are produced by crossing different strains of White Rocks and White Cornish, the Cornish providing a large frame and the Rocks providing the fast rate of gain. The hybrid vigor produced allows the production of uniform birds with a marketable carcass at 6-9 weeks of age.
Likewise, hybrids between different strains of White Leghorn are used to produce laying flocks that provide the majority white eggs for sale in the United States.
F1 hybrid is a term used in genetics and selective breeding. F1 stands for Filial 1, the first filial generation seeds/plants or animal offspring resulting from a cross mating of distinctly different parental types. The offspring of distinctly different parental types produce a new, uniform variety with specific and/or desirable characteristics from either or both parents. In fish breeding, those parents frequently are two closely related fish species, while in plant and animal genetics those parents usually are two inbred lines. Mules are F1 hybrids between horse and donkey.
Crossing specific parent plants produces a hybrid seed (plant) by means of controlled pollination. To produce consistent F1 hybrids, the original cross must be repeated each season. As in the original cross, in plants this is usually done through controlled hand-pollination, and explains why F1 seeds can often be expensive. F1 hybrids can also occur naturally, a prime example being peppermint, which is not a species evolved by cladogenesis or gradual change from a single ancestor, but a sterile stereotyped hybrid of watermint and spearmint. Unable to produce seeds, it propagates through the vining spread of its own root system.
In agronomy, the term “F1 hybrid” is usually reserved for agricultural cultivars derived from two different parent cultivars, each of which are inbred for a number of generations to the extent that they are almost homozygous. The divergence between the parent lines promotes improved growth and yield characteristics through the phenomenon of heterosis ("hybrid vigour"), whilst the homozygosity of the parent lines ensures a phenotypically uniform F1 generation. Each year, for example, specific tomato "hybrids" are specifically recreated by crossing the two parent heirloom cultivars over again.
Gregor Mendel's groundbreaking work in the 19th century focused on patterns of inheritance and the genetic basis for variation. In his cross-pollination experiments involving two true-breeding, or homozygous, parents, Mendel found that the resulting F1 generation were heterozygous and all phenotypically resembled the dominant parent plant. Mendel’s discoveries involving the F1 and F2 generation lay the foundation for modern genetics. Today, certain domestic hybrid breeds, such as the Savannah cat, are classified by their filial generation number.
Two populations of breeding stock with desired characteristics are subject to inbreeding until the homozygosity of the population exceeds a certain level, usually 90% or more. Typically this requires more than ten generations. After this happens, both populations must be crossed while avoiding self-fertilization. Normally this happens in plants by deactivating or removing male flowers from one population, taking advantage of time differences between male and female flowering or hand-pollinating[1].
In 1960, 99 percent of all corn planted in the United States, 95 percent of sugar beet, 80 percent of spinach, 80 percent of sunflowers, 62 percent of broccoli, and 60 percent of onions were hybrid. Such figures are probably higher today. Beans and peas are not commercially hybridized because they are automatic pollinators, and hand-pollination is prohibitively expensive.
Unlike most plants, commonly bred fish species as well as all mammals and birds are not hermaphrodite, and therefore it is much easier to prevent self-fertilization during an F1 cross. F1 crosses in fish can be between two inbred lines or between two closely related fish species, such as cichlid subspecies.[2]. The cross is usually performed by natural or artificial insemination.
Sci-Tech Encyclopedia: Heterosis
Hybrid vigor or increase in size, yield, and performance found in hybrids, especially if the parents have previously been inbred. The application of heterosis has been one of the most important contributions of genetics to scientific agriculture in providing hybrid corn, and vigorous, high-yielding hybrids in other plants and in livestock. See also Breeding (animal); Genetics; Mendelism.
There are two principal hypotheses to account for the association of size and vigor with heterozygosity, dominance and overdominance. The dominance hypothesis notes that any noninbred population carries a number of recessive genes that are harmful to a greater or lesser extent, but which are rendered ineffective by their dominant alleles. As they become homozygous through inbreeding, they exert their harmful effect. With hybridization, some of the detrimental recessives contributed to the hybrid by one parent are masked by dominant alleles from the other, and an increase in vigor is the result. The alternative hypothesis is that there are loci at which the heterozygote is superior in vigor to either homozygote . This, the overdominance hypothesis, also has the consequence that vigor is proportional to heterozygosity. The dominance hypothesis has been more widely accepted, but the two are very difficult to distinguish experimentally, and it is likely that overdominant loci are playing an appreciable role in heterosis, particularly in determining why one hybrid is better than another. See also Dominance.
Gardener's Dictionary: hybrid vigor