Of all the great and not so great, dogs I have ran behind over the years, a few stand out.  And, of those few, one takes the cake!  Riddle’s “Barron”, a dog among dogs if you would.  Barron, was a hog dog owned by T. Michael Riddle, owner of the Nativehunt Guide Service.

Riddle’s barron was what you would call the classic “American Bandog”.  A Bandog is actually a hybrid breed, rare and only a few can produce this breed correctly.  A Bandog is produced when a full blooded American Pit Bull Terrier (not an Amstaff, or Staffy, or bluenose this or that) is bred into a Dane/Mastiff bitch.  The resulting litter is the Bandog.  A dog originally concieved by the late Dr. Swineford DVM in the early 70’s.  Although traces of this type of breeding can be dated back further, Swineford perfected it and created a working dog like none other.

Barron was out of a litter sired by Riddle’s Frankie.  To back up for a second, Frankie was a top notch Pit Bull by all means, and has become a foundation blood line for Pit Bull stock used by many hunters today!  The blood in these dogs run deep and strong, and have made some of the finest hog dogs around- BAR NONE!  So, Frankie was bred into a Dane/Mastiff bitch and the result was the Baron, owned by Mike.  Mike ran with his Bull dog Barron and Frankie for years, just the three of them and many of hogs met their demise.

I guided under Mike for several years, running behind Barron.  This dog was the complete package, he had a nose for hogs, he had the speed of a cheetah, the strength of a bear, and the wits of Einstein.  He always knew how to avoid trouble while on a hog, and when T. Michael approached the scene, Barron turned up the heat, he always had a presence of where Mike was.  It was like those two were brothers, man and dog!  When we had young dogs out hunting, Barron could sense the situation under control and let them bay.  Barron made me look good numerous times as well, we killed hogs for clients in the dead heat of summer and the pitch black rain of winter.  Around camp in between hunts, or at the fire pit at night, Barron was always there with us, just one of the guys.  He was a big baby, and loved attention, and many of clients wanted their picture with that old dog.

Mike still has pups occasionally from the Old Barron bloodline, but I think he has a tough time parting with them.  He talks of Barron still, and you immediately sense the bond those two had, as he speaks real soft and with passion.  Barron passed away in 2007 of old age, the week after his last hunt.  We killed a big one on his last hunt, and Barron was like a pup.  I still remember the night Barron passed, we all shed a tear and told our favorite Barron story around the fire.  I think about that old dog every now and again, and am proud to say I got to work with him!  So heres to Barron, runnin’ hogs up in Heaven!

-”cut ‘em loose”