The Swinford Bandog

Legendary dogman Pete Sparks also owned a Swinford Bandog named Toro (pictured on the right with Mr. Sparks), which was bred by Dr. Swinford. Like the majority of Swinford's Bandogs, Tora's genetic foundation was composed exclusively of English Mastiff and game bred APBT origin.

Hopefully this information will clear up some of the questioning about Swinford's actual Bandog breedings, for in Semencic's book the breeding of Bantu was not described, yet the breeding of some other Bandogs were. This incomplete information has misled a number of people. Accurate reports of how Swinford's Bandogs were bred were reported in the Sporting Dog Journal but that was a very limited publication and was much harder for the general dog enthusiast to get a hold of.

Many of the misconceptions pertaining to Swinford Bandog's breeding program originate from Semencic's book perhaps because a Bandog named Thor was described as a first generation Bandog produced from a Neapolitan Mastiff and an APBT. This is true...and there were others with similar projects, but what was not mentioned by Semencic was the fact that Thor and many of these other types of Bandogs were not actually from the Bandog Swinford program. That should have been clarified, as it misled a number of people.

In the July-August 1972 issue of the Sporting Dog Journal, Jack Kelly wrote a brief story about Swinford Bandogs, which was the "cover story" of that issue. Some 30+ years later, Kelly again wrote a brief article of Swinford's work in a book. In both cases, Jack Kelly acknowledges the use of the English Mastiff being bred to game APBT dogs. In his book, Mr. Kelly states, "John was intent on establishing his very own breed of dog by crossing his English Mastiff to an American Pit Bull Terrier."  In the 1972 July-August issue of the SDJ, Mr. Kelly gives reference to the English Mastiff, the APBT, and also refers to some of the other foundation breeds used. It is in this journal that Mr. Kelly states, "John's ideas of breeding these dogs was to try and take the desirable qualities of each breed and through selective breeding to produce an all-purpose guard dog that was a game fighting dog." Mr. Kelly also gave reference to Swinford to the fact that even though Swinford himself did not keep pit dogs, he did love all dogs. He further described Swinford as a person who was always willing to offer his services to do whatever he could as a veterinarian for various dogs and dog clubs. 

While the American Sentinel Canine Registry supports testing their dogs with protection work or legal hunting, we do NOT condone any illegal activities and certainly takes a strong position against dog fighting. That said, the activities that  John Swinford participated in with Bantu occurred approximately 50 years ago, and we certainly cannot go back in time to prevent such events. The ASCR considers dog fighting as a brutal and inhumane activity that it is completely unnecessary when it comes to testing the abilities of a  gladiator type dog. We only reported the above to address some historical information, and the activity of dog fighting is certainly not condoned. Please do your dogs a favor and do NOT participate in such events. If you need guidance on appropriate measures of evaluation, we will gladly share with you our training methods that are both legal, more appropriate, and totally humane. Measures of performance selection can be very revealing about the quality of the dogs being tested. The American Sentinel Canine Registry (ASCR) only condones the use of humane measures of drives and resistance to stress by combining various testing measures of physical endurance (pre-exhaustion), mental endurance, and commitment to various threats as they can be applied in protection training scenarios for guard dog work or for catch dogs that are used to hunt dangerous game. It should be noted that anyone involved in dog fighting or animal cruelty is permanently banned from registering dogs with the ASCR as well as banned from participating in any events held by the ASCR. Although John was very successful in his efforts of developing the Swinford Bandog, unfortunately he passed away in October of 1971 before the breed was truly established, and his original work died out a number of years later. Creating a new breed requires extensive work and most people are simply not willing to put forth the effort required for creating a new breed, especially since it is much easier to simply work with a breed that is currently established.

The ASCR is currently an "open registry" and does accept outside dogs into the registry based upon the successful completion of the performance requirements and foundation guidelines outlined within the ASCR Breed Suitability Test (BST) and ASC Standard. Although we are not interested in publicly sharing the ASC Breed Standard in its entirety prior to it being published and property copyright protected, you may click on the links here to see the ASCR registration form should you be interested in an application.

The ASCR chose to use the name American Sentinel to differentiate our program from the other “bandog” programs out there. This was done since the American Sentinel bandogs is proven to much higher standards than are the majority of "bandog programs" out there that lack strict performance selection requirements and have inconsistent breeding goals. If you are interested in these dogs, be aware of the differences between ASCR accepted breedings that earn ASC registration through their performance selection and the increasingly popular "Bandogs" that are being bred without performance measures or even specific goals and standards.

The ASCR carefully reviewed the original Swinford Standard before producing the American Sentinel breed standard, and there are some similarities between the two; however, the American Sentinel breed standard is certainly superior. The guidelines of the ASCR are a composite of carefully written works comprised of decades of careful study. The ASC Standard establishes guidelines of breed selection based  upon the grounds of performance measures including physical athleticism, mental determination, and protective performance in a ASC Breed Suitability Test (BST). The guidelines within the ASC Standard place performance above all else, but there are also guidelines of breed foundation as well as desired anatomical preferences described within the ASC Breed Standard. The only way a dog can be registered with the ASCR as a "American Sentinel Canine" is to pass the performance and type guidelines written within the ASCR Breed Standard.

If you are interested in obtaining more information about the ASCR, feel free to email me at americansentinelk9@gmail.com.  Breeders that register their dogs in the ASCR are expected to take no short cuts. They are expected to search for the best and model the breeding philosophies of the best. Combining this with the ASC Breed Suitability Test and an understanding of genetic principles, the ASCR hopes to continue the development of John's work, the performance bred American Sentinel Canines.

H. Lee Robinson, M.S.
Founder of the American Sentinel Canine Registry