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Swinford's Foundation Breeds
By using performance selection, John carefully selected various types of sound, protective mastiffs (primarily the English Mastiff) and bred them to performance proven "Bull-n-Terriers" (APBT) to produce the original Swinford Bandogs. Bantu, the dog pictured with John (above) was a first generation Swinford Bandog produced in the 1960's from the breeding of a proven "bull-n-terrier" stud (Kelly's "Bobtail Buddy" 2xW, not pictured) to an exceptional English Mastiff bitch known as "Octavia" (pictured below with young Bantu and litter mates).
One can clearly see the mother is an English Mastiff as has been reported in the Sporting Dog Journal. Swinford's most famous Bandog known as "Bantu" (pictured here as a pup with his mother) though was not actually the first Swinford Bandog nor was he even the first "Swinford's Bantu." Earlier John Swinford bred them previously and produced the first Swinford's Bantu; unfortunately, the first Bantu died from a car accident. After John Swinford's death in October of 1971, the second Swinford's Bantu became rather famous as a result of being published in both the July-August 1972 issue of Jack Kelly's Sporting Dog Journal and in Carl Semencic's first book.
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.
Pete Sparks with his Swinford Bandog
If you obtain a copy of Semencic's book, you can see on the acknowledgment's page the names Martin Lieberman and Kevin Covas. Martin, Kevin, and I have discussed the history of these dogs on many occasions...too many hours to count. Martin Lieberman was very familiar with Swinford's work and played a role in the development of the original Swinford Bandogs. Kevin Covas owned a Bandog named Thor. Thor was produced from a breeding of Neapolitan Mastiff and APBT, but as stated earlier, Thor was not produced from the Swinford's Bandog program. Kevin himself was not involved in the original Swinford Bandog project; however, he was aware of it and was able to validate some of the other Bandog projects in existence at that time. Thor actually came from a totally independent breeder that was found in a newspaper ad. He was from unrelated stock and was purchased several years after John Swinford's death. That said, it is correct that Thor himself was the product of a Neapolitan Mastiff and APBT breeding.
Thor really liked running the treadmill and was in Semencic's book largely for this reason, but again he was not a Swinford bred Bandog. Today, Kevin currently owns a Swinford like (an American Sentinel Canine to be specific) from our program. When he owned Thor, Kevin was heavily into weightlifting, and he desired for his dog to exercise with him. Kevin also knew how to weld and made two treadmills to make exercising his dog more convenient. For several years I owned one of the mills that Thor used to run on, but I finally chose to get rid of it since I had little use for it. Martin Lieberman owns the other mill that Kevin designed. They were rather crafty in design being able to handle dogs over the 100# mark. Thor's mill, which I owned, can be seen here.
The Swinford Bandog as recorded in the Sporting Dog Journal
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.
A photo of Bantu presented in Carl Semencic's book along with a brief description of an altercation between Bantu and a Rottweiler is largely how many people became aware of Bantu. Although this book gives some reference to Swinford's Bandogs being developed as guard dogs, it is not the best source about the Swinford Bandog breed as the book unfortunately focused on fighting breeds and such activities. Within this book it was reported that Bantu was matched against a Rottweiler known for extreme ferocity, yet Bantu overpowered his opponent with a level of force and intensity so great that the Rottweiler quickly quit and couldn't even be forced to look at Bantu, while Bantu showed extreme determination to pursue. It was also reported that the match was constructed primarily to prove the Rottweiler was not a true gladiator breed. Unfortunately, this book did not make an effort to illustrate Bantu's and the other Swinford Bandogs' most notable abilities as athletic and powerful guard dogs.
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.
Semencic's book, although it attracted a lot of interest in the breed was in many ways a setback for the breeds intended purpose as a true guardian breed...as the breed gained considerable recognition as a fighting dog being produced from outstanding quality game dog stock. Although many of the original Swinford Bandogs were much more physically and mentally capable in comparison to other traditional guarding breeds their primary purpose according to the developer of the breed, John Swinford, DVM, remained that of a family guardian or protection dog. I cannot speak for Semencic as to why he chose to focus on the fighting ability more so than the dog's capabilities as a protection dog, but I suspect that, like the media, he was in pursuit of the "shock and awe" effect in order to gather attention on the breed. Unfortunately, it was the wrong type of attention since the breed was first and foremost produced as a family protection dog and home guard dog, something that should have been more clearly illustrated about the breed in Semencic's initial publication.