History of The Razor's Edge Bloodline!
This information is accurate to the best of my understanding...
Razors Edge... How it all began!
Razors Edge was started in MD and
DC by Dave Wilson and Carlos Barksdale. They started out with game
dogs. They researched everything they could find and read every book
publicized at that time. The also subscribed to many dog magazines like
the ADBA Gazette, even some underground ones. They called nearly every
breeder that they could find and questioned them, If it said Pit, they
were on it. They already owned some unpapered BYB Pits. They even had
there own Pit club and went hiking and other things back in the woods.
Eventually they got enough money to get some real papered, good
bloodline, game dogs. They purchased some of the best around at the
time. Even paid $3500 way back then for a Grandson of the great
"Plumbers Alligator", mainly Mayfield lines. Dave and Carlos were very
heavy into the game lines and had dogs from Hemphill to Wilder blood.
These were big game dogs.
Later on they hooked up with George
Williams in DC and purchased a dog they named Diablo, from Wildside
Kennels. Diablo's dad was a bigger catch dog, "Hollinsworth Bull". His
mom was a game girl names "Wildsides Ms.Leaky". This was the turn
around time when Razors Edge started adding more size. The first ever
registered "ADBA" Razors Edge breeding was from his Mayfield boy Zeus
to a Mayfield girl name Jinx. Jinx was actually given to friend back
then named Curt Plater, now CLP Kennels. He owned the first ever Razors
Edge dog. They would lose contact after this for many years before
hooking up again. They banned Pits in PG County and Dave was forced to
move. Eventually through Dave’s job in the Pet Store industry he landed
a mangers job at a Pet Store in VA. He had to move to VA and still
resides there as Razors Edge Kennel.
Dave managed a Pet Store,
worked as a professional dog trainer, and still bred bigger ADBA game
dogs. Basically, he bred his own pits now. He also put fliers in the
Washington Post explaining what the breed was and what Razors Edge was.
Dave met a guy name Ron Smith who came aboard and took Razors Edge
to another level. Dave saw this blue dog named "Steel Town Blue Monday"
and was hooked! Ron already knew every UKC and AKC breeder under the
sun. He had been researching on his own for years. So this man had all
the pictures, info, etc…. He had fliers and pictures from every AKC and
UKC breeder from Coast to coast. He literally had pictures of almost
all the dogs in all these pedigrees. That man really was the "Pit
Guru". He first contacted thingy 'n' Bull Kennels, the ones that
produced Monday. They turned them onto people in Cali with that blood.
Candace Eggart was one. Candy sent pictures of what she had and what
she had going on. Just to give you a time frame, She sold a dog years
later to Tony Moore named Showtime! Showtime went on to be one of the
foundation pregnant doges in the Greyline bloodline! So this was years
before Greyline was even around.
They went to every breeder on the
East Coast. Up north to Bobby Morehouse, Beth Jones, a friend of his
Lee Fitzgerald, Flying A's, Minot's Ledge, etc. they actually purchased
a blue brindle female named "Sadey" from Minot's Ledge. This litter was
had an extraordinary pedigree. The top half were mainly Flying A's dogs
like "Oreo" and "Reo Speedwagon". Dogs he had seen and liked. You could
see in the extended pedigree how these dogs stemmed from Ruffian dogs.
Then you could see how it went back even further from the AKC Ruffian
dog to the UKC Colby dogs. This top half of the pedigree actually
showed how Pits eventually were registered as Staffs! Dave thought that
was cool to see on paper and in a dog he owned. Then the bottom half of
the ped went right back to Stratton dogs. Dogs like Going light Barney,
dogs he grew up reading about! Thanks to Richard Stratton, Then behind
them were the same Colby dogs he saw on the top half of the pedigree.
So he had this dog that showed the history of the Am. Staff and the
directions the Colby line went in the UKC. he also purchased a male
named "Razors Edge Blue Maxx". His top half was a dog named
"StoryTime's Upon this Rock" AKA "Peter" Peter was a dog bred by Beth
Jones. He was a big dog, but kinda ugly. They bred him to "Wassuc's
Farm Maggie May". Dave really liked this compact girl. He researched
her lines and found she was Ryan. When they got to see the Ryan dogs
they were surprised to see they were game dogs. They were AKC
registered Staffs, but they still bred for game dogs! This was
something Dave had never seen, I'm sure that's why the AKC people
didn't like that line, . However; Dave loved it! Bully, game, blue,
staffs! Now that's what I am talking about! Maxx was there boy from
this blood. Now Razors Edge was big ADBA game dogs, one UKC Blue
Brindle girl, and a Big hot Blue Fawn AKC boy.
In Va there was
Sharon Stone of Cloverhill, who had the biggest Staffs Dave had ever
seen! Her old stuff was huge! Too tall for what he was looking for, but
huge! They changed years later and went more showy. Paco, was in Dave’s
opinion actually a throw back of her older days. Ginny York, Pam
Perdue, GiGi, the Garretts, etc….they visited them all. Even went down
to Florida and checked out Marsha Woods. Met KC Courtier of Watchdog
Kennels. Eventually, went up to Md and met Kimmar Kennels. As soon as
Dave stepped on the ranch, he knew he had found the build he was
looking for! The Razors Edge package was almost complete.
Razors
Edge also had been advertising in the Washington Post for many years.
Some young dudes from DC used to come down and hang out and bring their
dogs. Edwin Salinas and Joey Nevils were two of them. These guys had
been buying dogs from Kimmar and mixing their own stuff in them too.
Kimmar used to have an ad in the post under the Pit Bull ads, it said
"Petey pups". They didn't want their dogs to be labeled as Pits; but
they advertised directly under Pits? Hmmmmmm? Not as Staff? Anyway,
local people knew the deal and picked up a lot of her dogs. Joey,
Edwin, Joey's pops, and their boys had a bunch of these dogs. Even some
old friends of Dave’s Jerry and Gerrold had yards with these dogs. They
all had game stuff in the mix. dave tapped into a lot of their dogs as
well.
In Kimmar's yard he learned a lot about breeding and
genetics. Dave spent every weekend there for almost three years, and
actually put on a training class for all her buyers every Sunday.
Razors
Edge had been breeding now for a few generations and even used a lot of
her dogs from other people in the mix. Ron, also had some York dogs,
and some other AKC stuff, they experimented with. Before they got
Knuckles or any of them, Razors Edge was already in the game. Kimmar
actually used there dog Maxx for some breedings. Eventually we
purchased around 15 dogs from her line, including Knuckles and Rage.
While these pups were growing, Razors Edge already had it's formula.
They just wanted a different head. They were not given papers on some
of these dogs and they had to be UKC registered instead! This is where
Razors Edge became heavily involved in UKC. Dave started searching for
a better head and came into some Watchdog stuff. KC was not breeding
anymore, so he had to find that blood somewhere else. he bought dogs
from Grapevine Kennels, and also hit up Hughzee's, who he believe later
on became Chaos Kennels. They had been talking to Pam from Gaff Kennels
for a few years, and really liked a boy name Seiko! So they got a dog
from her. So Dave experimented with a lot of lines and different dogs.
Razors Edge started having a real consistent look. The heads were big,
but they still wanted them to be a little blockier. A few generations
later it was pretty much there.
So by taking combinations of
dogs and bloodlines Dave eventually got to the style of pitbull he
wanted, now called "Bully Style" of Pitbulls, Meaning large in size,
such as a large head, wide chest, short blocky muzzles, large, but not
over done bone, and a shorter back, but at the same time correct as the
United Kennel Club and American Kennel Club judge by.
Razors Edge
purchased a pup from the breeding of Kimmars Catt Man Roo and Pam’s
White Path China Black. These two dogs produce a few dogs in the litter
that helped to promote the Razors Edge line, dogs such as: GR CH Razors
Edge Throwin Knuckles, CH Razors Edge Inna Rage, and Razors Edge
Sapphire Lil. Another breeding that produced one of the most famous
pregnant doges in the history of Razors Edge was between Ch. Jackson’s
GMJ Mr. Brooks and Razors Edge SilverSadey of ML which produced GR. CH.
Razors Edge Sadey’s Paddington and also Kim's Blue Dekota. Dave used
Ch. CloverHill’s Watuka Spirit AKA Paco and bred him to Paddington,
which produced the legendary CH. Razors Edge Purple Rose of Cairo, the
most famous dog of all the Razors Edge dogs today in my opinion. Razors
Edge Kenna Claddaugh, Razors Edge Top Notch Chino, Razors Edge Chi Chi
of Trueblue, Tonka and Jigga and Iced Mocha are also productions from
this breeding.
When the time was right the grand champion knuckles
was bred to Paddington, which produced another female, named Viagra.
Viagra was bred to the legend Cairo and produced one of my favorite
males Razors Edge V’s Lil Ro, AKA "RO". They also produced Cai, Diva,
Caira and a few more. RO lives his own legacy today in producing some
beautiful dogs such as suarez bulls paco and genuine Edge's Toxic, and
Titan Kennels Titan, just to name a few of my favorite males out of
him. A friend of mine at Bully Loaded Kennels also has a son, Quake,
and daughter, Faith, off of him that will be very nice when there
older. Cairo was also bred to a few other females but I won’t name them
all just ones that come to mind, some of the important ones in my eyes,
such as the Cairo and Koi Breeding. Koi who is out of GR CH Knuckles
and Dakota (Paddingtons sister), was bred to Cairo and produced Rage,
Neela, Brooklyn, Shamrock, Rolli, Rosetta, and Diamond. Cairo was also
bred to tiki and produced a male by the name of Hennessy. Cairo was
also bred to my friends dog trixie of blackout kennels in VA and
produced his male Gooda, Bo at Bow Wow Kennels,Denile at Razors Edge
Kennel, one of my personal favorite females of Razors Edge bloodline
and two others that go by Bosko and Bun. The cairo side of razorsedge
is just a fraction of the bloodline. The line has been taking in
different directions but everythang basically stems from the knuckles,
paddington, and rage blood.
Another well known producing dog is
Razors Edge CLP's Short Shot, Short Shot is off of Buckshot and Rage,
and is also a grandson to Knuckles on Buckshots side and Rage is
Knuckles sister. Shortshot has done a few breedings is his life, such
as Diamond, and more recently Paradise and Steel. there is also
sections of the blood that are almost like a line in its own depending
on what your looking for, you got the Cairo side, the shortshot side,
the you got manu side, dozer daisy line breedings, which all of this
basically ties into each and every dog produced from razorsedge yard in
the very beginning! You just have to connect them all together. It's
the facts of producing outstanding dogs from the start and putting time
and effort and lots of money into building a dream.
Razors Edge
Kennel has been involved in learning, breeding, showing, training and
raising the American Pitbull Terrier for well over 15 years and it
keeps getting better! Razorsedge will not die! It will live on through
Dave’s kids, friends, and mainly in his dogs! Razors Edge is a
bloodline for everyone, it offers show quality dogs, bully correct
dogs, bully dogs, and overdone dogs, overdone meaning extreme bone,
head, and chest, at the same time very nice dogs, but dogs that would
not be able to win in the show ring. So if you want a real pitbull
where there females outdo other kennels males go to Razors Edge Kennel
and they can point you in the right direction!
MEAN PEOPLE SHOULDN'T BREED! THEY SHOULDN'T BREED DOGS EITHER!