In 1993, I started my own business and the following year, business was going just great.  I was on a spending spree buying dogs left and right without even reading up on the breed standards.  My kennel was plagued with the canine parvo-virus a decade ago and it prompted me to stop breeding dogs then. I bought COBI, a Chinese Shar-Pei to check if the virus was still around. Nothing happened to him so I got a pair of Labs, a pair of Chow-Chows, a pair of Pekingeses, a pair of Poodles, a pair of German Shepherds and a pair of Boxers.  Before I knew it, I have filled up all the empty kennels in our garage except one. I saw a Bulldog ad. The price was outrageous!  I've been out of the show circuit and had no idea what the market prices of show dogs were. As a matter of fact, I've totally lost touch with the dog world since the CPV infestation. The Bulldog puppies were selling for 50 grand.  I immediately dismissed the idea of filling up the empty space and contented myself showing the Labs and the Chows.  Pink and yellow ribbons were pasted on our dog photo albums together with our dogs' pictures.

One day out of curiosity, I called and inquired for the price of an AKC imported English Bulldog: P85,000.00. Not bad for an imported dog compared to a puppy that costs P50,000. I went to look at it and there I saw CONAN, SHEENA and TARZAN. Conan was the first one that caught my attention.  He was about 9 months old, very active and playful and so cute.  He was so naughty and kept humping on me.  He could have looked better if he didn't have all the hot spots all over him.  Sheena didn't have the hot spots but her nails were really long. Tarzan just arrived and didn't care much about us.  He'd rather stay inside the basin of water.

As I haggled with the price, I found out that Conan had been here since he was 6 months old.  His AKC registration papers had not arrived and that nobody has seriously considered buying him.  I wrote off a check as partial payment and the remaining balance to be paid in full once the AKC papers arrive for Conan and Sheena.  Sheena was in season and the stud fee to be serviced by Tarzan was the discount the seller gave me. I brought home Conan that night while Sheena came after she was bred.

From the seller's house, off I went to work with Conan.  Everyone marvelled at him because of 2 reasons:  it was their first time to see a bulldog and he was so dirty, all the employees couldn't believe he was worth what I paid for.  At the office, Conan was given a sponge bath with alcohol immediately when we arrived.  For the first time he felt relief since he arrived on Philippine grounds.  He messed in my office and although he was more relieved, I can not forget the way he covered his shit with newspaper as he was so ashamed.

When we got home that night, one of my kennel help was also pleased at seeing him. He was so amused at how a bulldog looks like and described it like a midget.  It's but natural to have this reaction when all you see are caricatures and whatnots and then suddenly, right in front of you, you see it live and in action!

Conan registered CHIEF SAM GROHOLSKI  finished his PHILIPPINE CHAMPIONSHIP and has majors for his GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP before he passed away.  He has sired the FIRST LOCAL BORN ENGLISH BULLDOG to place in GROUP, COB'S VICTORY OSWIN a.k.a. POPEYE out of TIMELISS OF ROYAL WALES a.k.a. ISIS.   With the proper attention and special care, the Bulldog nobody ever wanted made waves for winning over imported American Champions and Philippine Grand Champions in the ring. Conan was the first COB DOG that made it possible for our kennel to get BLUE RIBBONS and BOB TROPHIES.

We at Cob considered him as the #2 English Bulldog in the country during his time.  Unproven only because we rarely showed him.  It is difficult to show imported English Bulldogs because of the hot weather. Conan is one dog Cob can not live with out and we truly miss him!.

MULTI-GROUP PLACING PHILIPPINE CHAMPION 

CHIEF SAM GROHOLSKI

CONAN, The Barbarian

ReCOHllections   

 Redundant maybe but I can not abstain from stressing the importance of a BREEDERS' CODE OF ETHICS. One of the many reasons why I decided to specialize in the harder to find if not rarer breeds is mainly because with these breeds, there are less people in competition, ergo, less badmouths and back-biting.  We love dogs and hate people who treat dogs as commodities, status symbols and the likes.

The Bulldog craze hit Manila a couple of years ago not because everybody liked the breed per se. It was the soaring high prices the puppies were selling for that made everyone want to have a Bulldog and be breeders of Bulldogs.  Brokers entered the picture bringing in rescued Bulldogs and other more enterprising people bringing in stocks from kennel close-out deals. Today, all of the Bulldogs that were sold then are now producing.  Of course, the law of supply and demand with demand decreasing, the prices have gone to levels as low as the popular breeds.  It's good that Cob got out of the breed. People still look for our quality little Bullies. "Should I or Should I Not?" always ends with I SHOULD NOT.