Oogy_ The Dog Only a Family Could Love - Larry Levin [44]
Dogos are not naturally aggressive with other dogs; aggressiveness was bred out of them, since they could not function as pack hunters if they were constantly trying to establish dominance. Oogy’s lack of aggression has occasionally encouraged other dogs to attack him. He has been intentionally bloodied on half a dozen occasions by other dogs. Oogy will not tolerate another dog trying to assert dominance and will defend himself, but as soon as the other dog is pulled away, Oogy loses any interest in fighting. However, because of the Dogo’s ferociousness in combat, they are routinely fought in South America, and the breed is one of four that has been outlawed in the United Kingdom. Some owners crop their ears because it makes the Dogo look more combative. Also, when a Dogo is hunting or fighting, cropped ears offer less of a target to the beast he has engaged. It is not simply coincidence that the dog that tore up Oogy ripped off one of his ears. A floppy or large ear is a target.
The Dogo is not commonly found in the United States. Few people I have met have even heard of the breed, let alone have been able to recognize one. I’m sure that a number of reasons would explain the “exotic” nature of the breed in this country, not least of which is the fact that a Dogo can typically cost thousands of dollars.
I once asked Dr. Bianco why he had thought Oogy was a pit bull. “Nobody ever sees Dogos here,” he explained. “In all my years as a vet, I’ve only ever treated one other Dogo. So I was not thinking of the breed. It never entered my mind at the time that this dog might be a Dogo. He looked like just another pit bull to me.”
When Oogy runs — actually, it is more like leaping than running — he thrusts himself forward in great bounds, all four legs in the air simultaneously like a greyhound. He can approach a top speed of almost thirty miles an hour — I once checked the speedometer to see how fast I was going as he raced alongside my car while he was still in the yard. His hind leg muscles are like coiled springs; they are so strong that when he sits and the muscles bunch, his butt does not touch the ground. He has a neck like a fireplug to protect him when he closes with his prey, with accordionlike folds of flesh bunched at the back of his head. A long rib cage curves back from a barrel chest to a whippetlike waist. Viewed from the front, Oogy’s broad chest is shaped like a box, and from the side, his body shape appears rectangular in the chest, then narrows as it recedes to his rump. He has thin black eyebrows, fine white eyelashes, and eyes that appear bloodshot, part of his Great Dane heritage.
There are numerous black splotches under Oogy’s short white fur, like those of a Dalmatian only much less pronounced, more like shadows of spots than spots. He looks as though a couple of paintbrushes had been shaken off all over him. One thing I really dreaded was telling Oogy that his career plans might not be as unlimited as he hoped. After reading about Dogos, I had to break the news to him that he could never be a show dog. “You’ve got too many spots,” I told him. “From what I’ve read, to be a show Dogo you can’t have more than one spot.” I did not want him engaging in flights of fancy that he could never realize. I didn’t want to encourage unrealistic goals in him. I thought he might take it hard, but he handled it with his usual aplomb.
A doctor who was present at Ardmore when I related this to him laughed and responded, “I don’t think that’s Oogy’s big hurdle in terms of becoming a show dog.”
When Oogy came to live with us, I assumed that with his short white fur there would be little shedding. I could not have been more wrong.