Bolio
was bred by Maurice Carver and Eddie Klaus in 1969. His sire was the famous pit
ace Klaus' Zeke and his dam was Klaus' Goldie. Bolio's pedigree is very heavy in
the blood of a bitch named Carver's Judy and her sister thegreat Carver's Black
Widow. In fact he carried fifty percent of this blood in his breeding.
Bennett Clayton of Texas bought Bolio from Carver and sent him to Floyd
Boudreaux to be matched, he was hooked into a dog that had killed both of his
previous opponents. This dog's name was Rowdy. Bolio was contracted into Rowdy
twice. The first time Floyd was not content with Bolio's conditioning for the
fight, he knew that Bolio must be perfect to fight a dog of this caliber. After
Floyd paid the forfeit he set up a new match with Rowdy for the big night of a
southern convention. This time Bolio was in great shape and when they hit, it
was a real war. Bolio killed Rowdy in about two hours and was voted best in
show! At this same convention, there were many champions being shown and among
them was Davis' Grand Champion Boomerang. I was not at this fight and I got my
information from other dog men and the sporting dog magazines. Sometime after
the fight Bolio was sold to a fancier in southern California.
The new owner of Bolio was not interested in matching him again, even though I
felt he was the best 43 lb. dog alive at the time. He decided to use him as a
stud dog and that was the best use for him. Bolio was so talented he never got
hurt in rolls. I was lucky enough to see him roll many times against all kinds
of dogs including dogs that were up to 15 pounds larger than he. He handled ALL
his opponents with ease.
I have not seen a large number of the famous foundation dogs fight and maybe
some of them were better dogs than Bolio. I have seen many fast lane dogs in
action since these foundation dogs faded into the past and I can say that Bolio
is the best dog I have ever seen pound for pound. He was not an extremely hard
biter, but he could shut his mouth. He was very skilled at keeping his holds
and sometimes it would appear that he was glued to his rivals head, he liked to
fight the head. He was very strong and fast wrestler and would quickly get his
hold and then use his body weight and muscle power to wear the opponent down
while punishing him the whole time. He would move in such a way that the other
dog would be carrying most of Bolio' weight with him. When the other dog would
slow down from the head holds, Bolio would go into the throat. If a dog did
happen to get Bolio off his head, Bolio would go toe to toe with him, but not
for long. Bolio would work his way back to the head and again be in total
control. He was the fastest, smartest, and most effective head dog that I have
ever seen. He had natural air and I never saw him slow down. He was a very
intense dog and he loved to fight. When in the corner he would scream with rage
until he was released into the other dog. Occasionally, he would bite you if
not released quick enough.
Bolio as a producer was the best stud dog that I know of that ever lived. He
was bred to some poor cur bitches and produced excellent pit dogs from them.
When he was bred to good bitches, those results were amazing. Some friends of
mine had a dispute with Bolio's owner and ended up taking the dog while he was
at church. I had no part in the taking of Bolio from his owner's yard and do
not know the details of the dispute between him and my friends. I don't use his
name because the purpose of this article is to praise Bolio, not to put down
his former owner. Bolio's former owner had stolen dogs from me and so I feel
that I owed him nothing. When the people who took Bolio offered me breeding
rights to the dog, I accepted immediately. Bolio remained on my yard until he
died at the age of thirteen. He would sire litter after litter of good dogs and
I would rate him as a better stud dog that my Tombstone dog, who was also a
great stud in his own right. Bolio produced fine dogs from all his breedings,
no matter what the bloodline was. His pups carried the same traits that made
him such a great dog. When I bred a daughter of Bolio's, Red Baby, to
Tombstone, the result was thirteen very good dogs. Eight of these dogs won 20
matches. the other five five was used as brood bitches. Champion Tonka,
Champion Snubby, Champion Crash, and Creamator were some of the better known
dogs I sold from this breeding.
One of the first bitches I bred to Bolio was Faith, a Clouse bitch. This
breeding produced eight game and talented dogs, including Chen Leng and
Champion Princess. Red Baby's mother was a sister to Offer's Crazy Babe, a pure
Clouse bitch. Red Baby's litter was a bunch of great dogs.
I had a bitch named Tuffy that was heavy in Clouse blood. She was by Tater and
Faith, and when I bred her to Bolio, I got some very good dogs including Bull
Boy Bob ROM and Champion Dugan. Bolio worked well with good Tombstone and
Clouse bitches. He also sired good ones to great dogs out of bitches from the
bloodlines of Eli Jr. and Ironhead. This reminds me of a statement made by
Ricky Jones. He said, "My favorite bloodlines are the Eli/Ironhead cross
dogs that came from Maurice during the early and mid seventies. Percentage wise
these dogs will get you to the pit more times than any other bloodline out
there. There are a lot of good dogs from other bloodlines, but over all you
will get more dog for your money and time from the Eli/Ironhead line."
Ricky Jones can run any bloodline he wants and he has a right to his own
opinion. I don't think any bloodline is so superior to the other top bloodlines
that it wins every time. However, Ricky stated very clearly that his dogs will
win more that any other, now how in the hell would he know this to be a fact,
he never used anything except the Eli blood and did 99.9% of his winning in his
own back yard! I say his opinion is weak and wrong! I owned and saw dogs of
Bullyson, Eli Jr., and Ironhead when Ricky still had his hound dogs. I say the
Bolio blood is superior and I sold my Bullyson-Eli Jr dogs to make room for the
Bolio blood that I breed. I talked with Carver on many occasions and he told me
more than twice that the Bolio dogs are his best without a doubt. In the whole
article he never spoke about two of the best dogs he owned, Chome and Chocolate
Soldier. These two dogs won 4 matches for him and they were bred by Diamond Jim
out of a Bolio bitch bred to the great Luther dog. The mother of Chome and
Soldier was Patrick's Rose. I understand that Jones had a lot of wins to his
credit, but the fat is that a puppy I sold as a pet beat Grand Champion Sandman
even though Sandman outweighed him by 3 lbs. I am talking about Grand Champion
Buck, a Bolio dog. If Ricky can make a statement that his dogs are the best, I
can tell you that the people with Bolio dogs aren't losing any sleep over his
"Honest Dogs." I would not trade one good Bolio dog for any of his
dogs. I quess most serious dog men run the line of dogs they like the best.
Bolio's blood is by far the biggest part of my yard. Almost all my dogs have
some Bolio blood in them and many are 60-70% Bolio blood. I don't think you get
the best results by just inbreeding on one good dog. You need other good
bloodlines to cross them with and to keep them strong. I am without a doubt the
biggest Bolio fan in the world and i have been bragging about him for twenty
years. Maurice Carver told me that "all the Bolio dogs will do for you is
win. Lots of people don't like them after they win, but they get the job
done!" Eddie Klaus and Maurice Carver deserve the credit for breeding
Bolio and his great litter mates Mendicino, Andy Capp, Daisy, and Leggs
Diamond. All I did was realize his potential as a stud dog. I am sure I would
still have bulldogs if I had never heard of Bolio, but I know my yard is a
better yard because of him. If I could have any dog that lived in the past,
today, as a two year old dog, I would take Bolio!
-Pat Patrick