Bullistik Fool’s Gold ‘Troy’
There is quite a story to be told about our boy, Troy, and how he wound up here at Bullistik®.
cocoa & tan
As a breeder, I find myself occasionally needing to introduce an outcross to strengthen the genetic diversity in my program, and because of the inherent limitations of a c-section breed like the French Bulldog, I don’t find it plausible to add a new female as my girls are only bred two to three times in their life. So, when I go searching for some new bloodlines, I either breed one of my girls to an outcross stud dog, as I did with SpitFire to Maverick and more recently, Jealousy to Benny, or I go all in and invest in a new male that has a pedigree that will benefit my program.
But, investing in a future stud dog, is not just about his ancestry, but also conformation, health, temperament, and color dna.
When I started my search, I originally looked at the upcoming litter that wound up producing Troy. Although his sire, Nando, and dam, Cinder, ticked the majority of the boxes on my list of must haves, I also had specific color genes I did and didn’t want my new male to possess.
Specifically, I wanted my future stud dog to have the following in their color profile: cream (e), blue (d), and cocoa (co), but NO PIED (Sp) and NO BRINDLE (kbr). Needless to say, Merle (M) and testable B (b), the chocolate color in all other breeds except French Bulldogs, are no go colors for Bullistik®.
Well, Troy’s sire was both PIED and BRINDLE, and his dam was cocoa but did not carry blue, so I decided that this particular litter was not likely going to work out for me since every puppy would inherit the pied gene from Nando.
And it would be hit or miss if they would inherit the dilution allele responsible for the color blue.
Fortunately, the other litter I was interested in had the possibility of producing a male with the colors I did and didn’t want. So, when I got the notification that a cream male was available, that had no brindle or pied alleles, and did inherit both blue and cocoa, I was ecstatic and reserved the puppy.
That cream puppy was spectacular in every way, and I was thrilled that he was coming to Bullistik®. Well, let me tell you, fate is a cruel mistress because that stunning cream boy that I thought was destined to be my future stud dog, wound up being a cryptorchid: neither testicle descended. I was heartbroken, but little boys without all their manly parts do not grow up to be stud dogs no matter how perfect they may be in all other aspects.
So, when the breeder offered me Troy, in replacement for the cream boy that wouldn’t become my future stud, I begrudgingly accepted, and Troy moved to Texas.
Yes, Troy carries the pied gene (Ssp), inherited from his daddy, NO he does not carry brindle (kyky), hallelujah!! and he does not carry blue (DD), dangit!!
But he does carry cream (Eme), and he is cocoa & tan (atat, CoCo) so I wound up the owner of what has transformed into a fabulous boy that checks every box on my wish list except the exact color dna I prefer.
Troy has a fabulous outgoing & easy-going temperament, is Canine Health Check clear of all genes believed to be responsible for health issues detrimental to the French Bulldog breed, and is OFA certified for cardiac, hips, legg-calve-perthes, patellas, and tracheal hypoplasia.
Troy is a physically outstanding Frenchie specimen, and has all of the mandatory plumbing that is necessary for a stud dog.
Troy isn’t exactly what I started out searching for in regard to color dna, but he has turned out to be a very welcome addition to our family, and YES, Troy’s registered name was deliberately selected to forever remind me that being a FOOL (prioritizing color) nearly caused me to lose out on an amazing boy that is worth his weight in GOLD in regard to the most important features of a stud dog: breed conformation, health, and temperament.
The moral to this story is, you can’t always get what you want, but you might just find, you get what you need.