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Quality of dog breeds

Game or gameness is a trait most often attributed to fighting dogs, working terriers, and fighting cocks that are selectively bred, referring to their ability to persevere in a fight even when losing. Dogs that demonstrate this trait can also be described as ready and willing, full of fight, spirited, or plucky, and are able to resist mental and physical challenges in order to win a fight. Gameness contrasts with prey drive insofar as gameness refers to a dog's motivation to fight other dogs, and prey drive refers to a dog's motivation to hunt prey. The factors that produce gameness in are not well understood. Though the selective pressures involved in breeding dogs for dogfighting appear to be a significant component of gameness, dogfighters disagree about the importance of genetics to the trait. While dogs that exhibit a high degree of gameness are more prone to have offspring who are also game, the inheritance of the trait is not consistent.

The term gameness was first used to describe fighters in Boxing matches in the early 1800's. One such Boxing match was December 1810 in Sussex England between Champion Crib and an American named Molineaux. The fight lasted 55 minutes. "The two men where do dreadfully beaten that their sight was altogether lost, and their bodies and their bodies in the most emaciated state " "When the battle was decided, nature had left Molineaux and Crib could not have stayed much longer, but gameness bore him out". The term was also used in describing race horses, normally those that come from behind to win such as the March 1929 Stanley Steeple Chase: "the tactics succeeded, though only the gameness of the horse, and the resolute riding of W. Stephenson, brought about the victory". The term was always used with terriers used for "terrier work" which is the same a hound but below ground, to locate the quarry and bark, for either "bolt" (make it run out) or bark loud enough for men to dig down to the terrier, and catch the quarry. A terrier that stays at the quarry for extreme periods of time is considered game.

In dog fighting pitbulls bred for gameness are valued as the ability to not quit, despite injury, dehydration, exhaustion or broken bones. As one writer describes it, "Game is the dog that won't quit fighting, the dog that'll die in the ring, the dog that'll fight with two broken legs." The scope and method of training to develop a game dog varies dramatically depending on the level and experience of the dog fighter. Most "gamebred" dogs have a high pain threshold.

Pertaining to working terriers and other small hunting dogs, earthdog trials are used to determine the dog's gameness in hunting dangerous pest species underground. The American Working Terrier Association currently offers a Certificate of Gameness (CG) title which is more of a basic prey drive test. During the 1800's and early 1900's countless advertisements could be seen of gamebreed Fox terriers, Cairn, Sealyham, Bedlington, Glen of Imaal, Dandie Dinmont, Scotch, Skye terrier just to name a few in which the term gameness was used.