[ Caution : At some point in this essay, we will be discussing fighting dogs, if thou art one whose parlor-bred disposition cannot encounter, even in abstract, such topics proceed no further. This is an essay of Men and Fellow animals born and bred for the edge.] Feist Dogs Let us begin with a definition. Feist Dogs [Sometimes rendered homophonically in journals as “Fice Dogs”] A Feist Dog was a hunting dog that was the offspring of Native American hunting dogs and those dogs brought over by colonists and settlers. A feist dog was not so much a particular breed as an amalgamation of the elements of the hunting and work dogs used by indigenous tribes and the more meticulously bred Old World dogs. To some, a feist dog was an ungainly cur that didn’t take to commands [obedience] well. To others the feist dog was an admired crossbreed that seemed to benefit from the mix of the “savage” or “wild” elements and the “cultured.” An animal that possessed the best of both...
Examining & Resurrecting Indigenous Skills and Frontier Rough & Tumble Combat