The Early Razors Edge Program

Razors Edge Pitbulls was started in Maryland and Washington, D.C., by Dave Wilson and Carlos Barksdale. They started out with game dogs, researching everything they could find and reading every book published at the time. They also subscribed to many dog magazines, including the ADBA Gazette and even some underground publications. Next, they called nearly every breeder they could find and questioned them. If it said “Pit,” they were on it.

Eventually, they saved enough money to purchase papered dogs from respected bloodlines. They bought some of the best dogs available at the time. They even paid $3,500—serious money in those days—for a grandson of the great “Plumbers Alligator,” primarily from Mayfield lines. Dave and Carlos were heavily involved in researching game lines and had dogs from Hemphill to Wilder blood. These were larger game dogs.

Later, they connected with George Williams in Washington, D.C., and purchased a dog from Wildside Kennels that they named Diablo. Diablo’s sire was a larger catch dog, “Hollinsworth Bull,” while his dam was a female named “Wildsides Ms. Leaky.”

This was a turning point, when Razors Edge Pitbulls began adding more size. The first registered ADBA Razors Edge Pitbulls breeding was a Mayfield male named Zeus to a Mayfield female named Jinx.

Jinx was given to a friend named Curt Plater, later associated with CLP Kennels. He owned the first Razors Edge Pitbulls dog. Dave and Curt would lose contact for years before eventually reconnecting.

Around this time, Pit Bulls were banned in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and Dave was forced to move. Through his work in the pet-store industry, he eventually became a manager at a pet store in Virginia. He moved to Virginia and remained there.

Dave managed the pet store, worked professionally as a dog trainer and continued breeding larger ADBA dogs. He also placed advertisements in The Washington Post explaining the breed and what Razors Edge Pitbulls was about.

Dave later met Ron Smith, who came aboard and helped take Razors Edge Pitbulls to another level.

Searching for the Desired Type

Ron already seemed to know every UKC and AKC breeder under the sun. He had been researching independently for years. The man really was the “Pit Guru.”

He first contacted Thingy ’N’ Bull Kennels, who directed them toward breeders in California carrying blood they were interested in. Candace Eggart was one of them. Candy sent photographs of what she had at the time.

To give some historical perspective, she later sold Tony Moore a dog named Showtime. Showtime became one of the foundation dogs associated with the Greyline bloodline. This was years before Greyline had become what it later represented in the bully community.

They visited breeders throughout the East Coast: Bobby Morehouse, Beth Jones, Lee Fitzgerald, Flying A’s, Minot’s Ledge and others.

They purchased a blue brindle female named Sadey from Minot’s Ledge. Her pedigree gave Dave an interesting view into the history behind several related lines.

The top half included Flying A’s dogs such as Oreo and Reo Speedwagon— dogs Dave had seen and liked. In the extended pedigree, he could see how some of these dogs connected to Ruffian dogs.

Going further back, Dave could see connections from AKC Ruffian dogs to UKC Colby dogs. To him, the pedigree illustrated part of the historical relationship between dogs registered as Pit Bulls and dogs registered as American Staffordshire Terriers.

On the bottom half, the pedigree went back to Stratton-associated dogs, including names Dave remembered from the books he had grown up reading. Behind them appeared some of the same Colby ancestry he had seen on the top half.

To Dave, that made Sadey's pedigree a small history lesson in itself.

Dave also purchased a male named Razors Edge Blue Maxx. On the top half of Maxx’s pedigree was a dog named StoryTime’s Upon This Rock, also known as Peter, bred by Beth Jones.

Peter was a large dog. He was bred to Wassuc’s Farm Maggie May, a compact female whose qualities Dave particularly liked.

Dave researched Maggie May’s lines and found Ryan blood. When they saw dogs from those lines, they were surprised by what they found. The dogs were AKC-registered American Staffordshire Terriers, yet they retained traits Dave associated with the older working lines he had studied.

Maxx became their male from this blood. Razors Edge Pitbulls now had larger ADBA dogs, a UKC blue brindle female and a large blue-fawn AKC male.

In Virginia, Sharon Stone of Cloverhill had some of the biggest American Staffordshire Terriers Dave had ever seen. Her older dogs were huge—too tall for what he wanted, but impressive in size.

Her program changed over the years and became more show-oriented. In Dave’s opinion, Razors Edge Paco was something of a throwback to the older Cloverhill type.

Ginny York, Pam Perdue, GiGi, the Garretts and many others were also breeders and programs they visited while searching for the characteristics they wanted.

Dave even traveled to Florida to visit Marsha Woods and met KC Courtier of Watchdog Kennels.

Eventually, he traveled back into Maryland and visited Kimmar Kennels. As soon as Dave stepped onto the property, he believed he had found the build he had been looking for.

The Razors Edge package was getting close.

Kimmar, Local Dogs and the Developing Formula

Razors Edge Pitbulls had been advertising in The Washington Post for years. Young dog enthusiasts from Washington, D.C., would come down to visit and bring their dogs. Edwin Salinas and Joey Nevils were two of them.

These guys had purchased dogs from Kimmar while also mixing in dogs from their own programs. Kimmar advertised in the newspaper using language such as “Petey pups,” avoiding direct Pit Bull labeling even while the advertisements appeared alongside Pit Bull listings.

Local dog people understood what the dogs were, and many acquired Kimmar dogs. Joey, Edwin, Joey’s father and others had several of them, often alongside dogs from additional lines.

Dave incorporated some of those dogs into the development of Razors Edge.

At Kimmar’s yard, Dave learned a great deal about breeding and genetics. He spent nearly every weekend there for almost three years and even held a training class for Kimmar buyers on Sundays.

By this point, Razors Edge had already been breeding for several generations and had used dogs from several outside programs in the mix. Ron also owned Pit Bulls and brought his own experience into the program.

Kimmar used their dog Maxx for breedings, and Razors Edge eventually purchased roughly 15 dogs from the Kimmar line, including Knuckles and Rage.

While those puppies were growing, Razors Edge already believed it had much of its formula. What they still wanted to improve was the head.

Papers were not provided on some dogs, which meant registration paths sometimes changed. This period also led Razors Edge to become increasingly involved with the United Kennel Club.

Development of the Razors Edge “Bully Style”

Dave continued looking for the type of head he wanted and returned to Watchdog-related blood. KC was no longer breeding, so he had to locate the blood elsewhere.

He purchased dogs from Grapevine Kennels and also contacted Hughzee’s, which he believed later became Chaos Kennels.

They had been speaking with Pam at Gaff Kennels for several years and particularly liked a male named Seiko, so they acquired a dog from her.

Dave continued experimenting with lines and individual dogs. Razors Edge gradually began producing a more consistent look.

The heads had become large, but they wanted them a little blockier. A few generations later, they believed the program was essentially where they wanted it.

By combining dogs and bloodlines, Dave eventually developed the style of Pit Bull he preferred—what became described as the Razors Edge “bully style.”

The intended package included a large head, wide chest, short blocky muzzle, substantial but not excessively overdone bone and a shorter back, while still seeking an overall dog that could remain structurally correct within the registry standards being used at that point in the program.

Foundation Dogs and Influential Razors Edge Productions

Razors Edge purchased a puppy from the breeding of Kimmars Catt Man Roo and Pam’s White Path China Black.

That combination produced several dogs that helped move the Razors Edge line forward, including:

• GR CH Razors Edge Throwin Knuckles
• CH Razors Edge Inna Rage
• Razors Edge Sapphire Lil

Another important breeding paired CH Jackson’s GMJ Mr. Brooks with Razors Edge Silver Sadey of ML.

That breeding produced GR CH Razors Edge Sadey’s Paddington as well as Kim’s Blue Dakota.

Dave used CH CloverHill’s Watuka Spirit—also known as Paco—and bred him to Paddington.

That breeding produced the legendary CH Razors Edge Purple Rose of Cairo, one of the best-known dogs in Razors Edge history.

Razors Edge Kenna Claddaugh, Razors Edge Top Notch Chino, Razors Edge Chi Chi of Trueblue, Tonka, Jigga and Iced Mocha were also produced from this breeding.

When the time was right, Grand Champion Knuckles was bred to Paddington, producing a female named Viagra.

Viagra was then bred to Cairo and produced one of my favorite males, Razors Edge V’s Lil Ro, better known as “RO.”

That breeding also produced Cai, Diva, Caira and others.

RO went on to establish his own legacy by producing dogs including Suarez Bulls Samurai Paco, Genuine Edge’s Toxic and Titan Kennels Titan, among others.

The Cairo Branch of Razors Edge

Cairo was also bred to several other females.

One important example was the Cairo and Koi breeding. Koi, produced from GR CH Knuckles and Dakota—Paddington’s sister—was bred to Cairo.

That combination produced Rage, Neela, Brooklyn, Shamrock, Rolli, Rosetta and Diamond.

Cairo was also bred to Tiki, producing a male named Hennessy.

The Cairo branch is only one part of the larger Razors Edge bloodline. The line eventually moved in several different directions, but much of the program connected back in one way or another to dogs such as Knuckles, Paddington and Rage.

Short Shot and Other Razors Edge Branches

Another well-known producing dog was Razors Edge CLP’s Short Shot. Short Shot was produced from Buckshot and Rage.

Short Shot completed several breedings during his life, including breedings involving Diamond and, later, Paradise and Steel.

Sections of the Razors Edge family developed almost like individual lines of their own depending on what a breeder was trying to produce.

You had the Cairo side, the Short Shot side, the Manu side and Dozer/Daisy linebreedings, yet these branches ultimately tied back into dogs produced from the early Razors Edge program.

You simply had to connect the pedigrees.

That was one of the lessons in Razors Edge: producing quality dogs from the beginning while putting years of time, effort and money into building a specific vision.

Razors Edge and the Development of the American Bully

Razors Edge had been involved in breeding, showing, training and raising these dogs for many years by the time this history was written.

The bloodline became broad enough to offer different styles: show-quality dogs, correct bully-style dogs and more exaggerated examples with extreme bone, head and chest.

Although the earliest stages of this program occurred before the American Bully had been formally established as a separate breed, there is no denying the historical importance Razors Edge had in its development.

Dave Wilson, Razors Edge and later the development of the American Bully Kennel Club became major pieces of the story surrounding the emerging American Bully community.

Several well-known Razors Edge dogs carried the head, chest, bone and overall substance that came to be strongly associated with American Bully type.

In my opinion at the time, Razors Edge represented a cleaner style than some competing bloodlines. It may not always have received the same hype as certain Gottiline dogs that were dominating attention, but hype was never the only measure of quality.

It depended on what a breeder or owner was looking for.

If you had been sleeping on the Razors Edge bloodline, it was time to wake up. This bloodline had already been producing important dogs for years.

No hype. Substance.