You are right in what you just wrote, BTB. It is the incessant bringing up of how vastly superior a game dog of any breed is than a wolf. Or how much more superior 1 breed is at taking on a predatory animal. It is not about the breed of dog, it is about the DOG, what it has in it, how much lead is in its asss, and how good it really is. My thing is this, YES, game dogs are game and great for fighting dogs, but gameness will get a game dog killed when going up hill 100+ lbs or even 50+ into a wild predatory animal who kills and hunts and fights daily just to survive. This is the LGD's turf, and it should stay as such. LGD's SHOULD be game, but not so intensely game as say an APBT. How effective could it have been if the shepherds who created these breeds by selection went against animals that would leave a herd to chase down a predator. They selected for dogs who would not leave the herd, would fight on the drop of a dime when it is needed etc... They did keep select and special dogs for the purpose of HUNTING the roving wolves and predators, they were called the VOLKODAV, or wolf stranglers. These dogs are more game, and were kept usually on tether to the shepherds themselves, and when the other LGD's had a wolf or group of wolves at bay or in a corner, the Volkodav's would be let loose to dispatch of the predator. Much like the gang buster coyote dogs in the south(which usually were of AB descent). But, unlike the other LGD, these dogs would chase and leave the herd, which made them better suited as dispatchers that 100% of the time LGD's. They were different from the game dogs we are familiar with in that they are basically structured like a wolf, same basic type of animal with same weapons of choice, same defenses(manes and thick coats), same fighting style as the wolf because these were the dogs who had ""it"" and didn't have an issue going toe to toe with the predator. They weren't going uphill any significant amount of weight, and they weren't going in blindly like an APBT would. That is all I was trying to say all along.