Story // Leticia Servin Photographer // Octavio Medina
LETI: I am aware that every Kennel has a name. Why “Dagger”? What’s the significance of naming your Kennel “Dagger”? What does it represent?
OMAR:I have always been impressed at how sharp & strong the dog’s cutters are; their teeth. They pierce right thru anything. Anything they bite, they go straight thru it like a dagger. That’s how I wanted my kennel to be recognized and thought of: like a Dagger. I wanted them to do that to the weight pull world & pierce thru it like a dagger. It symbolizes something that has to do with the dogs.
Your dogs are known world wide for weight pulling. What exactly is weight pulling and who started this competition?
My dogs were known world wide for the sport of weight pulling. They’re also known for hog catching, hunting wild boar. Weight pulling started years back, the guys would go on the side of the barn & would hook a chain to the dog’s collar, then have them drag a tire with something in it or anything they could drag. They wanted to work their dogs. Reason why they would do it was to have their dogs’ muscles toned before they went in to the conformation ring. This made them look ripped up. As time went by, the confirmation standards changed. Walking-body harness to what we have now which is the weight pulling harness. Dogs earn point to get their titles.
When did you get involved in weight pulling? How many years have you been training your dogs to be weight pullers?
I first started weight pulling around 1988, and I’ve been pulling ever since. It takes a full year of training to make a dog become a hardcore weight puller. No slacking or taking breaks. You have to be able to take it full-on. I can take a 9- month old dog and come out of a competition as a winner, but that still doesn’t make that dog a weight puller. He has to have at least one entire year of training...
