FOR THE LOVE OF
THE DOGS!
I want to say a few words about a
respected dog man of the past Bert
Clouse.
Bert Clouse was born in Iowa in
March, 1917. He became interested
in the sporting APBT as a young man
and was very active in the sport. He
traveled extensively with his dogs and
among his peers he was valued for his
knowledge of the sport and sense of fair
play. Pete Sparks is quoted as saying,
“I hold Bert in very high esteem as one
of the, if not the best conditioners and
handlers in the country today” (1961).
Another quote by James Crenshaw,
“(Bert) A man of unquestionable
character.”
Bert Clouse
Bert Clouse was a big man, well over
6 feet and topped the scales between
260 and 300 lbs over the years. He
suffered with diabetes and lost one of
his feet and used a prosthetic leg but
it didn’t seem to slow him down. Bert
was a valued mentor to many young
men in the sport. James Crenshaw
relates, “I first met Bert at Leo’s in
Mississippi. I believe he felt he could
help me, and I also believe he felt I
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would listen and try to do better. He
would travel to visit at my home and
went to every outing I had. I learned
much from this man. I respected this
big man from Kansas City as much as
anyone I ever met.”
Bert Clouse developed his line of
dogs over the course of a forty year
history with the breed. His selection
of brood stock was based on proven
dogs with the first qualification being
gameness. Many ads of the day
claimed that Clouse’s Kito was the
gamest dog living today. In another ad,
Clouse addresses the attributes of his
brood matron Clouse’s Wakkie. The ad
states, “To the fanciers of game dogs,
I am proud to present this picture of
my Wakkie female. I consider her one
of the best of the breed today. She and
Kito head my kennel and their pups
speak for themselves.” His dogs were
athletic with breed type, sound in both
body and mind and were extremely
well cared for.
I remember the last phone call that
Ralph received from Bert Clouse. Bert
was suffering chest pains and felt he
was having a heart attack, but wanted
to reach out to an old friend. He passed
away a few days later in August 1982.
Our Hall Of Fame inductee for 2019
Fredrick (Butch) Kinzenbaw began his
association with Bert Clouse and his
passion and life’s work of preserving
the Clouse bloodline in 1978 when he
bought a female directly from Bert.
The family had owned American Pit
Bull Terriers while living in Oregon,
but wanted to upgrade so to speak.
After much research and learning
about Bert Clouse and his dogs, they
asked Mary Hammond, a good friend
of Bert’s, for an introduction. Butch
firmly believed that the character of
man would be reflected in the character
of his dogs. As the story goes, Bert was
not currently making any breedings,
Butch Kinzenbaw with Little Boley
(Homer x Sunshine)
but had one little female that he had
set back for himself. Bert told Butch
if he was willing to travel all the way
across the country he would be willing
to sell her to him. It was winter, but
Butch was willing and braved the
elements to go and get Clouse’s Miss
T. Butch eventually called her Nasty
and claimed that she was the best
animal that he had ever seen or owned.
Four years later, he took her back to
Bert’s yard to breed her to Clouse’s
Judge the only stud dog left in Bert’s
yard. According to Bert’s wife this
was the last 100% Clouse breeding to
happen before Bert’s passing. The litter
resulted in some good dogs. Butch
inbred a brother and sister from this
breeding and these dogs became the
cornerstone of the Kinzenbaw kennel.
Although they were in different
parts of the country, Butch developed
a relationship with Bert Clouse
and was influenced by the love and
dedication Bert had for his family of
dogs. So much so, that Butch became
a distant protégé of sorts. Bert shared
with Butch about his personal history
and philosophy of raising dogs, but
their friendship transcended beyond
the animals. Bert was a mentor of life
issues. Butch spoke very highly of Bert
and had nothing but positive things to
say about him. His only regret was that