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The term “Pure Ruffian” is used to describe American Staffordshire Terriers with a distinctive pedigree. The registered names and kennel names are not important, but all Pure Ruffian dogs can be traced back to Peggy Harper’s HarWyn kennel, with no outcrosses added since that time. Peggy Harper was not the founder of the Ruffian bloodline, but she took some of the original Ruffian dogs to start her own intensive breeding program, and made the Ruffian line very successful and very popular.

The original founders of the Ruffian bloodline were Clayton Harriman and William Whitaker. Clayton Harriman (Ruffian kennel) and William Whitaker (Jollyscamp kennel) worked together to produce the important foundation dogs of the Ruffian line. Clayton Harriman was the owner of CH The Ruffian (Klump’s Deuce X Klump’s Black Dina), whelped August 28th, 1938. When Mr. Harriman bred CH the Ruffian to Calamity Anne (Schroeder’s Jiggs X Schroeder’s Kay), he produced the three important Champions CH Ruffian Headlight Hal, CH Ruffian Our Teenie, and CH Ruffian Scalawag. Clayton Harriman bred CH Ruffian our Teenie to CH Martin’s Tony (Martin’s Tramp X CH Tuffie of Detroit) and that breeding produced CH Ruffian Walkaway and CH Ruffian Dreadnaught. Dreadnaught was bred to CH Ruffian Headlight Hal which produced two bitches, Puddinpie Blue Smoke and Puddinpie Pepper Duster. William Whitaker bred Puddinpie Pepper Duster to CH Ruffian Walkaway and produced the famed CH Gallant Ruff, which became the foundation dog of E.C. Ringold’s Gallant kennel. Mr. Whitaker bred his bitch, CH Jolly Scamperpuss (the first bitch to win Best of Breed at a National Specialty) to CH Gallant Ruff to produce CH Jollyscamp Blueguard.

In 1947, Peggy Harper (HarWyn) purchased CH Ruffian Headlight Hal from Clayton Harriman. She later bought CH Ruffian Dreadnaught from Mr. Harriman, which became Peggy’s foundation bitch. In 1957, Peggy Harper purchased CH Jollyscamp Blueguard from Mr. Whitaker. Peggy, with the blessing of William Whitaker, added a few touches of Tacoma and X-pert lines, but she line bred heavily and produced a consistent type. Peggy Harper produced one impressive specimen after another, and many other breeders acquired HarWyn dogs for their foundation stock. Her HarWyn dogs proved themselves in the show rings and as producers. Peggy produced many dogs that were not only important to the Ruffian line, but important to the breed. These dogs include CH Sky King of HarWyn, CH Ruffian High Ace of HarWyn, CH Ruffian Harper of HarWyn, CH Ruffian Hercules of HarWyn, and CH Ruffian Red Rock of HarWyn.

So, the term “Pure Ruffian” is actually describing a pedigree that is pure “HarWyn.” For whatever reason though, the term “HarWyn” was never used to describe Peggy Harper’s line, and instead her dogs were commonly referred to as “Ruffian.” Both Peggy and the people who acquired dogs from her used the word “Ruffian” in naming most of her dogs. On that basis, and also the fact that the bloodline has been kept pure with no outcrosses added since the early 1960’s when X-Pert Rowdy Rascal (X-Pert, Ruffian, and Tacoma) was added into the line, it is considered “Pure Ruffian."

Ruffian - Redboys Amstaffs - Breeders of Working American Staffordshire Terriers