Savant’s Running Catchdog
The Savant Alaunt: Balance, Intent, and the Evolution of the Running Catchdog
It’s no secret — our inspiration traces back to the late Brian Plummer and his recreation of the New Alaunt. Plummer sought to revive a light coursing type (Alaunt Gentil) believed to have shaped many European hunting and guarding breeds. His foundation combined Bull Terrier, Greyhound, and Bull Mastiff blood (later joined by the American Bulldog) and produced an athletic, agile dog with enough substance to guard and enough wind to hunt.
Savant’s Gus - F1 Alaunt showcasing high sighthound influence
We respect that vision, yet see it as more bull lurcher than coursing mastiff. At SavantK9, we follow his philosophy but re-engineer it for modern purpose. We replace the Bull Mastiff with line-bred Working Bandog Mastiffs, the English Bull Terrier with game-bred American Pit Bull Terriers, and the Greyhound with the American Staghound. Each component contributes something essential:
Bandog Mastiffs → control, resilience, and intelligent defense.
Bulldogs → clarity of intent, grit, and mental focus.
Staghounds → speed, sight, and endurance in open country.
The result is not novelty — it’s utility. A dog capable of tackling coyotes, catching feral hogs, and serving as a steady deterrent when needed. A running catchdog built on function, not fashion.
The Bulldog Mindset — Engine of Commitment
Savant’s Tajin - an extremely well bred Jeep Redboy APBT - carrying Ch. Mechanic as her Maternal Grandsire (Frozen Semen)
Breed composition builds the frame; the mindset fuels the purpose. The American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT) is the mental core of our Alaunts.
The APBT contributes intent, willingness, and follow-through — qualities that can’t be trained into a dog that doesn’t already possess them. Bulldogs work from conviction. They do not question the task; they meet it. That unbroken line between perception and action ensures there is no hesitation in the moment that matters.
This mindset strengthens more than courage — it refines type. In many coursing or sight-driven dogs, speed and reaction dominate decision. The bulldog’s influence introduces deliberate purpose: focus instead of frenzy, resolve instead of reactivity. It transforms drive into determination.
Its fight style complements the Staghound’s chase and the Bandog’s mass. Bulldogs engage with control and tenacity — not wildness. They grip with method, not just power. This is what makes a catchdog effective when the quarry fights back. The APBT adds composure under pressure, bridging athleticism with authority. Without that influence, running catchdogs remain specialists — capable, but incomplete. The bulldog makes them decisive, durable, and mentally anchored.
Evolution in the Field — The Rise of the Running Catchdog
Savant’s Uzi and her Sire Nero. Speed and Follow Through
What truly makes the running catchdog shine isn’t theory — it’s adaptation. The more we’ve hunted hogs, the more we’ve shaped both dog and quarry.
Hunting hogs with dogs has reintroduced predator pressure to the ecosystem. Over time, this pressure changes the game itself. When you remove the slow, short-legged hogs — the ones that turn and stand — what remains are the fast, long-legged runners. Open-country hunting has become an evolutionary chase, a cat-and-mouse arms race between predator and prey.
Seasoned hunters are seeing it firsthand. Many who once relied solely on traditional bulldogs have begun shifting toward running catchdog types, and all report the same reality: the hogs have gotten faster. They’re breaking bays, outrunning bulldogs, and turning the hunt into a marathon instead of a brawl. If you’re not mindful of how you approach, the hog will break — and most bulldogs can’t keep up.
So the question becomes: When you’ve caught all the hogs that turn and fight, what are you left with?
Lead-in catchdogs still have their place — powerful, decisive, and surgical up close. But when the quarry starts running wide open, the running catchdog begins to make more sense. These dogs have the lungs and legs to keep pace, the mind to read the race, and the timing to catch on their terms, not the hog’s. They use height and leverage to stay out of harm’s way, closing clean and committing at the perfect moment. Injuries most often occur when hogs stop, turn, and fight defensively — but a true running catchdog minimizes that risk. They don’t waste energy proving how hard they can hit. They conserve it for the moment that matters. A real running catchdog reads angles, tracks movement, and commits with precision. Clean hold. Minimal chaos. Job done.
This is where the APBT x Mastiff x Sighthound combination shows its value — blending speed and endurance with judgment, restraint, and decisiveness. The bulldog brings intent. The mastiff provides control. The sighthound reads the chase. Together, they represent the future of functional catchwork.
Testing Beyond Breeding
Pedigree alone doesn’t make performance. We don’t chase “best to best” or “worker to worker” just to follow a slogan. Flash doesn’t equal foundation. Every Savant dog is evaluated through real work and daily life:
Anatomy — efficiency of structure and leverage.
Endurance & Recovery — ability to perform, rest, and repeat.
Composure — stability under chaos.
Decision-making — how the mind holds when the quarry, or the world, pushes back.
We breed for what endures, not what excites. A true working dog must think as well as act — and remain steady when adrenaline fades.
Environmental Soundness — The Hidden Test
Environmental soundness separates a capable dog from a complete one. Many modern lines — whether sighthound, bulldog, mastiff, or herder — have narrowed to single-purpose extremes. Their dogs live in kennels, crates, or chains, trained in fragments. Ours do not. They live beside us. Every day is an evaluation: how they adapt, recover, and coexist. That’s where true nerve is tested.We reject the normalization of faults disguised as drive — nerviness, handler aggression, flightiness, defensive reactivity, or hyperactivity sold as “intensity.” These are not virtues; they are the erosion of selection pressure. A Savant Alaunt must think clearly, act deliberately, and remain composed — whether hunting, guarding, or living at home.
Savant’s Adonis - F1 Alaunt with Heavy Mastiff Influence
Structural Integration — Solving the Trade-offs
Every influence carries its strengths and its shortcomings:
Greyhounds bring speed and thermoregulation but often poor teeth and thin, fragile skin.
Heavy Staghounds inherit that fragility — built for the open field, not necessarily excessive physical contact.
Mastiff blood adds thicker skin, a layer of subcutaneous fat, and the mass needed for protection and control, but typically lack agility.
The Savant Alaunt merges these layers intentionally. Moderate skin thickness maintains cooling efficiency while preventing injury. Balanced leverage and weight provide the mechanical advantage to dominate heavy game. Structural efficiency ensures the dog can repeat the work day after day. The result is a running catchdog that closes distance like a coursing hound, controls with the authority of a mastiff, and stays sound enough to do it again tomorrow.
Selection Pressure and Principle
Breeding for immediate results is easy. Breeding for what’s right is harder. Many programs chase “now” — fast litters, flashy traits, social validation. But when selection pressure slips, faults creep in and definitions blur. We hold to the principle that a dog’s worth is measured in totality — how it thinks, moves, recovers, and lives when no one’s watching. Our goal isn’t to create dogs that perform once; it’s to build dogs that endure generations.
The Modern Alaunt
Savant’s Uzi - F1 Alaunt showcasing high “bandog” influence
The Savant Alaunt is not a recreation of the past; it’s an evolution built on the same intent — a dog of balance, resilience, and purpose.
The Staghound contributes reach, wind, and sight.
The Bandog brings power, structure, and control.
The American Pit Bull Terrier adds the indispensable engine of will — the mind that refuses to quit.
Together they produce an animal fast enough to chase, strong enough to hold, and stable enough to live with. Every angle, muscle, and instinct serves a function.
At SavantK9, form follows purpose, and purpose defines type.
We don’t breed for what’s easy — we breed for what will endure.