INTERVIEW: BULLYERA KENNELS’ JAMES COMBS

RAISING THE BAR IN NORTH CAROLINA

BULLY KING Magazine

Published in

BULLY KING Magazine

6 min readApr 23, 2019

STATE YOUR NAME, KENNEL NAME & WHERE YOU’RE LOCATED

My name is James Combs and I am the proud owner of BullyEra. The name of my kennel represents my goal of creating a line of badass bullies that are healthy and friendly, with excellent behavior and amazing bone and muscle structure.

HOW WERE YOU INTRODUCED TO THE BREED?

In 2014 I had a life-changing accident and my therapist recommended a dog to help my recovery. So, I talked to my best friend, Zomar Cheek and purchased my first bully, J-Train.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO GET INVOLVED IN THE BREED?

I was able to go to a few dog shows and I was immediately in love with the whole process. This inspired me to get into breeding so I could show dogs that I produced myself.

WHAT TYPE OF DOGS DO YOU BREED & WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE TRAITS OF THIS PARTICULAR BREED?

I specialize in standard and pocket at the moment and i just started my clean exotic line. The traits I love most about this breed are their big blocky heads, softball cheeks, a 2 to 3 finger muzzle with a nice 90 degree stop, and their short muscular build along with their excellent temperament.

DID YOU HAVE A MENTOR OR GUIDANCE WHEN YOU 1ST STARTED?

My mentor starting out was Zomar Cheek (of Ramseur, NC), a close friend of mine. He was the first to show me a bully and also sold me my first two bullies. I attended dog shows with him and learned a lot about the showing aspects of the breed.

DID YOU ATTEND SHOWS, MORE INTERESTED IN BREEDING, OR BOTH?

To this day I still attend shows and I have a very promising lineup of male and female productions for the 2019 show scene.

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT SOME OF YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE DOGS?

If I had to pick my five favorite bullies in order it would be: Dax, Lucky Luciano, Louis V, Heatwave, and Venom.

BullyEra’s James Combs with Lucky Luciano daughter Lucy & Alisa Smith w/Venom

WHAT IS YOUR VISION OR MAIN GOAL?

My vision is to produce very compact muscular bullies with the bone and girth that exemplifies breed type, along with straight fronts, a nice barrel chest. I prefer a nice topline, a clean bite, full tail, and plenty of tenacity while still keeping a positive and friendly attitude.

WHAT BLOODLINES DO YOU USE?

The bloodlines I use are as follows: Daxline, Train line, Luckyline, Miagi, and Boss blood. My yard at the moment is mainly composed of different types of Dax blood.

WHAT DO YOU FEED YOUR DOGS AND DO YOU USE ANY VITAMINS/SUPPLEMENTS?

My dog’s diet consists of Sportsman’s Pride Sport Mix; It’s a high protein dog food with 26% protein and 16% fat. I usually top that off with some Liquid Gold on top. When the females are pregnant, I usually like to use Diamond Puppy. When they are in heat, I like to use Taste of the Wild with pink salmon to promote fertility.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR DOGS

Each one of my dogs has a pretty distinct personality. I have two dual-grand champion Soul Train daughters that have different mothers. I also have a Lucky Luciano daughter who is from Lucky X Ch. Cali.

No fear: Shamrock puppy saying “that’s my bowl too”

I also have 3 3X Lucky Luciano puppies, they’re from Lucy bred to Shamrock. I have a male named El Chapo and his mother is my dual grand champ soul train daughter, “J-Train.” Most recently, Lucy just had a litter with Venom and I will definitely be keeping a clone off of that one and repeating the breeding in a few months.

WHAT DO YOU HAVE PLANNED AT YOUR KENNEL OVER THE NEXT YEAR?

I currently have seven puppies from Marilyn Monroe, my dual grand-champ soul train dog. The father of the puppies is Tupac. Tupac is a Chino son (a son of Miag). Tupac’s bottom half of his pedigree is a miagi daughter (FFK Minaj of Inhumans). This is the start of my clean exotic movement.

On top top of that, I will be bringing Lucy back to Venom for a repeat. After seeing the results of the first breeding I am really excited to be running that one back.

2 week old Venom pup (Venom X Lucy Liu)
Produced by BullyEra Kennels

My most memorable moments of 2018 were Lucy’s productions. I’m very proud of my girl and what she was able to produce this year.

WHO DO YOU LOOK UP TO OR ADMIRE IN THE BULLY GAME, AND WHY?

The people I admire most in the bully community would be Alex Ferraro, Matt Siebenthal, Zomar Cheek, Ash Airoso, Arthur Lassiter and Brandon Cagle.

OUTSIDE OF DOGS, WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES/INTERESTS?

Outside of bullies, my main interests would have to be fishing, boating, and mentoring kids in sports. I also enjoy the occasional video game session with my friends.