Woof All:
The Dog Brothers began with the three consecutive days of fighting at “the Rumble in Ramblas” over Memorial Day Weekend in 1988.
After a few years of sorting things out by trial by experience, things evolved into various fight days at the home of a particular clan—most particularly Salty Dog’s Santa Fe Clan---, and two “Dog Brothers Gatherings of the Pack” a year held in front of my house in Hermosa Beach (for legal reasons, hosted by Dog Brothers Inc. to protect the fighters as well as me in my additional capacity as the host/organizer) These were the two days a year when the various clans of the Tribe and friends would come together.
With its echoes of an archetypical clearing in the forest where the Tribe came to witness its fighters testing themselves as the drums played the park in front of my house really was a perfect place.
In the beginning the numbers were small, but with the release of “Real Contact Stickfighting” series in 1993 things began to grow. By the end of the 90s the Gatherings had 35-40 fighters and the crowd grew accordingly.
With this growth, problems with holding the Gathering in a public park arose and so with the advent of the 2000s, I decided to start holding the Gatherings on private property: Rico Chiapparelli’s RAW Gym; the Original Productions set for “Monster Garage” (this is where the Nat Geo documentary was shot); the Power Gym in the San Fernando Valley, and now Gokor Chivichyan’s Gym.
While this was going on in the US we saw tremendous growth of the Tribe and DBMA in Europe thanks to the efforts of Lonely Dog, who began bringing me in regularly starting in the late 90s. Many Euros came to fight at the Gathering and a number of them became Dogs Brothers. Eventually the Euros were ready in spirit, numbers, and level to hold their own “Dog Brothers Gathering of the Pack” and now Lonely Dog brings me out every summer for the “Dog Brothers Euro Gathering of the Pack” held in Bern, Switzerland.
Now Original Dog Brother Sled Dog has come to me and asked for a Canadian DB Gathering. With Tricky Dog’s Vancouver Clan, Growling Dog’s Toronto Clan, and Sled Dog’s Montreal Clan all being strong clans it is obvious that the requisite spirit, numbers, and level in Canada are there to set the tone for those who come to play and so I am quite proud to announce that he will be bringing me in for the beginning of a new chapter in the Dog Brothers Adventure-- “The Dog Brothers Canadian Gathering of the Pack”.
So, long story made short, here are the dates:
Dog Brothers Canadian Gathering: February 24, Montreal, Canada: For more info contact Sled Dog at phil@montrealmartialarts.com
Dog Brothers Tribal Gathering of the Pack (tribal members only): May 19-20, Hermosa Beach (Los Angeles) CA; for more info, contact Crafty Dog at info@dogbrothers.com
Dog Brothers Euro Gathering of the Pack August 18-19, Bern, Switzerland, for more info contact Lonely Dog at lonelydog@bluewin.ch
Dog Brothers Open Gathering of the Pack: Los Angeles, CA September 23; for more info, contact Crafty Dog at info@dogbrothers.com.
“Higher Consciousness through Harder Contact!”©DBI
Marc “Crafty Dog” Denny
Guiding Force of the Dog Brothers
