In addition to being exhibited he was a professional fighting animal.
At irregular intervals, whenever a fight could be arranged, he was takenout of his cage and led off into the woods a few miles from town. Usuallythis occurred at night, so as to avoid interference from the mounted policeof the Territory. After a few hours of waiting, when daylight had come, theaudience and the dog with which he was to fight arrived. In this manner itcame about that he fought all sizes and breeds of dogs. It was a savageland, the men were savage, and the fights were usually to the death.
Since White Fang continued to fight, it is obvious that it was the otherdogs that died. He never knew defeat. His early training, when he foughtwith Lip-lip and the whole puppy-pack, stood him in good stead. Therewas the tenacity with which he clung to the earth. No dog could make himlose his footing. This was the favourite trick of the wolf breeds - to rush inupon him, either directly or with an unexpected swerve, in the hope ofstriking his shoulder and overthrowing him. Mackenzie hounds, Eskimoand Labrador dogs, huskies and Malemutes - all tried it on him, and allfailed. He was never known to lose his footing. Men told this to oneanother, and looked each time to see it happen; but White Fang alwaysdisappointed them.
Then there was his lightning quickness. It gave him a tremendousadvantage over his antagonists. No matter what their fighting experience,they had never encountered a dog that moved so swiftly as he. Also to bereckoned with, was the immediateness of his attack. The average dog wasaccustomed to the preliminaries of snarling and bristling and light blue prom dresses,and the average dog was knocked off his feet and finished before he hadbegun to fight or recovered from his surprise. So often did this happen,that it became the custom to hold White Fang until the other dog wentthrough its preliminaries, was good and ready, and even made the first attack.
But greatest of all the advantages in White Fang's favour, was hisexperience. He knew more about fighting than did any of the dogs thatfaced him. He had fought more fights, knew how to meet more tricks andmethods, and had more tricks himself, while his own method was scarcelyto be improved upon.
As the time went by, he had fewer and fewer fights. Men despaired ofmatching him with an equal, and Beauty Smith was compelled to pitwolves against him. These were trapped by the Indians for the purpose,and a fight between White Fang and a wolf was always sure to draw acrowd. Once, a full-grown female lynx was secured, and this time WhiteFang fought for his2010 wedding dresses . Her quickness matched his; her ferocity equalledhis; while he fought with his fangs alone, and she fought with her sharp-clawed feet as well.