09/02/2026
THE PASSAGE OF TIME AND THE BULLDOGS WE LOVE
In this personal reflection, Richard F. Stratton addresses the realities of growing older and the difficult decisions that come with keeping powerful bulldogs. Recalling Mr. Lightner during his later years, Stratton offers an honest reminder that age can eventually limit even the most experienced dogman’s ability to manage the animals to which he has devoted his life. This is something that I’m personally dealing with here at Elite Kennel’s. What I would give to have my 30 year old body back with the knowledge that I have today.
Written by Richard F. Stratton
“Here’s the main reason I don’t keep dogs now: my memory of Mr. Lightner as an old man. In his youth, he was a tall, good-looking man, and he’d been a singer and a bare-knuckle boxer, as well as a railroad man. By the time this picture was taken, he was all crippled up with terrible arthritis, and his devoted wife had died.
Still, he persevered with keeping dogs, and he just couldn’t handle them. He had one dog, this one, I think, named Citation, and he would get loose and kill one of his dogs, and then come running to him for approval. He was frustrated because he couldn’t handle a breaking stick to get him loose.
Incidentally, he didn’t like the Old Family Red Nose strain that started with him, because they were too big—and he didn’t like their looks! He always liked small dogs, even as a young man. His original dogs came from his father, who had them before the Civil War. Citation was a gun-metal brindle, and he was a really lovable, smart dog.”
