Posts by Richard F. Stratton

The Long Goodbye by Richard F. Stratton “Old age is a massacre,” Phillip Roth wrote.  But in truth it is a maceration—the steady grind of injury upon injury, the unstoppable decline of function into dysfunction, and the inexorable loss of resilience.–Sidhartha Mukherjee At least, I hope it will be a long goodbye!  I turned ninety-two…

Readers of my books will recall that I put forth the idea that our breed was the closest dog breed that was still extant to the original old Bulldog. I remember with pleasure that everyone loved the first book, This Is the American Pit Bull Terrier, published in 1976, and it eventually became the best-selling…

According to humaniacs, the venality of pit dog men is shown by their lack of trust in each other as evidenced by the wash, which is a normal occurrence after the weigh in.  It is obviously a specious complaint as methods of protecting against cheating are not only present in all sports, but they exist…

There is tremendous interest in the Carver dogs, as most people are aware that some of the best dogs came from him or from dogs down from his strain.  I’m no expert on the line, but I have one advantage: I’ve been around for a long time, and I met him before he was a…

I recently saw a suggestion that dog people not refer to their Bulldogs as champions because it would draw the attention of humaniacs. I, myself, would advise to always assume that anything you put online in any form will be perused by humaniacs; however, should we avoid calling our dogs champions? After all, there are show champions…

Admittedly, I love Bulldogs, but how did I get that way? Looking back, I can figure it out because it certainly wasn’t predictable. I was a seven-year-old boy who kept rabbits, and I was horrified when my father decided that it was time to butcher some of them. It was the Depression, after all, and we…

If there is one thing that distinguishes Bulldogs from all other breeds, it is gameness. Deep gameness. It has been around for a long time in our breed. I would say that it is greater in Bulldogs than any other animal. Some people would select gamecocks instead because they fight with steel, and it is…