# Going Light bloodlines



## thomas (May 21, 2010)

Anyone know anything about them? Anything current? I've had two in the past, both awesome little dogs and small, just the way I like 'em


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## redog (Oct 14, 2005)

yeah weve had some good info somewhere. try the search option, sadie would know the most about it


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## Sadie (Jun 18, 2008)

Going Light Barney was a heavy bred corvino dog ... Here is his pedigree I don't know of any breeder or kennel who runs the going light bloodline presently on their yards. 
ONLINE PEDIGREES :: [14057] :: GOING LIGHT BARNEY (8XW)(1XL)

Here is a picture of him










And here is the story about Barney

The Story of Going Light Barney

For some reason, many people automatically assume that I owned Going Light Barney. This seems to be a nearly universal belief among those who don't know me personally. To be honest, other have thought that I owned Peterbuilt and Boomerang, too. Apparently, the consensus is that I must own any dog that I would say nice things about. I understand why people would think in that way; however, I never owned Barney, and I never even saw him in holds. I did take a particular interest in him at one time, so I talked to a lot of people about him and learned a lot in the process. At one time, I was on fairly good terms with his owner (who likes to be known as Larry Light), but I haven't spoken to him as some people seem to think.

Don't get me wrong. Larry was not someone that you rush to disassociate yourself from. He is a wealthy man and one of the most knowledgeable dog men (in some ways) who I have ever known. But he was a disappointment to me in the dog game, as he could have helped the game, as indeed he did, but he could have been a true asset. But he had risen via the con and had ways that made enemies.

As just one example, when Indian Sonny first attained Bolio, Larry told him, "If you really want to find out whether Bolio is game, we can put Barney on him, and I won't tell anyone if he quits!" It may have been funny, but it was galling, too, as Bolio had just won a match over a highly-touted dog, going a good distance doing so. Sonny could have taken up Larry on his challenge, but what was the point? The proposed roll could endanger a valuable stud dog he had just attained.

But let me start at the beginning. Larry had obtained a female named Penny from a man named Sonnie Robinson. Now she was supposed to be by Johnston's Goofy, a great dog, and out of a daughter of Rascal. The female never really started, but Larry bred her to a number of different males, and it turned out that she produced some good dogs irrespective of which one she was bred to. But the greatest litter was the one in which she was bred to Rootberg's Booger, a dog he had received straight from Joe Corvino.
In that litter were three great bitches, Belle, Babe, and Scarlet. (Larry had a habit of naming every pup in a particular litter with a name that begin with the same letter. It was his way of keeping a lot of dogs straight in his mind. Somehow Scarlet escaped that custom). One male, Butch, went to a preacher and was never touched. But the females won some great matches and off-the-chain rolls.

Barney first won a match against a highly-touted dog named "Two-Dollar George." I know of some people who still laim that dog as the gamest and best dog they ever saw. Nether less, Barney beat him in a match that proved George was dead game.

Later, Barney won again in a match in the South at a big convention. His sister Babe lost at the same convention, but she did so in such a game manner that both dogs received considerable attention.

The third match was the one that cast doubt on Barney's gameness, as he was counted out in his corner. Great dog men who I have talked with that had seen Barney in action (and this includes Floyd Boudreaux) told me that Barney had to have had something wrong with him in that match, as he was just a great match dog. To be fair, some of these men thought that it was simply a quit because of the heat. 
Whatever the case, Barney went on to win six more matches after that one.

These were not "picking your spot" matches, as Larry had Barney advertised in Pit Dog Report under the heading, "Have Dog--Will Travel'! All the men matching into Barney knew that they were going into a dog that was hard to beat; in fact, it is quite possible that the "quit" in a former math is the only thing which buoyed their hopes enough to match into the dog.

Larry did travel with Barney, too, as I recall one trip during the oil crisis in which a station wagon was loaded with barrels of gasoline, so that they could be sure to get to their destination and back. I was invited, but I couldn't go so far at that time, and I'm not sure I would have wanted to travel aboard that "rolling bomb" anyway!

A match later took place closer to home, and I attended just to see Barney. Now this was back in the days before felony laws or busts. However, just to be safe, the owner of Barney's opponent wanted to wait until morning, until the crowd from the main part of the card had left. I had taken my wife for the first time ever, and she was too tired to stay up, so I drove her home with the full intention of driving back up. However, by the time I arrived home, I, too, was weary and simply tumbled into bed. When I called the next day to find out what had happened, I learned that the police had been on the grounds the night before and stayed. They were apparently just waiting to get Larry.

Larry's battery of attorneys soon had him free, but the dogs were confined as evidence in the animal control kennels. In some manner the dogs were broken out of the kennels, and they were returned to the owners. The match was then held in a most clandestine manner and place, with Barney winning as usual. Barney was then dyed black and sent to another state until the legal complications of the whole affair could be settled. (One ramification was that Larry was suing the county for the loss of his dog, as to do otherwise would imply complicity in the theft of the dogs!)

So Barney had a colorful history, and he beat a lot of good dogs, handled by very capable dog men. 
From just what I had heard, I was sufficiently impressed that I purchased a game daughter of Barney and bred her back to her father. From this breeding I kept only two pups, a male and a female. The male looked just like Barney and was one of the greatest dogs I have ever owned. The female was never sufficiently tried, but she certainly had ability. 
So, out of two pups by Barney, I had obtained one candidate for the "ace" category, and the other one, though not game tested, did have an accidental fight in my yard and was trying to scratch back when she was tired and had a badly broken front leg. This is not so bad when you consider that even great producers only put out about ten percent pit quality dogs. Believe me, Dolly could have won a match or two just on ability, and she was obviously gamer than most bitches. Howard Heinzl told me, after seeing the male rolled, that Earl Tudor would have won 14 matches with that dog!

To be fair, I know many people had dogs down from Barney that were disappointments; however, most of them were down from stock that was non-selectively bred.

In any case, Barney finished off his career with 8 wins and one loss. After one of his wins, Jimmy Jobe, then the editor and publisher of Pit Dog Report, declared Barney a "grand champion," and featured him on the over and in a nice feature story in the magazine. To my knowledge, Barney was the first dog ever called "GRAND CHAMPION," but under today's rules he could never become one because of the one controversial loss.

Now I would like to remind the reader that I have no axe to grind in this matter. It is true that I don't have any Barney dogs now, unless we count a son of Dolly's (sired by Little Boots) that I call Hoover. I owe nothing to Larry Light, and I wasn't really that fond of Barney. He was an extremely intelligent dog, but he had an aloof personality in regard to people. He move with the grace of a professional athlete, and he was not a bad looking dog, but he was not my ideal of what a good looking dog would be.

Still, I admired his accomplishments. And I think too many dog men have a tendency to bad mouth hi, simply because they don't know the entire story. No one really knows the entire story for that matter. For example, there is always the ignominy of the Dallas "quit." Was Barney doped? Was something else wrong with him? I simply don't know. But I am not about to condemn a dog who lost under such suspicious circumstances and came back to prove himself again and again.

By: Richard F. Stratton


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## Wingman (Oct 21, 2009)

:goodpost:

Thanks for posting that, good read.


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## pjdease (Sep 27, 2010)

*Going Light Bloodlines*

Hello Thomas ,

I would be happy to provide for you any information I can regarding the Going Light Bloodline. I am a San Diego, Ca native and have owned and consistantly possessed pitbull dogs since 1978. In those years of owning and dealing with this breed I had the great fortune of aquiring a "double bred grandson" of Going Light Barney. This Dog I purchased from an advertisement placed in The San Diego Union Tribune newspaper, " Thrifty Ads" in the year 1981. I paid 100 U.S. Dollars for the pup and that was a steal. I owned that dog for 15 years. I called him Buster and he was one of the finest Dogs I have ever had. You know the old saying " the early bird get's the worm"? It held true for me in the case of my purchasing that dog. You see I was a news paper carrier in 1981 and I was also a devoted young dog man. I had a dog eared copy of Richard Stratton's first book and if I remember correctly I may even have had a couple old issues of the ADBA's Pitbull Gazzette as well as a cherished issue or two of old Pete Sparks " Sporting Dog Journal", not bad for a kid of 12 years of age. As for the dog..the woman I purchased him from was in a very messy divorce and her husband had purchased the pup for a sum no less then 10 times what I paid her, he also waited a good deal of time on a list to get that dog. In a classic "hell hath no fury such as a woman scorned" type move she sold her husband's pup in the thrifty ad's , with his papers for a hundred bucks. I saw the ad at 5 am when I was folding my papers getting ready to deliver them on my bicycle. At 7:30 that morning I was in that ladies kichen in Chula Vista, Ca counting out 100.00 bucks. I have more stories about that dog then I have time to tell em. I also have have to this day his paperwork. I ended using that Dog as the stud dog that founded a bloodline of very good dogs. The first breeding I made was to a female I had shipped to me from out of state. The bitch was a pure Colby dog, She was a line bred Colby's Dime dog, Colby's Dime appeared 27 times on the seven generation pedigree. Her name was Katie, Colby Katie. The litter was born in 1984 or 1985 and all eleven pups went to close friends in the area's of North Park and Golden Hills, here in San Diego. As for the Going Light Bloodline today, well I'm very recently told by a close friend of mine that there may be some of that blood in a friend of my friend's yard somewhere in Oklahoma. Damm fine dogs....from old Joe Corvino bloodlines. Mixed real well with that old Colby stock. Some of the best dog's a bulldog fancier could ever hope for. Such is the luck of youth. Thanks for bringing me back in time.

Best Regards,

Paul Joseph Dease


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## thomas (May 21, 2010)

Thank you so much for posting that story Paul. It takes me back in time also. My story isn't nearly as colorful as yours but I enjoy the memories just the same. I'm also from SD, I grew up in Lakeside and now live in Santee. I aquired my first 'going light' in 1984 in clairemont. It was a word of mouth kind of thing and being new to the breed at the time I had no idea what I had. It wasn't until after I did a lot of hard fought research(no computers in '84) that I realized what I had. I also got her for 100.00 bucks and if I remember right thats about what pit bull terriers were worth at the time. Thats also right about the time all the Pit Bull bashing began. Anyway, I named her Tera, she was the runt of the litter and I'll never forget the way she sat at the back of the litter,her tail just slightly wagging,seemingly waiting her turn while all the other puppies were going nuts trying to hog attention. It was one of those love at first sight things and she grew up to be 38 pounds of the most awesome dog ever. I still refer to her as "Going Light Tera" whenever I have an opportunity to talk about her. Noone ever seems to know what I'm talking about but then again I really don't expect them to. I am a fan of 'going lights' for sure and I totally believe thier still out there. Its just inconcievable to me that a line of dogs like that would just fade away. I'd really be interested in knowing whats going on in Oklahoma. I truly enjoyed your story and it make. s me feel good to know there's someone out there that has an interest in these dogs. I'll be in touch. Thanx again


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## thomas (May 21, 2010)

Sadie said:


> Going Light Barney was a heavy bred corvino dog ... Here is his pedigree I don't know of any breeder or kennel who runs the going light bloodline presently on their yards.
> ONLINE PEDIGREES :: [14057] :: GOING LIGHT BARNEY (8XW)(1XL)
> 
> Here is a picture of him
> ...


Thank you Sadie for posting this story. I have to go buy a printer now so I dont lose it. I'm not kidding.


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## Sadie (Jun 18, 2008)

Thomas I asked around for you and a couple of my buddies who really know A LOT about bloodlines said that the Go Lightly Line was never a popular line of dogs. There are bits and pieces here and there but nothing in any kind of lineage form. So there is your answer you may be able to find something out there with bit's and pieces of the line in a pedigree but it's not really a popular line of dogs so it's probably unlikely. But I am glad you enjoyed the read  Let me know if you need anything else


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## thomas (May 21, 2010)

Thats very dissapointing to me but I'll probably keep looking anyway. Thank you for your effort Sadie.


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## Sadie (Jun 18, 2008)

thomas said:


> Thats very dissapointing to me but I'll probably keep looking anyway. Thank you for your effort Sadie.


Sending you a PM


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## colbymcaw66 (Nov 17, 2021)

I have lucky one glb and have the best I ever see smart and rare but a working girl I breed him whith a gator and give a beautiful resultant Walter from Holland


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