Voices of the victims - one family's story

About three years after being attacked by a pit bull, our Poodle died. After the attack, she was never the same. She experienced seizures and never jumped or ran and played again.

The night of the attack, after coming home from the Vet, I woke up at 3 am-ish to find her seemingly frozen solid. I put my hand on her body and did not feel a heartbeat or a breath. I panicked thinking she was dead and was dreading waking my wife to tell her. Instead, she opened her eyes, took a breathe and came back to life.

She never played, or ran, or jumped again. It felt like she had aged 10 years in one night.

My wife is heartbroken but I know we did everything we could to make her ending great.

I beat that pitbull in the head with a brick and I saved m dog's life and I am now a strong believer in the Pit Bull abolishment movement.

In happier times

Protect and love your babies. Their lives are short and should be amazing.

Canine genetics are real

When we brought home our 8 week old Akita puppy, a meek little 16 pound ball of fur, our senior chihuahua mixes ran out, barking, to investigate. The Akita pup hid under the car from them.

For her first 6 months, if anyone spoke to her, she would pee. She was subservient and mild mannered. We raised her with love and care, socializing her daily, meeting new people and new dogs every day under safe and pleasant circumstances. In other words, she was raised in a way that will surely result in a docile, friendly dog, according to the current fur-mom theories.

Fast forward 2 years - our now 100 pound Akita has become a strong, calm, confident dog.

While still very sweet towards her human pack, she's not so sweet when meeting a new dog. It's always a question - will she like the other dog, or not?  If she doesn't like them, that other dog is on very thin ice.

Just to be clear, she's fine with dogs that she grew up with.

But now we have to be very careful with introductions. I've seen her not liking a dog and it can be kind of a big deal - and beyond that, anything else that moves really brings out her prey drive. So, despite all our careful socialization, she has turned into this hard edgy primitive canine, at least when it comes to other animals - or strangers.

None of this comes as a surprise to those knowledgeable of the breed. It's standard behavior. Nothing in how we raised her has anything to do with these breed specific behaviors.

In other words, the old "it's all in how you raise them" turns out to be a myth. The genetic aspect turns out to be a far more important factor.

Of course, this is nothing new - pointers point, retrievers retrieve, shepherds herd, guardians guard, hunters hunt...

And bloodsport dogs do bloodsport:

Innocence lost: before and after encounter with pit bull

Dog fighters have selectively bred generations of pit bulls to view dogs as targets, to give no signal of their intent to attack, to launch a sustained, relentless attack, despite injury suffered, and to continue the attack regardless of whether the victim fights back, submits, cries, or tries to run away.

True to their genetic heritage, loose "family pit bulls" kill tens of thousands of pets and farm animals every year, and many of those pets were killed in their own yards, or even in their own houses, where they should have been safe.

Innocent dog savaged in a pit bull home invasion. She did not survive

While pit bulls are known for their animal aggression, it's worth noting that pit bulls have also killed more Americans than any other breed, in every single decade since 1851. In recent years, pit bulls have been killing vulnerable humans at 3-4 times the rate of all other  breeds combined. None of these facts have anything whatsoever to do with how the pit bulls were raised, or treated.

Another unusual pit bull characteristic is the penchant for maiming, disfiguring or killing their human companions. About half of all fatal pit bull attacks target their owners or other family members - something that would be unthinkable for any dog breed that wasn't created specifically for cruelty and violence.

Given these facts, how can anyone insist with a straight face that "it's all in how you raise them" - that they could literally love away, or train away, the very stubborn genetic imperatives of a type of dog which is the product of centuries of careful selective breeding to enjoy torturing and killing animals for sport?

Pit bull, happy and relaxed after doing what it was bred to do.

I'm looking at you, pit bull activists.

Yet another pit activist gets an education

The pain, terror and suffering inflicted by pit bull activists continues to escalate, as they ramp up their activism in denial of history and genetic science.

Inevitably, a number of these pit activists will have a rude awakening, in the form of an ugly confrontation  with reality. Sadly, it is often other innocent parties who pay the price for these costly life lessons.

Our focus today is a recent Facebook post, from the group "Our Pets Were Attacked By Pit Bulls" which we highly recommend for anyone wanting to know what's going on in our communities.

So, a pit bull activist posted video of their newly adopted pit bull "smashing stereotypes" by sitting next to a kitten without killing it. She smugly declared "This is so funny! This is exactly how it is with Maggie and Max vs my pit bull Kali (laugh emojis) Pits aren't as scary as their rep"

A few weeks later, the inevitable happened: a type of dog which was the result of centuries of careful selective breeding to enjoy bloodsport, did what it's genetic blueprint dictated, and innocent blood was shed for fun:

Having seen what pit bulls were bred to do and to be, what action does this pit activist take? Does she have the killer put down, to avoid any further horror?

No, she simply laughs off the purpose-bred cruelty of the pit bull as "some quirks", and tries to make the "quirky" pibble someone else's problem.

This is the sort of deadly imbecility we as a society are facing.

References -

The Facebook Link
The Reddit Link

Pit bull activism - unpacking the lies

Unraveling a typical example of the deception peddled by pit bull activists

My attention was recently directed to a study from a site called pitbullinfo.org which claimed that pit bulls were much less dangerous than some other breeds.

At first glance, it might seem to the typical man in the street that their allegations are legitimate. But if we begin to look a little closer, it all falls apart rather quickly, and you find yourself asking, "If pit bulls really are all that safe, why do they have to resort to lies to try to convince us of that?"

Their presentation is indeed long on propaganda and when closely examined, falls apart. Let's visit the propaganda page:

Couched in the veneer of pseudo scientific lingo, the site attempts to make the case that pit bulls are one of the least dangerous dog breeds of all. The reader is expected to believe that Malamutes are the most dangerous breed of all, and that Chows, Saint Bernards, Huskies, Great Danes, Rottweilers, Dobermans and Mastiffs are all more dangerous than pit bulls.

How can we square that with known facts about serious and fatal dog attacks?
For example, refer to this list of of attacks by breed over a recent 7 year period in North America, for which there have been fatalities:

We see that pit bulls account for over 3 times as many deaths as all other breeds combined, and nearly 5 times as many maiming or disfiguring attacks as all other breeds combined.

So how did the pit activists come up with such wacky numbers? Well, they employed a number of dishonest tricks here, all the while pretending to be unbiased statisticians.

For instance, when counting attacks, they used the time period from 1979 to 1998, when pit bulls were rare. But then when counting pit bulls, they used the a very optimistic estimate of the most recent pit bull ownership figures.

The effect is to produce an artificially low number of pit bull attacks per capita. Obviously this is dishonest. Instead of cherry picking variable for their equation from two different eras, they should have taken both variable from the same time period.

Note what they did with Chows - they inexplicably reduced them from 1% of the dog population (per animals24-7) to 0.1%, which made Chows appear 100 times more dangerous than they are.

As you can see, their goal here is not to inform, but to hoodwink. We leave the discovery of additional deceptions as an exercise for the reader.

"There are lies, damned lies, and statistics" -- Mark Twain

References -
pitbullinfo.org - statistics
animals24-7.org
fatalpitbullattacks.com
dogsbite.org
cravendesires.blogspot.com
thetruthaboutpitbulls.blogspot.com
americasdog.blogspot.com

Pit bull propaganda, victim ridicule, and a horrific death

In a typical example of victim-ridicule, pit activist Mark Biancofiore wrote, in a post with pictures of his pit bull to the "I love Staffies" Facebook group:

"This is my boy Junior. absolutely vicious dog, hugs you so tight you cant breathe, smile that makes your heart melt when you see it and kisses that make it all better"

A loving owner, a happy dog. Obviously not abused or mistreated.

Fast forward to July 2019 - this lovingly raised, socialized, well-treated pit bull launched a horrific 45-minute attack on this man's wheelchair bound father, killing him.

This is the common case, as in virtually every pit bull attack, the survivors express complete shock and surprise.

Bottom line: If this man had chosen literally any other breed, his father would be alive today.

Original references - which may disappear at some point
2014 Facebook post about the killer dog
Article - Melbourne man killed by son's pit bull

Today is International Akita day

Mourning Hachi at the train station

Today, March 8th, is the anniversary of the death of Hachi, the faithful Akita who became a symbol of loyalty worldwide. Hachi had a happy life from the time he was adopted as a puppy by professor Isaburo Ueno, who loved him as though he were his own child.

Happier times - baby Hachi in 1923

After Ueno suddenly died of a stroke at the university, Hachi spent the next decade of his life mourning for his guardian, his protector, and the love of his life, continually returning to the train station where he'd last seen him.

Hachi watches and waits for Ueno, who will never return

Hachi was a gentle dog, and a peacemaker. He never started a fight, but it was said that, when forced to fight, he never lost. When he saw one dog attacking another, he would stand between the attacker and victim, and if the attacker persisted, Hachi would make him stop. Hachi was respected by the other dogs who came around the station. If dogs started fighting over scraps of food left over from the stands around the station, they would immediately stop when Hachi walked over.

Little known fact about Hachi: He had descendants, but sadly, none of them were pure Akita. His only known offspring were the result of his mating with a Fox Terrier named Debbie. One can only imagine how valuable Hachi's descendants would be today.

Professor Ueno's widow, Yae, recalls a bittersweet memory:

"Every episode of Hachi is unforgettable for me. But the most unforgettable one was the pathetic way Hachi acted when Ueno died. When we put Ueno’s bedding into the outdoor storage, Hachi sniffed out the smell of Ueno there. He went inside the storage and did not come out for a few days. I felt almost heartbroken to find Hachi cuddling in Ueno’s futon. Then, when we were conducting Ueno’s wake in the living room on the “seventh” night after his death, Hachi suddenly pushed the glass–sliding door open and came inside the living room. He then walked toward Ueno’s coffin and crawled under it. He lay down there, as if he had found an eternal place to rest, with his head down and his legs stretched out. He refused to move from there no matter how hard we tried. Observing how deeply Hachi missed Ueno, everyone present shed tears. Now, everything has become only a fond memory. I am unbearably sad, not being able to see Hachi at Shibuya Station any longer. He always greeted me affectionately."

People who knew Hachi noted that he always seemed to be sad. He didn't have it easy after Ueno's death. Although there were people who loved him, he was sometimes mistreated. On one occasion, when Hachi was asleep under the stairway at the train station in the winter, an employee threw a basin of water on him to make him leave.

Hachi's sorrows ended on March 8th 1935, when he was reunited with Ueno in the ethereal realms.

References -
The last photo of faithful dog Hachiko breaks our hearts
Hachiko: Solving 20 mysteries about the most famous dog in Japan
Japanese Movie - Hachiko Monogatari [Japan DVD] DA-5853

Ode to a beloved pet, murdered by a pit bull

There's a little movie that plays 'round and 'round,

Replays every scream, each and every sound,Not always in order: surreal, Kafkaesque,The three weeks I spent waiting for death.

Spanning two Mondays, and then several months more,Waiting for justice, and peace to restore.It's a story of the cruelty of hope,And if justice and sanity reigns...nope.

The stain that was left on the wall,The place where he finally died in the hall,And the last bit of warmth shared to me,Was a stream of pee,On my kackis knee,And I didn't care,My dog's eyes locked in a stare. 

And how I rocked holding him, and cried:Why Why WHY?And I caressed those velvet ears once more,And wept until sore,Before I went next doorto implore"Would you be a willing pallbearer?"And I took some scissors, and cut a bit of hair.And I put it away in a filigree box,A piece of my friend, his coppery locks.

I remember the drive with his body in the back of my car,To the place where we had our last au revoir.There's the blanket, his shroud, to remember him by, And a kind man met me at the gate, and gave me a few more minutes for a final goodbye. 

Then passed a few weeks,

and I got the call to pick him up....

all of him

in a little wooden box.

My once private refuge, my sacred garden, 
Is now unhallowed ground, my heart can't seem to pardon, So there's the slow death of flowers that bloomed,Instead of life..... something else loomed,

There's still a stain on the floor,There's a hole ripped in the door,My other dog did that, while I locked her away,It was she who alerted me to the fray,The one who was silent, and thrown on his backBy a granite- like beast steadfast in attack,The rest of the pack bayed, but did not join in,The owner who said nothing, but wore a proud shifty grin,And neighbors with shovels, golf clubs, and hoes,So it plays out of order, and that's how it goes.

Sometimes, the movie just starts on its own,I can be miles and miles away from my home,Something triggers the rolling of picture frames,A sound, a recounting, something looks just the same.The resulting ostinato, like the needle caught in a record's groove,My heart is racing, I can't breathe, I can't move.

I return to that time and place, with the notion,Paralyzed by the images spinning in motion.

The movie that is easily triggered to play.Inscribed in my memory, Memorial day.Plays again, each time I see that ugly head,I pass by its home, and I have to dread,If it will be him, through the screened door, I spyIf for some reason, I have to pass by,And it roars a primeval and terrible sound,And again, that damn movie, goes 'round and 'round.

This is dedicated to anyone who was privy to watching a pit bull attack, perhaps you have been told "Just Get Over It". There's an ever expanding community of us who understand.

Dog attack report - 2018 final

North America closed out 2018 with 40 fatalities from dog attacks, 31 of which were committed by pit bulls. (status updated due to corrections of old cases)

In addition to the fatal maulings, 623 North Americans were maimed or disfigured for life by pit bulls. It's important to note that even if someone is not mauled to death in a pit bull attack, their lives and the lives of their families are often irrevocably changed.

The elephant in the room, the thing nobody nobody wants to talk about, is the number of innocent pets and farm animals tortured to death every single day by loose pit bulls. It adds up to tens of thousands per year. And those animals who survive pit bull attacks are often never the same again -

Can we blame pit bulls? Dick Johnson weighs in: "That depends on how you define blame. We certainly can't pretend this bloodbath isn't happening. But on the other hand, pit bulls are simply doing what the breed was designed to do - nothing more, and nothing less. So the fault for this slaughter falls on those who insist on trafficking pit bulls into unsuspecting communities."

More alarmingly, the trends are getting worse. While pit bulls have killed more Americans than any other breed in every decade since 1851, in recent years pit bulls are killing more Americans than all other breeds combined, but a large margin. We will detail the breed distribution in a subsequent article.

In 2018, pit bulls and pit mixes killed over 3 times as many Americans as all other breeds combined. It's not from being starved, beaten or mistreated, as pit bull activists are quick to claim after every horrific pit bull attack. Do retrievers need to be starved, beaten and mistreated to make them retrieve? Do pointers have to be starved, beaten or mistreated to make them point? Of course not. So why the absurd claim that a purpose bred bloodsport dog needs to be starved, beaten and mistreated to make them do bloodsport?

Some naive pit bull activists will say, "my pit bull wasn't bred for bloodsport", which is fallacious. One might as well say, "I didn't raise this caucasian shepherd to guard my house" - it doesn't matter what purpose you think you bred it or raised it for, genetics will manifest. As the dog matures, it will begin manifesting it's genetic imperative, whether than be herding, pointing, retrieving, guarding - or bloodsport.

It's high time for real consequences. Those who traffic pit bulls into their communities need to be held strictly accountable for any violence done by those pit bulls. No token fines, or vaccination tickets. There must be heavy financial penalties, and jail time must certainly be on the table.  Attacking pit bulls need to be put down, no exception, and the owners and other responsible parties need to be targeted financially, and with prison time as appropriate.


References -

PDF of 2018 cumulative figures
Pit bulls killed 30 times more animals than human sadists
Animals 24-7 2018 dog attack report
DBO 2018 dog fatalities report
Dick Johnson, life coach and victim's advocate