Tuesday, July 19, 2016

It has come to pass.....The First Church of Pit Bulls

HENRICO, Va. --  On Sunday, a Henrico pastor said a man entered his church on Dumbarton Rd. with his pit bull and disturbed services.

“I'm here leading worship and I can hear disruptive noises,” recalled Rev. Calvin Birch of the Lighthouse International Church, who stepped down from the pulpit to investigate.
“He was here seated and then there was a lot of noise and movement, and then he got up,” Birch said. “By the time he moves here, he had unleashed the pit bull, a big black pit bull, and I looked and he put the leash over in that corner.”

Birch said that people in the church grew fearful because the dog was roaming the church, and the man was disgruntled. No one knew him, nor his intentions.


Rev. Calvin Birch


Rev. Calvin Birch
“I saw the group of people sitting over here jump up and scramble away because the dog had made it all the way over here,” he said. “It was very disturbing.”
Rev. Birch said he and other church leaders asked the man to contain the dog and leave, but he refused.
“He said no; he said the dog was friendly and that the dog would not bother anyone,” Birch said.
Some church members stepped outside and called Henrico Police.
Police told CBS 6 the man has not been charged because the animal was a service dog.
Church members said the man never indicated that.
“I will try not to find his motives, but his behavior was very unacceptable,” Birch said.
Birch said he's glad that things ended peacefully on Sunday. He said the incident prompted them to take a look at their security measures. He hopes that other churches, no matter how large or small, will do the same.

“Church is not as it used to be before,” Birch said. “We are living in a time where wickedness is on the rise, so we'll just have to keep praying and being vigilant.”


Sunday, July 17, 2016

Judging a Book by it's Cover: A look at Bronwen Dickey's PIT BULL

I have a confession to make.I broke down, and yes, I purchased that book Pit Bull by Bronwen Dickey. 

What will follow on this blog will be some thoughts, my own review, and I invite a discussion on this book, what was included, what was left out.   I smell a regurgitation of the
"Proof of Assertion"  tactics employed by the well organized and funded pit bull apologia.  If we create a thousand memes and say the same myths and all out lies a thousand times, it must be true.  People so want it to be true, hose off the bloody sidewalks,  say it again and again, and make it true. 


The author claims,  it took seven years of research, interviews of 350 people including pet owners, dog breeders, dog trainers, animal control officers, dog bite victims (the rumor is, one) , as well as other experts in veterinary medicine, animal behavior, canine genetics, constitutional and criminal law, public policy, risk analysis, and health epidemiology. Like a good researcher, she looked at archival materials that spanned more than 250 years.  And yes, it looks to be well organized, she has a table contents of 13 chapters I have yet to read, and I took a look at the bibliography, flipped through it and it has all of the trappings of a scholarly, scientific book.  What little writing I have read, she has admirable skill.   However, I'm not reading ahead, so I'm not going to pick her research apart just yet.  My plan is to REALLY take it slow with this, and I'm going to grab on and chew over any of her concepts, each and every little word chosen, kind of like a pit bull.





The choice of color for her cover was really well chosen.  It's the the exact shade of red I call "Life Force"  that stained my pants and my walls that night my dog was attacked by my neighbor's beast.    It brings up that little movie again.

As for the dog on the cover, it looks like a Stafforshire.  This will surely upset the crowd who think that only purebred American Pit Bull Terriers are pit bulls.  Had dogsbite.org chosen this image, there would be comments a mile long about how that isn't a real pit bull.  It's ugly, and it gives me the heeby-jeebies.

So let's talk about the title, and what it suggests.  Pit bull, the Battle over an American Icon. 

I wasn't aware of pit bulls, never thought about them once, remembered anyone mentioning them or seeing them portrayed as symbols that represented the United States of America. This, until my dog was attacked by one at a dog park.  He wasn't killed that time, but was killed about a year later by a different pit bull type thing that lived down the block.  
  I'm pretty old too.  I've been around and I've noticed things, especially thing of an iconic American nature.  I'm pretty much red white and blue, patriotic as can be.  I used to march in parades, and as a young thing, could wield that iconic piccolo solo in "Stars and Stripes forever" and put people on their feet.   What icons do I think of when I think of America?   Eagles, the Liberty Bell, Uncle Sam, The Statue of Liberty, an American Bison, perhaps Mickey Mouse.  I googled away, and found a good ten lists, and looked at the images conjured by my query, "American Icons".  There wasn't even one dog among them, no less a pit bull. I'm not convinced it was ever an American Icon.  Who called it "America's Dog" in the first place, and when did this happen?  Does the pit bull as "America's Dog" have an official trademark@?    Maybe Ms. Dickey will explain the origins of this moniker.  I am suspect they came from the very source who named them "Nanny Dogs".  As it is, weren't they created in Merry Olde England for the purpose of Blood Sport?  If you were to look for British icons, perhaps we may find an image of a grumpy faced Bulldog with a stiff upper lip. 

On the back, goody goody, the daughter of a well respected writer,  managed to get some praise from some really big wigs.  I suspect she had some help from some insiders in the publishing industry, I suspect she may have been cherry picked for this writing and that it would make lots of money, CACHING! 

If this is the thesis statement of her book, what should follow is her explanation of how this dog is an American Icon, of which, I'm not convinced, and how there is some "battle" over it.   I'm opening the to the inside jacket, perhaps there is more explanation. 

"The "pit bull" is a legend, a fear, an exaggeration, a 
bĂȘte noire.   Bronwen Dickey does this misunderstood animal a great service of looking beyond the myth.  What she finds are dogs who deserve better than we've been giving them."  Alexandra Horowitz, author of Inside a Dog.   (She's a scholar and also the author of a No. New York Time's Best Seller.  Great marketing, give this cute little lady some credibility.)   

The hugely illuminated story of how a popular breed of dog becomes the most demonized and supposedly most dangerous of dogs, and what role humans have played in the transformation.  BD

How can we prove that the pit bull was ever a popular breed of dog? 




According to the very well respected Christian Science Monitor, it was the Boston Terrier that is America's Dog and the darling of the turn of the century.  


The American Kennel Club has been tracking the popularity of purebred dogs for 128 years as the number of recognized breeds grew from nine to 177. Here's of the country's most popular dog breeds by the decade, according to data released by the AKC.  The Labrador Retriever has been no. 1 for over twenty years.  Pit bulls are not even on the top ten.


I know there are other bloggers and researchers who have covered this same material, the claim that the pit bull has been an American Favorite at one time.  Until they became the politically correct statement du jour,   pit bulls have only been popular as fighting dogs.   It's currently estimated that pit bull types represent 6 % of the population, but represent over 60 % of serious and fatal dog attacks.    If dog attacks, especially serious and fatal attacks were represented by popularity, then the majority of these attacks would be by dogs that are equals to pit bulls in size: Labrador Retrievers, German Shepherds, and Golden Retrievers.  This is not the case. 



I'm now stuck on this phrase:  "The dog has become the most demonized and supposedly the most dangerous of dogs". 

Supposedly.  Ask your insurance agent.  They have a number for the "supposedly most dangerous of dogs" figure.  Ask the surgeons who sew up survivors.   I inquire too, if being supposedly dangerous is something that can demonize it.  Horses are dangerous,  are they demonized?  Wild animals, Bears, Sharks, and Tigers, all dangerous, but also not demonized.  We expect wild animals to be dangerous, we don't invite them to live with us as pets.  Pit bulls kill more people in the U.S. than Sharks do, they kill their owners, without warning.  Dogs that were bred to take down the inherently dangerous bull, supposedly dangerous.  Dogs bred for blood sport, to kill their own kind, supposedly dangerous.   They maul and maim countless others, humans and other animals alike.   Consumer products are pulled for less injury and death, is it due to supposed danger?  

Since the release of Ms. Dickey's book,  in May 2016, the following people have been killed by the supposedly most dangerous breed of dog.   Supposing all of these people, now in repose, what would they say about supposedly dangerous pit bulls?
Adonis Reddick - 45yrs old - St Louis, MO. - Pit Bulls - [5.9.16]


Antoinette Brown - 52yrs old - Dallas, Texas - Attacked by approximately 4 to 5 dogs including 2 pit bulls - [5.9.16]
Hunter Bragg - 7yrs old - Corinna, Maine - Pit Bull - [6.6.16]
Earl Wayne Stephens Jr. - 43yrs old - Stockton, Calif. - Pit Bull - [6.6.16]

Jocelyn Winfrey - 53yrs old - New Haven, CT. - Pit Bull Mixes - [6.27.16]
Susie Kirby - 3days old - Fresno, Calif. - Pit Bull/Shar Pei Mixes - [6.27.16]
Elizabeth Rivera. 71 years , killed by family pit bull(s) Detroit, MI.  (7. 16.16) 

During this same time, there were many serious attacks on people.  There were also many serious and fatal attacks on other animals.   Supposedly, they should count too.








Monday, March 14, 2016

Those Whose Names Shall Not Be Mentioned

This seems like a dark exercise, to create a list of  names of

dogs that killed humans.  The intent is certainly not to stir up

unpleasant memories for those who mourn, but rather, stir

up any molecule of reason for those who really think THEY

are different, because THEY love their pit bulls. 
 Most of

these dogs were loved, treated like family.   Most on this list,

killed the hand that fed them, or a vulnerable family

member.  In most of the media reports of the attacks, all that

remains to be said of  the dogs is perhaps gender, or breed

description, or some other kind of description…a large

brindle dog weighing 65 pounds….it looked to be some kind

of pit bull type of dog.   Pit bull advocates would like to keep

it just like that, sans breed. 


There may also be a horrifying

testimony of the scene encountered in the aftermath.

Perhaps the owner will make a  statement, on how surprised

that their dog (nameless now) has never once so much as

growled, they were beloved members of the family, but now,

we will not utter their  names.  Or, they will have recalled and

shared in retrospect, that their dog had been aggressive,

perhaps biting a family member, attacking or killing other

animals, and no red flags had been raised for the dangers that

these incidents had foreshadowed.


 
Of the names that could be found, you

will find most of them were not given the kind of

stereotypical pit bull names such as Killer or Monster or

Barracuda.  No, they had sweet, affectionate  dual syllable

monikers, like those of the pooch laying at your own feet right

now.  The only thing  different, their owners thought they

were just like the ordinary pooch laying at your own feet, but

they were pit bulls.  Until then, sweet, harmless cuddly-

wuddly curs, then just once,  they went game. 


Here are some of their names.
 


Achilles
*Baby,family dog, killed  Ramani Virgil,
BatonRouge, Lousiana, 4/19/2000.

Bane and Herra




Buddy


The Beast



Boosie


Briggs


*Brownie and General Chico killed Jah'Niyah White,
Chicago, Illinois,  12/7/2013.

Brutus

Brody



*Butch killed his owner
Michael Cook, who didn’t survive the double amputation.

Tuscon, Arizona, 8/23/2011




*Buster killed Darius Tillman, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 2/19/2011

Coca, Noah and Athena

*Cooper


Diesel



*Dozer, the family pit bull, "snapped" and  killed
Isis Krieger while playing with the child.
Anchorage, Alaska,  9/18/2008

 Just before the incident, the Michael Naglee was being held by Louisa Farmer, Michael's maternal grandmother, while she sat on the couch. After Michael began squirming, she placed him on the floor. He then "ran across the room to *Duncan," according to Michael Farmer. The dog responded by knocking the boy down and attacking him and three adults who intervened. The couple got the animal at a shelter about four years ago. The dog, a 135 American Bulldog Mix, was shot dead on scene by responding deputies.
Oregon City, Oregon,  4/3/2011.

FatBoi







 The dog named *Foolish , owned by the babysitter’s

boyfriend,  had "slipped its collar" and chain and entered into

the owner's home. The dog quickly attacked the toddler,

Destiny Marie Knox,  who had not been left unattended as

previously reported. Investigators found no signs that the pit

bull had ever been mistreated. Chief Deputy Jimmy Whitten

said, "This dog was very healthy, very stout. It was well-kept,

well-groomed."  The owner owned four other pit bulls, and

even had a memorial to one of his pit bulls painted on the

window of his pick up truck.
New Albany, Mississippi, 11/6/2009.



Grady

*Gunner

 * Honey killed Joseph Hines, 58, , who had rescued him five years prior, Burnettsville, Indiana, 12/5/2011.


2-year old TayLynn DeVaughn was viciously attacked and killed by a family pit bull-mix named  *  Jake, while visiting her aunt's home on Fleetwood Drive in West Mifflin, a Pittsburgh suburb. The pit bull belongs to her aunt's boyfriend. 


West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, 2/22,2015.



Kissy Face



* Kane killed his family member Tori Whitehurst, Phoenix,

Arizona, 11/05, 2007.



Kava

King

Mafia Lee and Passion Maria

Martel



Thumper and Max





Mica

*Molly, a supposed pit bull/Airedale cross used for hunting pigs, killed Vincent Scardina, Carmel Valley, California, 3/1965.

Nico






Patrone





Penny and Bosston

Polar

Polo



*Prince




*Rebel and Thor



*Rocky

Russia




Shadow




Sheeba

Shipper, Road, Two-Face and Satan

Sidon

*Smoke

Spike



*Tas

Taz




*Toby



*Tyson



Clara and Xeno


*Zeus




Zulu





* No photograph could be found of the named dog.


All of these dogs are innocent, because they were only doing what they have been purposely bred to do.   Nearly every one  of them paid for the crime of being promoted as family pets, most humanely euthanized and their heads cut off to discern if there was rabies.  Not one of them had rabies, but every single one of them had something as deadly called gamebred D.N.A..   Some of them were shot or stabbed by police, a neighbor or even a family member.  All of them had more humane deaths than the ones in which they had just participated.   Please remember the people who owned these dogs when you utter the phrase, "it's all how you raise 'em"
It's the bloodiest lie spread by the pit bull advocacy.
Who are the real killers, what are their names?  You will know them by the misinformation they spread, racking up more and more victims, more and more dead.  They call themselves pit bull and animal welfare advocates.  We don’t need to mention their names, you know them well.

Psalm 69:28 “Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.”