Non-Profit Founder & Friends Call for Support in Legalizing Dog Fighting.

Yesterday, I wrote a post showing BSL advocates supporting the idea of legalizing dog fighting and today, BSL advocates have upped their support in legalizing dog fighting by telling their fellow BSL advocates to call in for SUPPORT of legalizing this horrible crime.

The Pit Bull Problem, a group administrated and created by Jeff Borchardt, the founder of the non-profit group Daxton’s Friends and friends continue to solidify their public stance of supporting “putting the pit’s back into the pits”.

 

Is it possible that the founder of Daxton’s Friends are funneling the small amount of donations into supporting legalizing dog fighting? It’s possible, especially considering how secretive Borchardt is about were his alleged donations are being allocated.  What’s even more interesting, one of Borchardt’s close friend and fellow admin of the group Pit Bull problem is the lawyer J Thomas Beasley. Beasley, residing in New Orleans, a city dealing with it’s own dog fighting problems, has currently accepted a postion with Jefferson Parish Indigent Defender Program and will no doubt be defending those arrested for dog fighting and acts of animal cruelty.  BSL advocates defending animal abusers and dog fighters? It’s no secret just how involved they are at promoting animal abuse towards certain breeds of dogs and now they are supporting legalizing it.

Dog Fighting & BSL Advocates Go Hand in Hand…

Anyone with a soul and conscience understands that dog fighting is absolutely revolting, repulsive, disgusting, cruel, loathsome, contemptible, abominable and understandably a felony. Pretty much, it’s understand that if you support dog fighting and engage in dog fighting you are pretty much a disgusting criminal POS that should be rotting in jail. So, it’s absolutely disgusting, yet predictable to see BSL advocates THRILLED with an article from a game dog forum that was posted about the idea of dog fighting becoming legal in Kentucky.

Although, after a bit of research (Which seems to be difficult for BSL advocates), it shows just how BSL Advocate Julie Wall has failed to comprehend the legislative piece. Since BSL Advocates routinely stalk this blog, I’ll be nice and break it down for them:

A legislative panel approved a measure today that would amend Kentucky’ dog-fighting law to also make it illegal to promote the practice. Senate Bill 14, as amended in the state Senate Agriculture Committee, would make the owning, possessing, breeding, training, selling or transferring of dogs intended for use in dog fighting a felony punishable by one year to five years in prison.

While to the normal and mentally healthy person with a SOUL, making dog fighting a Class D Felony is great, leave it to BSL advocates to actually advocate FOR dog fighting.

 

The idea of dog fighting legalized makes the infamous and disgusting Lorde Faust INCREDIBLY joyous as she types in excitement,”Yay! Put the pits back in the pits!” Then there is good ‘ole Gail, she’s totally not opposed to dog fighting, because you know… those pit bulls just love to fight to the death according to her. The only thing she is unsure of is… you know, those pesky dog fights can be a bit…. “swarmy”, that those dog fights can attract those darn criminals…drug dealing and stuff. Not worried about the abuse and torture of the animals involved, but more about the other criminal stuff.

What is interesting is to see Mia Johnson, the co founder of National Pit bull Victim Awareness actually like the possible idea of dog fighting legal. Once again confirming that BSL advocates are perfectly fine with and support criminal and horrific treatment of pit bull and bully breed type dogs. A self proclaimed “public safety servant” supporting dog fighting? I’m not even sure how that makes any sense… you be the judge.

 

 

#StoptheMyth

 

The Nanny Myth Kills

That blasted myth is killing the things that we love most, our children and our dogs. The sad thing, it’s not a myth created out of ill intention. It’s a myth that took a statement, twisted it, was retold and retold again. Advertised, promoted and became this huge belief that gets repeated over and over and over again. I’ll be honest, the idea of taking on the Nanny dog myth is daunting and intimidating.  Have you googled “Nanny dog”?

“But not so long ago, pit bulls were brought in as “nanny dogs,” the trusted caretaker pups to watch over kids”-Claudine Zap, 2011

I can’t even count how many times I’ve come across that quote… God bless her, even Martha Stewart quoted it in her 2014 article written by Dr. Pia Salk.  What’s that quote? The road to hell is paved with good intentions? That is exactly what the promotion of the Nanny myth is among pit bull owners.  I get it, our dogs are AMAZING. Our dogs can do AMAZING things. Our dogs can clear a room with one single fart and lay there like nothing just happened. Our dogs can save lives, our dogs can make people laugh, our dogs can comfort us and others when we are ill, our dogs can somehow morph into these blobs that can over take furniture.  They come in different colors, shapes, sizes, from different backgrounds, personalities and temperaments.  Some are athletic, some are lazy, some like water, some hate water, some are the very best dogs we will ever have and sadly, some will be the worst dogs they might ever have.  Our dogs are many things but the one thing they will never be is a “Nanny Dog.”

The best way that we can honestly help our dogs and our advocacy (not to mention shut down the steam behind the BSL advocacy) is to clear the air. A dogs purpose from way back to now are completely different UNLESS it comes from a specific line. Back in the old days, dogs had jobs, they had work to do unless you were rich enough to be able to afford the well known lap dog and many families from that era were not that lucky.  A working dog that wouldn’t/couldn’t work would be culled. It’s a harsh reality.  In the past, our beloved breed type (and the multiple breeds that fall under the “pit bull” breed label) had multiple jobs, none of them very pleasant and none of those jobs were to be a babysitter.

The Birth of a Myth

At some point, according to the myth,  at the start of the 20th century (allegedly), “pit bulls” are declared as the famous Nanny Dog.  That these dogs (who had some of the most brutal of jobs) were somehow AMAZING with children and possessed the delicate nature and intelligence to “care” for children. The point of the campaign was simple: garner public support for these dogs after the era of dog fighting was losing favor, transitioning the breed of dogs from that era into another role. Even Charles Dickens, who wrote about a bull terrier in his famous Oliver Twist failed to bring that label into the story.

Fast forward and the myth grows. In 1971 “Nursemaid” hits print for the first time thanks to an article written in the New York Times by Walter Fletcher.

 

 
It wasn’t until 1987, that the term was printed again in an archived Toronto Star article entitled, Move to Outlaw Pit Bulls Under Study in Several Cities, that breeder Kathy Thomas, president of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Association, mother of two young children, said her eight Staffordshires are “wonderful with children. In England, our Staffies were called the nanny-dog because they were gentle with kids.” Fast forward 4 more years when Lillian Rant uses the term “nursemaid dog” three times in her book Staffordshire Bull Terriers: Owner’s Companion : “He has a great affection for children, having earned the title ‘nursemaid dog’ many years ago.” In this instance, “many years ago” means about 20 years when she first used the term in regards to her own dogs.

Look to the Future

At the end of the day, we know our flaws and our strengths in our dogs. There is no hiding the fact that MANY (not all) of our dogs are amazing with kids. The tolerance that MANY (not all) have for kids is amazing and what makes them great family pets, but they are still dogs that don’t have the reasoning capability as we do. They don’t look at the world like we do and we can’t expect them to fulfill a role that they were never meant to be. No animal, dog or not was ever made to babysit our children. Our dogs are super stars, our dogs are our companions, our best friends and family members, they deserve to be defined by what they do today not what a handful of people labeled them years ago.  

 

Deliberate Homicide

“DETROIT, MI — The Wayne County Medical Examiner on Thursday ruled the death of a 4-year-old boy, killed after being mauled by pit bulls, an “accident” caused by “multiple puncture wounds (Burns, 2015)”.

I can honestly say I am stunned….and angry. We, as a community should be standing up yelling “Hell, the f@ck NO.” We as a community should be demanding that the death of that child should be ruled a homicide and the owner of those dogs should be thrown in jail and charged with AT LEAST 2nd degree murder or involuntary manslaughter w/endangering children, of course I would prefer 1st degree charges.

Xavier Strickland was 4 years old. Xavier was heading to school, probably excited for what was going to go on in his classroom. Xavier Strickland never made it past 15500 Baylis in Detroit.

Reports of those dogs having been running at large, aggressive and previous issues with the neighborhood children and the medical examiner declares the child’s death an accident? Nope. Sorry, that’s wrong. Those dogs hurting or killing someone wasn’t a if but a when. The brutality of the mauling was deadly which is not surprising the victim was a 4 year old child, if the victim had been an adult, he might have stood a chance.

“He appeared irritated with police after learning they’d shot and killed one of his dogs (Burns, 2015)

The owner of the dogs seems irritated? He probably was, considering he probably was a back yard breeder (which explains the pregnant female dog.) and he just lost his profit. None of his dogs were vaccinated, registered or obviously fixed and he just had them contained in a poorly fenced yard. Again, how is anything about this child’s death accidental?

“The dogs were not registered and the owner could produce no proof of rabies vaccination, said Dan Austin, a spokesman for Mayor Mike Duggan’s office. He said the owner will be cited for those violations (Burns,2015)”

What they need to do is take those citations and tear those up and draw up murder charges and as a community we need to demand that. We need to force our justice system to take a tougher stance on negligent dog owners like the owners of these dogs.

For the medical examiner to call this child’s death an accident is insulting. The very definition of accident is:

1.  An unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury.
2.  An event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause.

The owner of these dogs were deliberately negligent. This child’s death wasn’t accident. The harsh reality is, if it wasn’t Xavier, it would have been someone else… How is that not murder?  This is why we as a community of pit bull “type” dogs need to speak up and our voices need to be louder than the BSL Advocates.  We have to demand that law enforcement step back and really look at the cases that involve fatal dog attacks.  Over and over again, with cases like Daxton Borchardt, Levi Watson, Beau Rutledge where there were apparent negligence that resulted in a child being killed are swept under the rug and labeled just a terrible “accident”. Sadly, many law enforcement officers have to take the word of those at the scene, since many times there are no witnesses, much like the case of Daxton Borchardt, Levi Watson and Beau Rutledge and we need to make it stop and if we don’t, our innocent dogs will always have a target on their back.

We, as pit bull/bully breed type dog owners will always be facing discrimination and forced to pay for the crimes of Susan Iwicki, Angela Rutledge and the irresponsible owner of these latest dogs if our voices are not heard. We have to say ENOUGH is ENOUGH and start forcing our Law Enforcement and the Judicial System to do their job and the first step would be changing this child’s autopsy report to murder.

1. Intent- Leaving the known aggressive dogs intentionally unsecured
2. Deliberation and Premeditation – Deliberately keeping aggressive dogs and knowingly breeding known aggressive dogs.
3. “Malice Aforethought”- More irritated that the police shot his dogs than the fact that his dogs just killed a child.

I don’t know about you…. but sounds like it fits a homicide charge.

Burns, G. (2015, December 3). Death of a 40-year old Detroit boy mauled by pit bulls ruled ‘accident. Retrieved December 3,2015, from www.mlive.com

 

A Mother’s Lies…

Who hasn’t been on the receiving end of some nasty incoherent messages from BSL Advocate Gail  Benford Sizemore?

Pretty much every one who has had the displeasure of encountering her on any discussion pertaining to BSL and pit
bulls.

It makes sense why she is filled with such self hatred and nastiness…. Gail is hiding some pretty dark secrets concerning the death of her 4 year old son and Dogsbite.org is helping her.

What Colleen fails to mention is that Justin Corbit is Gail’s older son. According to the report, Gail and Levi went to visit her older son and girlfriend. Somehow they forgot to keep an eye on the 4 year old.

It’s no secret that Corbit was breeding his dogs, but that was something he picked up from his mother Gail. Gail herself was a backyard breeder of “boxers” during 2011-2012- even their containment methods were the same, dogs kept in a pen outside the house.

Gail, Justin and his girlfriend were inside when the fatal attack happened and it wasn’t until later that Justin went outside and found the lifeless body of his younger brother in the dog pen.  Gail claims on multiple posts she was the one who attempted to help the dying child and not a single mention of the dog owner, her son Justin helping. Why is that? According to reports, Gail let him flee the scene because Justin had a warrant and feared being arrested.

I’ve yet to see Dogsbite.org correct their blog post about what really happened that night and what is still going on. According to Justin’s own Facebook page, he was back to back yard breeding almost a year AFTER his brothers death at his home….

…. and is still going strong with a new litter in March.

It seems as if Gail and Dogsbite.org are desperately trying to keep these secrets buried but we know that eventually secrets don’t stay secret for very long….

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