let's get ready to rumble.....

featuring....

mutant canine psychopaths

Compliments of Packhorse :-)

"COME OUT AND PLAY"
By Game Offspring

You gotta keep 'em separated!

Like the latest fashion
Like a spreading disease
The pits are scrappin' on their way out of the womb
Turning weapon with the greatest of ease

The packs stake their own sidewalk locale
And when they catch and grip ya, then it's all over pal
Grab ‘em by collars and try your break sticks
They're gonna bash it up, bash it up, bash it up, bash it up

Hey, man you walkin’ past me?
Take him out
You gotta keep 'em separated!
Hey, man you disrespect pitties?
Take him out
You gotta keep 'em separated!

Hey, they don't pay no mind
If you’re the dog owner you won’t be doing any time
Hey, come out and play!

By the time you hear the siren
It's already too late
One goes to the morgue and the other wags tail
One life wasted and the other just played

It goes down the same as the thousand before
No one's getting smarter, no one's learning the score
Your never ending spree of death and violence, breed traits
Is gonna tie your own rope, tie your own rope, tie your own

Hey, man you walkin’ past me?
Take him out
You gotta keep 'em separated!
Hey, man you disrespect pitties?
Take him out
You gotta keep 'em separated!

(REPEAT)

Hey, they don't pay no mind
If you’re the dog owner you won't be doing any time
Hey, come out and play!

power posing

i love ted talks. it is safe to say that i am a ted talk junkie.

this is a fascinating 21 minute talk on body language. the speaker is Amy Cuddy and she studies the nonverbal expressions of power and dominance at the harvard business school. power and dominance is expressed the same throughout all human cultures and across all species. powerful individuals expand out, ie they take up greater space while those who are not powerful tend to collapse in on themselves, ie they take up less space.

Cuddy's research has found that not only does our nonverbal communication influence others' judgements of ourselves but our nonverbal communication influences how we think and feeling about ourselves. our nonverbals even affect our physiology at the hormonal level.

Cuddy enlisted volunteers and conducted an experiment where she measured the testosterone and cortisol in their saliva, then had them hold either a high power or a low power pose for two minutes. afterwards she asked them how powerful they felt. they were given the opportunity to gamble and then a second saliva sample was taken.

Cuddy found that after just a two minute pose, the test subjects were affected at the hormonal level. the test subjects in the high power pose had a significant decrease in cortisol and a significant increase in testosterone and the volunteers who held the low power pose had a significant decrease in testosterone and a significant increase in cortisol. the test subjects who held the two minute high power poses also took significantly more risks during the gambling portion of the experiment.

Cuddy notes that people who feel powerful are more assertive, confident, optimistic, and take more risks.

i immediately saw how this could be a major perk of dog ownership, especially pit bulls whose presence has the power to clear side walks. and i wondered about the hormonal change in someone who spends much of their day in a power pose.

but the increased risk taking behavior is what grabbed my attention. let's face it, the problem with pit bulls is the risk they pose to the rest of us. and us non pit bull owning people just can not fathom WHY these pit nutters continue to take these risks. many of the maladaptive personality types that we are accustomed to encountering in the pit bull subculture are known for their thrill seeking and risk taking traits. but there could be other explanations for their reckless behavior.

according to Cuddy's research...
our bodies change our minds
our minds change our behavior
our behavior changes our outcomes.

maybe this surge in testosterone could explain the behavior of some pit bull owners.

the testosterone high leads pit nutters to assert themselves and their dogs on the rest of us. they are confident that their dog will never hurt a fly and continue to deny its dangerousness even after the pit proves otherwise. they are optimistic that if we just meet their pibble, we too will become convinced of the magic of pibble. these testosterone driven feelings in turn gives them the confidence to take risks like walk them off leash, go to the dog park or trust them alone with your polite seated guests when you excuse yourself to to go the restroom.

as Cuddy wraps up this fascinating 21 minute video, she talks about how these tiny tweaks in our body language can bring about big changes and she advises people to keep at it and don't just fake it til they make it, fake it til they become it. sadly, some people really should not be faking it til they become it. no amount of "faking it" will give them mastery over the innate dog aggression in pit bulls.

that's all just rambling food for thought but it does remind me of another pit nutter in the news recently...

TRISHA ROBINSON-ANTONELLI demonstrating her confidence and mastery over dogs in the ultimate power pose at a children's playground.

TRISHA ROBINSON-ANTONELLI is the owner of dog training business that she arrogantly calls DAWGPHONICS. as you will see, she is not all that fluent in the language of dog.

in november 2012, an injured pit bull was found and the floriduh nutters turned him into another abused celebrity complete with facebook campaign. AXEL was nursed back to health and then sent to live in a foster home with local dog trainer TRISHA ROBINSON-ANTONELLI on january 9, 2013. (due to the fact that no one wanted him, ANTONELLI later ended up adopting him.)

four days after taking possession of AXEL, on january 13th, MR ANTONELLI uploaded this photo of AXEL with the caption "Axel's first visit to the sage biscuit cafe". click on the photo and look at this photo closely.

yep. that's right. FOUR DAYS into his new foster home and TRISHA ROBINSON-ANTONELLI slapped a service dog vest on this thing. note that is not an "in-training" vest.

fifteen days later, the "service" dog graduated from obedience school.

on march 6th and then again on april 16th, ANTONELLI uploaded this photo. again, click on the photo to view larger.

notice anything unusal? 

less than two months after graduating from obedience school, the "service" dog has also graduated to wearing an e-collar. me thinks as AXEL gets stronger and his fur mommy tries to build his confidence up to match hers, he is transforming into a little tyrant.

fast forward one year, AXEL'S confident, assertive, optimistic fur mommy takes a risk and lets him off leash in her apartment complex and when he spots another pit bull living in the complex, a properly leashed pit bull i might add, AXEL attacks her. (kinda makes you wonder why someone laid an ax down on his head)

"He's had no altercations at all and he was on an electronic collar when this happened," Antonelli added Friday. "I don't know what happened."

ANTONELLI received a $500 citation but still goes on to blame the owner of the other pit bull, Kona, stating Kona got loose and "spooked" AXEL which prompted the attack. Kona's owner denies ANTONELLI'S accusation. i tend believe Kona's owner. if you doubt her version, please revisit the "service" dog above.

i don't know. is it just be me or should "service" dogs be so easily spooked? shouldn't they be bomb proof, especially if you take them into cafes and onto children's playgrounds?

when AXEL came to live with TRISHA ROBINSON-ANTONELLI and wear a "service" dog vest, she determined that he should only be adopted into a home with no other dogs but after the attack claims to have "completely retrained him." i'd say that TRISHA ROBINSON-ANTONELLI is another ego maniacal lion tamer who believes she can train dog aggression out but i think it more likely that she is back peddling and trying to cover her guilty ass.

i found plenty of photos of what appears to be TRISHA ROBINSON-ANTONELLI violating the apartment complex's leash law. clearly this was not the first offense.

the day after the attack :-)

but i think this was by far, the funniest thing i came across. i just had to share this oldie but goodie. it was just like swagger in, slither out all over again. good times.

bwahahahaha!

axel's angels

bay news 9

bradenton herald

antonelli dawgphonics

Power Pose - Amy Cuddy


THE STATE OF FLORIDA NEEDS TO BRING CHARGES AGAINST TRISHA ROBINSON-ANTONELLI OF DAWGPHONICS FOR FRAUD.  
pdfs & screenshots of the evidence are available on demand.

the language of dogs, normal and psychopathic

Trish King and the marin humane society held a very interesting seminar on dog introductions a couple of years ago and they were generous enough to share it with the world by uploading it to youtube in 7 parts. i have seen all 7 parts and i strongly recommend watching all seven. it is extremely informative. but for the purposes of this blog post, i am only focusing on the first minute of part 2 and from 6:10 to the end of part 3.

experienced pit nutters advise newbies to the breed never to take their mutants to the dog park, because even if their pit dogs didn't start the fight, they will finish the fight. every time the media reports that a pit bull attacked another dog, the pit nutters will rush on line and defend their mutants by claiming that the poodle started it. it happened last weekend in washington DC with the fiasco involving PARROT, LUCKY DOG ANIMAL RESCUE and AARON BLOCK. the question is which dog really started it?

the language that NORMAL dogs speak is much different from mutant pit dogs. one huge difference, normal dogs don't engage in direct eye contact. direct eye contact is considered rude in the world of normal dogs. pit bulls not only engage in this rude behavior, they often force it on normal dogs. this is scary to normal dogs and they very often respond the only way they know how, by growling or snapping a quick harmless message "hey, back off! you're out of line!". normal dogs are not threatened by a growl or a snap, pit bulls however interpret the normal dog's message as an invitation to fight. i have seen first hand the hard stare pit bulls throw at dogs, my dogs. thankfully my dogs ignored them but they are large confident dogs. i can see how a smaller or less confident dog would feel threatened and try to correct the frankenmauler's deviant behavior.

informing a psychopath that their behavior is out of line, should not be a death sentence.

"There is no direct eye contact or very little direct eye contact. It is very quick and over with. Which is one reason why with pit bulls and rottweilers, we have problems. Because they're bred to do direct eye contact and so they are off putting to other dogs and actually scary to other dogs." (you can stop here and go onto part 3 if you like)

at 6:10, King plays a short video of a pit bull being introduced to her german shepherd. King comments about how the pit bull cut off the gsd and attempted to force direct eye contact. at 8:14, turn up the volume and listen carefully to the pit nutter in the audience. "I get that with my pit bull, it's almost like he doesn't want to start the fight, he wants the other dog to start it. I'm not gonna start it but come on, you start it."

dog introductions

part one

part two

part three

part four

part five

part six

part seven

Trish King appears to be a pretty smart cookie when it comes to dogs. she is the director of animal behavior & training at the marin humane society. she is an author and has several videos available at tawzerdogs like "different breeds have different needs". from what i can ferret out, she is anti-BSL but she is also very honest about pit bulls which has gotten her into trouble with the pit nutter community. for example, in 2007 DONNA REYNOLDS received the following handout in an email from King. DONNA deleted it from the badrap website (i found it on another nutter site) but she left the disgruntled pit nutters' discussion up.

'Pit Bull Terriers and Other Bully Breeds'

Trish King, Behavior & Training Dept. Marin Humane Society

There is a lot of prejudice - even hysteria - in the U.S. right now with regard to Pit Bull Terriers and other dogs like them. Our shelters - especially in urban areas - are filled with pit bulls and pit mixes. Very few of them are adoptable, and even fewer are actually adopted. Those that are adopted are often the objects of fear and distrust.

There are several reasons for this, but the reasons are all controversial, and your belief depends a great deal on your view about behavior - whether it's caused by nature or nurture, and whether one can modify behavior that has already been in place through late adolescence or social maturity (between 1.5-2 years).

Many bully-type terriers were originally bred to fight other dogs, to bait bulls, or for other "blood" sports. Some breeders have been assiduous in breeding out the tendencies for aggression, but others actually breed for it - and the best way to get an aggressive dog is to breed two aggressive dogs to each other. The reasons for breeding aggression are varied - some people want their dogs to fight other dogs, some to guard their property, and some seem to want the "aura" of owning an aggressive dog.

Dogs bred as pets for several generations tend to lose the behavior patterns that are the most problematic. Unfortunately, they are still feared because of their looks, and because many - if not most - bully dogs still retain some of their undesirable behavior patterns.

Bully breeds have several desirable characteristics that build breed loyalty in their owners or guardians, such as:

extreme loyalty

affection to their owners

ease of training

Undesirable and/or anti-social behavior patterns include:

The tendency to chase things that move (animals, people, etc)

The ability and tendency to bite and hold on

The tendency to try and dominate other animals or people by body slamming, mounting and otherwise physically controlling them.

Uncontrollable arousal or excitement

The first two undesirable characteristics can be classified as "predatory." All dogs have some of this - some breeds more than others. But, in most breeds and breed types, the behaviors are inhibited. For instance, many dogs will chase runners or bicyclists, but they are unlikely to do anything if they catch up - and are easily trained out of the behavior. Truly predatory dogs go through a fairly set series of behaviors that can end up in a serious bite or worse. These dogs are not angry or vicious. Instead, they are obeying an instinct that was essential for hunting. Thus, they are not likely to give any warning and the chase can be amazingly fast. Sometimes they stalk before they chase; other times they don't. A dog that bites out of fear or anger will virtually always warn its victim - it normally has no desire to bite, it just wants to be left alone.

Predatory attacks are very common in the bully breeds - predation is the main drive used in dog fighting, and it can be lethal.

The third undesirable characteristic of these breeds is "dominating" or "bully" behavior. This stems from confidence. Oftentimes, confident puppies will bully their siblings, and may take away resources (food or toys). They will do the same to members of their own human families. And, if they're successful when they're puppies, they tend to repeat the behaviors when they are grown.

The fourth undesirable characteristic - arousal or excitement - is actually the most problematic. Many bully dogs cannot seem to calm themselves down once they get excited. And once they get excited all their behaviors are exacerbated. Thus, if a dog is over-confident and has a tendency to body slam or mount, he or she will really crash into the other dog or person when he's aroused, sometimes inadvertently causing injury. He may begin to play-bite, and then bite harder and harder and harder. When you try to stop the behavior, the dog often becomes even more "aggressive." In this way, play can turn into aggression fairly quickly. Research on the brain has shown that excited play has exactly the same chemistry as extreme anger. This allows a play behavior to switch quickly into aggression. And, once the dog has become aggressive a few times, the switch is much easier.

Our test includes scenarios that allow each of these behaviors to be manifested if they are there. We do not just watch the animals, nor do we try to make them aggressive. What we do is try to anticipate and replicate behavior that occurs in a normal home.

We observe the dog for a substantial amount of time to see whether he is attentive or affectionate toward us. We then show the dog affection (petting), to see if he comes back for more. We then do something the dog is not likely to like but that will not hurt (examining the teeth and hugging). We give the dog objects or food and then ask for it back, or we drop something and then attempt to take it. And we play - we see if the dog retrieves and if he gives up play objects readily when he's excited. We also run around, much as a child would, to see if the dog chases and what he does when he catches up. We then wait to see how long it takes for the dog to cam down, to relax. Lastly, we introduce the dog to one or two other dogs, to see whether he is social to them.

We try to see the whole dog, as much as possible, for the safety and well being of our clients. We do not expect perfection, and will "grade" a dog for different levels of potential owners. There are some behaviors that are unacceptable - mostly aggression. If the dog is aggressive towards people in any way, he is not recommended for adoption. In addition, dog to dog aggression is a big mark against the dog as - especially in this country - people want their dogs to lay well with others.

Pit bulls and other bully breeds fail most often in the areas of arousal and dog-to-dog aggression.

Each and every dog is tested on his own merits. We have and do put pit bulls up for adoption, after a knowledgeable person has fostered him or her for three weeks. We are cognizant of the power of this type of dog - plus many other big dogs - and would rather err on the side of caution than allow a possibly dangers dog into our neighborhoods.

Trish King

Director, Behavior & Training Dept. Marin Humane Society