Sunday, September 8, 2013

Thank you Kenneth Phillips

Lawmakers have to stop listening to the nonsense about breed specific laws which is spouted by the owners of bully dogs like pit bulls. Since 2006 there have been 3 psychological studies which focused on the personality and behavioral traits of the owners of pit bulls and other high-risk breeds of dog. A study published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence showed a link between ownership of high-risk dog breeds and deviant behaviors, crimes against children and domestic violence. Another study concluded that "vicious dog ownership may be a simple marker of broader social deviance." A third study established that the owners of high-risk breeds of dog displayed more antisocial thinking styles, have an arrest history significantly higher than owners of other dogs, and engage in fighting to a significantly greater degree than other dog owners. They also had higher levels of overall criminal thinking patterns to go with the actual criminal behavior. These people, who are fixated on the animals that kill, maim and terrorize, are not the people that a lawmaker needs in his camp. Reasonable people want fair laws that provide a solution to the obvious problems caused by pit bulls.

you can read the rest on 17 Barks

Attorney Kenneth Phillips is an authority on the issue of dog bites. Visit his website Dog Bite Law.

and thank you 17 Barks for sharing this with the rest of us.


28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Indeed. There are far too few people standing up for public safety and the victims of fighting BREED dogs and far too many angel rescue imbiciles standing up for dogs whose were created with the sole purpose of maiming and killing other living creatures. A breed with this bloody past has no business being a 'pet' animal.

Anonymous said...

Excellent piece! Of course most "bully" fans will interpret it as yet more evidence that "it's the owner, not the breed!" Ugh.

---And this is sort of off topic, but can I just say how much I fucking HATE the term "bully breed"?? It's so off-putting. (Totally appropriate though.)

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

i hate bully breed too but not nearly as much as pittie or pibble. i'd like to see grippers become the standard name for all fighting and baiting dogs.

Anonymous said...

I don't like the term 'bully breeds' either; it encompasses both pit bull maulers and the now gentle English Bulldog. It's just not accurate. We're really only discussing ONE breed here; not 'bully breeds'. Why not just call a spade a spade? Screw the politically correct language. Pit bulls need to be banned as pets.

Your Quiet Neighbor said...

Advocates of bully breeds = bullies.

Anonymous said...


a lot of trailer park experts seem to believe that pitbulls are not a bull dog , and are not related to the ambull , or even the staffy .they get a shitbull, do a bit of biased research on the internet and become instant experts and advocates of the breed . for myself , i just figure if the dog is ugly , short-haired , brindled or shit coloured and its owner is an asshole , its probable at least part shitbull.

scorched earth said...

^ LOL! ^

Thank you Snarky!

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

^ LOL! ^

yes, thank you snarky!


no, we are not discussing ONE breed. we are discussing a class of dogs that all originate from the bull baiter and are still capable of performing their violent functions. that's quite a few breeds.

DubV said...

The only bully breed of any size that I have any care for are boxers. Purebred boxers are hyper when you but are much safer than pit bulls and ambulls. They have not been used for fighting or baiting in a long time and there is a community of people that have bred them as companions for a long time now. They are a strong breed, but I have yet to see a boxer "switch on" and grip and intend to kill another dog or a human.

They are more dangerous than the average breed however, but don't touch shit bulls with a ten foot pole.

Anonymous said...


dubv

a house sitter i knew years ago had boxers splatter blood all over the owners white couch . the owners son showed up and kicked the house sitter out . mind you i dont blame him a bit .

Jake said...

Splattered blood from where snarky?

Anonymous said...


the owners boxers decided to fight in their owners absence. i was not making a point about boxers i just remembered it as an amusing story . pet sitters are not to be trusted and dogs will always take advantage .

tropical storms said...

Purpose bred dogs who's only occupation is a felony and breeds derived from them are a pointless liability. The only exception I can see would be Rottweilers employed by military and paramilitary organizations. They can simply be sterilized out of existence.

Finnea said...

Dawn,

I'd never heard the terms "gripper," "gripping dog" or "mutant" used to describe pit bulls until finding your blog. Now I use them all the time.

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

finnea, i can't take credit for creating these wonderfully descriptive terms but i do hope to be able to take credit for popularizing them some day. diane jessup refers to "bulldogs" as gripping dogs. i am trying to replace "pit bull type"with gripping dog. i only think i know where mutant came from. i will have to ask and see if it is okay to share.

Anonymous said...


the nutters think we are all very hatefull but i think its much worse to be a party to and an instrument in what pitbulls do . its totally unnecesary and serves no purpose to harbour these mutant canids. nature is one thing but for civilization still to be producing these wretched killing machines is just not right ...In my oppinion.

Anonymous said...

From the gleeful, hateful tone of many of the anti pit posts on this site I think the average IQ must be pretty close to the 'pit nutters' themselves. You don't do yourselves any favours by speaking like that, it just makes reasonable people lose respect for you and your views.

I'm personally of the opinion that all fighting breeds should go extinct - there is no legal use for a psychotic dog anymore... And why anyone would take a breed used for KILLING and MAIMING other animals and bring it into a family home with children and other gentle pets boggles the mind.

I am a Border Collie owner, so I know it is IMPOSSIBLE to train out genetics and instinct from a dog. This ridiculous excuse "it's the owner not the dog" doesn't make any sense. Unless you're magic you can't take the genetics for violence and aggression out by training. It requires selective breeding for multiple generations to purge such a strong instinct.

The breed I own has very strong herding instincts. I have to be very careful when I take my dog to the country so that he doesn't worry sheep and other livestock. He can't help that he wants to stalk and chase - its what he was bred to do. Border collies are notoriously hard to manage when the herding instinct is so strong. After many hours of training I can now call him off when I see cattle / sheep in the distance but I would never trust him 100% so I always try my best to avoid areas with livestock so that I don't have to put his training to the test.

The instincts in pitbulls to attack, bite and chase other animals is similar to herding instinct but many 100s of times more dangerous. It comes from the same place (hunting instincts of wolves) but has been perverted in pitbulls to target other dogs as well as other animals. This itself makes them completely unsuitable to live in cities and suburbs where there are likely to be a lot of other dogs around, dogs that belong to families and children who will be devestated and traumatised when their beloved family pet is ripped apart.

If people truly love the breed they should be breeding out the 'gameness' and aggression and working towards a gentle temperament as was done with the bulldog (although bulldogs are one of the ugliest and most mutated breeds out there and I honestly believe its cruel to breed anything as deformed as that). Unfortunately most of the people that own pitbulls revel in the psychotic tendencies of their dogs... They are proud that their dog can rip apart tyres and grip and hang dangling from a rope - refusing to let go unless prized off... What are these 'skills' useful for? Nothing but violence.

At least my chosen breed still has a purpose, they are still used to herd sheep worldwide, and they do it without mauling and maiming countless people and animals - despite being higher than pitbulls on the "top 10 list of aggressive dogs" that is constantly linked by pit owners.

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

anonymous border collie owner, how i envy you and everyone else who is able to retain such a level of calm detachment around this issue. it means only one thing, you have not yet been impacted by these ugly dogs. and i sincerely i hope you and your border collie never are. what ever you are doing right, keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...


anon border collie person

dont expect any kudos from the pit droolers for your respectfull , inteligent approach to their ugly maulers. you would be condemned yourself as ignorant and hatefull for any suggestion of a pitbull problem and any suggested solutions.

Anonymous said...

@Snarky

Don't worry, I neither expect nor desire any Kudos from them (who would want it?) - I fully expect people to disagree with me.

I just think its stupid to criticize pit "nutters" for behaving in a certain way and then in the next breath, drop to their level by gleefully reveling in the death of a pitbull or death of a pit owner.

Take the moral higher ground instead perhaps?

@Dawn James
You may be right, I have not been impacted by those "ugly dogs".

Pitbulls and 3 or 4 other fighting breeds are banned outright in the country I live in. I don't think there is a single pitbull in the city I live in (not that I've ever seen anyway).

But I HAVE been impacted by aggressive dogs - or rather one in particular. This was a German Shepherd that lives opposite me. It is known in the neighborhood to be highly dog-aggressive and I have personally witnessed it almost kill a small shih tzu outside my house before. The owner of the victim was left with the vet bills despite having reported the incident to police.

A few months after I witnessed this incident I was walking my dog nearby my house when we came across the German Shepherd. It broke away from its owner and ran towards us so I stood in front of my dog, thinking that the German Shepherd would back off if I was in the way.

IT didn't, it bit both my legs, knocked me to the floor and grabbed my dog by the neck, trying to shake it. The owner did nothing.
I had to jump on and choke her dog until it released mine, and then continue choking it until she decided to take it off me (probably because she was worried about her dog being strangled)

My dog had no wounds (thankfully he has a very thick ruff) but there was blood on the fur on his neck (probably mine). I was left with two punctures and lots of bruising on my lower legs. I also had to have a tetanus shot and a preventative course of antibiotics.

I reported this to the police and they did NOTHING about it. They told me that since I had a dog with me and the German shepherd was trying to attack my DOG and not ME that it couldn't be classed as a dangerous dog.

They also lied and said the dog had never been reported before but I know it has been (by the owner of the shih tzu, twice because it has attacked her other dog before too).

I kicked up a stink and they eventually agreed to talk to the owner to "ask her to put a muzzle on the dog." Its not enforced and the dog does not wear the muzzle most days.

To top it off the German Shepherd owner walked past me while I was walking my dog a few days later and threatened to wring my dog's neck "next time".

She also apparently told the police that it was my dog that bit me, not hers, and that I had "hurt her dog" by leaning on its back and strangling it. I don't know if they believed her or not, but with at least 2 other reports of her dog attacking other dogs I wouldn't have thought so.

The real problem isn't so much breeds as it is lack of enforcement of laws. Yes BSL has prevented pitbulls from attacking people in my country, but it has done nothing to stop a dog that actually attacked me, my dog and 2 other dogs.

I don't want German Shepherds banned. I know other German Shepherds that are lovely dogs. But the breed CAN be dangerous.

What I want is proper enforcement of the laws already in place, and more legislation to prevent the wrong type of people owning large dogs. Pitbulls can stay banned, I personally don't care, but there are other breeds (and mongrels) that pose problems and BSL won't solve it alone.

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

i have never said that no other dogs pose a threat and i suffer no illusions that magically eliminating gripping dogs from the planet will make society safe from dogs. in addition to ugly mutants, i have been menaced by GSDs, akitas, rotts, whippets and a brittany spaniel.

for me it's not an issue of breed vs owner and it's not an issue of the banning of certain dogs vs stronger dog laws & better enforcement. it's not a problem with an either or solution. the solution is targeting BOTH.

gripping dogs commit acts of mayhem that no other breeds do. GSDs are not jumping out of second story windows to attack the beagle on the sidewalk. GSDs are not chewing through the chainlink kennel to kill the westie in the next kennel. GSDs are not breaching fences in their backyards to rip the arms off of the 93 yr old man watering his petunias. GSDs are not entering homes and killing children as they sit in front of their tv watching cartoons. GSDs are not killing entire flocks of sheep. GSDs do not attack their owners and then keep a slew of first responders at bay. GSDs are not attacking cars and planes. GSDs are not attacking women in their beds at night. GSDs are not jumping into and out of moving and parked cars to attack other dogs. if 30 people gang up on a GSD with an assortment of weapons like hedge trimmers, hammers, water, bats that has a poodle in its mouth, unless it is rabid i guarantee you the GSD will drop it.

there is no place in a civilized society for gripping dogs. lucky you, your civilized society has recognized that fact.

Anonymous said...


how nice to be preaching tolerance and reasonableness when you dont have to deal with the ugly pig-dogs in your neigborhood and everywhere you go .

nice for some .

Anonymous said...

So I've decided to give up pit bull ownership because of this blog.

It's opened my eyes to the evil demons these things truly are.

I'll be getting my first Caucasian Ovcharka puppy tomorrow. That way I'll have a dog that's predictable. Since I know for a fact it'll rip apart any person it considers a threat.

Pit bulls are just way too dangerous. You never know if they're actually going to attack our if they're just going to let some strange man enter your house and cut your throat while your sleeping.

Stupid dogs.

Anonymous said...

ha , ha . nice try .

Anonymous said...


anon ,
i decided to get a pitbull and give up my ovcharka . im sick of dangerous dogs and want a stupid ugly dog that will lick to death an intruder. only problem is the flatulence . not sure i can take it .

Packhorse said...

Are our shelters filled to bursting with ovcharkas? How many people were killed by ovcharkas so far this year? If only pit bulls were so rare, we wouldn't have a problem.

stacey said...

It is true that the owners are more often or not criminals, or involved in unsavory, illegal, unethical, or behaving in ways that are just outside of normal bounds.

When I had a mutant (I was SO STUPID), I was very anti authority, punk rock mindset, a stripper and a weekend warrior (occasional drug user).

Everyone I knew that had a frankenmauler was a drug dealer or user, a stripper (they are super populaR amongst strippers and sex workers for the false sense of security they give, until they attack YOU), a lowlife, or a rich kid that hated everything. I cannot think of one normal person that had one, and I knew way more normal people than lowlifes. The APBT was like the mark of a scum ball, violent asshole, sex worker, or druggie.

The closest to a normal owner of a gripper would be my one ex neighbor. He had a normal job and a normal life, and was an ex frat by type. The other neighbor proved the stereotype in spades though- he also had a few pitts and a root at different times (one he starved to death) and beat the shit out of his wife and hag 5 kids by 22. CLASSY.

While I was as"responsible" as anyone owing a killing machine on legs can get (just having an APBT shows you are irresponsible IMO), with insurance, a high fenced yard and all the stuff you are suppose to do, I was really an outsider of normal life. Most pit owners are.DOn't let the few sweet "fur mommies w kids" fool you, I am sure they are ex sex workers or something deviant or not normal.

(Its not bad to be outside of mainstream culture, but it IS that type that has these dogs. I think they identify with them.)

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

i could write a book about the pit bull owners and defenders who live around me. many of them are law abiding citizens and at a glance appear to be normal average everyday run of the mill citizens but scratch the surface and things get interesting real fast.