Chester - "the kind of dog who makes people want a dog"

branwyne comes across things that just scream for my attention sometimes, like the forward in this dog book written by JIM GORANT.

this pussy cat journalist is a pet peeve of mine. while GORANT is a hero in the eyes of the pit nutter, he is a reckless hack in mine. he doesn't perform basic fact checking and he has no qualms about repeating dangerous propaganda that encourages gullible dupes that it is safe to bring a fighting dog into their homes. GORANT'S sources: AFF and BADRAP. the result was yet another cherry picked sugar coated book about the poor misunderstood abused nanny dog that would make JANE proud.

after handing the rough draft of lost dogs over to his wife to read, doggie fever began its descent on the GORANT household and shortly after he finished polishing the pit bulldog's turd of an image, he set out to add a dog to the family.

GORANT started his search on line, inquiring about dogs that caught his fancy regardless of location until an intelligent friend pointed out the foolishness of his ways.

it was refreshing to see GORANT admit that he is not a good journalist.

given this champion of the underdog's success at bringing the ultimate gladiator into america's living rooms and nurseries, one would think that the GORANT family would naturally gravitate towards the all american nanny dog.

NOPE. instead GORANT chose "the kind of dog who makes people want a dog."

GORANT chose a "spunky snaggle toothed" SCHNAUZER MIX.

no nanny dogs for JIM GORANT'S wife and kids. pit bulldogs are a perfectly fine choice for Darla Napora, Dax Borchardt and Jordan Ryan but like President Obama, pit bulldogs are not suitable for HIS family. and like President Obama, GORANT chose a safe breed for HIS family.



not one for pussy cat journalism, Animal People editor Merritt Clifton wrote an honest review of GORANT'S disingenuous pit bull puff piece.

*pussy cat journalism The failure of journalists to ask critical questions or raise important issues in their reporting; usually of controversial subject matter. It describes the path of least resistance to get a story. As a result, the story is usually one sided or one dimensional and many important questions are not raised or dealt with in the reporting.

The phrase is borrowed from observing the behavior of domesticated cats: It is used to describe how a cat may become accustomed to food from a bag or can, and thereby, its walking circle becomes a smaller path. For example, from the place where it lounges to the place where the food is set out in a dish. This cat no longer looks under bushes and hides in a tree. It is satisfied with the little effort, and enjoys snoozing whenever it can.

When comparing a native cat, their walking-about path is much larger. They might not return home for days. They enjoy spending time outdoors and scrutinizing things longer.

Whereas a domesticated cat knows where to look for food, the native or natural cat might spend more time looking and actually forgo eating, to stay in place, waiting for the right bird to come along.

from a reader....

"What a profound difference between the train-wreck Vick Dogs, which had to be treated like a hand grenade with the pin pulled, and these sweet, normal dogs, who have known every bit as much torture and deprivation as the "celebrity" pit bulls, yet whose "cause" goes unrecognized and unsupported by the public."




these beagles did not come with a million dollar dowry and their rescuers were not required to carry a million dollar insurance policy. there was not a cadre of "behaviorists" waiting to assess their temperaments. these beagles will not require industrial strength fencing and their adopters will not have to undergo extensive screenings. these cute little faces will not grace pretentious wine bottles and calenders. there will be no media hype, no tv shows or factually challenged books to document their "progress".

why?

because these beagles are JUST dogs.

thank you branwyne.

Librarians: fighting for truth, justice and the american way

CRIS COHEN and JONNY VENGEANCE plotting their revenge on a librarian.

it's spring time and a pit nutter's fancy turns to media hype, lawsuits and sleaze to drum up, sympathy, donations and increase book sales.

like a "pit bull on widow's poodle", the BADRAP nutters continue to punish the Burlingame library on facebook, change.org, parade and badrap. DONNA et al are trying to make a federal case out of this. another shot of tequila might do the trick ;)

DONNA'S nickers are in twist over the library's audacity to ban gripping dogs from their reading program and she is upset the librarian "got away with breed profiling". the really bizarre and sad thing about all of this is the state california indulges this nonsense!

in january, PBS did a puff piece on the vick dogs. DONNA REYNOLDS claims that PBS wanted to see the great JONNY in action. in the words of DONNA, "no problem. COHEN has been planning to participate in the Burlingame's annual read-a-thon."

uh-oh, BIG problem. pit bulls were 86'd from the Paws for Tales program last summer. and i can't imagine that information not getting to BADRAP within 24 hours of the horrific injustice. i imagine the pit bull discrimination S.O.S. calls come in on a special red phone or flash the pittie beacon up in the sky and tapping out "a pittie has been dissed" in morse code. and if a vick dog is dissed, you can bet that's a shot that can be heard around the pit nutter world.

(DONNA is not the super hero, she is the villain TWO FACE)

so playing the innocent victim (which the nutters are quite skilled at), COHEN contacted the library about PBS wanting to get some footage of JONNY working his magic in order to get that necessary rejection to justify launching their crusade against Burlingame.

funny thing, if you watch the PBS puff piece, you will see JONNY VENGEANCE but you will not see him at work in the reading program. i thought that was odd. and it prompted me to try and find out why. PBS, according to DONNA, specifically requested a demonstration. why wouldn't they follow through? surely Burlingame wasn't the only reading program in the bay area.

on the contrary, i found the Paws for Tales 2011 schedule which listed 14 other participating libraries, 2 of which were closer than the 50 mile drive to Burlingame. i even found a plea from the san francisco spca for applicants into their Puppy Dog Tales Reading Program. apparently, they don't have enough dogs to meet their needs. but this simple drive across town for COHEN and JONNY did not quite pack the same sensationalized headline punch.

map of Paws for Tales reading programs available to CRIS COHEN.

Burlingame was included as a reference only.

WHY the petty mind games? WHY deprive all of those wine drinking, cheese eating, PBS watching, bleeding hearts of the opportunity to see JOHNNY work his magic while enlightening the ignorant?

could it have something to do with BADRAP's secret motto?

never pass up an opportunity to promote wiggle butts and if one doesn't exist, create one!

i think pit nutters thrive on media hype. just look at the comments on facebook, parade, badrap and don't forget change.org. they have the best comments of all.

TT writes:

I've personally observed Jonny Justice (& Cris) in a dynamic environment -- lots of people wandering around, sudden noises, etc. (a fund-raising party) & Jonny was cool, calm & collected & very friendly towards all people. He was aroused by other dogs, but Cris was clearly aware of that & kept him away from them.

Librarian Patricia Harding & the City of Burlingame have just provided the world with a pretty clear message -- they're idiots who would rather shut-down a beneficial program by claiming it wasn't cost-effective (hint: unlike Patricia Harding, Jonny Justice & Cris were in the library pro-bono!), rather than admit their blatant discrimination was wrong. Jonny Justice isn't an aggressive, ignorant nuisance but Patricia Harding is.

Good thing I don't still live in the area, or Harding would find some dog excrement on her desk! :)

uh-oh, looks like CRIS hasn't been able to love all of that dog aggression away.

then scroll up and read DONNA'S comment:

The many animal care professionals who've assessed Jonny deemed him not only adoptable but temperamentally suited for work with children as well as life with other dogs (which he's been doing successfully for several years). Perhaps you disagree with these professionals, but he's actually one of the most OVERLY-assessed dogs in this country, and any amount of intolerance to animals would have been duly noted by ourselves as well as the certified animal behaviorists on the team, the American Temperament Test Society staff and Canine Good Citizen evaluators.

looks like DONNA is lying, AGAIN. DONNA claims JONNY is suited to work with other dogs. what parent wouldn't want their child lying on the floor with JONNY when he becomes "aroused" by the sight of another dog? a side note, it's nice to see DONNA provide the BADRAP seal of approval on the fraudulent ATTS.

change.org commenter Susan Jeanne wraps this mess up beautifully:

The real question is, why BadRap wants to incite a cyber-bullying campaign against a 60 year old woman who is just trying to do her job. You have no idea what the city attorney advised her to do, you have no idea how many parents complained. As someone who has spent years volunteering in school libraries, I think the "dog assisted reading" programs are just a gimmick. I have done guided reading with children in groups, and what they really need is the one on one. The library's new "Book Buddies" program will pair kids up with High School students, who will recieve community service credit. This will be much more effective, and reach a lot more children.

Forcing your dogs on people who do not want to interact with them is the antithesis of what "therapy" work is all about, and reflects poorly on breed advoactes.

personally i think the pit bulls that are enrolled in the dog assisted reading programs are there to help pit nutters and their dogs, not kids.

my favorite BADRAP facebook comment from JOSEPHINE FAZZINO BOOTH:

Michael Vick and this librarian should be banned from life! They are disgusting poor excuses of human beings. They bring nothing into our world but death and hate.

JOSEPHINE FAZZINO BOOTH'S comment dovetails nicely into my favorite parade comment from bleckbluw:

Gorant benefitted from Vicks moral lapse

I guess the power of redemption (your words) does not apply to Vick. You state, "there is too much hate in this world, already" yet your hate and resentment of Vick comes through. Oh, the hypocrisy!

i picked up on that too bleckbluw. i am fascinated by the pit nutters obsession with redemption and second chances and forgiveness.

BADRAP accomplice WILLIAM BRANGHAM has been added to my growing list of lazy, unprofessional and unethical journalists. my favorite part of Willie's puff piece came at 12:30 "Nearly 4 years on, the assessments made by the evaluation team back in Virginia, have proven remarkably accurate for ALL the Vick dogs. NONE of those living in foster or permanent homes have shown ANY behavioral problems". and "Sadly, 2 others escaped their pens one night and LIKELY were involved in killing another sanctuary dog."

apparently WILLIE hasn't heard about MEL or HANDSOME DAN or google. in less than 5 minutes, WILLIE could have confirmed the killing at best friends. lazy reporting leaves journalists looking foolish. there is simply no excuse to not check the facts that are fed to you and there is simply no reason to believe that pit bull advocates will tell you the truth any more than big oil or tobacco or big pharma lobbyists. everything they tell you is suspect and every detail should be checked and rechecked and checked again. remember BUSH and the weapons of mass destruction?

this is just my opinion but i believe the BADRAP pit nutters have concocted this crisis and are trying to make examples out of Harding and the Burlingame Library. i believe every detail of this crusade was carefully crafted in an effort to bully them into reinstating the Paws for Tales program and force them to accept their wiggle butts. they are trying to paint Harding as ignorant, closed minded, stupid, fearful, hateful, prejudiced, and uneducated. of course ONLY the nutters have the magic bullet that will cure her of these ills: gorant's propaganda pamphlet!

the truth is, librarians are some of the most open minded, progressive thinking people out there. they are the ultimate champions of the first amendment (an area pit nutters are notoriously bankrupt in), privacy rights, intellectual freedom and the fight against censorship. two years ago, when the patriot act was trying to invade our privacy, guess who was on the front lines of that fight? that's right, LIBRARIANS. and where were the pit nutters? harassing other victims no doubt.

don't be fooled by the meek librarian stereotype.

i wonder, did Jonny Vengeance ever work out his "sshhh, no applause" issues?

Vengeance for Jonny Justice by Jim Gorant

Jonny "Vengeance"

The nutters are educating us again. Jim Gorant and Chris Cohen, the owner of Vicktory dog Jonny Justice, are teaching us about:

1. how to stick your nose into other people's business "for the breed."

2. how to perpetrate petty acts of vengeance "for the breed."

3. how to perform the "then I'll take my marbles and go home" routine "for the breed."

3. how to force a town library to abandon a children's reading program by threatening a law suit "for the breed."

Remember Jonny Justice on the Rachel Ray show? The audience was hushed a couple of times because Johnny Justice might not be stable enough to handle applause.

Jonny Justice then became part of a county wide children's reading program called "Paws for Tales." Volunteers brought their dogs to libraries so children could read to them. Unfortunately for the libraries, parents and children, pit bull owners glommed onto the program believing this would be a great way to force children to snuggle with their pitties thereby "educating" them.

Evidently some parents and librarians had educated themselves and weren't comfortable with fighting dogs hanging out with their children. A library in the town of Burlingame, CA banned pit bulls from their program. Jonny Justice and Cohen had never volunteered at the Burlingame library and were not banned from the library they volunteered at.

Cohen was reportedly "offended" by the ban that didn't affect him at all. He went to the Humane Society and the SPCA with a plan to have them demand that the Burlingame library be banned from the program. That is correct, Cohen wanted to deprive all the children of Burlingame of a reading program because he got his panties in a twist "for the breed." The humane societies, did not get involved feeling that it was not wise or mature to punish the children.

Cohen then turned to BAD RAP and hired some lawyers to threaten the town of Burlingame, informing them that their practices were disallowed by the statewide BSL ban. Burlingame realizing they did not want to fight this, but still concerned about the children's safety, pulled out of the program completely.

Though this is what Cohen originally lobbied for, he was unhappy that he could not force unwilling people to snuggle with pit bulls and he resigned from the program in protest. That will show 'em Chris!

Gorant discounts safety concerns because, after all, they've got $2 million in liability insurance so parents don't have to worry that they won't get compensated for even an extremely severe mauling on their child.

Gorant goes on to equate pit bulls with people - Native Americans, Mormons, and left handers. He suggests that people would be upset if people eliminated those groups from the program and they would! That has nothing to do with the pit bull problem at hand.

Cohen's last quote is telling. He says that if a librarian doesn't like his dog of choice, no child should have access to learning and resources at the town library.

“Some may see it as a loss to the children of the community. But I don't,” says Cohen. “A library is a source of information and learning. If the person in charge is participating in discrimination, children should not be anywhere near that facility. There is too much hate in this world already, children do not need to learn it at the library.”

Note that in reality, the library had to drop one program, but Cohen talks as if he had the library closed, and he's fine with that.

If BAD RAP, Gorant, and Cohen think they can convince the rest of the world that not allowing pit bulls in a library with children is the same as denying access to Native Americans or left handers, they are nuts.

Congratulations Patricia Harding and the town of Burlingame for standing up to bullies and standing strong on your right to safeguard your children!

Book Review: The Lost Dogs

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,

September 2010:

(published October 5, 2010)

The Lost Dogs:

Michael Vick's dogs and their tale of rescue & redemption

by Jim Gorant

Gotham Books (375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014), 2010.

287 pages, hardcover. $26.00.

The Lost Dogs, like a Three Stooges film, should open with the warning, "Don't try this at home, kids."

Yes, the American SPCA, Best Friends Animal Society, and several other partner organizations were able to avoid euthanizing 47 of the 51 pit bull terriers who were confiscated from football star and dogfighter Michael Vick in April 2007. About two-thirds of the dogs were eventually placed in homes; the rest remain in sanctuary care.

But, contrary to hype, this does not mean anyone has achieved magical advances in handling authentic fighting pit bulls. Little was done that might be within the means of local animal shelters. Much as the chairs that the Three Stooges smashed over each other's heads were made of balsa wood, most of the Vick dogs were not elite fighting stock. Most were barely more than puppies. The one dog who was a confirmed fighting champion was euthanized.

"Breeding no doubt plays a role in dog behavior," admis Lost Dogs author Jim Gorant. "There are border collies who are better at herding and retrievers who are better at retrieving because they have been carefully selected to perform that task over time. By the same logic there are pit bulls--so-called game-bred dogs--who are more inclined to fight and are potentially better at it than others. The Bad Newz crew, it seemed, had not been willing or wise enough to spend the thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of dollars more it cost to buy dogs from elite lineages."

Vick and associates had ordinary pit bulls, not confirmed killers. The ASPCA and Best Friends, meanwhile, are among the wealthiest and best staffed humane societies in the world. They collected $1 million from Vick as part of a court settlement, and enjoyed national publicity that afforded them the pick of thousands of prospective foster caregivers and adopters.

More than 80% of the animal shelters in the U.S. have less funding per year for all of their programs combined than was invested in the Vick dogs. Probably fewer than 5% have as many volunteer and adoption applicants per year.

Understates Gorant, "Because there might be resources available to support them, it could be possible to save dogs who would otherwise probably not make the cut."

The success--so far--of the effort to save the Vick dogs has escalated the pressure on shelters to save every dog. The ASPCA itself felt the heat after euthanizing a pit bull named Oreo who recovered from physical injuries after being thrown off a rooftop, but proved excessively reactive.

Any of the Vick dogs may yet crack under stress. The odds are against it, but each year about one pit bull in 100,000 kills someone, compared with one dog of other breeds in about 10 million. About one adopted pit bull in 30,000 kills or disfigures someone after passing behavioral screening.

The ASPCA, Best Friends, their partners, and the Vick dogs themselves have all enjoyed a long run of good luck. But a more indicative case may be the disposition of more than 500 dogs who were seized from a fighting ring by the Humane Society of Missouri in October 2009. Through extraordinary effort, with more resources than most humane societies but still just a fraction of the resources available to the Vick dogs, the Humane Society of Missouri has also saved about two-thirds--and has had to euthanize more than one third.

--Merritt Clifton

craven coverage of "rehabilitated" fight bust dogs:

missouri fight bust dogs on tour

pimping the vick dogs, it's mel's turn

pimping the vick dogs, ssshhh

another less than stellar book review compliments of Mark Caro and the Washington Post.