The Good, The Bad and the Down Right Ugly of Social Media

I was recently asked an interesting question:

What affect the internet and social media have had on the debate over pit bulls.

…. And to be honest, it’s a complex question that can’t be answered with a simple yes or no. Let’s rewind time before the wonderful world wide web became available to the average Joe.

Our source of news was the TV, the newspaper and magazine publications which didn’t offer up the opportunity to instantly debate, correct, comment or share as we do now. Articles could and would repeat misinformation always with the slanted and obviously hyped heading ready with the purpose of selling. One view, one sided and usually unchallenged.

In the old days…

Brian C. Anderson’s article written for City Journal in 1999 is a great example of just that. Headline screaming, “Scared of Pit Bulls? You Better Be!”, filled with the usual cry for a breed ban and paragraphs of just how horrible the dogs and their owners are.
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Who could forget the July 1987 cover on Sports Illustrated? The Pit Bull Friend and Killer” in bold letters, followed by the opening statement: America has a four legged problem called the American Pit bull terrier…”

Fast forward 20 years and it’s a whole new world. Of course, some of the media still runs the same misinformation, articles slanted with the purpose to garner clicks and subscribers ::::coughcough thetimesherald coughcouch::: that are filled with limited fact checking and nonsense, but unlike 20 years ago, the public can chime in as soon as the articles are published. Owners, veterinarians, trainers and experts can speak up and respond.

Building a Nationwide Community

The internet and social media has done wonders for the pit bull community. It creates places for millions of owners to talk, vent, ask questions, advocate, rescue, change laws, change minds and work cohesively to build a safer community for humans and their pets together.

Social Media has given non-profits like Stubby’s Heroes’ a platform to reach more people not just in their community but nationwide.
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(Stubby’s Heroes’)

Launching their “This is Your Neighbors Pet”, Stubby Heroes’ slays the misconception and unfair stigma placed on millions of innocent dogs and shattering the unfair stereotype of millions of dog owners.

Thanks to social media, it gives owners a voice in sharing the lives of their pets and families. From pages like Rafa, The Not so Baby Pibble and Juno Z dog to the rescued and rehabilitated Vicks dogs, like the amazing Ray the Vicktory Dog that shared his training and rehabilitation with the world. Social media has also exposed the fear mongering that PETA and other BSL fear mongering groups attempting to call for the destruction of these amazing dogs.
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(Ray the Vicktory Dog)

Thanks to the internet and social media, communities can pull together to organize anti BSL efforts while helping each other in sharing resources, tips and stories.

 

The Double Edged Sword

For as good as the internet and social media is for our dogs, it also opens the door for BSL advocate groups like Dogsbite.org, Daxton’s Friends and the Pit bull Propaganda Machine Reveled to spread their own message and create an online community.  It allows those intent on banning these dogs and isolating their owners a view into the lives of the people they have every intention of destroying.  From cyber stalking, threatening and even taking images of children to mock and ridicule on their hate pages,  the internet and social media has become just as valuable to them as it has their opposition.

It’s incredibly easy to point out all of the bad and place it justly on the shoulders of BSL advocates when it comes to damaging the image of the pit bulls and their owners, but it wouldn’t be accurate. As with any debate that stirs such emotion, extremists will always lift their ugly heads and extremists can be found on both sides of this argument. It became painfully obvious during the case of Mickey (the dog) and Kevin ( young boy from Phoenix) just how extremists from the pro pit bull advocacy was doing just as much damage as the BSL advocates.

It’s become obvious that the fight has been moving off the dogs and have become a human issue and the reason is a no brainer. Dogs have no clue about BSL. They have no clue that there are people bent on their destruction, nor do they always get to pick their owners. There are millions and millions of fantastic and amazing owners, yet many times, we hear about the small selective few who are absolute morons that should never have been allowed to take care of any living thing and have caused such a horrific tragedy that the news have plastered the story all over the internet.

Thanks to the internet, you can google anything. Not only can you find positive pit bull videos but you can find the worst videos ever known to man that include pit bulls. Unlike BSL advocates, I refuse to post them. Honestly, I refuse to even google them. There is no denying the brutality that these dogs can commit when placed in the wrong hands and sadly, the wrong hands can sometimes be from the people who had good intentions in the first place.

To Kill a Myth

Repeat after me… There is no such thing as a Nanny Dog. There is no such thing as a Nanny Dog. There is no such thing as a Nanny dog.

There is no such thing as a Nanny Dog.  We do not live in a Disney cartoon where our dogs wander around with a bonnet and have the ability to babysit our children. Are our dogs amazing? Yes. Do they “love” their family members? Of course.  Will they try to protect their family? Absolutely, but will your dog babysit or take care of your child all by themselves? Hell no.

It makes my eye cross when I read “Pit bulls were bread to be Nanny Dogs!” because it logically makes absolutely no sense to me and nor should it make any sense to any pit bull owner. Our dogs are powerful animals. The strength and stamina they have is amazing and yet, they can be gentle, lazy dogs but the key word is: they are just that… dogs. Animals. Carnivores. They don’t process things like humans, nor will they react the same way as humans and it’s obvious by certain videos circulating the internet, there are many humans who are not even capable of reading their dogs body language.

 

Parents who find this cute and funny….

None of that makes sense to me but if any of those dogs bite those children, the parents will stand around and wonder “But I don’t know what happpppennned!” I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s true: The Nanny dog myth kills and it needs to stop, with us. Our community needs to keep correcting it EVERY DAMN TIME WE HEAR IT. A great advocate said something that I think is essential because it is 100% true :

“The fact that these dogs are good family dogs has been twisted by our own community and is causing our dogs to fail, and for kids to get hurt.”

The greatest thing about the internet and social media when it comes do our dogs and our advocacy is that it gives all of us the chance to speak up and squash the misconceptions and myths that started a long time ago. The internet and social media is our tool and it can help us do amazing things. It can help us find homes for dogs, help our community with services, fund raise, share, laugh, make amazing friends across the nation. It gives us an opportunity to pull together and be the voice for our pets and our families. Just like any tool, it comes with great responsibility because for as good as it can do, it can just as much harm with the simplest of ease… by just pressing enter.

With Great Power comes Great Responsibility

  • Spiderman or Voltaire
  • (Your choice…)

Relax… it’s just Rob Zombie

 

It seems as if Lori has an issue…

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Sadly, their attack on this photo isn’t really about the dog  but more about the woman holding the leash. I think this is why I can’t stress enough how BSL isn’t just about dogs. I honestly think breed specific legislation is really 30% about the actual dogs and 70% about the humans owning these dogs.  Which is exactly why calling breed specific legislation discrimination  makes perfect sense.  Even if it was just all about the dogs, isn’t the whole point of BSL is to discriminate?

“Recognition and understanding of the difference between one thing and another.”

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Oh, for Pete’s sake, that isn’t Charles Manson on her shoulder, that’s Rob Zombie. Although, I’m not surprised that Lori has no clue who Rob Zombie is, nor am I not surprised how she judges Rob Zombie based off his appearance.

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Zombie, who also fronts his namesake heavy rock band, has been a vegetarian for 30 years and a strong advocate of animal rights. Zombie isn’t actively the face of any charity, but he supports People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETAPETA) and various animal causes. In 2010, he joined other rockers for the First Annual Humanity Thru Music concert and paw-sta dinner, to raise money for Fur & Feather Animal Sanctuary, resulting in Southern California’s first full no-kill animal sanctuary, medical and educational center.

This next comment alone should disgust any woman, BSL advocate or not, but… it doesn’t. Why? Because it’s directed towards a woman with a pit bull/bully mix dog.

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Seriously, these people are disgusting and John Dorrill, you are a pig. A disgusting pervert. I hope to God that man isn’t around children or has access to women.

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Conflicted

One of the biggest responsibilities of being a pet owner is to keep our pets safe, to not put them in situations were they can get hurt, to make sure that they are legally safe in their environment. I think that’s why this story angers and frustrates me just so much.

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“The couple owns two pit bulls which are illegal in Prince George’s County. The county has had a ban on pit bulls for 18 years, which means Winnie and Emily are prisoners in their own home.”

Not only does this couple knowingly own a breed of dog that is banned but they are also going public with it. It’s not like it was a new ban, or that they just had no idea, for FFS- the ban in Prince George County has been in place for 18 f@cking years. Not 18 minutes, not 18 days, not 18 months but 18 years.

Now that this couple has made it very public that they are hiding their illegal dog what is going to happen if their dog is confiscated? I can tell you what will happen, while they cry and rage via the media, their innocent dog will be sitting in a small kennel, cold, confused and scared while it awaits euthanization. Not because that poor dog did anything wrong but because it’s owners are a bunch of selfish pieces of shit.

Breed bans and /BSL is wrong, but what is even worse is flaunting the fact that you are illegally keeping your dog.

“We choose to take the risk and bring them here, “Julia said.

Why? I don’t get it. Why would you knowingly risk it? Is it easier because it’s not the owners paying the ultimate price? It’s not like it will be the owners that will be euthanized. It’s almost as if they feel that their family pet is expendable. 

” “We have to say don’t move here . Move to Montgomery, move to Crofton, move to the District. You don’t want to live in Prince George’s because they will take your dog,” said Sandra Harmorsky with the Maryland Dog Federation.

This couple is slapping everyone who is fighting to keep their dogs safe in the face. It’s a slap in the face to people who hustle and bustle to save these dogs from death from these cities with bans. Will this media whoring couple expect rescues to drop what they are doing to rush and save their dog from the needle because they publicly waved their illegal dog in the face of authorities?

Their dog deserves far better than those two as owners and as an a advocacy we need to tell them that. What they are doing isn’t heart warming, it isn’t cute, it isn’t going to save anything or change minds. If anything, their very public action damages what millions of people are trying to change. Their selfish destructive actions feed the “pit bull owners irresponsible” and “pit bull owners are criminals” propaganda and don’t think for one minute that the hateful fear mongering morons over in BSL happy land are not frothing over this story, because they joyfully are.

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( Image taken from PRO BSL page created by Mia Johnson of BC Columbia and Lori Welbourne of Kelowana, BC Columbia)

If their dog is confiscated and euthanized because of this, I seriously hope they are thrown in jail. They knowingly set their dog up for failure. They knowingly and willfully set that dog up to die if they some how don’t stay anonymous and in this day and age, keeping anonymous is not a easy thing to do.

FFS PETA… Who are you trying fool?

You know, PETA…. You just need to stop. Your newest campaign seriously just fails.

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….”Pit Bulls Pose in Support of Breed-Specific Protective Legislation”…. Let that sink in. PETA is suggesting that pit bulls are giving legislation that targets and negatively impacts them and their families one huge paw raise. I’m not even sure how this makes sense to anyone. What’s even more disturbing is the fact that they use their OWN employees posing with pit type dogs supporting a agency who feels that a dead pit bull is a happy and safe pit bull.

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I really have no clue how any pit bull type dog owner can cash a paycheck from a woman and an organization that will happily euthanize their dog of choice. Considering their stance on pets of ANY KIND , it boggles my mind that ANY serious pet owner would willingly want to work for or support PETA.

Don’t get me wrong, I support the stopping of breeding of pit bull dogs…. and like every dog out there without proper licensing.  Stopping breeding of dogs should not and can not be breed specific and a supposed animal welfare organization should understand that. 

What irritates me is the false pretense of compassion that PETA attempts to publically display towards the multiple breeds that make up the pit bull type mix. Over and over again they rant,PETA fieldworkers help more pit bulls than any other breed” and “Pit bulls are the breed of dog that is the most abused, the most neglected, the most often abandoned.” as an excuse to exterminate multiple breeds of dogs.  PETA loves our dogs just so gosh darn much that they just want to love them to death. Literally.

Are pit bulls abused? Yes. Are pit bulls used by dog fighters? Yes. Are pit bulls neglected? Yes. Except all of that doesn’t pertain exclusively to pit bulls. Go ahead and replace pit bull with hundreds of breeds. If PETA had a honest bone in their vegan body, those questions would be, “Are dogs abused?” Yes. Are dogs used by dog fighters? Yes. Are dogs neglected? Yes. Are dogs forced to endure cosmetic procedures like ear cropping and tail docking? Yes. Are dogs left outside in extreme cold and heat? Yes.  Animal abuse is not breed specific and attempting to support a breed specific legislation that targets one type of dog does absolutely nothing to fix the problem, unless you really don’t care about the abuse that non-pit bull type dogs suffer from?

“We love all dogs, but pit bulls especially need help.”- PETA

Uh… No. All dogs in horrible environments especially need help. Stopping back yard breeding for profit, stopping dog fighting, stopping animal hoarding and stopping animal abuse goes beyond a breed of dog.

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PETA, You are correct, many pit bulls need help, but so does every dog sitting on a chain or crammed into a overly small kennel with hundreds of other dogs. Every cat that is hiding in some crawl space in a hoarders house needs help. The horses that are underfed and so skinny that you can count the ribs need help. Pet snakes, pet birds, exotic illegal animals kept as pets need help. Any animal that is forced to breed for a quick buck needs help. Any animal that is tortured for human enjoyment, I.E dog fighters, animal brothels, crushing videos needs to be stopped. Animal abuse is not breed specific and breed specific laws does absolutely nothing to stop this.
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Stop pretending PETA, you’re not fooling anyone. Your supreme leader has made her views about pit bulls glaringly apparent as soon as she joined hands with Dogsbite.org and Daxton’s Friends. Kind of like shooting yourself in both feet…

An Advocacy Based off Lies

Ad·vo·ca·cy

Public support for or recommendation of a particular cause or policy

There is no denying that PETA, Dogsbite.org and Daxton’s Friends are a united  advocacy, but what they advocate for and how they advocate for should make people pull back in disgust.

I’ve written before, that you can not be a dog owner, much less a pit bull owner and still donate to PETA.  If you truly care about a safer community and preventing dog attacks from all breeds and stopping animal abuse, you can not support Dogsbite.org or Daxton’s Friends. It’s true, right now those three organizations are focused on one thing, the extermination of all pit bull type dogs, but it goes much deeper than that.

I don’t understand the need for the lies, the deception that they truly care about the welfare of any dog. PETA’s stance has always been to euthanize all pit bulls entering shelters JUST IN CASE they might be abused or have been abused. Any dog rescued from a fighting operation before 2000, including puppies. As if they were some tainted. Euthanized, never given a chance.

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The worst part is, they will feed off the fear of the “what if” to justify their desire for death.  In April of 2000, a dog fighting ring was busted by the Huntsville Police department, confiscating 32 pit bull dogs. There has always been a debate on what should be done with these dogs and it wasn’t until 2007 when the Vicks dog fighting operation blew up in the media that people never really questioned what happened to these dogs.  PETA had their ideas and had no issue penning off a letter to the authorities in charge of the dogs.

12179964_998812673474956_375620365_n“We respectfully request that the court exercise it’s legal authority, pursuant to 3-1-29 of the Code of Alabama, to issue an order that the animals be euthanized without further delay.”

PETA advocated that all 32 dogs, including the puppies should be euthanized. By euthanizing them, it would protect them from “falling into the wrong hands” or killing any person.

“Serious injuries and even deaths, which are not uncommon.”

Except… there is not one record of a human fatality by a dog rescued from a dog fighting ring.  What PETA attempted to do, along with the the city of Huntsville, is to claim that American Pit Bull Terriers were genetically dangerous.

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I’m going to repeat that- there is not one record of a human fatality by a dog rescued from a dog fighting ring.  Yet PETA still sticks to this stance,  “To automatically euthanize these dogs to eliminate attacks on innocent victims and to end the presence of illegal dogfighting”. Out of the dogs rescued from that bust, about half of the dogs died from injuries or disease, while the remainder including four puppies – were held at the City pound and put up for adoption but it wasn’t that simple.  The city council refused to allow the adoptions of the remainder, including 2 puppies, claiming these dogs were a potential danger to humans, even though they had never shown human aggression.

“The city of Huntsville were backed by the extremist animal rights organization PETA that Pit Bulls were genetically dangerous, with evidence provided by veterinarians, none of whom was an expert in any specific canine or genetic field.”

Washington Animal Foundation was one of the first to publicly call PETA out and fight against the labeling dogs dangerous based off breed alone. Sadly, it was a bittersweet win- 21 of the adult dogs were euthanized but the puppies were given a chance. That legal battle and those puppies paved the way for dogs rescued in the future from dog fighting rings.

In 2007, PETA once again attempted to bully courts into euthanizing dogs rescued from the Vicks compound.

“We have to think carefully about these dogs, the other animals, too, and perhaps children, who could well be at risk if “the Vick dogs” are released. “- PETA

Once again, PETA attempted to spread the what if fear, that these dogs would be running the streets attacking anything that moves.


“May I humbly suggest that instead of raising hell and raising money to try to “rehabilitate” these dogs, and instead of flying to Virginia to “save the Vick dogs,” we do less “heroic” but even more important things to save dogs’ lives. When it comes to euthanasia, every day’s real world choice is of which not if—making the choice to demand that fighting dogs be “saved” is a soothing fantasy, more about public relations and, in some obvious cases, about fundraising, than about truly helping the most dogs in the most productive ways.”- PETA

Once again, PETA calls for the death of these dogs….but they met an unmovable wall and it still hasn’t moved. It won’t ever move.

“Under Newkirk’s direction, PETA has launched many important initiatives — including shining a light on the brutal dogfighting industry. But she is on the wrong side of this pit-bull issue. If a dog can be rehabilitated, rehabilitate; if a life can be saved, save it.” –William Rhoden

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Dogs rescued from these hell holes have done nothing but grow and achieve greatness. In fact, Maverick,– rescued from a dog fighting operation has earned his Canine Good Citizen and is just another story of just how PETA has it wrong.

Unbeaten

You know, at the end of the day, when Dogsbite.org, PETA and Daxton’s Friends rest their weary heads and dream of annihilating multiple breeds of dogs they know deep down they are fighting a losing battle.

No matter how hard they try to paint these dogs as man eating murdering beasts, they get knocked down.

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These dogs alone, by their own nature prove just how wrong PETA, DBO and Daxton’s Friends are every single day and the new documentary The Champions drives that point home.

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We know we will never change the mind of PETA, Dogsbite.org and Daxton’s friends, but you know what? We don’t care. What we do care about are the millions and millions of people joining in and standing up telling PETA, Dogsbite.org and Daxton’s Friends #sorrynotsorry that these dogs are here to stay.

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Your hate for us and our dogs are never going to change the fact that the overwhelming majority of these dogs coming from all different environments, good and bad will be a child’s best friend, a couch hog, a hiking buddy and a running buddy. They will save lives, comfort, spread joy, soar through the sky and change minds, change hearts and over come stereotypes, fears and hatred one tail wag at a time.

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So, while you are choking on your hate and bitterness, millions of these dogs are going to go on living and loving life.

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2000 and Counting…

How would you feel knowing you’ve pissed off over 2000+ people? I would imagine a normal person wouldn’t feel that great, nor would they want to brag about it, right?  I mean, what kind of person pisses that many people off on a social media setting like Facebook?!

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Well…..  Somehow I’m not surprised. What I am surprised about is the dedication that man gives to obsessing over “stupid people”.   I kid you not, this is only PART of his block list, I honestly was going cross eyed trying to keep up with his every growing list….

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That’s not even 1/3 of his infamous growing list of people that he has blocked because they have disagreed with him. Although, the crazy part is, he literally stalked everyone of those person’s Facebook pages and linked them to each and every name. Then, he created a blog post to share with his stalking hate mongers SO they could stalk them, pillage their Facebook pictures of their families, send them nasty messages and THEN block them like some cowards. Over 2000+ people…. Who has that much time on their hands to stalk over 2000+ people on Facebook allllll because they are pit bull owners and non pit bull owners who have dared to disagree with him?

By no means am I a Psychiatrist, but I dare say that their is something unhealthy about this behavior.  Since people always say that past behavior is a good indicator of future behavior, it’s safe to say that if you have had the fortunate pleasure of pissing that man off, you probably will be added to his list… and for good measures, he’ll probably add you to it a few times, just in case he somehow forgot to add you the first time, or second time….