This challenge is simple… It’s a call to action for the many people who are not familiar with, or who have a learned opinion about Pit Bulls. Don’t you want to have an opinion that’s genuinely based on some real life experiences? Or are you the type that just accepts hearsay as literal fact? The best answer to your predicament is to simply make an effort to visit your local shelter and meet a few of these daunted Pit Bulls in person. There’s no better facilitator of the truth than the dogs themselves!

I was able to make small talk with this guy on the way out of the shelter. I was also in the lobby during his multiple attempts at getting any kind of assistance. He walked in 3 different times in a span of around 45 minutes, no one ever took the initiative to help him or see to it that someone else help him.

Neither of the front desk girls even got out of their chairs. The manager was in his office, with the door shut, approximately 5 feet away. They didn’t pull anyone aside, they didn’t tell Gil (the manager), they didn’t walk to the back room to check for someone, they didn’t go anywhere themselves to at least show the guy that some amount of effort was being made. They barely even responded to, or acknowledged him. All they did was ask each other if there were any volunteers on the floor today.

This all happened the night of March 22nd. I immediately made a post about what I’d seen on my Facebook page, and the comments started rolling in. A frequent rescuer at Carson added her 2 cents, actually posting that the day before this happened she had witnessed another potential adopter walk out after being denied a “play pass” because the desk workers failed to track down a kennel attendant. Instead of getting off of their asses to go look, they just made the call that “they aren’t giving out play passes at this time.” So charming of them. All of this is totally, totally, totally unacceptable behavior from anyone being employed in this line of work.

This wonderful infographic comes via the Carrington College’s Veterinary Tech Program… Please look it over, download it, print it, share it, etc.

Lennox is a hero for dogs everywhere, especially the pitties and the like, and will forever serve as example #1 as to why BSL is trash and a despicable concept forced upon us by imbeciles who are racist and would rather scapegoat than do honorable and respectable work. I type this right now, hoping for a miracle, praying to God in heaven for a miracle, but also thanking him for creating Lennox, and for allowing his namesake to be reverberated across every city and every country on this planet. Yes, to many there are far more pressing issues. But this all comes back to a golden rule… People, animals, souls are to be judged as individuals, by the content of their character and their actions, and by nothing else. Lennox did nothing, and is a beautiful animal, and that will always be so. If useful idiots want to essentially martyr him in order to prove an empty point, or to be spiteful, or to fill a power-vacuum, or to cover something up, then so be it. God will bring him home, and they can never tarnish what Lennox is, what Lennox was. They are willingly and openly snuffing out innocence, and make no mistake about it, they are being seen by the world and these marks will matter some day. To Lennox: You be strong. You are the definition of strong and loving in the face of adversity, even as they lock you away and treat you as if you were a monster. You are absolutely a hero in my eyes, and you literally have millions of people who are following your plight and sending their love through the atmosphere. Even though you may not see or feel anything in the space that you are currently resigned to, it is unconditionally overflowing from all corners of this world. Your family misses you tremendously, loves you tremendously. You will see them again. If this despicable council takes your life, know that you gave it being the face of love, and exposing something that deserves to be defeated in every single location where it’s being unjustly carried out. It will be defeated. This bridge has the beautiful souls, like you, who will be there and ready to welcome you home. Say hi to Sway for me, she is amazing, just like you. Godspeed.

It’s been thoroughly pointed out how backwards, hypocritical, contradictory, and downright evil PETA’s stances are in regards to any and all things “Pit Bull.” I’ve been meaning to put my overall take on their asinine position out and into the public domain–but people don’t need to hear it from me, as there’s plenty already out there that covers their nonsense in detail. But now with Lennox’s imminent death coming down from the BCC, and the protests and public outcry going on on his behalf, it begs the novice question: Where’s PETA?

Well, here’s your answer…

Unfortunately PETA doesn’t care about Lennox, or any other Pit Bull-type dog for that matter. Their official stance is that ALL Pit Bull-type dogs should be phased out and killed. The reason? I honestly can’t make this type of stuff up, it’s far too Orwellian for any sane or rational person… They want to eliminate the breed/type in order to “save them from abuse,” and before that aforementioned abuse were to even potentially happen. You know, since ALL Pit Bull-type dogs are “abused” and all, and while ignoring the fact that millions are actually living in loving homes right now… So, not only do they want to brand all Pit Bulls as being “abused,” they then want to take the “abused” and kill them. There’s no desire by PETA to focus on who the actual abusers are… No. Why do/support all of that work when you can just scapegoat a vague type of dog, as well as the people who have and love them? Support BSL? They absolutely do. So how could they, in good conscience (or no conscience), come out in support of Lennox, when they, as an organization, support the very laws that got him impounded in the first place? Sorry, the truth hurts. They’d rather separate Pit Bulls from dogs, perpetuating the stereotypes and myths, and pose as their fake saviors by killing them all as an “act of mercy.” How loving of PETA. No, fuck PETA.

This is the equivalent of someone saying that all newborn children should be immediately put into state-run foster care because their actual parents “may” abuse them. This is the equivalent of an organization rounding up all of the newborn elephants on the Serengeti and killing them in order to “save them” from potential poaching. This is the equivalent of a group of power trippers using self-established numbers, like income (for example), and then establishing who is “fit” or “unfit” to do (insert activity here) as a “whole,” or as a “group,” or as a “class,” or as a “race.” Where I come from that’s what racism is. “Killing to save them”??? Besides being totally insane, this is DOUBLESPEAK in its grandest example. Talking to disguise, distort, reverse the meaning of words, so that it sounds pleasant or less horrific… Yes, this is how we go all over the world starting wars in the name of “peace.”

Peace IS NOT a bullet in the head.

Not to get too political, but doublespeak is all around us. In this field–the Pit Bull advocacy community–there is no bigger violator than PETA.

This sweet baby came in as an owner surrender on 6/28. His name was Uno and he was highly adoptable for numerous reasons… For one, he was just a puppy; for another, he was very sweet; for another, he had a coloration mark in the shape of a heart that was smack dab in the middle of his chest; for another, his ears perked high and folded backwards at all times. Oh, not to mention, his kennel card said that he was “good with small children.” He was then killed shortly thereafter, on the morning of 7/3. So it was just 5 days that was given to this baby, 4 if he was surrendered after hours on 6/28. What a shame. What in the hell is this shelter’s selection process? Why was he picked, and after just a couple of days? Uno’s 1 dog, and he’s now gone the way of thousands of others. I have my own thoughts about this, which I’ll keep to myself for now…

Anyone looking for an awesome, energetic Pit-mix who knows how to be a silly Puma and then tires himself out and crashes down for funny naps like this one? Meet Zeus, he is up for adoption and looking for his forever home…

*I think the visible sigh that comes from him around the 30-second mark is because he disapproved of my choice of YouTube music…

If you are interested in adopting Zeus then please feel free to fill out my online adoption application. He also makes appearances at weekend adoption events around the Los Angeles area, so if you’d like to meet him then you can always contact me for more information. Thanks!!

This is a comment that I recently received under one of my Facebook posts:

I don’t like it either but the real blame lies with those who don’t spay/neuter, and then when their dogs do get pregnant they abandon them. Don’t shoot the messenger. I AM NOT CONDONING PUTTING DOWN ANY DOG, but if you look at what is happening it is the irresponsible behavior of the general public who continues to breed without conscious and repercussions, and those who continue to help them make it happen by buying those pups.

A: That reality doesn’t justify solely shifting the blame off of the shelters. A lot of the stuff that you said, to me, is very valid and (sadly) represents things that happen everywhere. With that being said, when people ultimately choose to abandon their animals they then pay the repercussions of that decision and whatever karmic situation unfolds for them in the future. Yes, many people are to blame for dumping dogs, irresponsibly breeding, not treating their animals as members of the family that are worth protecting, taking the easy way out in many different scenarios, etc. But they have to live with that, and that responsibility shifts the minute they give up on/dump/walk away from that animal and leave it with a shelter.

It’s a shelters job to be a shelter, to transition these dogs into a better situation and work hard to find them a good/better home. That’s their job. That’s what they are coincidentally paid to do. That’s the impression, even though we know that 75% of these shelters don’t do that even remotely to the best of their abilities. Why does this get lost with people? Quit giving pounds justifications for continuing to endlessly kill while at the same time not recognizing the (in many cases) laundry lists of things that these pounds are NOT doing in order to make themselves a more efficient and dedicated facility that really does aim to “shelter.”

You may say, well, that’s not what you’re doing–but in this case that’s exactly what you’re doing. These 5 dogs existed at the Carson shelter and were given 2 days and then killed. That is inexplicable and isn’t justified in any way no matter what the prior “owner” did. That’s not me “shooting the messenger” either, I’m not trying to argue or anything. But I do disagree with your ultimate point of just placing all of the blame in 1 direction. There’s 5 or 10 different directions that probably deserve some of that blame, and the prior owner and the shelter that impounded and ultimately killed the animal are at the top of that list. In my mind they go hand in hand. 2 wrongs are 2 wrongs. We can’t erase history and say, well, “that doesn’t count” because that dog was dumped by a person and so “the shelter had no other choice” but to kill it upon receiving that dog. They do have choices, they have options. It’s their job to create choices, to make options. Their job isn’t just to accept people’s discards and then make them disappear… And if that is the legitimate job description then the sheltering system needs to lay off the PR spin and propaganda and just embrace the fact that that’s what they are paid to do. Which they don’t, they fight that assertion tooth and nail. And there’s a major problem and discord there between a public that either doesn’t know or constantly lets them off the hook with statements like you made, which only allows them to continue to kill and not put any effort forth that is based or birthed out of trying to do something (many things) different.

This gorgeous, beautiful, sweetheart of a brand new mother (#A4441948) was killed, along with her four 4-day-old puppies, less than 48 hours after being made “available” at the Carson shelter. Total crimes against life. Total crimes against compassion and decency. Such outrageous behavior by our local shithole, out masquerading as a “shelter.” Young mother, you mattered. So did your babies that you were clearly so proud of. The actions taken against you reflect the worst qualities of society, embraced and carried out by the very people out posing as your protectors. What a complete sham. Godspeed.