Pit Bull Breeder shot and killed

[Catherine Vincent]

Hundreds Of Pit Bulls Rescued After Owner Killed

UPDATED: 11:22 am CDT August 7, 2006


CLEVELAND, Texas -- Hundreds of pit bulls were rescued from a breeding farm after their owner was shot to death, officials told KPRC Local 2 Monday.

The Houston Humane Society said between 250 and 300 pit bulls were discovered on the property in the 2200 block of CR 2252 near Highway 105.

On Tuesday, the owner, identified as 25-year-old Thomas Wagner, was shot and killed in a drug-related shooting at his home at about 4 a.m., according to deputies
http://www.click2houston.com/news/9639805/detail.html

[Scout]

1. I hope some of the dogs can be adopted....

if they have to destroy all of them, aaaack, that makes me sick.

[B3Nut]

13. As if rescues weren't under enough stress as it is

Mrs. Nut and I work in Pit Bull rescue, and there are *always* more dogs than we can find homes for. It sounds like this was a fighting operation, so most of them will have to be euthanized as they're undoubtedly going to be too dog-hot for an average dog owner. We won't place a rescued fighter as a rule, and any aggression toward a human whatsoever results in the needle. We get more good Pit Bulls than we can place already, it would take too much away from placing known solid dogs to put lots of time and $$ into a marginal case. It sucks, but that's reality. Heck, we just had a gorgeous UKC-registered female surrendered to us, a $4000 brood bitch! She shouldn't take too lng to place, indeed, I think I'm more than a little smitten with her myself. ;)

I get nail-spitting mad at people like this though, all those poor animals wasted. I wonder if they've gotten ahold of Spindletop Refuge yet...

In the immortal words of Al Franken, Oy.

Todd in Beerbratistan
www.chicagopitbulls.org

[shireen]

20. thank you ...

for caring for those sweet dogs. they are terribly misunderstood and abused.

[Virginia Dare]

2. That's horrible...

my guess is many of these "rescued" animals will have to be destroyed. 250-300 pit bulls, WTF?

[China_cat]

5. That's about the same size as the pit bull

operation here that got the owner 40 YEARS in jail. The dogs were being bred to fight. They were not in any way suitable for placing in homes. Even the puppies were made to fight in order to be fed.

Where drugs are also found, you can bet that that same thing was being done with these dogs. Euthanizing them will probably be the kindest thing to do.

[MadHound]

6. My guess is that all of those poor dogs will be destroyed

Most animal control departments, especially in larger urban areas have a "kill all pit bulls" policy. And this generally extends to pit mixes too. It won't matter if the dogs are gentle or vicious, old dogs or eight week old puppies. Most humane and animal control depts. have felt the public pressure(completely overblown) to do something about the "bad dog du jour" and have responded with laws to kill them all.

This is how I wound up with my Suzi pup. She's a Pit/Boston Terrier mix, and when she showed up on our doorstep, starved and abused, rather than taking her down to our shelter where I knew she'd be euthed no questions asked, I instead took her into our home. And like the vast majority of Pits and Pit mixes, she is a sweet, lovable, intelligent dog who wouldn't hurt a fly.

So sadly, I imagine that these dogs they found are all going to be put down. A real shame too, because I bet a lot of them would make wonderful pets.

[Virginia Dare]

10. So happy for you and your pup...

we just got involved in a lab rescue organization. It amazes me how so many of these animals who have been so badly abused and neglected by humans can ever manage to trust and love another human again, but they do and they end up being wonderful pets again. I wish I could save them all!

Generally, I'm morally opposed to capital punishment, but I think euthanization would be too kind a punishment for the people that do this shit.

[sam sarrha]

12. that is what the *guy said whose pit killed our dog.. i have seen them at

work.. a pit dragged its owner to the ground going after a another dog in the park.. got lose and ran into a collie hitting it with its shoulder like a football player, the collie hit the ground rolling over from the blow and the pit grabbed it by the throat and killed it i seconds.

that same town, Modesto ca had 4 small children killed by pits in 4 months, by dogs that wouldn't hurt a fly.. unless they trigger an instinctual reaction.. Modesto made people put up a 8 foot wooden fence with a chain link fence buried 3 feet inside it,, and the dog had to be on a chain a certain size..

my wife had a pit when we married, she didn't know they were bread to fight.. it grew up with her mothers dog from a small puppy.. as soon as the pit got hair on its balls, it killed and ate her mothers dog.

*i was that guy

[MadHound]

18. Sorry then, I must ask the question

What kind of socialization training did you put that pup through? Most pits do require some sort of special social training, preferably when they're young, in order to prevent them from being aggressive towards other dogs. Because yes, they were raised to be animal aggressive towards animals, but not towards humans. Therefore it takes some extra animal socialization work in order to keep the animal aggression in check:shrug:

And I would also ask you to go out and compare the number of attacks by pit bulls both to the number of attacks committed by other breeds, and also to the number of pits who are out there. Despite the screaming tabloid headlines, the vast majority of pit bulls are gentle, lovable, intelligent dogs who are good with kids and families. Indeed the AKC to this day recommends pit bulls(AmStaffs) as great family dogs.

One can take anydog, from a poodle to a Great Dane, and abuse it and mistreat it to the point of it becoming a vicious dog attacking people. It used to be that this was done with German Shepards, then with Dobermans. Now it seems that the bad dog du jour is Pits and Rotts, thus they're getting the treatment. Hopefully in the next decade these punks will move on to another breed, and pits can go back to being the lovable family dog they've always been.

And while you've had a bad pit experience, most people haven't. I've owned several pits and pit mixes, and they are some of the most intelligent, gentle dogs one can have around. Yes, it does take some special socialization training in order that they're not animal aggressive. But many dogs take special training. Look at your herding dogs, if you don't specially train them, they're going to be nipping everybody and everything's heels in an attempt to herd them:shrug:

[Union Thug]

21. My Staffie lived with two English Bulldogs ...

and the most animal aggressive of the three was the female English Bulldog. Gracie (my late great Staffie) pinned the eng. bulldog a few times, but never did any more damage than a typical dog fight.

With a few exceptions, it's all in the socializing and training imo.

[shanti]

24. that's what the 'dog whisperer' would say too

have you seen his (cesar millan) show on NG network? he is AWESOME!

[sam sarrha]

26. he killed the dog playing.. it wasn't aggressive, he went to puppy school

he was well trained..it was still a young dog a loving family dog just like the AKC says, but they were bread to kill other dogs. if they are so dangerous if not trained and socialized properly, maybe that should be a requirement of ownership and others should be warned of that.. instead of just saying they are not dangerious at all and are great dogs. ..they are great dogs, but ..

but it doesn't matter what i say.. I'm wrong you are right, i give you the victory

[RebelOne]

14. Some may have a chance if a pit bull rescue group steps in.

Most animal control departments will not adopt out pits, but they will release them to pit bull rescues.

[blonndee]

3. I'm sorry for the dogs and of course the "owner,"

as reprehensible as I find mass, irresponsible breeding.

But I'm glad these dogs won't be bred anymore. I love pits but the BYBers have gotten way out of hand, and the misuse and abuse of the breed by ignorant thugs has too. Way too many irresponsible people are endangering others as well as the breed.

[Union Thug]

17. "misuse and abuse of the breed by ignorant thugs "

You are dead on. We've got the redneck-hick thugs and the gangsta thugs in my neighborhood happily ruining a wonderful breed of dog. Too bad they don't meet the same fate as this "owner".

[bunkerbuster1]

4. Shot and killed, you say?

darn, um, what a, um, shame.

[texastoast]

9. I know

I think I might cry.

:cry:

[TygrBright]

7. I would prefer a less drastic penalty for running a puppy mill....

...something along the lines of making the operator live in analogous conditions to those the unfortunate dogs endured, for a couple of years.

Without the forced breeding, of course. The human species doesn't need any more of whatever genetic aberration results in slimeballs who run puppy mills.

But death is a bit extreme. Although all the poor dogs who are probably going to have to be destroyed might not agree.

judiciously,
Bright

[Virginia Dare]

11. Right on TygrBright!....n/t

[MazeRat7]

23. Agreed. Lets start by getting him neutered.

Message: If you abuse dogs like this, we will cut your nuts off.

Penalties for this kind of crap need to get 10-fold more harsh.

MZr7

[maxsolomon]

8. Exhibit A

of the bad 'owners' of pits.

[Gold Metal Flake]

15. It took a bad drug deal to close this puppy mill.

Big and wide open as it was. I guess it was all legal and on the up & up. Otherwise, it would have been closed down by the local authorities, right?

Yeah, I remember what it was like to have long hair, loud exhaust & a KLOL bumper sticker and just happen to be driving through Cleveland in the late 1970s.

[Union Thug]

16. What upsets me the most is that...

these are great dogs. The best dog I EVER owned was a female Staffordshire Terrier named Gracie. She was well trained, great with my toddler, and just an all around wonderful animal.

It's pathetic assclowns like the subject of this article that ruins these dogs and sours the public against them. I live in relatively low income neighborhood. There is a ghetto/redneck machismo that buys into the whole 'tough guys own fightin' pitters' mentality that just makes me want to vomit. These people should not be allowed to own dogs of any kind, especially bull breeds. Good riddance to this puppy mill. I hope the guy rots in an unmarked grave.

[Kingofalldems]

19. Send in the Dog Whisperer

[RedStateShame]

22. These guys that shoot pit bull breeders aren't really a threat....

it depends on how they're trained.

[meisje]

25. I hate when that happens!