Here's a great article that demonstrates the fact that there's almost always hope! –Kim
The woman pressed the issue and the man opened – and gave her – the contents of the bag. Inside was a puppy so deformed that it couldn't walk or hold up its head. Shelter workers and veterinarians grimaced when they saw the dog and came to the same conclusion: It really should be euthanized.
Here's a great article that I thought I would pass on...hope you find it interesting! –Kim
Education is the key to understanding! –Kim
National Pit Bull Awareness Day (NPBAD) is a day of appreciation and education designed to change perceptions and stereotypes about pit bulls and their responsible owners. NPBAD was established to educate and foster positive communications and experiences in the communities in which we and our dogs live, and it is an initiative dedicated to restoring the image of the American Pit Bull Terrier.
Here's a disturbing exposé that I thought I would pass on...this is just sickening! –Kim
As part of the feature story on the effectiveness of the Denver's twenty-year-old law outlawing pit bull breeds, Westword posted a photo blog of dogs impounded in a section of the municipal animal shelter known as Pit Bull Row. Now, photographs have surfaced apparently showing some of the estimated 3,487 pit bull carcasses that have been carted away from from the shelter since the ban was enacted.
Click the picture below to see more disturbing photo evidence.
The photo-taker, who asked to remain anonymous, tells Westword the pictures were taken in 2006 on the grounds of the city animal shelter. According to officials, animals euthanized by the shelter are removed by a contractor for disposal.
After a one-year moratorium, Denver began to again enforce the pit bull ban in 2005, causing a 77% increase in the number of dogs impounded in Pit Bull Row. City records show that between 2005 and 2006, 1,454 pit bulls were put down, leading to the large pile-ups of dead dogs depicted here.
Three more photos of the same scene scanned from the original copies at Westword offices.
Source: http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2009/10/leaked_photos_of_dead_pit_bull.php
Here's a great article that I thought I would pass on... It's time to set the record straight! –Kim
FACT: Pit bulls are family-oriented dogs, blessed with a tremendous sense of loyalty.
Here's the fascinating story of one of Hollywood's most memorable dogs: Terry, aka "Toto" –Kim
Toto, the Story of a Dog
By Allan Ellenberger
Judy Garland and Terry, aka "Toto"
The most indulged of all the spoiled lovelies of Hollywood during the Golden Age were the canine actors who worked in films. They had their own hotel – The Hollywood Dog Training School – where at one time, seventy-five of the best known dogs of the screen lived in tranquil comfort.
The school was set on a pleasant ten-acre site, covered with oaks and willows, near Laurel Canyon Boulevard five miles north of Hollywood. Three hundred feet back from the road stood a cream colored frame house and back of it were two kennels, each 150 feet long. It featured southern exposure, long runs to each kennel, a large grass playground, showers in each section, and several porcelain bathtubs with hot and cold water, an electric drier and a special kitchen where, every day, a tempting cauldron full of vegetable and beef bone soup was cooked for dinners of the distinguished boarders.
Carl Spitz and some canine friends
The dogs, like all other actors, employed a manager – the amiable Carl Spitz – who drove as hard a bargain for his clients as any other agent in Hollywood. The German-born Spitz first took up the work of schooling dogs in Heidelberg, where his father and grandfather were dog trainers. Spitz trained dogs for military and police service in World War days. He saw Red Cross dogs search for dying men in no man's land – and he devoted his life to educating man's best friend.
Leaving Germany, Spitz arrived in New York in 1926, moved briefly to Chicago and soon found himself in Los Angeles, where, the following year he opened his first dog training school at 12239 Ventura Boulevard. Sometime around 1935, he moved the facilities one mile north to a ten-acre spot at 12350 Riverside Drive, where he remained for almost twenty years. "This is a school, where dogs go to classes just like children," Spitz said. "We have grammar school, high school and college."
At first, his services were for the public, but soon, the movies came calling. The transition to sound films required Spitz to drop his verbal commands and develop a series of soundless visual hand signals.
His first sound film was Big Boy (1930) starring Al Jolson in which he trained two Great Danes. This one was followed by the John Barrymore classic, Moby Dick (1930). It was too expensive for studios to create their own specially trained dogs, so Spitz suddenly found himself in big demand.
Canine stars soon began to emerge, such as Prince Carl, the Great Dane appearing in Wuthering Heights (1939). The first big dog star to appear from Spitz's stable was Buck the Saint Bernard who co-starred with Clark Gable and Loretta Young in Call of the Wild (1935). Others included Musty (Swiss Family Robinson), Mr. Binkie (The Lights that Failed) and Promise (The Biscuit Eater). However, probably the best known dog star to emerge from the Spitz kennel that is known today is arguably Toto from The Wizard of Oz (1939).
Clark Gable with Buck in Call of the Wild (1935)
Toto, a purebred Cairn Terrier, was born in 1933 in Alta Dena, California. She soon was taken in by a married couple without children in nearby Pasadena – they named her Terry. It soon became apparent that Terry had a problem with wetting the rug, and her new owners had very little patience with her. It wasn't long before they sought the services of Carl Spitz's dog training school in the nearby San Fernando Valley. Spitz put her through the usual training and in a few weeks she was no longer watering the carpet.
However, by the time her training was completed, Terry's owners were late on the kennel board. Spitz attempted to contact them, but their telephone had been disconnected. With nothing else to do, Carl's wife suggested that they keep her.
Terry sort of became the family pet, until one day, Clark Gable and Hedda Hopper stopped by the kennel for some publicity on Gable's new film, Call of the Wild. One of Carl's dogs, Buck the St. Bernard, had a large role in the film and Hedda wanted some photos of him with Gable. That day, Terry made himself known to the Hollywood people and Carl took note, and the next day, took her to Fox Studios to audition for a part in the new Shirley Temple film, Bright Eyes (1934).
Jane Withers and Shirley Temple with Terry in Bright Eyes (1934)
Spitz put her through her paces – playing dead, leaping over a leash, barking on command – for the executives and was then presented to Shirley for the final say. Terry was placed next to a Pomeranian named Ching-Ching, who wasn't part of the film but was Shirley's own dog. Terry stood there for a moment, while Ching-Ching looked at her. Finally, Terry rolled over, was sniffed and both dogs began running around Shirley's dressing room. At last, Shirley picked up Terry and handed her to Spitz, grabbed her dog and skipped to the door. "She's hired," Shirley giggled as she left the room. Bright Eyes, which co-starred Jane Withers, would be Terry's first film.
That same year, Terry made another film, Ready for Love (1934) at Paramount. Next, she appeared in The Dark Angel (1935) with Fredric March and Merle Oberon. Other films followed, including Fury (1936) with Spencer Tracy; The Buccaneer (1938) for director Cecil B. DeMille and an uncredited part in Stablemates (1938) with Wallace Beery and Mickey Rooney.
Franciska Gaal with Terry in Cecil B. DeMille's The Buccaneer (1938)
One day, it was announced that MGM was going to produce L. Frank Baum's children classic, "The Wizard of Oz." Spitz knew that Terry was a mirror-image for Dorothy's dog, Toto, based on sketches throughout the book. So he began teaching her all the tricks from the book, and sure enough, in two months, he received a call from MGM for an audition.
Spitz and Terry met with the producer, Mervyn LeRoy who had been inspecting an average of 100 dogs daily for the past week. "Here's your dog, all up in the part," Spitz said to LeRoy when he submitted Terry for scrutiny. Terry could already fight, chase a witch, sit up, speak, catch an apple thrown from a tree, and took an immediate liking to Judy Garland. Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley and the rest of the cast were accepted on first acquaintance with the dog. On November 1, 1938, Terry won the role of "Toto" without a test.
Judy Garland singing "Over the Rainbow" to Toto in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Terry received a weekly salary of $125, which was more than the studio paid the Munchkins. Before filming began, Terry spent two weeks living with Judy Garland, who fell in love with her and tried to buy her from Spitz. Of course, he refused. Judy's daughter, Lorna Luft, once said that her mother told them that the dog had the worst breath in the world. "It all made us laugh," Luft said, "because the dog was constantly put in her face [with its] silly panting, and she did everything but wince, because poor little Toto needed an Altoid."
Terry did everything required of her, although she hesitated at being put in a basket and standing in front of the giant wind fans, simulating a tornado. One day, they were filming on the Witches Castle set with dozens of costumed "Winkies" when one of them stepped on Terry's paw. When she squealed, everyone came running, including Judy, who called the front office and told them that Terry needed a rest. Until Terry returned a few days later, they utilized a stand-in for her.
The remainder of filming went smoothly for Terry, and even though she appeared in approximately fifteen films, The Wizard of Oz was ultimately her best known. When the film was released, Terry appeared along with the cast at the premiere held at Grauman's Chinese Theater. She became so famous that her paw print brought top prices among autograph seekers. Soon, she began making public appearances and became so popular, that Spitz officially changed her name to Toto.
Terry, now billed as Toto with Virginia Weidler in Bad Little Angel (1939)
That year was a busy one for Toto. Besides The Wizard of Oz, Toto also made a cameo appearance in MGM's The Women (1939) starring Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford, and had a larger role in Bad Little Angel with Virginia Weidler. The next few years had her appearing in Calling Philo Vance (1940), Twin Beds (1942), and Tortilla Flat (1942), again with Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield. Her final film was George Washington Slept Here (1942) starring Jack Benny and Ann Sheridan. That year Toto retired to Spitz's huge facility on Riverside Drive, until she died sometime in 1944. Even though several of Spitz's dogs were interred at the Camarillo Pet Cemetery in Ventura, he chose to bury Toto on the school property.
Carl Spitz continued to train dogs. In 1938, he wrote a handbook, "Training your Dog," which contained a foreword by Clark Gable. As far back as 1930, Spitz tried to get the Army to let him train dogs for war use. But, nothing came of it. Finally, in the summer of 1941, they took him up, in a limited way. Spitz agreed to furnish the Army fifty trained sentry dogs – at no cost. He delivered six, had twelve more under training, and already spent $1500 of his own money in the process.
Spitz trained the first platoon of war dogs installed in the continental United States, just prior to World War II. He was an expert adviser to the War Department in Washington DC and helped formulate the now famous K-9 Corps for both the US Army and Marine Corps. He became prominent nationally as a dog obedience judge at dog shows. Carl Spitz died on September 15, 1976 and is buried at Forest Lawn in Glendale.
Around 1958, the Ventura Freeway was being built through the San Fernando Valley and the route went through Spitz's school, forcing him to relocate. Today, the Hollywood Dog Training School is still in existence at 10805 Van Owen Street.
Sadly, not only did the freeway erase the school, but it also obliterated Toto's grave.
It's appropriate that Toto's Memorial Marker is installed at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Many of the people that worked with Toto are interred there including Victor Fleming, Harold Rosson (The Wizard of Oz, Tortilla Flat); Cecil B. DeMille, Maude Fealy (The Buccaneer); Erville Anderson, Carl Stockdale, Franz Waxman (Fury); Arthur C. Miller (Bright Eyes); Sidney Franklin, Gregg Toldand (The Dark Angel); Ann Sheridan (George Washington Slept Here). She is in good company.
Allan R. Ellenberger is the author of several books on Hollywood.
Source: http://dogblog.dogster.com/2011/07/26/the-riveting-rea-story-of-toto/
Here are some great pictures that I thought I would pass on...hope you find them entertaining! –Kim
Petey, or Pete the Pup, was the constant sidekick in Hal Roach's Our Gang & The Little Rascals comedies during the 20's and 30's. The original Petey had starred as the Buster Brown dog and had a unique quality that got him the job – there was part of a ring around one of his eyes. A then unknown makeup artist named Max Factor used black hair dye to paint the rest of the ring. Hal Roach had to take the dog as is for his Our Gang shorts and couldn't wait for the dye to wear off, so he continued the look which proved to be an invaluable decision. He could use different pit bull terriers and no one would know the difference due to the fact that the audience only focused on the ring around his eye! If you watch any of the Our Gang & The Little Rascals shorts, you will notice how almost every dog is different with exception of that iconic ring. Thanks to legendary Max Factor, Petey is one of the most recognizable dogs in history! Petey is a Pit Bull...
Petey (from Our Gang & The Little Rascals) in the makeup chair with Max Factor (1)
Petey (from Our Gang & The Little Rascals) in the makeup chair with Max Factor (2)
Helen Keller with her Pit Bull, Sir Thomas
General Patton and his Bull Terrier, Willie
Jimmy Carter with his Pit Bull, Bozo (1937)
Sergeant Stubby served with the 102nd Infantry, 26th (Yankee) Division in the trenches in France for 18 months and participated in four offensives and 17 battles. He entered combat on February 5, 1918 at Chemin des Dames, north of Soissons, and was under constant fire, day and night for over a month. In April 1918, during a raid to take Schieprey, Stubby was wounded in the foreleg by the retreating Germans throwing hand grenades. He was sent to the rear for convalescence, and as he had done on the front was able to improve morale. When he recovered from his wounds, Stubby returned to the trenches. After being gassed himself, Stubby learned to warn his unit of poison gas attacks, located wounded soldiers in no man's land, and — since he could hear the whine of incoming artillery shells before humans could — became very adept at letting his unit know when to duck for cover. He was solely responsible for capturing a German spy in the Argonne. Following the retaking of Château-Thierry by the US, the thankful women of the town made Stubby a chamois coat on which were pinned his many medals. There is also a legend that while in Paris with Corporal Conroy, Stubby saved a young girl from being hit by a car. At the end of the war, Conroy smuggled Stubby home. After returning home, Stubby became a celebrity and marched in, and normally led, many parades across the Country. He met Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge and Warren G. Harding. Starting in 1921, he attended Georgetown University Law Center with Conroy, and became the Georgetown Hoyas' team mascot. He would be given the football at halftime and would nudge the ball around the field to the amusement of the fans. In 1926, Stubby died in Conroy's arms. His remains are featured in The Price of Freedom: Americans at War exhibit at the Smithsonian. Stubby was honored with a brick in the Walk of Honor at the United States World War I monument, Liberty Memorial, in Kansas City at a ceremony held on Armistice Day, November 11, 2006. Sergeant Stubby is a Pit Bull...
Buster Brown & Tige (a Pit Bull Terrier)
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