Posted on June 15, 2009 by Colleen Lynn

2009 Dog Bite Fatality: 2 Pit Bulls Kill 10-Year Old Boy in Rusk County, Texas

Justin Clinton, 10-years old, was brutally killed by two pit bulls belonging to a friend.

Family Files Suit
UPDATE 09/05/09: The mother of 10-year old Justin Clinton, who was mauled to death by two pit bulls in June, filed suit against the couple who owned the dogs. Serenia Clinton's lawsuit accuses Ricky and Christi George of gross negligence and carelessness and contends they are liable for Justin Clinton's death. They are seeking more than $100,000 and other damages to be determined by the court, attorney fees, costs of the suit and other relief from the dogs' owners.

The suit revealed that one of the dogs bit Ms. Clinton's son two weeks before the fatal attack on June 15. The earlier attack was concealed from the boy's mother, the lawsuit claimed, and the dogs had on numerous occasions prior to Justin's death been aggressive toward people while running loose in the neighborhood. The owners "knew or should have known of the two dogs' vicious propensities," stated the lawsuit prepared by Ms. Clinton's attorney, Cynthia Stevens Kent.

06/17/09: KLTV Pities Owners
KLTV 7 News dedicated a segment to the owners of the pit bulls that fatally attacked Justin Clinton. The segment appears to be a pit bull apology piece designed to paint the pit bull owners, Ricky and Christi George, as "victims." The story can best be described as deplorable in the wake of a young boy torn apart by the powerful jaws of these dogs. The piece also emphasizes that the dogs were not loose. In other words, the "victim" dog owners are not liable under Lillian's Law.

The segment also confuses1 viewers by calling the dogs American bulldogs2 instead of pit bulls or pit bull-mixes. This is a common tactic taken by pro-pit bull groups to try to lower the staggering number of serious and fatal attacks that have been attributed to pit bulls over the last 30-years. KLTV's attempt to mislabel the dogs (or attempt to confuse viewers) also contradicts Rusk County Sheriff Deputies which stated that there is "no doubt" that the dogs are pit bulls.

1Attempts to mislabel the pit bull as a bulldog stretches back for decades as the two breeds share a common gene pool and are often crossbred. Pit bull experts, such as Diane Jessup, commonly refer to pit bulls as "bulldogs" as well. Jessup even states on her website that the "original working bulldog" is the pit bull.
2The modern American bulldog was not established until the 1970's. The AKC does not recognize the breed, and the UKC only began to in 1999. There are two major lines of the breed: the Johnson type (1st left photo) and Scott type (2nd left). The Scott type was directly developed by crossing early Johnson lines with the American pit bull terrier and has become the breed standard. Without question, the Scott type is a pit bull type dog.

06/17/09: Owners Recently Purchased Dogs
The Kilgore News Herald reports that both dogs had formerly been owned by someone else in Kilgore. It is unknown if prior complaints were filed against them. Authorities said the dogs, a 3-year old male and a 2-year old female, had puppies in mid-February but none remained at the home now. Ricky and Christi George got both dogs, who have always been together, in February. The Georges' homeowners insurance had also reportedly lapsed because Ricky lost his job.

06/16/09: Full Scale Investigation Planned
News sources report that a Rusk County pit bull attack on Friday preceded the fatal pit bull mauling of Justin Clinton on Monday. Justice of the Peace Bob Richardson said a 4-year old girl was seriously attacked by a leashed pit bull in Henderson. During the attack, the dog's owner was walking the pit bull on a leash when it broke free and attacked. Officials were determining what to do with that pit bull when they were notified of the attack that left Justin Clinton dead.

Currently, Rusk County does not have a leash law. Yet as one can see, a leashed pit bull can still pose a significant threat.

TylerPaper.com, which covered the serious pit bull attack on Kristi Langston back in March, also reports that a "full scale investigation" is planned in the aftermath of Justin Clinton's death. Rusk County Sheriff Danny Pirtle said that the owners of the dogs could face felony charges under Lillian's Law. He also said the two pit bulls were put down about 30 minutes after they were confiscated from a home on County Road 133. The owners of the dogs remain unnamed.

06/15/09: Victim: 10-Year Old Justin Clinton
Leverett's Chapel, TX - In a developing story, authorities say two pit bulls fatally mauled a 10-year old boy in an East Texas town. The Rusk County Sheriff's Office said witnesses reported seeing the dogs drag Justin Clinton down the side of the road in the small community of Leverett's Chapel. A Tyler television station reported that a passing motorist pulled the dogs off the boy. The fourth-grader was later pronounced dead at Good Shepherd Hospital in Longview.

The Rev. Edwin Findley, acting on behalf of the dogs' owners, said "both families" have been hurt, even though only one family has a dead son.

The newest Texas fatal pit bull mauling (Rusk County) lies on the other side of Dallas (Stephens County), where 7-old Tanner Joshua Monk was killed by his neighbors four pit bulls in May of 2008. On March 26, 2009, 18-month old Tyson Miller was killed by a chained pit bull outside of his home in Luling (Caldwell County) and on March 31, 2009, 7-month old Izaiah Gregory Cox was mauled to death by his grandmother's two pit bulls in San Antonio (Bexar County).

Canada Supreme Court Upholds Ontario's Pit Bull Ban: Rules Ban is Constitutional

Law Not "Arbitrary"
Ottawa, CA - It was announced last week that the Canada Supreme Court refused the appeal against the Ontario pit bull ban brought by Catherine Cochrane of Toronto, which leaves the Ontario law untouched and constitutionally sound. In October of 2008, the Ontario Court of Appeal overwhelmingly upheld the law, known as the Dog Owners' Liability Act of 2005, that bans the breeding, sale and ownership of pit bulls in the province of Ontario.

The high court refuted that the law was vague and could be used to include half-breeds and mutts. The court stated, "The total ban on pit bulls is not 'arbitrary' or 'grossly disproportionate' in light of the evidence that pit bulls have a tendency to be unpredictable and that even apparently docile pit bulls may attack without warning or provocation." Though Ontario is the only province in Canada to ban the breed, various Canadian cities have done so as well.

In February of 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of the Toledo v. Tellings ruling, whereby leaving the State of Ohio's pit bull law intact. The court rejected the appeal on the following grounds: Procedural due process; Substantive due process; Equal protection and Void for vagueness. The Canada Supreme Court now joins a number of U.S. courts in ruling that breed-specific laws are indeed constitutional when properly written.

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Colleen Lynn

DogsBite.org Releases Report: U.S. Police and Citizen Shootings of Pit Bulls 2008

Seattle, WA - On June 3, 2009, DogsBite.org, a national dog bite victims’ group dedicated to reducing serious dog attacks by creating common sense laws, releases its 2008 report on pit bulls shot for public safety reasons. The 20-page report documents 373 incidences in which U.S. law enforcement officers and citizens were forced to shoot a dangerous pit bull to prevent an attack or to stop an ongoing attack.

The findings show that firearm intervention might have prevented at least eight deaths by a pit bull mauling in this period.1

Download Report | View News Release

Report Summary

Of the 373 incidences, 626 bullets were fired and 319 pit bulls were killed.
The vast majority of shooters, 84% (313), were law enforcement officers and 16% (60), were citizens.
148 people suffered pit bull bite injury in these incidences. Of these victims, 81% (120) were citizens and 19% (28) were law enforcement officers.
In at least three instances, the bite injury resulted in amputation. In six instances, the bite injury resulted in death.2
13 people suffered bullet injury as well. Of these victims, 54% (7) were citizens and 46% (6) were law enforcement officers.
States with the highest number of shootings include: California (37), Texas (32), Florida (24), Illinois (23) and Ohio (23).

1Possible prevented deaths by firearm intervention include: Catherine Barber, 70s (Washington D.C.), Tony Burden, 24 (Evansville, IL), Huong Le, 71 (SeaTac, WA), Roger Lindee, 41 (Palm Bay, FL), Denise Rocha, 41 (San Antonio, TX), Cameron Salinas, 4 (Oconee County, SC), Trayshawn Toliver, 6 (Washington D.C.) Annette Williams, 45 (Greensburg, IN).
2Attacks that ended in death include: Isis Krieger, 6 (Anchorage, AK), Kelli Chapman, 24 (Longville, LA), Luna McDaniel, 83 (Ville Platte, LA) Cendi Carey, 4 months (Las Vegas, NV) Tanner Monk, 7, (Breckenridge, TX) and Pablo Lopez Hernandez, 5, (Weslaco, TX)

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Colleen Lynn

Alexandra Semyonova: Heritability of Behavior in the Abnormally Aggressive Dog

Vintage illustration of different dog breeds, Henry J. Johnson 1880.

View Analytical Paper
DogsBite.org was recently introduced to a variety of works by internationally acclaimed animal behaviorist Alexandra Semyonova -- born in the U.S. and educated at John Hopkins University and University College London. Semyonova writes with breathtaking honesty about issues that matter the most: the reality of selecting for aggression and the repeated denial by humane organizations and dog breeders that such selection bears no hereditary significance.

Semyonova's 8-page academic paper explains, in easily understandable terms, the roots and results of selective breeding. Semyonova states in the opening sentence, "Probably everyone understands that all dog breeds we have created are a result of our own manipulation of inherited physical traits." Semyonova continues, "Once the discussion started about perhaps banning breeds that, as a breed, have a high tendency to attack and kill, everything got confused."

Semyonova's paper clears up this confusion by discussing how it is possible for behavior to be inherited in domestic dogs.

The paper begins by delving into the "physical conformation" of the dog, the shape that best suits the task the dog has been bred to perform, as well as the "behavioral conformation" of the dog. Both aspects are the result of generations of selective breeding, which is why a poodle can be taught to herd sheep but will never out-perform a border collie in the task. "We have bred certain things into various breeds genetically and thus irrevocably," Semyonova candidly states.

"Physical and behavioral conformation mean that you cannot breed out behavior and keep the dog the same shape," Semyonova states. "Form follows function – you can’t have a dog whose entire body and brain are adapted to executing the killing bite without having, in fact, a dog who will execute the killing bite." - Semyonova

The next two areas talk about "selecting for abnormalities and/or pathologies" and "selecting for abnormal aggression." Semyonova distinguishes the difference between normal dog aggression (normal coping responses in a particular environment) and abnormal aggression (high arousal and aggressivitiy in a safe environment). Two studies are cited in these areas, Peremans (2002) and Van Den Berg (2006), that investigate the role of brain function and heredity in aggression.

The combination of these studies shows that through selection for "aggressive performance," breeders have in fact been selecting for specific abnormalities in the brain. In essence, instead of excluding abnormally aggressive dogs from their breeding stock, Semyonova points out that, "breeders focused on making lineages in which all the dogs would carry these genes (i.e., dogs which would reliably exhibit the desired impulsive aggressive behavior). They succeeded."

The concluding section discusses "form follows function." For example, it is by no mistake that dogs selected for "killing" (the pit bull, dogo Argentino and others) are characterized by exaggerated jaw muscles and the willingness to attack in the absence of species-specific signs. Additionally, the environments for which these behaviors were selected (the fighting pit and escaping slave) are so extreme that there is no appropriate context for them in normal life.

"It’s also not realistic to pretend that impulsive aggression is not pathological. The environments (the fighting pit, the baited bull, the escaping slave) for which these behaviors were selected as an adaptive response are so extreme that in fact there is no appropriate context for these behaviors in normal life." - Semyonova

Through discussion and citations, Semyonova carefully maps out her central argument, which is the assertion by humane groups and dog breeders that aggression is not heritable in domestic dogs. This assertion, she writes, given emerging research "is no longer tenable." Furthermore, it is time to stop letting owners and breeders of these dogs deny that they could have known the dog would execute a serious or deadly attack. It is time, instead, to hold them responsible and liable.

Semyonova, A, Aggressive Dog Breeds: Document nr. 1; Heritability of Behavior in the Abnormally Aggressive Dog, The Carriage House Foundation, November 2006.

About Alexandra Semyonova

	The 100 Silliest Things People Say About Dogs Alexandra Semyonova's book is credited by the editor of Animal People as, "The most astute book about dog behavior that we have reviewed in 23 years." Semyonova's book is available for purchase at Amazon.com and several other websites.
	Nonlinear Dogs: A Website Dedicated to Telling the Truth About Dogs From the Nonlinear Dogs website, one can review selected pieces of works by Semyonova including: The 100 Silliest Things People Say About Dogs; The Social Organization of the Domestic Dog; The Deaf Dog Manifesto and others.

Internationally acclaimed animal behaviorist Alexandra Semyonova was born in the U.S. and educated at John Hopkins University and University College London. Author of the pioneering academic paper, "The Social Organization of the Domestic Dog," she works with dogs and their owners on a daily basis and worked for ten years as welfare inspector for the Dutch SPCA until she was fired in 2010 for telling the truth about pit bull type dogs. More writings »

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