Saturday, February 25, 2006

My Rules

I guess there are some things I should spell out with regards to this blog and my web page, www.SamTheDogTrainer.com … AGAIN! From time to time, I get inquiries from people who don’t realize the nature of free speech, thus here are disclaimers about information published herein and at my web page. This is a crazy world sometimes, and you have re-state and re-state the obvious about what you say and why you say it. So, here goes. Sorry for doing this. Yes, it is boring…


By participating in this web log, or using my web page, you agree to the following:

a.) I’m against any kind of wacko political stunts to further the pro-dog agenda… meaning no violence, property destruction, foul language, or anything that would otherwise bring dishonor to ourselves, our dogs, reasonable dog owners, or reasonable public servants. We’ve all been disgusted and appalled by the stunts of the animal rights nuts. We don’t want to be like them. You will not engage in any of these kinds of stunts in my name, or in reference to this web log.
b.) We need to work within the political / legal / cultural system. We need to persuade people by the logic of our positions. We have a strong case to present, and it is a winning cause. You agree to abide by the law.
c.) Everything stated here is my opinion. Every event quoted is “alleged” until proven in a court of law. I’m trying to examine and illustrate why we are right on this issue, not to conduct an inquisition or legal proceeding.
d.) From time to time, I receive very interesting comments, emails and letters. Typically they refer to some kind of behavioral problem or political issue. Since this web site is a way for me to oftentimes educate about responsible dog ownership, I shall sometimes use these inquiries and correspondence as the basis of a posting, article or as an example. By submitting any correspondence or inquiry, you thereby agree that the materials and information submitted are wholly your own, and you hereby give me permission to publish them in whole or in part, for potential profit or for free, without compensation to you of any kind, and to indemnify and hold me, and anyone or any organization referenced here, harmless for all claims and damages arising out of anything you say. This information, if we choose it for source material for this web site or other publication, will usually, but not always, be reasonably stripped of direct information about who you are, to protect your identity. This information shall then be used to educate people and benefit society concerning pro dog politics, dog training, behavior, responsible dog ownership and other relevant issues.
e.) If I don’t like the way you treat others, you can be banned from this web, at my sole option and discretion.
f.) Copyright and Trademarks and Patents: Nothing contained herein shall be used, promulgated, modified, transmitted or displayed without Sam Basso’s prior express written consent.
g.) Governing Law, Venue and Jurisdiction: All claims relating to this web site or Sam Basso shall be governed by the laws of the State of Arizona without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any action with respect to such claims in shall be determined solely by Sam Basso, and brought in the Superior Court for Maricopa County, Arizona and may not be removed therefrom, except by express written permission by Sam Basso, at his sole option and discretion.
h.) If a court of competent jurisdiction holds any provision of this agreement and statement of policies is deemed to be unenforceable or contrary to law or void as against public policy or otherwise, if possible such provision shall be modified to be as similar to the original provision while still conforming to law (otherwise it shall be considered severable), with the remaining provisions continuing in full force and effect. This Agreement constitutes the entire understanding between the parties and no modification hereof shall be effective unless agreed to in writing and signed by all parties. Exchanged emails shall not constitute such written agreement.
h.) Copyright Notice: Copyright © 2005 Sam Basso, Phoenix, AZ, U.S.A. All rights reserved.
i.) Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.
j.) No Warranties and Limits of Liabilities, Uses of Information: Information provided herein is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including without limitation warranties of merchantability, accuracy, timeliness, fitness for a particular purpose, or completeness. The author(s) of this information and web site assumes no liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions contained herein. Users of this information do so at their own risk. You can’t train every dog the same way, political issues are often times more complicated than presented in a web log, and legal remedies and advice need review by a competent attorney. Since this information is for educational, and sometimes business, purposes, some information is purposely omitted because the intention is to stimulate debate. This blog is NOT a political action committee or similar organization, nor represents itself as a non-profit venture. This is an e-newspaper and editorial comment device, for all practical purposes. Sam Basso and other producers of information for this web site shall not be made liable to users of this information, or anyone else, for any direct or indirect damages arising from any use of this web or information. Users must hire Sam Basso to obtain more complete, accurate and current information. We make no warranty that any of the materials on this web site are accurate, complete, or current. Although we may make changes to the materials contained herein at any time without notice, we do not make any commitment to update the materials.
k.) Permission is granted to temporarily download the materials (information, graphics, or software) from this web site for personal, non-commercial transitory, or educational viewing only. Such use may not violate the policies of www.blogger.com or www.blogspot.com or their related entities. You may also excerpt this web, or link to it, for the purpose of promoting pro-dog causes. We also reserve the right to require that you withdraw and/or delete any quote or link that we find detrimental to the purposes of this web log. This is the grant of a license, not a transfer of title, and under this license you may not: remove any copyright or other proprietary notations from the materials or transfer the materials to another person or "mirror" the materials on any other server. This license shall automatically terminate if you violate any of these restrictions and may be terminated by us at any time.
l.) Hyperlinks to third-party web sites: We shall, from time to time, hyperlink this web to other web sites. We cannot be responsible for the contents or policies of any site we link to, nor do we make any express or implied warranty as to whether you shall be satisfied or damaged by interacting with these other web sites or their related businesses. It is possible that some links will be to retailers and manufacturers, Sam Basso might be an authorized affiliate, manufacturers representative, or otherwise be receiving a referral fee, commission and/or profit on any purchases you make. Sam Basso cannot make guarantees concerning the business policies or practices of these retailers or manufacturers. If you have a purchase dispute, you should contact them directly.
m.) Information Provided To Us: You agree that any information you provide to us shall be complete, current and accurate as to all relevant details. Any replies we make to you shall be limited to the quality and quantity of information you provide to us.
n.) Prices: All terms, prices, policies and conditions are subject to change without notice. All sales are final; no refunds; sold "as is."
o.) All information stated herein is the opinion of Sam Basso, and should be treated as such; not all information has been verified as to its completeness or accuracy. The names and entities referred to in this web should be treated as fictitious, and critiques are to be used as illustrations and should never be construed to refer to a specific person or entity; any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Many articles are for entertainment purposes only. Unless otherwise explicitly noted, the example companies, organizations, products, people, and events depicted herein are fictitious and no association with any real company, organization, product, person or event is intended or inferred.


I hate rules. I wish we lived in a world where "a man's word was his bond", where people took personal responsibility for their words and actions, where you could do business on a handshake, and that people worked out their differences in a friendly and reasonable way. But, unfortunately, things just aren't that way. I have to penalize the 95% of good people out there, by having to implement some business rules, so that I can weed out doing business with the 5% of the nut cases out there. I apologize for having to set some rules just to advocate pro-dog editorials and to make an honest buck.

- Sam

Thursday, February 23, 2006

More Idiocy From Auburn WA's Dog Breed Ban

So, the morons in Auburn, WA are banning dog breeds...

Check out which dog breeds are on the list:

Akita
American Pit Bull Terrier
American Staffordshire Terrier
Bull Terrier
Cane Corso
Dogo Argentino
Dogue de Bordeaux
Kuvasz
Pit Bull Terrier
Presa Canario
Staffordshire Bull Terrier
Tosa Inu

Now, tell me, WHY are all these breeds on the banned list? There has been ongoing controversy over the pit bull terrier... but why all these other breeds, which have NO history of any attacks AT ALL? Can you find dog attack stories on even half of these breeds in the news? No.

I know of an apartment complex that is banning dogs over 50 lbs... and dog breeds they consider "aggressive". Guess what breed is on their list? GREYHOUNHDS!!! Can you believe it? That is just absurd. This is why this stuff has to be fought. These are arbitrary and have no basis in any kind of fact or public safety concern.

I am 100% against breed bans. The problems can all be traced back to people: poor breeding, lack of socialization / neglect, abuse, lack of training, lack of a leash in public areas, poor supervision, poor containment when unsupervised, and gang-organized pit dog fighting operations. Breeding will get better when people know how to pick a good dog. Socialization will get better when people are told they need to take their pups out to meet a lot of people and animals during the critical phase between 8 weeks and 16 weeks of age. Abuse can only be solved by proper enforcement of existing dog laws… and it is tied into drug and alcohol abuse. Training will only help if people will spend the money to hire a professional, instead of being cheapskates and doing it themselves. Leash laws need to be enforced in urban areas, but off leash training areas need to be set aside in parks for dog owners to have the opportunity to work their dogs for control in case their dogs get loose… you can’t expect a dog to obey off leash if you don’t have the ability to practice off leash obedience. Containment requires a proper kennel at home. And it is about time we got serious about busting up the gangs in this country. In LA, they have nearly 1,000 gangs!!! A thousand! How can that be? That city is corrupt, like so many of our cities. We either deal with that, or you’ll never stop the pit fighting blood sport.

This breed ban is another sign that Auburn has a totally incompetent police force, and a totally incompetent government. I've been to Auburn, WA many times. It is a crappy city, ugly, beat up, and mismanaged. Here they are sitting on some of the most prime real estate in Puget Sound, and the place is a wreck. This also shows the complete incompetence of King County, which is run by Ron Sims, The Incompetent. Their animal control division is a mess. Illegal drug operations abound in the southern part of Puget Sound. As I've said over and over again... Washington state is a beautiful place that is being wrecked by politics. Here is another prime example.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Sue Them Back To The Stone Age!

America's top dog, Rufus, who won the Westminster Dog Show last week, had best steer clear of Auburn as a new home.

The Auburn City Council on Tuesday labeled Rufus a potentially dangerous dog because of its breed: a bull terrier.

The bull terrier was among 12 breeds the council declared potentially dangerous, requiring their owners to register their dogs with the city or face a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to 90 days in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.

Working dogs like German shepherds, Doberman pinchers and Rottweilers didn't make the list. Glen Bui with the American Canine Foundation told the council his nationwide group will sue the city to have the new provisions in the ordinance tossed out.

Before the meeting, he called the ordinance changes ``a waste of taxpayers' money.'' He said a dog registry does nothing to protect people in Auburn from dangerous dogs and a King County Animal Control system that doesn't work.


Way to go, Glen! These losers need to learn that we have Constitutional rights, and you can't just pass any law you want. I hope you win a huge settlement from the city of Auburn after the courts force them to overturn this illegal and immoral law. Hey, everybody, send some donations to the American Canine Foundation to help them pursue this lawsuit. Glen Bui is a fighter, and he's going to spank them good.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Another Stupid Dog Law

The Executive have announced tough new powers to target all aspects of illegal dog fights. The proposals would outlaw making or showing the films.

The Executive want the punishment for anyone involved in dog fighting, whether it be as a trainer, a spectator or even just someone who is filming it to be increased from a fine of £5,000 and or six months in jail to a fine of £20,000 and or a jail term of a year.

Rural affairs minister Ross Finnie MSP said: "This is just an appalling practice in this country. It's depressing really that in a civilised society we still have people who engage in this form of barbaric cruelty. We've decided to bring it to an end, we're going to have measures in the bill which will actually make it an offence and we will increase the fines to a maximum level. We're quite determined that this kind of cruelty simply will not be tolerated in Scotland."

While the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals welcome these moves from the Executive they are concerned that people will not be prosecuted for possession of pictures of a dogfight.


I am VERY worried about laws that breach freedom of the press. I do not think these kinds of videos should be banned. I have watched such videos to learn about the barbarity of dog fighting. Was I a criminal for doing so? Look, I’m a dog trainer, and I try to educate myself on all aspects of dog and people behavior. Plus, pictures of a dog fight in a book can be useful as a tool to teach how barbaric this practice is. As you know, I hate dog fighting. So, this isn’t some kind of excuse on my part to promote this blood sport. I also watched the Danny Pearl video, the one where he is beheaded by Islamic fanatics. I wanted to see what kind of evil we were fighting against in this war on terror. It was horrible. I did it because I needed to know we were right in fighting this war... and we are.

Pictures of dogs fighting teaches a dog trainer about canine body language. I needed to study dog aggression when becoming a trainer, and many dog books on dog behavior have pictures of two or more dogs fighting. Some pictures are from pit fighting situations, others from actual street dog fights. To stop the behavior, or prevent it, you need to learn and watch the behavior. On the other hand, I am glad organized dog fighting is illegal, and I want the organizers and spectators put in jail. Similarly, I am fully supportive of this war on terror... and I want the terror organizers put in jail, too.

This Scottish law is stupid. THE DOG FIGHTING PROBLEM IS A DRUG AND GANG PROBLEM. Hey, idiots. Instead of doing this kind of politically correct thing... a typical European response to a social problem... try doing some real police work and bust up these violent gangs.

Police Dog Runs Away

Bart, the 4-year-old German shepherd who not only works but lives with Chicago Police Officer David Dorken, had been missing for the better part of Monday.

The dog disappeared from the 8300 block of South Pulaski where he was taking a bathroom and exercise break in his handler's backyard, said Chicago Police Sgt. Lisa Mueller, the canine training supervisor, early Monday night.

"It's just like having your own personal dog," Mueller said. "He goes to work with him and he goes home with him. So not only are the handler and his wife heartbroken, but so are their kids."

It's unclear how Bart, trained to find people and detect drugs and other evidence, got out of the yard, but there was no evidence he had been stolen, Mueller said.


When the authorities find such a dog, it is always implied what idiots the owners were. I keep bringing up these types of articles to show you that this stuff even happens to the police. The next question will be: what will they do when they find the dog? Will they shoot the dog and charge the officer with a crime if the dog either growls at someone or bites them? Probably not. Will they consider the dog vicious if it doesn’t want to be cornered by strangers? Probably not. But, if it was YOUR dog, then the story would be different. You’d be charged with a crime.

Something to think about…

Take the speck out of your own eye before you try to take the beam out of your brother’s eye, huh?
 
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