Post by RealPitBull on Apr 9, 2014 7:35:59 GMT -5
This is actually a pretty good article, in terms of getting their facts straight about what these dogs are (they specifically say they are not Pit Bulls). Not an overly-dramatic piece, it's just facts and straightforward reporting. I encourage you to visit the link since there are pictures and links.
www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/04/houma_pit_bull_may_have_been_i.html
By Robert McClendon, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on April 08, 2014 at 12:53 PM, updated April 08, 2014 at 3:46 PM
The Houma dog that killed its owners' 4-year-old daughter appears to have been the product of inbreeding and may have been the progeny of a dog known to produce aggressive offspring, according to online discussions among breeders in the wake of the March 24 attack.
Niko, a 130-pound un-neutered male, was in the apartment with a young female who was in heat at the time of the attack, according to reports.
"It was a situation that never should have happened," said Jane Cannon, a former breeder and a pit bull owner from Covington who knew Niko and his master, Kerri Dominique. "An intact male can become very territorial when it's around a female in heat. If it's an unstable dog, it's just a disaster waiting to happen."
Apart from leaving the dog confined in an apartment alongside humans and female dog in heat, Dominque did everything right with Niko, ensuring he was cared for, exercised and properly socialized, Cannon said, but that wasn't enough to keep his family safe.
Efforts to reach Dominique were unsuccessful. Niko was killed by police after the attack.
Unlike early reports that described Niko as a pit bull, the animal could more accurately be described as an American bully, a pit-bull derivative, according to Cannon. Whereas pit bulls conforming to the breed standard max out at around 60 pounds, American bullies have been bred to be more than twice as large through the introduction of bull mastiff genetic material.
In 2013, the American bully was recognized as a separate breed by the United Kennel Club, though Niko was not registered as either a pit bull or an American bully, according to the organization.
The American bully has become extremely popular in the last decade, gaining a following across the globe, according to Cannon.
With that popularity has come the opportunity to make money. It's not uncommon for XL-variety bullies from famous bloodlines to sell for $5,000 or more.
With that much money at stake, many breeders have paid more attention to size and strength than temperament, Cannon said, resulting in the proliferation of aggression and inbreeding in the gene pool.
According to some in the tight-knit world of bully breeders, that's exactly what happened with Niko.
Almost immediately after Niko's attack, reports began to surface on internet forums of human aggression in dogs related to Niko and especially his father, a 130-pound dog named Kimbo, famous in bully breeding circles for producing massive offspring.
On The XL Evolution forum, a Facebook group for bully enthusiasts and breeders, a California man named Zach Dank shared his story.
"I'm gutted that little girl died. I feel partly responsible for not taking a strong enough stand 4 years ago when I was viciously attacked by my Kimbo son ... I slept with him, loved him, took him swimming everyday at the river. One day I was swimming in about 10 foot deep water and he swam out to me and started snapping his jaws at my face for no reason at all. I could see in his eyes that he was mentally gone. I tried to push his head away so I could swim to shore. As I did this, he got my full forearm in his mouth ... He snapped both bones in my arm and ripped all my forearm musucles in half."
Eventually, Dank said, he got free and managed to stop the dog before he got to two nearby children.
Dank said that he contacted Kimbo's owner, a California breeder named Gustavo Castro, to warn him that the dog may be producing unstable offspring. "I told him that if he didn't stop breeding Kimbo, that a child was going to get killed one day." That attack took place in 2010, two years before the Kimbo breeding that produced Niko.
Other owners of Kimbo offspring chimed in to say they had had trouble with their dogs having aggression issues as well. Some said they were forced to put their dogs down as a result.
Dank did not respond to requests for additional comment.
Some on the forum pointed out that Kimbo has sired hundreds of dogs, so it was unfair to blame him for attacks by a few of his offspring, but many said that it was irresponsible to continue to breed a dog known to pass down or "throw" human aggression.
Castro, reached by Facebook and a phone message left at his kennel, UKC's Most Wanted, did not respond to requests for comment.
However, as the Houma attack blew up on the XL Evolution forum, he did respond to accusations that he was an irresponsible breeder:
"I'm sorry for the tragedy and loss of an innosent child. I cant imagine how her family feels i myself have 6 daughters. Kimbo has hundreds of offspring around even family have them and never did i get any complaint or problems. Im doing research as to what happened and why this dog did what it did. Kimbo will not be breed until we find out exactly what happenned."
His response drew a huge backlash from many fellow breeders who, pointing to the Dank attack, said that no "investigation" was necessary, that Kimbo should have been neutered then. In light of Niko's attack, there can no longer be a question, they said.
An online registry of bully pedigrees shows that Kimbo appears to be the result of heavy inbreeding. His parents were siblings, and his grandparents shared the same sire.
Inbreeding is widely believed among breeders to produce dogs with unstable temperaments.
As conversations on The XL Evolution continued, owners of Kimbo's progeny began to surface, concerned that they might have a potential disaster for a pet.
Among them, Alley Taylor, who said she owned one of Niko's litter mates. "I wish when i asked for opinions on Kimbo blood, i wish i go the truth instead of finding out through here," she wrote.
Cannon said that Dominique, an aspiring breeder, mated Niko once for a friend. It's unclear what happened to the resulting litter.
Note: NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune does not have the rights to pictures of Niko, but dogsbite.org, an anti-pit bull advocacy group, captured many from Dominique's Instagram account before he disabled it.
Here is a video of Kimbo from YouTube
www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/04/houma_pit_bull_may_have_been_i.html
By Robert McClendon, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on April 08, 2014 at 12:53 PM, updated April 08, 2014 at 3:46 PM
The Houma dog that killed its owners' 4-year-old daughter appears to have been the product of inbreeding and may have been the progeny of a dog known to produce aggressive offspring, according to online discussions among breeders in the wake of the March 24 attack.
Niko, a 130-pound un-neutered male, was in the apartment with a young female who was in heat at the time of the attack, according to reports.
"It was a situation that never should have happened," said Jane Cannon, a former breeder and a pit bull owner from Covington who knew Niko and his master, Kerri Dominique. "An intact male can become very territorial when it's around a female in heat. If it's an unstable dog, it's just a disaster waiting to happen."
Apart from leaving the dog confined in an apartment alongside humans and female dog in heat, Dominque did everything right with Niko, ensuring he was cared for, exercised and properly socialized, Cannon said, but that wasn't enough to keep his family safe.
Efforts to reach Dominique were unsuccessful. Niko was killed by police after the attack.
Unlike early reports that described Niko as a pit bull, the animal could more accurately be described as an American bully, a pit-bull derivative, according to Cannon. Whereas pit bulls conforming to the breed standard max out at around 60 pounds, American bullies have been bred to be more than twice as large through the introduction of bull mastiff genetic material.
In 2013, the American bully was recognized as a separate breed by the United Kennel Club, though Niko was not registered as either a pit bull or an American bully, according to the organization.
The American bully has become extremely popular in the last decade, gaining a following across the globe, according to Cannon.
With that popularity has come the opportunity to make money. It's not uncommon for XL-variety bullies from famous bloodlines to sell for $5,000 or more.
With that much money at stake, many breeders have paid more attention to size and strength than temperament, Cannon said, resulting in the proliferation of aggression and inbreeding in the gene pool.
According to some in the tight-knit world of bully breeders, that's exactly what happened with Niko.
Almost immediately after Niko's attack, reports began to surface on internet forums of human aggression in dogs related to Niko and especially his father, a 130-pound dog named Kimbo, famous in bully breeding circles for producing massive offspring.
On The XL Evolution forum, a Facebook group for bully enthusiasts and breeders, a California man named Zach Dank shared his story.
"I'm gutted that little girl died. I feel partly responsible for not taking a strong enough stand 4 years ago when I was viciously attacked by my Kimbo son ... I slept with him, loved him, took him swimming everyday at the river. One day I was swimming in about 10 foot deep water and he swam out to me and started snapping his jaws at my face for no reason at all. I could see in his eyes that he was mentally gone. I tried to push his head away so I could swim to shore. As I did this, he got my full forearm in his mouth ... He snapped both bones in my arm and ripped all my forearm musucles in half."
Eventually, Dank said, he got free and managed to stop the dog before he got to two nearby children.
Dank said that he contacted Kimbo's owner, a California breeder named Gustavo Castro, to warn him that the dog may be producing unstable offspring. "I told him that if he didn't stop breeding Kimbo, that a child was going to get killed one day." That attack took place in 2010, two years before the Kimbo breeding that produced Niko.
Other owners of Kimbo offspring chimed in to say they had had trouble with their dogs having aggression issues as well. Some said they were forced to put their dogs down as a result.
Dank did not respond to requests for additional comment.
Some on the forum pointed out that Kimbo has sired hundreds of dogs, so it was unfair to blame him for attacks by a few of his offspring, but many said that it was irresponsible to continue to breed a dog known to pass down or "throw" human aggression.
Castro, reached by Facebook and a phone message left at his kennel, UKC's Most Wanted, did not respond to requests for comment.
However, as the Houma attack blew up on the XL Evolution forum, he did respond to accusations that he was an irresponsible breeder:
"I'm sorry for the tragedy and loss of an innosent child. I cant imagine how her family feels i myself have 6 daughters. Kimbo has hundreds of offspring around even family have them and never did i get any complaint or problems. Im doing research as to what happened and why this dog did what it did. Kimbo will not be breed until we find out exactly what happenned."
His response drew a huge backlash from many fellow breeders who, pointing to the Dank attack, said that no "investigation" was necessary, that Kimbo should have been neutered then. In light of Niko's attack, there can no longer be a question, they said.
An online registry of bully pedigrees shows that Kimbo appears to be the result of heavy inbreeding. His parents were siblings, and his grandparents shared the same sire.
Inbreeding is widely believed among breeders to produce dogs with unstable temperaments.
As conversations on The XL Evolution continued, owners of Kimbo's progeny began to surface, concerned that they might have a potential disaster for a pet.
Among them, Alley Taylor, who said she owned one of Niko's litter mates. "I wish when i asked for opinions on Kimbo blood, i wish i go the truth instead of finding out through here," she wrote.
Cannon said that Dominique, an aspiring breeder, mated Niko once for a friend. It's unclear what happened to the resulting litter.
Note: NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune does not have the rights to pictures of Niko, but dogsbite.org, an anti-pit bull advocacy group, captured many from Dominique's Instagram account before he disabled it.
Here is a video of Kimbo from YouTube
Overall, it's much more intelligent and thoughtful coverage than we typically see of these incidents. 
I look forward to learning much here