Kip's Story
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Giving a home and second chance at life to 'killer pit bull'

Wednesday, October 27, 1999  
By Linda Wilson Fuoco, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

They branded him a "killer pit bull" and said he must die because there was no hope he could ever be anyone's pet. For 18 months his world was a windowless 4- by 6-foot pen at the Animal Rescue League's East Liberty shelter. For 18 months he never felt the warmth of the sun or the touch of a human hand. Shelter staff and volunteers were not permitted to walk him or give him a name.

On Friday the 13th of August, the nameless dog had "only hours left to live," said the prosecutor who made an 11th-hour plea for a stay of execution for the dog she calls Big Boy. At that point, the dog's life took on a fairy-tale quality, complete with a happy ending.

Assistant District Attorney Deborah Jugan won the support of George Bills, a criminal defense attorney whose job typically pits him against prosecutors. Prosecutors sought the death penalty against 15 of his clients "but not one of them was executed," Bills told me three weeks ago, as he volunteered to represent his 16th death-row client. "It has become my mission to save this dog."

But it would take a village to save a dog who killed a pit bull puppy and was deemed dangerous and un-adoptable by officials at Animal Rescue League.

Big Boy was 18 months old when he was sent into the fighting pit with an 8-month-old puppy. "Big Boy is as much a victim as the pup that died," Jugan told anyone who would listen. She admits he probably should not live amid children or other pets.

Lawyers who call Jugan "Doggie DA" jumped on the Big Boy bandwagon. So did a judge, a local dog-breeder/trainer and a Texas woman who operates the largest pit bull rescue effort in the country.   Animal Rescue League officials complained that the 65-pound black dog was taking up space that could be used for nicer dogs. They said it costs $8 per day to keep a dog at the East Liberty shelter.   Jugan gave them $80, defense attorney Steve Swem donated $40 and legal secretary Suzanne Filiaggi donated $20. Jugan figured $140 would keep Big Boy alive for 17 more days.
Bills went to Common Pleas Judge Kathleen A. Durkin, who had handled the cases of the two men charged with animal cruelty for staging the dog fight.  Jugan prosecuted them. Marlo Robinson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in jail. Almasi Billings was convicted and sentenced to 14 months  to five years. Animal Rescue League officials, court-ordered to keep the dog till the trials ended, asked Durkin to sign an order allowing them to kill Big Boy. Durkin refused. Instead, she signed an Oct. 6 order for Bills to take Big Boy "for walks and outings away from the shelter ... to facilitate possible adoption." 

"If I live to be 100, I will never forget the look on that dog's face when he saw the sky and the grass for the first time in 18 months," Bills said. I was with Bills when he made his second and third visits. The battle-scared face of the "killer pit bull" lit up and his skinny tail wagged furiously when Bills put a collar over his head. He dragged Bills toward the door, ignoring the sad-eyed dogs whose cages lined his exit route. Once outside he put his paws on Bills chest and slathered his face with sloppy dog kisses. Then he gave me the same treatment.

Pit bulls are famous, in circles of knowledgeable dog people, for the love and loyalty they bestow on anyone who shows them a smidgen of kindness. They are smart and extremely willing to please, which is why they fight when told to do so. Those same qualities make them good candidates for rehabilitation. They were bred to be dog-aggressive and people-friendly.

Jugan and her husband already have rescued two dogs -- Moose, a Doberman mix and Sweetie, a Lab mix. Here's where I became a small cog in this rescue effort. I told this story to Lora Bauer of Ambridge. She owns one American pit bull terrier and two American Staffordshire terriers, the betterbred up-town "relatives" of street fightin' dogs. She's looking for homes for Blossom and Annie, two abused pit bulls the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society released to her custody. Bauer called Leah Purcell at Spindletop Rescue in Houston, Texas. Though the one-woman operation already has 45 homeless dogs, she wants to take in Big Boy and Blossom, who was earlier featured in Pet Tales. 

In the past 14 years, Purcell, 32, has saved 300 pit bulls and Am Staffs. She keeps them for three months to two years. She trains, socializes and places them with people who know how to handle these breeds. Spindletop graduates have caused no lawsuits. They have not bitten or attacked anyone. In 14 years Purcell has put down five dogs because, she said, they were irredeemably aggressive toward people. Her monthly kennel expenses are $3,500 to $4,000. She receives $3,000 to $4,000 per year in donations. She runs a boarding kennel and a cleaning service and uses all of her profits to help the dogs.

Jugan bought Big Boy's airline ticket, I bought his crate and the two of us personally took him to the airport, kissed him good-bye and sent to Spindletop. To be fair to the Animal Rescue League, about 12,000 dogs and cats are sheltered there each year. About half are placed in new homes and the rest are euthanatized. Many shelters euthanatize every pit bull and rottweiler that comes through their doors. Liability is a major concern, as is the fear the dogs will be used in dog fights. Pit bulls are usually portrayed in the media as the devil dogs from hell.

Jugan, Bills and Purcell hope Big Boy will prove that many of these dogs deserve a chance to live and a chance to love.

A follow up: Pit bull finds happiness with a new name and a temporary home

Wednesday, December 08, 1999
By Linda Wilson Fuoco, Post-Gazette staff writer

Kip is a happy tail-waggin' dog who "smiles" a lot. Extremely affectionate with people and very eager to please, he is doing well in obedience lessons and adores running the agility course. Kip socializes nicely with friendly dogs and simply walks away from dogs who want to fight and bite.

Kip, the pit bull formerly known as Big Boy, is thriving at his new, temporary home at Spindletop Rescue in Houston, Texas.

"He's an extremely affectionate charmer. He'll be very easy to place," said Leah Purcell. In the last 14 years, she has found new homes for 300 pit bulls and American Staffordshire terriers.

At his last temporary home, caretakers at Animal Rescue League in East Liberty said he was a vicious killer who could never be adopted by anyone. He was never let out of a 4- by 6-foot pen because he was too dangerous to be handled, they said.

When the battle-scarred black dog arrived at Spindletop Nov. 19, Purcell immediately turned him loose in her fenced exercise yard. The second order of business: Dropping the name that had been given to him by people who put him in dog fights. "There used to be a restaurant down here named Kip's Big Boy," Purcell explained. I ended up taking a more active role in this rescue than I had planned.

Assistant District Attorney Deborah Jugan ended up being "in charge" of getting the dog out of the shelter and onto an airplane Nov. 19. Because Jugan was recovering from gallbladder surgery and could not handle a 70-pound dog, I became the official dog walker. In the four hours he spent with us, the "killer" pit bull was a perfect gentleman, except for some heavy-duty leash-pulling.

Earlier columns and stories about the plight of this dog attracted more phone calls and e-mails than anything I've ever written. The mainstays of his rescue were named in those stories, but it took a whole village to save this dog. I'd like to give credit to others: Attorney Debbie Ashley of Forest Hills loaned us a Ford Explorer because we didn't have a car big enough to accommodate a shipping crate. The employees of Pet Supplies Plus and owner Burton Patrick opened their Monroeville store an hour early so Kip could be "fitted" for a crate. Skycap Kevin Turner of Hopewell bought the dog a bottle of designer water and promised to give him special attention in the loading area. Continental Airlines got the dog to Texas with none of the mishaps or abuse we've all read about. A vital 11th-hour contribution was provided by six fifth-grade students from the Poff Elementary School in Hampton: Mallory Scott, Ashley Simakas, Angela Mallich, Julie Byrnes, Kirsten McKenna and Kelsey King.

When an hour of coaxing and pushing failed to get the dog into the crate, Jugan suggested upending the crate and hoisting the dog into it. As I lifted 70 pounds of dog into the air and tried to lower him into the crate, the pitbull struggled mightily. Turner grabbed the dog's rear and Jugan grabbed his head. We all pushed but he braced all four legs against the crate opening. The Hampton students ran over, pried the dog's paws off the crate and helped us shove him into the crate. The dog looked sad but resigned as he munched a peanut butter cracker we gave him as a consolation prize.

Spindletop received "a small stack" of checks from people who want to help Kip. Those checks will pay part of the $300-$400 surgery fee needed to extract infected teeth broken during his fighting days.

See http://thepitbullrescue.homestead.com for more information.