Adorable bully mutt named Swizzy

921 days

From Mexico to Canada,

Hiking, sailing, driving, and camping.

Two years, six months, seven days.

You braved the world that was your fear.

You saw the sea, touched the desert, and felt your first snow.

You are everything that scares me, and everything I love.

You are the beast that has plagued me and the dream that has made me. 

Thank you for those 921 days.

I hate when pit related posts reach the front page of imgur and reddit because you can bet every pibble mombie under the sun will show up to comment how their pibbles are the *best dogs everrrrr* and that means the breed as a whole is totally NEVER aggressive! That’s just the media lying! Bonus points if the dog in the post isn’t even actually an APBT but some sort of random bully or staff mix because pibble mombies don’t know the difference.

Like… No. You’re wrong. Shut up. Do some research on breeds and genetics or keep your uninformed mouth shut. Pits are genetically inclined to be dog aggressive, and badly bred pits that don’t meet the breed standards can often be human aggressive as well. Because, y'know, asshole backyard breeders want scary protection dogs and then sell the puppies from their aggressive dog as pets.

THEY CAN BE AGGRESSIVE WHETHER YOU PLUG YOUR EARS AND DENY IT OR NOT, and when they are they can do serious damage because of their powerful build. So get over yourselves and your denial, it doesn’t help the breed at all.

Don’t buy puppies from pet stores to “save the puppies from being mistreated!!” While this is done with the best of intentions, the puppy mill problem isn’t really about the puppies- the actual puppies are usually treated okay, it’s the parents that are kept in horrible conditions and forced to breed until they die. While you may be giving a home to one dog if you buy from a pet store, you’re supporting the misery of hundreds of other dogs with your money.

USDA certification isn’t a sign of a reputable breeder. It’s actually the mark of a puppy mill and if you see this, run fast in the opposite direction. CKC registration (Continental Kennel Club, not Canadian) is also a huge red flag.

But having AKC registered puppies doesn’t mean they’re reputable, either. While most good breeders (in the US) will have AKC registration, AKC isn’t picky about which dogs they register, so plenty of bad breeders do too. Also, “champion bloodlines” means nothing unless they’re at least in the second or third generations of a pedigree. 

Stereotyping breeds is not “like racism for dogs”. Humans weren’t strategically bred for hundreds of years to develop traits to assist them in specific tasks. Dogs were, so retrievers retrieve, greyhounds run, shepherds herd, and terriers fight. It’s not “all in how you raise them”. Genetics. They do stuff. Science. And hey could we maybe not compare the systemic oppression of minorities to people saying chihuahuas are barky? Thanks

Designer breeds i.e. labradoodles, maltipoos, cavachons etc. are not “the best of both worlds!” Again, genetics…that’s not how they work. Also realize that most of these dogs (especially since they are common products of puppy mills) don’t come from well-bred parents because reputable breeders generally don’t allow their dogs to be used to breed crosses. Like I’ve seen poodle breeders literally write it in their puppy contracts that they will take back the dog if they find out it’s being used to create “doodles”. 

If you support importing foreign rescue dogs but use the “overpopulation of shelter dogs in the US” factoid to protest dog breeding you’re a fucking hypocrite.

Don’t tell people “you can find any breed in a shelter!” Like ??? Yeah lemme just go find Cesky Terrier at my local humane society! I genuinely have no idea why people say this when it’s obviously not true?

Oh boy. Alright, I think I may end up being attacked for this post, because I’ve seen that “Hulk” has quite a few huge following of supporters and I have seen that they that do not particularly like it when anyone criticizes the the dog’s breeders, but I will try my best here, I will try to tread lightly so please bare with me, thank you.

The fact is, “Hulk” is not a Pit Bull. And it would be best if we all stopped referring to him as such.

For anyone not familiar with “Hulk”, he is the record holding “World Largest Pit Bull” bred & owned by Dark Dynasty K9s. This is “Hulk”:

Let’s start with his breeders, Dark Dynasty K9s , who have probably never even seen a real APBT/Pit Bull, and wouldn’t know one if one bit them on the face.

I am not going to demonize DDK9 as dog owners, because I suppose from their photos and videos that they must love their dogs, but what DDK9 is doing as breeders is an entirely different story.

What DDK9 is doing is very irresponsible, unethical, greedy, actually, and even detrimental to the image of the real American Pit Bull Terrier and it’s potentially damaging to the millions of non-APBTs bully breeds that are falsely labeled as APBTs. And because of the size of “Hulk”, this could very well put mastiff-type breeds in the same boat as bully breeds. And“Hulk” is giving public the false impression that Pit Bulls are capable of reaching 100, 150, 175+lbs.

A lot of what DDK9 does as breeders raises countless red flags. The most immediate red flag is that they do not even know how to spell the breed of dog they are supposedly breeding. “Pitbulls”, really?

They advertise their dogs as “XL Pitbulls”, which are essentially just oversized American Bullies (or American Bully x mastiff-type mixes?).

DDK9 claims that “Hulk” and their dogs are registered with the American Dog Breeders Association (ADBA) (as well as the UKC).

However, the ADBA themselves denounced DDK9, stating that “Hulk” is not registered with the ADBA, which you can see from the screen shots below:

And as said by @thembulldawgs - Below is the pedigree of “Hulk”, and not a single APBT in sight. But we see there are plenty of American Bullies listed as being APBTs. Here is his pedigree including images of each dog.

In the pedigree of “Hulk”, you will see a “Razors Edge” dog listed by the name of “Razors Edge Payback is a Bomb” (shown below), highlighted in yellow, which is the ever so highly popular original American Bully line commonly (& falsely) referred to as Pit Bulls.

And, also “Eddington’s Wanna Be A Whopper” (shown below) with a controversial, sketchy history as either an American Bulldog or mixed breed falsely registered as an APBT in the UKC & ADBA, which you can read about here because I really do not want to delve into that.

Below are images meant illustrate the different sizes in this American Bully size chart, including the “Pocket”, “Classic”, ”Extreme”, “Standard”, and lastly the “XL” American Bully.

Because DDK9′s website does not include any of the important details about their breeding program, I decided maybe we should give them the benefit of the doubt…

And so I contacted DDK9 through email, asking them if their dogs undergo any health screenings and evaluations, what their standards are in breeding in terms of health and whether they aim to breed away from certain health issues using screening results to better their breeding program.

This is why it took me a while to get to your question, because I wanted to give DDK9 some time to respond to my email, and well it has been about four weeks now and I have not yet received a response. But if they ever do reply, I’ll be sure to post it.

DDK9 advertise their dogs as being “huge”, having “great wide chests” and that their dogs produce “monsters”. DDK9′s sole goal is to produce more of these massive, oversized American Bullies like “Hulk”, and I have just read that by breeding “Hulk” within their own kennel they are working towards breaking his current “record” as the world’s largest (fake) “Pitbull” at 175lbs with his offspring.

“His pups may become XXL Pitbulls themselves when they grow up,” says americanbullydaily.com

I found that one of their breeding bitches in particular was bred twice within a year under the age of two. With how enormous these dogs are, it’s incredibly irresponsible and potentially harmful to be breeding them before they have had time to fully mature, not to mention it was at that bitch’s every heat. While this is just one example of premature breeding, surely this is a common practice at DDK9, especially considering their hurried efforts to prodce another record breaking” “Pitbull”. There is no way that DDK9 is breeding responsibly or with the health and welfare of their dogs in mind.

“Hulk” allegedly weighs 175 lbs, and is clearly overweight. Just look at this dog:

I actually wonder if his breeders have intentionally packed as much excess weight onto “Hulk” as possible, in effort to truly make him the “World’s Largest”? The poor dog is probably one wrong step or hop away from blowing a knee, and not to mention all the other health risks involved in canine obesity, especially a dog of such a massive size.

Below is an illustration highlighting the ADBA’s standard for the American Pit Bull Terrier:

The American Pit Bull Terrier’s UKC standard calls for dogs/bitches to weigh between 30 lbs and 60 lbs, and the ADBA calls for 30 lbs to 75 lbs, with 60 to 75 lbs being on the larger side which are few and far between compared to dogs/bitches of smaller sizes. “The American Pit Bull Terriers is a small to mid-sized dog, an athletic breed with great physical ability.”

To compare to the above photos of “Hulk”, here are some photos of real purebred APBTs:

( GR CH IV Latin Dream Kennels Beef / This Post of by @thembulldawgs )

( This Post by @apbt )

( Boudreaux’s Badger (ROM, POR) / This Post by @notapitbull )

Below, side-by-side examples of the difference between DDK9’s “XL Pitbull” (aka American Bully) and purebred American Pit Bull Terriers:

“The General” is a grandsire to “Hulk”( Borrowed from @notapibull & @thembulldawgs post here )

Examples of other APBTs, versus American Bullies:

( Borrowed from The Real APBT )

Examples of American Staffordshire Terrier (AST), American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT), Staffordshire Bull Terrier (SBT) & American Bully:

And @notapitbull has an entire tag dedicated to examples of purebred American Pit Bull Terriers here

Another huge red flag about Dark Dynasty K9 is that they “train” their “XL Pitbulls” in “protection”, in their own backyard (I cannot seem to find their credentials in this area, or any titles their dogs have earned).

DDK9 allows all of their dogs to freely socialize / interact with one another, even sometimes including clients’ dogs that are boarded at their kennel / farm.

According to americanbullydaily.com, “Additionally, he [Marlon Grennan, breeder] does not believe in separating each dog whether they are in training or not. By removing any fences, physical restrictions and barriers the dogs train and live together as a pack that teaches them how to socialize with other.”

Real American Pit Bull Terriers / Pit Bulls more often than not are known for exhibiting at least some degree of dog & animal aggression, and with real APBTs it would be next to impossible for a dozen Pit Bulls to socialize, interact and roam freely without a fight breaking out. These are not Pit Bulls. And I am understating.

The media hype surrounding “Hulk” has only helped in giving his breeders more reason to charge tens of thousands to half a million by exploiting “Hulk” for stud services and his “XL Pitbull” puppies.

When the media surrounds anything canine related, it makes me terribly nervous, especially when it’s about Pit Bulls, because it tends to be more harmful than anything. When a dog bites, it’s the family’s once harmless “pibble” mix, or in the case of “Hulk”, it’s misrepresenting an entire breed and giving the public a false impression of what a Pit Bull really is.

According to www.peoplemagazine.co.za: “The gentle giant is a doting father to his puppies and is even allowed to play with the couple’s three-year-old son. “Hulk has shown the world that when this breed is gentle and balanced, they can be the greatest dogs in the world,” said Grennan.”

No, instead what “Hulk” and his breeders have done for the APBT breed is that they have given the public an altered and damaging perception of the American Pit Bull Terrier as a breed.

A lot of rescue organizations that specializes in bully breeds, have even spoken out against “Hulk” and what his breeders are doing, and have called for the media to stop portraying “Hulk” and his breeders in a positive light.

By continuing to misrepresent dogs like “Hulk” as Pit Bulls, it is seriously damaging to the APBT breed, bully breeds, and to non-APBTs dogs, and just dogs in general, especially when these same non-APBT dogs are involved in dog attacks or are impounded at city pounds / animal shelters. And because of the appearance of “Hulk”, this could be potentially detrimental to Mastiff breeds such as the Cane Corso, Presa Canario, and other similar looking breeds that may find themselves in a dog attack or shelter and are mislabeled as Pit Bulls.

So, end point: “Hulk” is NOT a Pit Bull, so please stop calling him one!

Actually, it would be best if we stopped calling ALL non-pedigree bully breeds/mutts Pit Bulls.

Below are some more articles about “Hulk”

The Truth About Pit Bulls - The Hulk

PitBullsAgainstMisinformation - Their Campaign Agsinst DDK9

Dogster on The Hulk & Positive Press Damaging APBT Breed

More on Hulk by @notapitbull & @thembulldawgs