Stephen Barry King, hanging one of his client’s dogs - Photo courtesy Ooze Magazine Video.

IV. Why?

The question, "Why do they do it?" has been asked of me many times. It took me many years of exposure to this deviant behavior to be able to get a clear focus on it. There is a lot more going on here than "training." Some people have said it is simply a faster way to train, but the behavior and attitude of the main perpetrators (the ones who insist upon "training" in this fashion) is, in my estimation, perverse.

Why would David Inglis boast to me after hanging Armin, "If you thought that was bad, you should have seen what we did to them in the army" ? Why would Debbie Inglis, after kicking K9 Kim in the testicles while her husband manually strangled him, according to Mr. and Mrs. Brown, comment, "Heh, heh, heh, did you see all that gland juice squirt all over us?" Why would Bryan McNulty, after shooting one of his dogs (crippled from being kept in a crate) say, "Good target practice" ? Why would Corporal Don Bales shout across the room so I could hear, "We need to pick up some lumber so we can build rafters to hang the dogs from" ? Why would Sergeant George Morris say to Officer Bob Balding in my presence, "What you do is give the dog a lot of grief with the choke chain, and when he tries to snap at the chain it's the same as if he bites you, and you hang him for that" ? Why would Corporal Paul Morton brag, about his K9 Basko, "He stops on a dime, and takes a dump on command, or he gets hanged"? Why is Inglis' training course nicknamed the "Hang 'Em High Club" ?

In November of 2001 I downloaded an article ("Obey or be corrected") from OOZE magazine in the United Kingdom. The article was about a man named Stephen Barry King, who traveled from Oregon to London, England, where someone got footage of him hanging a dog. Many complaints were made against him in Oregon and in London. An assistant dog trainer, Kristen Beck, was quoted as saying, "He beat the dog so bad that it s**t all over itself and on the floor." Linda Alien of Portland, Oregon, witnessed King hanging a dog. Her neighbor ran toward him yelling, "Leave that dog alone!" Mr. King said "I am a f***ing cop. Get out of my face or I'll f*** you... Other neighbors were standing in their driveways looking on. King yelled at them, "You want some, I'll kick your asses too. I could kill you too." The article states that King is not and has never been a policeman.

Stephen Barry King claimed he trained dogs for the Portland Police force in Oregon, which information he included in his promotional literature. Ooze magazine checked with Portland PD and found out that he attended a few training sessions with them as an observer, but never assisted in the training. In my estimation, he what is known as a "wannabe," who mimics the most low and depraved actions of some police and K9 handlers.

When a reporter from Ooze magazine called King's office to confront him about the abuse they had on tape, they reached an assistant of King's named Lottie. Lottie was asked if she approved of Stephen Barry King's training methods. She replied, I wouldn't train with him if I didn't. When the reporter asked, "So you think it's acceptable to hang a dog?", Lottie replied, "What do you mean hang?" When the reporter advised her that Ooze had video evidence of King hanging a dog, she replied, I'm sorry, I can't answer any more questions" and hung up the phone.

Update: As a result of efforts by the staff of Ooze Magazine and pressure put on the RSPCA by private citizens, Stephen Barry King went on trial in 2002 for “causing unnecessary suffering and cruelly terrifying” the dogs who he “trained,” by hanging and helicoptering. He was fined 2500 pounds, ordered to carry out 100 hours of community service, and banned from contact and custody of dogs for eight years.