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Repost: BEWARE
sionnach wrote:
"nichy" wrote in message ... Hi all, I am new to this group and have read a few posts, but am wondering what the situation with Jerry Howe is. Is there anyone who can shed light on this questionable character? Sure. The following is something I wrote up a while back, and post periodically when somebody asks, or I feel there's a need for it: FAQ/History of Jerry Howe: A guide for the perplexed. : (apologies to M.M.!) Here is the condensed version of Jerry Howe's history in RPDB, in order to give newbies the background to the whole picture. You don't have to take my/our word for any of this- it is ALL a matter of public record, and can easily be verified via Deja News or a similar search engine. Anyone else is free to use it and to add to it, with the following requests: Please do NOT change any of my original wording; please make sure that additions are clearly attributed to the correct author. PLEASE refrain from using foul language or insults. This descends to Jerry's level, and I feel this would be counter to the purpose of this document. If you want to say that kind of stuff, please do it elsewhere than in the History. Please try to be matter-of-fact in your additions. For those who choose to add to the Personal Histories section, I STRONGLY suggest adding links to web pages with *personal* pictures of your dogs and yourself. A picture speaks a thousand words. G Section one: History of Jerry Howe in RPDB. Jerry came in here about two years ago, trying to sell something called the "Doggy Do Right". This is an electronic device which he claims can solve ANY problem ANYONE has with ANY dog, just by plugging it in and having it emit 'sound waves" in the dogs vicinity. Anyone who knows *anything* about dogs can easily see that this is just plain silly. But Jerry targeted "newbies" in a blatant attempt to make money from their problems with their dogs. Every time somebody new came in and posted a question about a problem with a dog- something like "help, my dog is chewing things"- Jerry would answer with an AD for his device. JUST THE AD- NOTHING ELSE. (It's recently been discovered, BTW, that he probably got this device from a web page that claims to let people "get rich quick on the Internet".) Now, ADVERTISING (even for *legitimate product) happens to be against the rules of this NG. RPDB isn't for selling things, it's for *discussion*. So people told Jerry to knock it off, and complained to his ISP. Jerry then came up with a new tactic, in an attempt to cover up what he was doing: he wrote his "manual", and every time somebody came in asking for help with a problem, he told them (without giving ANY actual advice) to go read his manual. Problem was, the link he gave led DIRECTLY to a page that advertised the "Doggy-do-right" scam, NOT to his "manual". N.B.- he is STILL doing this. Again, people told him to knock it off, and pointed out that he was still breaking the rules, since this group is for *discussion*, not for self-promotion or advertising. So he shifted tactics again: he started giving a couple of sentences of advice (some of which was decent, and some of which was really off-the- wall) BEFORE telling people go read his "manual"- which still led them to the page where he tried (and is still trying) to sell his "black box". Naturally, the regulars in here were disgusted by this- knowing him to be a scam artist- and tried to tell the people he was "advising" that he was just trying to scam them. At this point, Jerry began a pattern which has gradually escalated, and continues to this day: he started jumping into discussions with vicious attacks on people who had questioned him in other threads. His usual style is make up lies about them, accuse them of dog abuse, and call all sorts of silly and nasty names. Nearly everyone who has asked him any questions at all on the subjects of the Doggy-do-right, his false claims about others in the group, or some of the wildly contradictory claims he's made over the last couple of years, is targeted with accusations of abusing their dogs, advising other people to abuse dogs, and supporting dog abusers. He has also, on more than one occasion, suggested that people who disagree with him should commit suicide, and given detailed instructions for them to do so. Since we're all here because we love dogs, none of us abuses our dogs, and many of us know what *real* abuse is and/or work in rescue, this has not exactly endeared him to any of us- especially those of us who have been here from the beginning and watched him deliberately *develop* his persona as "crusader against abuse" as a tactic to discredit his critics. It's worth pointing out that he is *on record* making some *very* peculiar statements that do not AT ALL agree with his "Crusader" persona: He has claimed that he trains "protection" dogs by making them so "angry" that their temperatures go up to 106 degrees and they get bloody diarrhea. He is on record as claiming that he can teach BABY PUPPIES to be full- fledged "protection dogs" by age SIX MONTHS. He is on record as saying that he DOESN'T LIKE DOGS, and that dogs "are just animals put here for humans to use as we see fit". Despite the fact that he accuses anyone who uses an e-collar of being sadistic, and claims that e-collars "burn" dogs, he is ON RECORD saying that he owns e-collars, that he has used them, and that they are useful to poison-proof dogs. He is on record as saying that dogs are sneaky, and that they are always looking for ways to disobey. He's also on record with some statements that point to a lack of real-life experience with dogs- here are some of the most egregious ones: 1. Jerry is on record as claiming to have been involved with "thousands" of breedings; this is an unlikely claim, but if true suggests that any breeding operation he's been involved with was shady at best- responsible breeders breed no more than a couple of litters a year. 2. He's on record with repeated statements to the effect that breed differences don't matter in training dogs. ANYONE with common sense knows that you don't handle, say, a Pit Bull or a Chessie in the same way you would handle a Whippet or a Border Collie. 3. He's on record as thinking that a "bumper" is something that retriever trainers hit a dog with! :-D It's a TOY. Last but not least, Jerry has several times made claims that he trains dogs for and consults with police departments; some of the posters on here are involved with SAR, and have checked with their contacts in law enforcement. They have not been able to find ANYBODY in law enforcement who has heard of Jerry. Again, it's important to point out that all of these things are a matter of public record, and can be verified via Deja News. (Note: if anyone wishes to add direct quotes from Jerry, please do so at the END of this document.) Jerry's REAL agenda, at this point (aside from the fact that he's still trying to market the "Doggy Do Right") appears to be to draw attention to himself, and to try and discredit everyone and anyone who ever questions him at all - despite the fact that on the rare occasions that he gives sensible advice, people leave him alone. (Pay attention, and you'll see that this is so.) Watch how he tries to turn all sorts of discussions around so that they are about HIM, not about the original subject. If you're a careful reader, you'll probably start to notice that he sometimes contradicts himself, and makes claims that can't possibly be true. Watch the way he jumps into threads and says NOTHING except to attack people who aren't even talking to him... Even more important is the fact that if you READ the non-Jerry- related posts made by the people he attacks, you will NOT find most of us doing or saying the things he tries to claim we do. Be aware that *discussing* a particular training technique is NOT the same as *recommending* it to people who are asking for advice. In other words, please make up your OWN mind, don't let Jerry make it up for you. Section two: Food for thought. 1. If you pay attention to what people REALLY say in here (as opposed to what Jerry *claims* we say), you'll notice that nearly all of us constantly talk about our *own* dogs- of course, everyone thinks his or her own dog is the best. (Everyone except me is wrong, of course. :-D ) Most of us have web pages up with pictures of our dogs- everybody likes to show off their pride and joy, naturally! This allows others to know that we are, indeed, real people with real dogs in the real world. We also discuss dogs we know, other dog owners we see, encounters we've had, and so forth. We talk about our own experiences *with* dogs... Our love for and pride in our own dogs, and our care for dogs and other animals in general, is made clear via our writing. Some of us may disagree violently on *issues*, but at the same time have respect for the antagonist and his or her love for dogs. After a while, one gets to "know" people AND their dogs by the posts in here, and has a sense of those people as REAL people in the REAL world with REAL dogs. In addition, many of us have actually met in REAL LIFE, and/or know about each other from REAL LIFE sources completely separate from the posts in here. For example, I (Sionnach/Sarah) live in the same city as Janet Boss (J1Boss), adopted my dogs from the SPCA that she's on the board of, and have met a lot of her students and seen how she's taught them to handle their dogs. We also have mutual friends in the local dog-sports arena- I do NADAC and USDAA agility and she does Flyball. And I know the reputations of two other regular posters, Diane Blackman and Ann Green, via REAL LIFE- they both do NADAC agility, and we have mutual friends. Others in here know each other, or of each other, via such venues as AKC obedience, SAR groups, craft groups, rescue organizations, and personal meetings and friendships. NOBODY has ever been able to verify any of Jerry's claims, and he refuses to provide any evidence to help us believe that anything he says has any basis in reality. He has been invited to meet various people in here, and has refused every time. He has also refused- indeed, he's threatened to shoot anyone who tries!- to allow anyone to visit his alleged "training facility". Pay attention to Jerry's posts, and make up your own mind as to whether you think he even has dogs... and to whether he actually deals with them on a day-to-day basis the way most of the rest of us do. If you watch, you'll see that he posts *constantly*, at all hours of the day and night- something that those of us who are busy with our dogs simply don't have time to do! 2. Something else you may notice if you read the group carefully over a period of time: there has been a PATTERN of alleged "newbies" coming in here, making a post or two in support of Jerry, and then vanishing without ever contributing to real discussions. For example, at one point, there was a series of ludicrous posts purporting to be from a 12-yr.-old girl named "Susan"; they were OBVIOUSLY made by an adult pretending to be a kid, and stopped abruptly after I pointed out to "Susan" that because I have 12 nieces, nephews, and cousins between the ages of 1 and 19 I know what REAL kids sound like- and "she" most certainly did NOT. More recently, there was a series of posts pretending to be from a German named "Otto", and an Italian named "Luigi"; it rapidly became obvious that they were fake- the headers were traced back to Jerry's ISP, and the sections that were in foreign language had obviously been written in English and then run through translation software. Many of us suspect Jerry of manufacturing some, if not all, of these posts- IIRC, some of these have actually been traced back to one of Jerry's accounts. (He's posted from at LEAST four e-mail addresses in the couple of years he's been in here.) As with everything else, you are free to make up your own mind about this. |
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