Heartwarming Photos Of ‘The Walking Dead’ Star With His 3 Rescue Pit Bulls Will Melt Your Heart
From kicking ass to kicking down stigmas, actor Jon Bernthal of AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’ is using his platform to advocate for pit bulls. Through social media posts and video PSA’s, the longtime animal activist shows off the sweet and lovable side of these dogs with the help of his own pets. The newest addition to his furry family is a rescued pit he calls Lil Bam Bam Bernthal, who he adopted in 2017.
The actor posted a heartwarming photo of Bernthal’s four-legged son, in which he encouraged others to adopt, “Rescue a Pit Bull. They just may rescue you back. Big love.”
It may not shock you to find out that his love for animals is genetic. His father is the chairman of the board of the Humane Society of The United States (HSUS), who he partnered with on a PSA against animal cruelty. In addition to HSUS, the 40-years-old actor has become one of the faces for The Majority Project by the non-profit Animal Farm Foundation. The goal of this campaign is to shine a light on the breed with positive images from owners.
While Bernthal likes to focus on the peaceful side of these animals, he himself has gotten physical over them. In an interview, the actor admitted that in 2009 he knocked a guy out cold once to defend his dog Boss. The guy was drunk and had followed the pair after being warned not to touch the pit bull. The encounter ended up with Bernthal in handcuffs, and while he’s not proud of the fight, it’s clear nobody should try to mess with this man’s dogs.
Bernthal currently has three pit bulls, Lil Bam Bam, Boss and Venice. Scroll down below to see some adorable photos of the actor and his canine companions.
More Info: Instagram | Twitter | IMBD
‘The Walking Dead’ actor Jon Bernthal might look badass but he has a kind heart
Bernthal has adopted three rescue pit bulls and is an outspoken advocate for the breed
His goals are to show a softer side of pit bull’s, encourage people to adopt them, and fight abuse against them
The actor has partnered with The Humane Society of The United States for anti- animal cruelty campaigns PSA’s
Speaking out against puppy mills and dog fighting
And with the non-profit Animal Farm Foundation for their ‘Majority Project’
Which spreads positive images of owners and their pit bulls
He posted heartwarming photos with his newest family addition ‘Lil Bam Bam’
Who he adopted in 2017
Jon Bernthal has proved he will do anything for his dogs
Even if it means getting in some trouble
In 2009 the actor was put in handcuffs on Venice Beach, CA
After he knocked a drunk man out cold for grabbing at his dog ‘Boss’ and following the pair down the beach
I guess everyone learned that day you don’t get between a man and his pit
120Kviews
Share on Facebook
I like how the article said "Walking Dead", and we're all like "Oh, look how awesome The Punisher is".
Hopefully the Punisher will get a pit bull side-kick in season two! On second thoughts... that's probably not the way to go to rehabilitate the image of the breed!
He briefly has one in Dare Devil, now I'm wondering if it's one these doggies.
Load More Replies... 
We have a female pit and female pug... care to guess who's the more loving one? We need a sign on our fence that says 'Beware of Pug, pet the Pit'! Lol... She, Stanzy the pitty is still a pup at 2 & the fatty pug, Flynn, at 7 are buddy's though.
I'm glad they get along but pugs are the worst. Zero loyalty from my experience. The pit is worth 100 pugs.
Load More Replies...
Yay for pitbulls! I know there are mean ones, but there are mean in every breed, species, etc. 97% of the pitbulls I've met are sweet and want nothing but to love and be loved. Other side of the same coin 99% of all chihahua's I've met are complete a******s. Never judge a book (or person or animal or race,etc) by its cover, or what the media tells you about it.
A wonderful breed - so sweet, strong, unflappable and so unbelievably loyal. The do things for their owners where many other dogs would just look at you and go: 'Are you f*****g kidding me? Hell no!' :-) But this loyalty makes them vulnerable, so they are systematically abused and misused by rotten human beings, who are unable to achieve something real in their lives, so they take it out on dogs. (I don't own one, my live and health doesn't allow for heavy dogs, but I have come to really admire them)
that's sad, but the pitbull has been build around their jaws. they mixed few breed together for making the stronger jaws. it's true they can be the nicest dog but nobody can't forget that if a dog goes wild they can bite... and god knows how strong a pitbull can bite.
Very true! Although sweet, they are powerful, and as long as everyone aknowledges and is responsible with that power, there's no issue. That goes for any large animal, really.
Load More Replies...
It's cool he rescued those pups. That being said, pit bulls aren't my favorite breed. They eat more than I do, and take up a lot of space. Good work dog though. Hook them up to a sledge and they'll haul like a horse.
Astoundingly, for most of our history America's nickname for Pit Bulls was "The Nanny Dog". For generations if you had children and wanted to keep them safe you wanted a pit bull, the dog that was the most reliable of any breed with children or adults. The Nanny Dog is now vilified by a media that always wants a demon dog breed to frighten people and LHASA-APSO BITES MAN just doesn't sell papers. Before pit bulls it was Rottweilers, before Rottweilers it was Dobermans, and before them German Shepherds. Each breed in it's order were deemed too vicious and unpredictable to be around people. It is breathtakingly ironic that the spotlight has turned on the breed once the symbol of our country and our national babysitter. In temperance tests of all breeds the most tolerant was the Golden Retriever.
I copied this from Fact Republic. I think it says it all really. Pit Bulls were once known as "nanny dogs" because of how kind and protective they were of children. Pit Bull's jaws do not lock, they do not have the most powerful bite among dogs they are naturally neither human or animal aggressive, and they feel as much pain as any other breed. The most tolerant, patient, gentle breed of dogs is now embarrassingly portrayed as the most dangerous. It would be funny if the new reputation did not mean 6,000 are put to death every day, by far the highest number of any other breed euthanized
Pit Bull's jaws do not lock, they do not have the most powerful bite among dogs they are naturally neither human or animal aggressive, and they feel as much pain as any other breed. The most tolerant, patient, gentle breed of dogs is now embarrassingly portrayed as the most dangerous. It would be funny if the new reputation did not mean 6,000 are put to death every day, by far the highest number of any other breed euthanized
I love all animals but must confess that Pit Bulls make me nervous. I realize that their temperament is mostly determined by the way they're raised, but just knowing the capability of those jaws that can chew the bumper off a car ...
"Puppy mill" is the most abused and overloaded term. Breeders are called this frequently if they have customers who are annoying.
Pit Bulls are cool dogs. ALL ANIMALS deserve equal respect and have just as much a right to live (if not more) than you do. I also understand why people may not want them as pets. All dogs come with a certain level of risk and responsibility that I’m not too interested in personally. As far as the stigma goes, I doubt it will go away until people learn to respect all animals. It probably woulbobirt to give them a less ugly name though. Pit Bull just sounds ugly, smelly and dangerous and they definitely aren’t ugly, they don’t smell worse than other dogs and they can be dangerous if trained to be like all animals. Give it a cuter name already! Like a Berenthal!
Probably wouldn’t hurt I mean lol. On mobile sorry.
Load More Replies...
Oh... were there dogs in these pics...?? (John Bernthal, mmmmm.......!!!)
"rescue pitballs" , another word for "i adopted these dogs and i want to be treated like a hero, so i "rescued" them"
They don't have to publish this man's entire filmography but ok
Load More Replies...
That's a huge leap. Just because he supports Humane Society, doesn't mean he supports everyone he supports.
Load More Replies...
I'm a firm believer that there's no bad dogs, only bad humans. Dogs have a very strong pack mentality, which means they will follow the packleader(if one is present) or become a packleader if they feel no one else fills that spot. Therefore a dog can be dangerous in 2 situations - when its packleader encourage violence and when it's "packleader" isn't fullfilling their responsibilities/is missing at all. For a dog biting isn't some horrible unforgiveable act of monstrosity and evil, it's up to humans to explain to them why it shouldn't be done. For 99% of dog attacks you can blame the dog's owners one way or the other. I think that when getting a big strong dog such as a pitbull you must realize the responsibility and do some serious training to ensure your dog and you are fully on the same page about what is and isn't appropriate behavior. But I don't think it justifies labeling them a killer monster dog and whatnot.
Load More Replies... I like how the article said "Walking Dead", and we're all like "Oh, look how awesome The Punisher is".
Hopefully the Punisher will get a pit bull side-kick in season two! On second thoughts... that's probably not the way to go to rehabilitate the image of the breed!
He briefly has one in Dare Devil, now I'm wondering if it's one these doggies.
Load More Replies... We have a female pit and female pug... care to guess who's the more loving one? We need a sign on our fence that says 'Beware of Pug, pet the Pit'! Lol... She, Stanzy the pitty is still a pup at 2 & the fatty pug, Flynn, at 7 are buddy's though.
I'm glad they get along but pugs are the worst. Zero loyalty from my experience. The pit is worth 100 pugs.
Load More Replies... Yay for pitbulls! I know there are mean ones, but there are mean in every breed, species, etc. 97% of the pitbulls I've met are sweet and want nothing but to love and be loved. Other side of the same coin 99% of all chihahua's I've met are complete a******s. Never judge a book (or person or animal or race,etc) by its cover, or what the media tells you about it.
A wonderful breed - so sweet, strong, unflappable and so unbelievably loyal. The do things for their owners where many other dogs would just look at you and go: 'Are you f*****g kidding me? Hell no!' :-) But this loyalty makes them vulnerable, so they are systematically abused and misused by rotten human beings, who are unable to achieve something real in their lives, so they take it out on dogs. (I don't own one, my live and health doesn't allow for heavy dogs, but I have come to really admire them)
that's sad, but the pitbull has been build around their jaws. they mixed few breed together for making the stronger jaws. it's true they can be the nicest dog but nobody can't forget that if a dog goes wild they can bite... and god knows how strong a pitbull can bite.
Very true! Although sweet, they are powerful, and as long as everyone aknowledges and is responsible with that power, there's no issue. That goes for any large animal, really.
Load More Replies... It's cool he rescued those pups. That being said, pit bulls aren't my favorite breed. They eat more than I do, and take up a lot of space. Good work dog though. Hook them up to a sledge and they'll haul like a horse.
Astoundingly, for most of our history America's nickname for Pit Bulls was "The Nanny Dog". For generations if you had children and wanted to keep them safe you wanted a pit bull, the dog that was the most reliable of any breed with children or adults. The Nanny Dog is now vilified by a media that always wants a demon dog breed to frighten people and LHASA-APSO BITES MAN just doesn't sell papers. Before pit bulls it was Rottweilers, before Rottweilers it was Dobermans, and before them German Shepherds. Each breed in it's order were deemed too vicious and unpredictable to be around people. It is breathtakingly ironic that the spotlight has turned on the breed once the symbol of our country and our national babysitter. In temperance tests of all breeds the most tolerant was the Golden Retriever.
I copied this from Fact Republic. I think it says it all really. Pit Bulls were once known as "nanny dogs" because of how kind and protective they were of children. Pit Bull's jaws do not lock, they do not have the most powerful bite among dogs they are naturally neither human or animal aggressive, and they feel as much pain as any other breed. The most tolerant, patient, gentle breed of dogs is now embarrassingly portrayed as the most dangerous. It would be funny if the new reputation did not mean 6,000 are put to death every day, by far the highest number of any other breed euthanized
Pit Bull's jaws do not lock, they do not have the most powerful bite among dogs they are naturally neither human or animal aggressive, and they feel as much pain as any other breed. The most tolerant, patient, gentle breed of dogs is now embarrassingly portrayed as the most dangerous. It would be funny if the new reputation did not mean 6,000 are put to death every day, by far the highest number of any other breed euthanized
I love all animals but must confess that Pit Bulls make me nervous. I realize that their temperament is mostly determined by the way they're raised, but just knowing the capability of those jaws that can chew the bumper off a car ...
"Puppy mill" is the most abused and overloaded term. Breeders are called this frequently if they have customers who are annoying.
Pit Bulls are cool dogs. ALL ANIMALS deserve equal respect and have just as much a right to live (if not more) than you do. I also understand why people may not want them as pets. All dogs come with a certain level of risk and responsibility that I’m not too interested in personally. As far as the stigma goes, I doubt it will go away until people learn to respect all animals. It probably woulbobirt to give them a less ugly name though. Pit Bull just sounds ugly, smelly and dangerous and they definitely aren’t ugly, they don’t smell worse than other dogs and they can be dangerous if trained to be like all animals. Give it a cuter name already! Like a Berenthal!
Probably wouldn’t hurt I mean lol. On mobile sorry.
Load More Replies... Oh... were there dogs in these pics...?? (John Bernthal, mmmmm.......!!!)
"rescue pitballs" , another word for "i adopted these dogs and i want to be treated like a hero, so i "rescued" them"
They don't have to publish this man's entire filmography but ok
Load More Replies... That's a huge leap. Just because he supports Humane Society, doesn't mean he supports everyone he supports.
Load More Replies... I'm a firm believer that there's no bad dogs, only bad humans. Dogs have a very strong pack mentality, which means they will follow the packleader(if one is present) or become a packleader if they feel no one else fills that spot. Therefore a dog can be dangerous in 2 situations - when its packleader encourage violence and when it's "packleader" isn't fullfilling their responsibilities/is missing at all. For a dog biting isn't some horrible unforgiveable act of monstrosity and evil, it's up to humans to explain to them why it shouldn't be done. For 99% of dog attacks you can blame the dog's owners one way or the other. I think that when getting a big strong dog such as a pitbull you must realize the responsibility and do some serious training to ensure your dog and you are fully on the same page about what is and isn't appropriate behavior. But I don't think it justifies labeling them a killer monster dog and whatnot.
Load More Replies...
340
60