Pets: Vick's pit bulls can be reformed?

Long Island,NY -- For months, the media have been chronicling every divot in the Michael Vick dog-fighting case, from the suspended NFL star's flunked drug tests to his recent completion of an eight-hour "empathy course" at the Norfolk, Va., headquarters of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Far more than Vick, I am interested in the 49 fighting dogs he left behind.

It turns out that all the erstwhile fighters were evaluated in early September by a team of certified applied animal behaviorists - unimpeachable authorities, as there are fewer than 50 such credentialed individuals in the country. (To find them, visit www.animalbehavior.org). Last week, based on the report, the U.S. attorney general's office recommended that one of the pit bulls be euthanized because of "intense aggression" to humans.



While that death sentence grabbed some headlines, the real talker was the fate of the remaining 48: All the dogs, the experts agreed, had potential for some form of placement. Some might be headed to experienced foster homes, with possible adoptive families in their future. Others, with strong prey drive, might be considered for law-enforcement work, such as drug or explosives detection, where their enthusiasm and tenacity would be channeled into life-saving work. The toughest cases might live out their lives at sanctuaries, where any fear of humans or residual aggression toward other dogs could be dealt with away from the public sphere.

Karen Delise of Slanesville, W.Va., author of "The Pit Bull Placebo: The Media, Myths and Politics of Canine Aggression," isn't surprised that only one of Vick's pit bulls was a biter.

"Historically, pit bulls were bred to fight - that's true," says Delise, who lived on Long Island and knows all too well the overwhelming numbers of pit bulls that wait, unadopted, in local shelters. "But dog fighters are ultimately chickens. They like their violence vicariously - they don't want to be hurt or in any pain. So they bred their dogs to be human friendly."

How, then, to explain the pit bull attacks that pepper the local news with what seems like increasing regularity?

"With 365,000 people bit severely enough to require medical attention every year, the media is cherry-picking," Delise says. "I don't think there's too much dispute that a newspaper printing 'Pit bull mauls child' is more likely to be read than 'Mixed breed bites man.'"

Pit bulls bite for the same reason other breeds do, Delise continues: The have prey drives that can be ignited by shrieking, running children - the same as a cocker spaniel, or a German shepherd. The answer, as with most things involving "dogs gone bad," is an emphasis on owner responsibility.

While details about the fates of the remaining 48 Vick dogs remain sketchy for now, there is reason to be hopeful that many will be able to overcome their violent, nurtureless beginnings.

"We routinely place pit bulls from abusive pasts, including fight pasts, into new homes," says Christine Allen, legislative-affairs director for Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pit Bulls, or BAD RAP (www.badrap.org), a San Francisco-based group that helped evaluate the Vick pit bulls. "Pit bulls are an incredibly resilient breed and the best examples care about pleasing their people above and beyond anything else. That quality allows them to overcome some of the most difficult beginnings."

While Allen notes that every dog is an individual, some lacking the qualities that will allow them to have a clean slate, BAD RAP has plenty of successes - fighting dogs that are now stable family pets. The one that almost brought me to tears was Sophie, missing an eye and an ear, walking on pasterns that were broken and never treated, recovering from her most recent litter at 11 years old.

Sophie's foster mom apparently feels the same way. "Because this dog's health is so compromised ... we may need to put her down at some point," Allen says of the fosterer. "It's hard to get attached and then reconcile with the fact that not all the dogs will make it."

But it's important to remember that many can and will. Allen says it's possible for former fighting dogs to co-exist with their own kind. "The playful spirit of the breed allows for many to enjoy successful friendships with select, well-matched dogs," she says. "Spaying and neutering is another huge help to resocializing dogs."

The biggest challenge for the more sensitive dogs, she adds, is learning about the real world outside their kennel run. Most have never been for a ride in a car, or walked up a flight of stairs.

Like the dogs BAD RAP saves every day, even when the cameras are not rolling, the Vick dogs will have to relearn how to live a gentler, saner life. One can only hope their former master does the same.

http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-lspets5406152oct08,0,3358553.column

 

Thanks for posting this Marty...good article. I think that it should be made a sticky, and cross posted as far as possible!

 

Done..............

 

I found a link with a story on one of his dogs... it's a nice read

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22844052/?GT1=10755

 

Great post. Just cause they were bred to be bad, don't mean they are.

 

This is a feel good story that's it!

Those dogs dont need to be "reformed" they need to be handled accordlingly. Reformed for pet homes? Those homes need to conform for them.... Sure you teach them the basics and how to live in the house, live with ppl.Once a bulldog always a bulldog.

It is offensive that these dogs are continuely drug threw the mud and muck of what society dictates as a stable or suitable companion animal.

 

Vicks dogs are here in UT at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

 

Heres the link http://www.bestfriends.org/vickdogs/

 

Nice site, however this group are fair wethered friends, partial supporters that do infact want to dictate and limmit ones ability to care for thier animals. This group is looking to put restrictions on you as a pet owner.

Good example as to why I dont support rescues. They are no friend to me or my dogs.

 

One has become a certified therapy dog:

http://www.ourpack.org/leo.html

 

Here is video of some of the dogs.

http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&fg=rss&vid=4cd306d1-033e-4dee-ba23-4987af3e6cbc&from=im_f_35-49