Update on the Fate of Michael Vick’s Dogs
From The Washington Post
Monday July 2007
“When football superstar Michael Vick pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to run a dogfighting operation, we knew he had kept about 50 pit bulls on his 15-acre property in rural Surry County, Va., on a road named Moonlight. We knew the dogs were chained to car axles near wooden hovels for shelter. And we knew the dogs that didn't fight were beaten, shot, hanged, electrocuted or drowned.
But we didn't know their names. Headlines described the nameless dogs as "menacing." Some animal rights groups called for the "ticking time bombs" to be euthanized as soon as Vick's case was closed and they were no longer valuable as evidence. That's what typically happens after a dogfighting bust”.
U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson ordered each dog’s temperament individually evaluated, and ordered Vick to pay close to $1 million for the lifelong care of those that could be rehomed.
Only one dog was considered beyond redemption and was euthanized. Another was euthanized due to injury/illness.
More than a year after being confiscated Leo is a certified therapy dog in California. Hector is about to start training for national flying disc competitions in Minnesota. Teddles takes instructions from her 2-year-old mistress. Gracie loves cats and sleeps with four other dogs.
The Post goes on to say:
“Of the 47 surviving dogs, 25 were placed directly in foster homes, and a handful have been or are being adopted. Twenty-two were deemed potentially aggressive toward other dogs and were sent to an animal sanctuary in Utah. Some, after intensive retraining, are expected to move on to foster care and eventual adoption.
How can this be? Reports of gruesome pit bull maulings make international news. Pit bulls are one of the few canine breeds thought to be so dangerous that they are banned in some places”.
Frank McMillan, a vet who is studying the recovery of some of the Vick dogs, was quoted in the article as saying: “We've assumed all pits are the same, and we've never let this many fighting dogs live long enough to find out. There are hardly ever studies, because these animals don't survive".
Evaluators called to the property during the bust reported finding various behaviors in the dogs they found there. Some were human-friendly and dog aggressive, while others initiated play with other dogs. Some showed confidence only in the company of other dogs.
They also said the dogs were showing the sort of behaviours seen in dogs rescued from animal hoarding incidents. Sudden noise or movement caused them to jump. They were all malnourished and unwell. All of the dogs showed fear of humans.
Stacy Leipold, who volunteers for Recycled Love and is fostering one of the refugees in her home, related that her dog seemed to pant more than usual and thought she must feel the heat. In fact her panting and yawning were evidence of the high anxiety she suffered in the company of humans.
At first, she rarely left her crate. She hid and had to be carried outside for her toilet. Her favourite spot is a landing on the basement stairs, which gives her two escape routes and a view up and down both ways. She shows excitement at the prospect of her walks now and gets on well with the household’s other dogs, a Jack Russell terrier and a Great Dane.
The Post goes on:
“Jane, Homicide, Jade, Bandit, Miami, Mike-Mike, Big Boy, Magic, Tiny, Too Short, Seal, Chico.
Sweet Pea is not what Vick, who is serving a 23-month prison sentence in Leavenworth, Kan., called this dog. We don't know what he called her, or whether he had a name for her at all. One of the few names that appeared in court papers was Jane, one of the first pit bulls Vick bought in 2001 to start Bad Newz Kennels. TheHumane Society of the United States (HSUS) found results for some of Bad Newz's dogfights in underground magazines. They show that Vick's Homicide lost to Maniac. Vick's Bandit lost to Red Rover. And Vick's Mike-Mike lost, after fighting for three hours and five minutes, to Dragon. Out of 10 fights recorded, Vick's dogs lost seven.
But no one knows who most of these dogs are, or whether they are even alive. Jane is. She is now called Georgia. Her jaw is crooked, having been broken at least once, and her tongue sticks out. She is covered in scars, and her teeth have all been pulled. By court order, she will live out her days in Dogtown, at the Best Friends Animal Society's 3,700-acre sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. So will Lucas, a tail-wagging, 60-pound dog who evaluators suspect was Vick's grand champion fighter”.
At Best Friends', and true to their "people soft" nature, all but two of the Vick dogs are on "green collar," meaning they are friendly to humans. Nine have begun supervised play dates with other Vick dogs.
The remaining 25 were placed in experienced foster homes. A number have since passed the American Kennel Club's 10-part Canine Good Citizenship test.
Sharon Cornett, is adopting Gracie. "I adore this dog. She is just a love bucket. She loves people and animals unconditionally," Cornett said. Gracie shares her favourite places with Cornett’s other four dogs.
From the nay-sayers we have John Goodwin, a dogfighting “expert” with the Humane Society who is a proponent of euthanizing fighting dogs.
He states: "The behavior is bred into them. These groups are not rehabilitating these dogs. They're training them to behave in a more socialized manner. But these pit bulls should never be left alone with other dogs, because you never know when that instinct to fight another dog is going to surface."
Tim Racer (BAD RAP http://www.badrap.org/rescue/), disagrees: “Yes, there are pit bulls who have fought, attacked and mauled other animals and people. But so have other breeds. And incidents almost always have been traced to negligent or abusive owners”.
Final words to The Post:
“As with any celebrity case, the legacy of the Vick bust has been far-reaching. Dogfighting raids across the country have tripled in the past year. Hundreds of law enforcement officers have been trained to detect the signs of underground rings. And, in some cases, officials have asked pit bull behavior experts to evaluate seized fighting dogs rather than automatically euthanizing them. But most dogfighters don't have the kind of money that Vick did. So even those deemed worthy of a second chance don't always get one.
Charlie, Denzel, Halle, Oscar, Sox, Ray, Frodo, Aretha.
They, it turns out, are the lucky ones”.
