KC DOG BLOG

Gladwell on Football and Dogfighting

Hat Tip to Fred over at One Bark at a Time who has a great post on this topic.  Malcolm Gladwell, a renouned writer of books like The Tipping Point and Blink, has a great new article in the New Yorker entitled Offensive Play: How different are dogfighting and football?

Gladwell has writen about "pit bulls' before -- in his 2006 article Troublemakers: What Pit Bulls cna teach us about profiling.  And again, he has shown an uncanny abilty to be knowledgable on the topic and use his words wisely to paint very vivid pictures of the stories he tells.

In Offensive Play, much of the story is about trauma-related brain injuries sustained by football players based on the constant collisions they face. If you are a fan of the game of football, you will find that part of the story fascinating, sad and frightening in its own right. But it is Gladwell's relating of this trauma to dog fighting that will likely be what many of the readers of this blog will find interesting. Gladwell writes:

"Part of what makes dogfighting so repulsive is the understnading that violence and injury cannot be removed from the sport. It's a feature of the sport that dogs almost always get hurt. Something like stock-car racing, by contrast, is dangerous, but not unavoidably so.

Outside of Gladwell's decision to use the term 'sport' when referring to dogfighting, I think you can see where he's going with the article.

Gladwell comes back to the dogs that are being rehabilitated at Best Friend's Sanctuary in Utah. He writes:

What happens at Best Friends represents, by any measure, an extravagant gesture. These are dogs that will never live a normal life. But the kind of crime embodied by dogfighting is so morally repellent that it demands an extravagant gesture in response. In a fighting dog, the quality that is prized above all others is the willingness to persevere, even in the face of injury and pain. A dog that will not do that is labelled a “cur,” and abandoned. A dog that keeps charging at its opponent is said to possess “gameness,” and game dogs are revered.

In one way or another, plenty of organizations select for gameness. The Marine Corps does so, and so does medicine, when it puts young doctors through the exhausting rigors of residency. But those who select for gameness have a responsibility not to abuse that trust: if you have men in your charge who would jump off a cliff for you, you cannot march them to the edge of the cliff—and dogfighting fails this test. Gameness, Carl Semencic argues, in “The World of Fighting Dogs” (1984), is no more than a dog’s “desire to please an owner at any expense to itself....This is why Michael Vick's dogs weren't euthanized . The betrayal of loyalty requires an act of social reparation."

And yet, sadly, it is the human race's betrayal of what may be the American Pit Bull Terrier's best trait, it's loyalty, that has led many not to seek reparations -- but to seek to exterminate the breed. Doesn't make much sense does it?

Read the article -- it's well worth the time.

Scumbags

On Wednesday, authorities in 8 states across the US -- seized more than 400 dogs and charged 26 people on charges of animal cruelty and dog fighting.

State and federal agents are charging individuals in Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas -- following a year-long investigation that was instigated by the Humane Society of Missouri.

The raid is said to be the largest coordinated bust in US history.  The magnitude of this is huge on so many levels.

On one, obvious level, there are the dogs. Over 400 of them. The idea that people would subject dogs to the horrific things that encompass dog fighting is sickening. It is one of the things that really makes you realize that there is evil in the world. If these people who were arrested are guilty, I hope they get the severe punishment that comes with the crime. We need to end the this brutality, and the people who participate in it.  People who participate in dogfighting are scumbags.

 Until 2 years ago, "common knowledge" would have said that all 400 of these dogs would be systematically euthanized.  At least now, it sounds like there is some hope for the dogs to get a fair evaluation.

Jordan Crump, a spokesperson for The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), said each dog will be assessed by behavioral experts in hopes of placing as many as possible in adoptive homes. This approach is in line with the treatment of the dogs that were rescued from Michael Vick's Bad Newz Kennels in the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback's dogfighting case. The majority of the Vick dogs are now living with individuals and families around the country.

While that paragraph is music to my ears -- and the fact that they will be given a chance is why all of the work that groups like Best Friends and Bad Rap and others did with the Vick dogs was worth it. Because now there is a chance, even if it is hard to hear it be attributed to someone from HSUS -- an organization that pushed for the Vick dogs to all be killed without evaluation.  HSUS -- who's leader, even now, even in spite of the organizations "changed philosphy", sounds like he is predetermining outcomes for the dogs.

"It's just unclear what will happen," said Wayne Pacelle, head of the Humane Society of the United States. "I think it's pretty certain that a lot of those dogs will not pass a behavioral test."

Yip, that's the leader of the world's wealthiest animal welfare organization predertermining a negative outcome for the dogs.  Hopefully HSUS is not put in charge of the evaluations.

I don't know how many of these dogs will pass their evaluations and be given a new chance at life. I don't know where they'll all go if they all do pass their evaluations, but I am in favor of giving as many of the victims a chance as possible at a new life.   When/if many of these dogs are deemed ok, for rehabilitiation (or to go to adopt without the need for rehabilitation), HSUS, with it's vast resources and fundraising expertise (HSUS spent $27 million in fundraising efforts last year, and has already begun using these busts for fundraising), can help fund the rescue of these dogs.  HSUS has the resources that they could easily provide the resources (financial or otherwise) to help in the adoptions of these canine victims if they choose to do so.

Let's prosecute those responsible. Let's evaluate the victims.  And let's figure out the next steps from there.  Let's not doom them to death until the appropriate evaluations are taken, Wayne.

Meanwhile, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the other side of this coin. While it is great that the busts happened and the dogs were rescued from their horrible circumstances, articles are now popping up talking about how "widespread" dog fighting is.

This will no doubt cause some cities to look at things like breed bans to "stop the dogfighters" because they are "underground" and "hard to catch".

Of course they're underground. They're breaking the law. People don't usually break the law (at least major ones) in the wide-open public. More laws will not stop them from breaking the laws they're already breaking. Those laws only end up negatively impacting the literally hundreds of thousands of pit bull owners around the country who are trying to do right by the breed. We're giving them good lives. Training them. Loving them. Treating them like family. When people look at a situation like this, and say, we need to pass a breed specific law to stop it, they are only hurting the people who are on their side...and who are also trying to make it right.  And there are hundreds of thousands more "good guys" in this than bad guys.

The way to end the dog fighting madness is to do what appears to be done in this case -- is make it a priority to stop. For decades, while people have known that it goes on, authorities haven't really prioritized stopping it because it was seen as a "victimless" crime.  But people now, finally realize there are victims. And it's time to put an end to it by making stopping the crime a priority.  It's time to crack down on the scumbags....and leave the people who are trying to do right by the dogs alone.

(Photo attributed to the AP).

Update:

 For more commentary on this, check out:

Pet Connection:  Why Fight Busts are No Longer Enough.

Winograd: HSUS: Abused Dogs Should Face "Pretty Certain" Death

CBS News: Inside America's Biggest Dog Fight Bust (has probably the best video and photos (nothing graphic) I've seen on this thus far).

HSUS Changes Policy on dogs seized from Fight Busts

Last week, members of several groups of animal welfare and animal rights member met in a summit in Las Vegas to discuss a potential change in HSUS policy for dogs that are seized from dog fighting busts.

In the past, HSUS policy was to recommend that all dogs that came from dog fighting operations, even puppies, would be systematically euthanized with no "need" for professional behavioral evaluations.

However, the success in the rehabiliation of the dogs confiscated from Mike Vick's Bad Newz Kennels (Hector, one of those dogs, is seen "viciously" snuggling with Missouri State Senator Jolie Justus), combined with the public outcry over HSUS' insistence that 127 dogs confiscated from Ed Faron's home be systematically killed, has finally led HSUS down a road to a change in policy.

No longer will HSUS insist that all dogs confiscated from fight busts be put down. 

Yay.  And it's about time.

While many dogs from these fighting operations may be put down in the future -- they will all be given professional behavioral evaluations before that happens. If a dog is decided to be too aggressive to ever have a public life, they will be euthanized. But if the prospects for a dog to be rehabilitated look good, the dog will be given that opportunity.

"The groups agree that all dogs should be treated as individuals, and they are the true victims of this organized crime," reads the Best Friends release.

Best Friends has the Press Release here.

Even Wayne Pacelle has issued the statement on his blog.

"In the past, animals seized from operations have been routinely euthanized. This may still be the outcome for the animal victims of dogfighters, but we agreed as a number of groups that all of us should do our best to evaluate dogs seized from these operations and adopt those dogs who can be saved."

That's progress.  It is still concerning that the nation's largest and richest animal advocacy group had to be pushed by the general public and other organizations to change a policy that declared that all of these dogs had to be killed even without an evaluation. But the good news is, the public demanded it to a point that HSUS DID change their policy. The public has charted a direction for how we treat animals in this country -- and that direction is no longer being led by HSUS. 

It's good to have HSUS along for the ride.  Saving these dogs is important. It should be our first notion.  If they cannot be saved, that is understandable, but "kill" should not be our first reaction when it comes to these victims. If the very people who are in a position to care about the welfare of these animals do not think their lives are worth saving, why would we ever think the people who fight these dogs would value their lives either?

Donna at Bad Rap, always the optimist, nicely put it:

"Welcome to the New World, bust dogs. From here on out, you will be counted among the many shelter animals who are also counting on humans to give them a second chance at a real life."

The news is being greeted with skepticism around the animal welfare world.

YesBiscuit is asking some tough questions.

Katie is wondering how an organization that only months ago encouraged Wilkes County, NC to kill 127 dogs, many of them young puppies -- some even born in the shelter - -can do a 180 on this topic in such a short amount of time.

Even Christie is a little skeptical (she has a great overview on everything that's well worth the read).

Who can blame them. HSUS hasn't always been the best of friends when it comes to 'pit bull' type dogs -- or any breeds of dogs for that matter. They've earned the skepticism.

I am surprisingly optimistic. Not because I trust HSUS . I don't. But because the animal welfare communities -- the people who are in the trenches every day saving the lives of animals -- has demanded change and gotten it. The people who truly care about saving the lives of animals and live their lives every day doing it, have charted a new course for animal welfare in this country.  Without HSUS's leadership - - in fact, in SPITE of HSUS's "leadership" - the animal welfare community has changed how they view the humane movement.

And that is very powerful indeed.

And in the end, it will be great for the animals....which is what it's all about.

Our justice system in this country is out of whack

That sentence isn't the most profound statement ever written.  But I'm just at a loss. 

At some point in this country, someone decided that in breed discrimination issues that people are guilty until proven innocent.

We've made a practice of destroying people's property before a trial decision has been reached so that the property is gone (dead) before the person is found not- guilty.

Now, apparently we are suspending sentences for people who plead guilty to felony charges.

So apparently, Mike Vick plead guilty yesterday to state dogfighting charges.  In doing so, he may be able to get his 3-year federal sentence reduced because he is unable to get out of federal prison while state charges are still pending.  In exchange for the plea, the state is offering him a suspended sentence (at the recommendation of  Surry County Attorney Gerald Poindexter) that would allow him to go immediately into a halfway house program and would not serve any jail terms for state level felony crimes.  And in Vick's case, this wouldn't be just one felony crime - but it could multiple cases of felony animal cruelty -- one case for each abused dog.

A suspended sentence is not sending a message that we as a society feel like dog fighting is a major crime.  And we need to. Badly. 

Great Program. Great Stories. Wrong Sponsor?

NBC Channel 5 in Chicagohas a great story on the work Tio Hardiman is doing in the inner city of Chicago. Several years ago, Tio was began going into Chicago's inner city and working with dog fighters, gang members, and others to change the way they perceive their dogs. Instead of being proud of their dog for being a good fighter, they are teaching the owners of these dogs to be proud of them because of how well they're trained.

Tio spoke at our Canine Legislation Conference last fall and shared many stories of his success. This video covers off on several other dogs that came out of fighting situations and are being rehabilitated for normal life. It's a great video (although warning, HSUS's dog fighting footage gets shown a couple of times and it's a bit more graphic than I feel is necessary for this feature). But if you can, you should watch the video.

Tio's program is an excellent one. Working not only on rehabiliting dogs, but on rehabilitating owners.  The biggest problem I have with this is the amount of attention HSUS is getting for this in the story -- and that Wayne Pacelle took credit for this in his blog today. 

Let's make no mistake on this. This is Tio Hardiman's program. Tio was doing this on his own because it was the right thing to do and because he has an amazing gift at reaching these people. HSUS saw what was going on, and decided to offer to help him. In many ways, this is great for Tio.  He is getting access to resources he never would have had without HSUS's help.  In other ways it is infuriating.  Infuriating because HSUS is now taking credit for the work Tio has been doing.  Infurating because even less than a year ago, HSUS recommended that all of Michael Vick's dogs be killed because they assumed they would be too dangerous to be rehabilitiated.  They weren't,*and the folks at Bad Rap, Best Friends, and the ASPCA (and other folks) are doing excellent work rehabilitating these dogs and finding them homes. 

* Be sure to watch the video behind that link --I actually somehow missed this one and it's really an awesome heartwarming video.

HSUS has not been a friend to fighting dogs over the years. Even the Vick dog in the NBC video above (that is currently a service dog bringing joy to cancer patients) was recommended to be killed by HSUS. Now they're taking credit for helping other fighting dogs.

So a huge tip of the hat to Tio Hardiman. Great program. Great work. You're awesome. And I hope you are able to continue your great work. And may your work do wonders in changing minds -- the minds of the public in how they view these dogs, in the minds of the men that your are helping educate on how to raise a dog, and the minds of the organization that is sponsoring you...

For more on Tio:

http://btoellner.typepad.com/kcdogblog/canine_legislation_conference/

http://btoellner.typepad.com/kcdogblog/2007/08/clc-speaker-tio.html

Mike Vick state trial to be delayed?

What is going on in Surry County, VA?

It was announced today that Michael Vick, and his three co-defendents on dogfighting chargeswill have their state hearing delayed until all the men are released from federal prison. 

"We don't intend to go forward until these guys are released," said County Attorney Gerald Poindexter.  Poindexter noted the expense of flying the men in for their trial as the reason for not holding the hearings.

 The men are in prison (Vick for 23 months), on federal charges after pleading guilty to dogfighting conspiracy charges.  However, each of the men are set to be tried on the state level for animal cruelty -- with EACH COUNT of animal cruelty possibly carrying its own 5 year sentence.  With over 50 dogs found on the property, and many more found dead and burried in the back yard, there is a lot of opportunity here for increased jail time on state charges.

I certainly question the Constitutionality of Poindexter's decision.

I'm no fan of Michael Vick. However, like all of us, he at least deserves protection of the laws under the US Constitution. Amendment 6 of the US Constitution says that the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial.  Waiting 2 1/2 years after the charges were first filed for a court hearing hardly qualifies. 

You'll note that the Federal prosecuters moved forward with their trial without the state last August because Poindexter's group was so slow moving with their investigation and charges (Poindexter actually was out on vacation while the Feds did most of their investigating).  One has to wonder why Poindexter seems just content to drag his feet on this issue, both in the initial investigation and in his trial.  Is he trying to get the case thrown out in court?  It all seems a little odd to me - -and if not a little odd, at least unconstitutional in giving someone a speedy trial. 

Urban Legends

I been thinking a lot about the urban legends recently.  You know, the superhuman jaw strength of a 'pit bull', the 'locking jaw' myth, etc.  I was thinking about these things when someone on a chat board somewhere was commenting about the ridiculous 1600 PSI bite strength (really, she started with 3,000, then caved to 2,000, and then admitted that she'd just read it in a few places with no real evidence but believed it to be true).  Sigh.

People who think they have the best interests of dogs at heart often believe in ridiculous urban legends and make a lot of decisions based on them. They heard a story about someone who knew someone and then all of a sudden it was true.

Thus is the case with some well-meaning folks in Oklahoma.

According to an article today from the Tulsa World, there is an ongoing debate on whether or not the shelter in Tulsa should adopt out 'pit bull' type dogs.  The currently policy is that any 'pit bull' that enters the shelter is killed after three days.

On the one side, many dog trainers are pushing for them to be adopted out noting that the dogs are very easily trainable and make great house pets and companions (note: pit bull type dogs are legal throughout Oklahoma as it is against state law for communities to ban them).

On the flip side, Ruth Steinberger of the Oklahoma Alliance for Animals and Nancy Atwater of Spay Oklahoma don't think 'pit bulls' should be adopted out because the they are too frequently used for dog fighting. 

"There is no other breed where people go to the shelter to victimize the animal," said Steinberger.

Atwater later adds that the animals that are taken to the shelter and euthanized have a more humane death than they would if they were adopted for fighitng.

Laura Morris, a dog trainer, recommended a policy so people could adopt the stray  pit bull terriers.  She said she'd be willing to help check for temperament and even proposed a 10-week long dog obedience class for people who wanted to adopt the dogs (she offered to teach the class for free) and that the shelter could then deny the people the right to adopt the dog.

Atwater and Steinberger said that the class wasn't practical because people could complete the program and still train the dogs to fight.

Let's make three  assumptions here really quickly that are standard at most shelters and should be at all of them.   Assumption #1: All dogs that leave the shelter are spayed/neutered  Assumption #2: All adopted dogs have an adoption fee of somewhere in the neighborhood of $100.  #3 Dogs have to pass a basic temperament test to be sure it's not super-freaky aggressive before being adopted out.

Given these two assumptions, let me ask, are dog fighters coming in to pay $100 for a spayed or neutered dog really a huge issue?  Most cities have a surplus of dogs, so there are many unaltered dogs available in these neighborhoods for $50 -- and come completely intact. Why would they pay more for an altered dog that has already had some type of temp-testing done to know it's not aggressive?

Now, in Tulsa, they're adding a new layer, and forcing them take a 10-week training course (offered for free). 

So do we really, REALLY, think that a dog fighter is going to pay $100 for an altered, non-aggressive dog AND take a 10-week training course, to then, turn around and fight the dog when he has the option of buying an unaltered dog for $50 from Joe down the street or from the many listings over the past few days on Craigslist (There were 10 free ones posted on May 3 alone - which really is a potential problem)?  I'm not buying it.

I'm not going to say that it hasn't ever happened. I'm sure it's happened somewhere.   However, this is another incident of an urban legend where the worst case scenerio gets played out as if it is the norm, and rescue person passes the story on to rescue person (and dare I say AR person passes it on to unsuspecting person wanting to do the right thing) as if it is a HUGE problem.  I've seen no evidence at all that it is. 

But for the one dog that slips through the cracks (which would no doubt be tragic), there would be hundreds of dogs that would bypass "humane killing" and get the opportunity to experience a loving, happy household.  As a society, I think we should be past the point where "humanely killing" is perceived to be our best option.  It's not. We can and should do better.  And adopting out 'pit bulls' is one way to start doing that.  It's one way to start eliminating the killing that is going on in our shelters. 

Let's take the steps necessary to be smart and cautious.  Taking advantage of the 10-week training course would have HUGE benefits to eliminating the possibility of a dog getting into the wrong hands (and let's face it, having people learn how to train their dogs would have huge benefits well-beyond just the dog fighting question.

Let's get past the urban legends and start coming up with practical solutions to real problems instead of creating potential problems in our mind that really aren't there. 

Ending Dog Fighting in Chicago

This is a great video about work that is being done in Chicago to encourage young men in the inner city to take pride in their pit bull type dogs for reasons other than their fighting ability. Hat tip to Mac's Gang at Barking Mad for pointing to this.   I'm going to post it here too (sorry Mac), just because I think it's really important for a lot of people to see this.

The video features Tio Hardiman, who was a guest speaker at last year's Canine Legislation Conference that we held here in Kansas City.  He's running a great program in Chicago and it's great to see some of the video of what's going on up there.

On another note, we're also starting another session of "Pit Bull University" here soon -- I'll post the details once we get this all worked out.  PBU is our Kansas City version of helping high risk dog owners (we welcome all breeds) with basic obedience training.