What to do with Mike Vick's Dogs

Mike Vick plead guilty today of his involvement in dog fighting, providing the location for dog fighting, killing dogs, and providing money that was used for gambling.

Now the big debate is what to do with Mike Vick's dogs.

HSUS has recommended putting all the dogs down.  Many dogs that have been trained to fight don't do well when adopted out.  However, it should be noted that even though all of the dogs were trained to fight, some of them still wouldn't do it when prodded -- those are the ones that Vick and his posse drowned, electrocuted, etc.

One woman has even gone so far as to recommend that they all be adopted 0ut, but only after having all of their teeth yanked out.  Yeah, that's a great life for a dog...no chewing. 

The right way to do this is to actually analyze the temperaments of each of the dogs and have them determined, based on their own unique temperaments, whether or not they are ok going back into society.  Some no doubt, won't be.  Some, will.  Rehabilitation with these dogs is quite common.   I think these dogs have been through a lot, and shouldn't be presumed guilty without given a fair opportunity.

As you'll note, I've provided several links to Bad Rap's blog.  They've done a GREAT job on the blog of late, and they have developed an outstanding temperament testing system for pit bull type dogs that is second to none.  I'm sure Donna, Tim, and crew would love the opportunity to show some folks how to do the temp test on Vick's dogs.

Comments

[Michelled]

I urge everyone that would like to do SOMETHING to help to give to your local bully breed rescue or a rescue/shelter that is bully friendly (www.mabbr.org and Animal Haven are two in KC. Search for pit bulls in your area on Petfinder.com to see what rescues have pit bulls listed). Or better yet - adopt one! ;-)

H$U$ is not helping these dogs and does not deserve your money. Everytime H$U$ comes in to evaluate a situation, there response is to kill more animals.

[Luisa]

You'll be glad to see this :~)

http://lassiegethelp.blogspot.com/2007/08/aspca-elaborates-on-pit-bull.html

[Dog Service Network]

I personally do not think it is fair for these dogs to die, because of the way they were raised. It was never their choice to begin with in choosing to fight to the death of other dogs. A dog does what their owner teaches them to do. When being put into a life or death situation whether it?s a dog or a person, of course there will be a fight back to defend oneself. The dogs Michael Vick trained were brainwashed if you will to fight other dogs as a means of surviving. If they didn’t, they would still be put to death, by Vick. In this type of situation its a fight to survive and be the last dog standing if you want to stay alive.

If these dogs were trained to fight and be in a combat situation, and animal activists think they’re not suitable to be around other animals or people, and it’s determined that they can’t go to a shelter or rescue, I think the time should be taken to retrain these dogs to work in a combative environment such as becoming a military dog since that is what they’re used to. This way they will not be put to death, but at least fighting for a good purpose - to bring better to our country.