This morning, two of the dogs from Bad Newz Kennels were on the CBS Early Show to not only have their owners tell their story, but also to help promote Jim Gorant's new book, The Lost Dogs. And here's the video from the segment (the video is incredible -- and well worth the 6 minutes viewing time -- Roo and Hector do a great job in the studio with the CBS folks).
The story is more positive press for the dogs that were once championed as the "most aggressive dogs in America" and to show how they were able to adapt to new environments -- with several even now working as service dogs.
The story is just more in a string of positive stories about the dogs - -reaching millions of TV viewers, newspaper readers and magazine readers.
And hopefully changing some hearts and minds along the way.
There is one really interesting piece from Gorant's book that I was planning on posting at some point, but has now popped up in its entirety on CBS News' website.
But when Gorant wrote the initial article for Sports Illustrated, SI received hundreds of letters about the article - -most were very positive. What surprised Gorant most was that the few letters they received that were negative were centered around the idea of why the big story, "they're just dogs".
In Gorant's Prologue, he addresses why it is that dogs matter so much to us as a society -- and I think does an eloquent job of doing so. Please take the time to read the short clip.
Gorant isn't an advocate, per se, but is just a writer who is observing what he sees and I think has done a brilliant job of capturing the story of the dogs, the bust and why dogs matter to our lives.
BTW, for more reviews on the book, here are a couple more reviews:
Just read the book last weekend and can't stop thinking about it, and about the individual dogs. Gorant did a great job: balanced, not melodramatic but moving just the same. I fell in love with some of those dogs! And God bless the volunteers who worked (and continue to work) with Vick's pitbulls. I'm very excited about the potential ripple effect of "The Lost Dogs" on public opinion about pitbulls.
Posted by: Anne | October 15, 2010 at 07:21 PM