I personally think anybody who finds it amusing to watch animals fight is sick in the head... people say "he has lost everything already" really? I am not making millions of dollars and I haven't committed a crime, and he has now been resigned to make back what he lost....onder: hmmmmm... I also think punishments are not strict enough period. Not for animal cruelty, not for dog fighting, not for murdering an animal, nothing. We have lost respect for the eagles due to this. Everybody is entitled to their opinion but nobody can change my mine, there is no excuse, murder is murder.

 

I have been following the dogs, not him...hes not worth a thought in my head IMO.

bad rap also got som' of the dogs and they are doing wonderfully.

 

i say they should put in in a ring with a bunch of moms and dads of pitties and let them tear him apart.. just a thought i swear i dont condone violence.

on a happy note its good that the dogs are being taken in and are being helped.

 

the silver lining on this dark and horrible cloud...this was the first time that fighting dogs have really been given the oppertunity to live again. as many tears as i shed when i read their stories, it is a start. the publicity that they have been getting has been amazing and mostly positive. i have friends who are afraid of pit bulls that have been making positive comments about the dogs, and their resilience. not to mention this is a great opportunity to study their behavior. i only wish that michael vick's return (which i assumed was inevitable from the beginning....) would have been based on a more public and active apology...like if he had done something to say he was sorry (i'm not saying he would be sincere, that wouldn't happen)...

 

i have seen more people leave the dag park because of pits and it is sad they have such a bad rep. Noel has a pit buddy that she visits with at the petsmart when i take her. the trainer there has a pit that is a rescue.

 

you know, i'm a little guilty of this. not that i just up and leave the park or anything but i've learned to be cautious of who my dog plays with at the dog park (or anywhere), no matter what the breed. i've seen all sorts of nasty things narrowly avoided and some things that haven't been avoided at all. again, from all sorts of breeds. i'm embarrassed to admit that even though i love pits (truly i do, they are one of my most favorite breeds of dogs, i've never seen a smile like a pit smile), i still get a bit anxious when i see an unfamiliar one at the dog park.... i've noticed that it is a bit more than i would be with other dogs....

 

When we always took Harvick to the park and even walked him around the neighborhood he LOVED pit bulls...never growled at them, NOTHING. It was like he knew they were misunderstood (well most of them). I actually watch more for German Shepherds and unaltered labs (for some reason there are a ton of them at parks!)

 

hey, thanks crios for that post about the dog-dog aggression. i don't know why i haven't gone to the badrap web site before! anyhow i know a lot of that stuff about pits (or atleast i thought i knew!), i mean i have had heated arguements with people defending pits. that is why i was embarrassed to admit it. like i said i am a little cautious of all dogs, especially at the dog park because it seems to me that people in my area use the dog park as a way to avoid training or exercising their dogs on a regular basis. they bring them in to the park let em loose for 30min-an hour every once in a while (maybe 2-3 times a month)and don't pay any attention to what they're doing while there. then their poor dog has all that energy, doesn't get to see other dogs very often and runs around like maniac (venting, sorry) not everyone of course, there are lots of great dogs there too, in fact most of the dogs there are great and have pretty cool owners. once when i went there was a GSD puppy, probably around 7-8 mos there for an hour and didn't belong to anyone i could see. finally a woman jumped out of a car in the parking lot and came in to get the pup. (sorry still venting) this sort of thing makes me cautious of the park and other dogs in the first place and has nothing to do with the dogs breed....
clover has several friends that are pits, one in particular is a male rescue about his same age, they get along really well.
i'm not really sure why i get more anxious when it is a pit, and only just noticed that i was doing it. like i said, i don't freak out or anything, its just that i am extra carefull to watch the dog's behavior and her owners. i guess i just need to keep on educating myself about it. gee....sorry to go on about it...it bothers me about myself so i want to fix it. anyway, thanks for the responses again and links to any good web sites are super helpfull

 

It ok, like I said, I was a huge pit advocate but still felt weary when I met a strange one...som'thing about having one at home that I adore helped me ALOT...

Interacting with her also helped me realize that they aren't any stronger than any other breed ( of the same size obviously). And that they really are smaller than the most common breeds...When I first took Kiwi I thought "cool I have a big dog now, that can play with the big dogs!" and then realized that she was the smallest one there (shes 45lbs)

I can fully restrain my dog with little effort and all those big, oversized muscles take alot of energy to function, so the dogs are actually at a disadvantage.

Also alot of pits have a tolerance for pain, they feel it, just don't seem to be offended by it so much. Kiwi gets beat up pretty good playing, and seems to prefer the rougher dogs. Of course, this doesn't help if there is an actual fight.

I have the most issues at dog parks with labs and boxers honestly... the big size, extra energy and the fact that the owners feel they are a "harmless" breeds is a recipe for a fight IMO.

 

Glacier likes the rough play too, him being white we can see every scratch and bite on him from playing with the big boys.

When I first started going to the dog park I would keep a close eye on pits, labs, sheph, etc. and noticed every pit LOVED Harvick and did not have a mean bone in their body. There was even one unaltered pit, who I might ad was pretty dang short for a pit, and Harvick trampled him while playing, not one growl came from this guy.

I always felt that rehabilitation does not occur once a dog has a "mean streak" this was before I got Harvick who has such a drive and high threshold. He gets so focused on things, is loud and plays rough, just like the "typical pitbull" and he is by no means a horrible dog.

 

Did anyone read this article?

The dog on the cover is Jasmine...and she was the most fearful of the bunch...she looks so sweet, just so scared on the cover.

Btw Im proud of sports Illustrated running the story, it was all about where the dogs are now.


Jasmine was later hit by a car

 

aw how was she hit by a car? Did she get lose or was she running off leash?

I don't read sports illustrated lol

I did watch the episode on I think it was animal planet where they showed the Bad Newz Kennels and the dogs they took in. I think the only somewhat "positive" thing that came out of this entire situation is that the Pit Bull got a lot of attention and seeing that groups help rehabilitate dogs that were used for fighting and that it is done showed a lot of people that just because they were in this environment does not mean they have to be killed. I thought every fighting dog had no hope until this story.

 

I heard that story was coming out so I bought that ONE issue lol

The family would not go into details...Iam assuming she excaped acidentally.

I was honestly not shocked that most of these dogs came around...this is a great breed.

 

Yea after hearing their stories you would think more people would have changed their minds about pits.

Heres a somewhat funny story. The two pits that Harvick was in love with at the dog park belonged to a girl who I later found out was one of my best friends sisters, found this out when his parents showed up with their dog and started talking to the girl lol. He always told me about his sisters pit bull. This older female was perfect, submissive (but not to the extreme) and oh so friendly. The newer one (a 5 mo old pup) was the same way, she never jumped either.

This changed my mind immidiately about the breed.

 

i'll have to look up that issue, probably will be the only issue of sports illustrated i ever even look at!

 

Just thought I would add my two cents. (Can't sleep... still waiting for a response from the rescue),

Anyways, as far as pits, for some reason don't bother me at all. I watch after my brother's sister's dog a lot. A 90 lb black lab/poodle Mix. He is the Biggest Whimp in the dog parks. One day we ran into his mother and some of his siblings at the park. (Mind you he is by far the largest of the litter), And some of his siblings started started playing rough with him and he just took it. We eventually took him away from the entrance and the dogs didn't follow.

Anyways, about 10 minutes latter, the largest Rottweiler I had ever seen came into the park with his female friend. She was about as Big as Mac was and he was easily 50 lbs heavier. Built like a rock. Of course Mac sees this guy and think "yay, a new friend!" and runs over.

Ive always thought rotties were adorable but at that moment all i could think was, "he going to eat him."

In that case the size worried me(not sure why)
In most cases though if I worry about the dog, its because of the owner, not the dog. If the guy has a pitt but is obviously in control, then cool. But if you are letting them run wild, i dont care if its a great dane or a jack russel. ONe eye will always be on them.

I also thought it was funny when a guy brought his border collie to the park and he tried to heard all the dogs, including Mac, So he had to take him to a corner and everyone else had to stay away.... not very social.

OK trying to sleep again. After a late night snack of course.

 

In that case the size worried me(not sure why)
In most cases though if I worry about the dog, its because of the owner, not the dog. If the guy has a pitt but is obviously in control, then cool. But if you are letting them run wild, i dont care if its a great dane or a jack russel. ONe eye will always be on them.

did you know the a rott actually has a stronger bite than a pit....i'm not sure of the numbers but i've read it in multiple places.

i think i have the same thing with the dog's owner....with pits i've met a lot of people who make comments like "he's a pit so i really have to be on him" (ie correct him every 30 seconds) or "with pits you have to be really strict, and pain doesn't bother them" (ie you have to beat the dog to train it) i know, now i am generalizing pit owners....sorry i don't mean to, but i hear that crap a lot.
i also hear a lot of pit owners speak wonderfully about dogs and they have really awesome dogs that are great ambassadors for the breed

And I apologize for my horrible story telling skills. They are even worse in person.

And a final note on the rescued dogs. My younger brother is a huge Falcons fan. Our mom has 2 cats and they love him so I would consider him an animal person, however, he said that fighting the dogs wasn't that bad because they were bred for that..... OOOOOO i was so infuriated! The whole situation is sad if you ask me. I watched a few of the episodes and I cried watching everyone. I also cry watching any of the animal cops shows. People are cruel.

actually, they were bred to fight and to be sort of "all around dogs" then during the civil war time they were bred specifically to be family pets/guardians. i cannot stand stupid comments like thatand i have heard them before...that sort of apathetic, ignorant attitude is one reason why cruel practices like dogfighting are so hard to stop! (not yelling at you, obviously you don't like it either) could you get your bro to watch one of the programs about the dogs to maybe educate him a little bit?

i can't watch animal cops anymore (don't have tv anyway) i went through a very short lived phase where i watched it regularly, but i get so emotional after, i'm almost not functional.

 

And I apologize for my horrible story telling skills. They are even worse in person.

And a final note on the rescued dogs. My younger brother is a huge Falcons fan. Our mom has 2 cats and they love him so I would consider him an animal person, however, he said that fighting the dogs wasn't that bad because they were bred for that..... OOOOOO i was so infuriated! The whole situation is sad if you ask me. I watched a few of the episodes and I cried watching everyone. I also cry watching any of the animal cops shows. People are cruel.