by Mike Jaynes

With the Michael Vick dogfighting case out of the media for the time being, his crime has slipped into the background. Hoping to keep animal abusers in the spotlight at all times, I bring a unique perspective on this less than current news story. I am a lecturer in English at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and I am shocked at the apathy my students have displayed during discussions about the disgraced quarterback and the disgraceful "sport" of dog fighting. The attitude that they are "just dogs" is prevalent and heavily disturbing to me, and I wish to briefly educate readers on why they should be very much concerned with and opposed to dogfighting, which happens all too often in my part of the country. What many fail to observe and realize is that Michael Vick did not simply "beat a dog." He did a great deal more that than.

To begin, the offensive blood sport remains illegal in the United States and is a felony in every state except Wyoming and Idaho (1). Most commonly, the dogs bred for fighting are Staffordshire terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, American bulldogs, and American pit bull terriers, though most of them are commonly referred to as pit bulls. Often using heavy logging chains, these dogs are chained, or "tethered" as animal advocacy groups have begun to call it, and taught to display extreme aggression in order to survive. They are beaten, kicked, starved, and even prodded with cattle prods to build aggressiveness. Aside from the inhumane cruelty visited upon dogs trained to fight, the training methods utilized are shocking and the fact that my students don't seem to care disturbs me deeply. The training is where the average pet owner should be concerned.

Breeders "train" dogs by various methods. They might force them to tread water in pools while weighted or run at a terrible pace on a treadmill while a cat or another terrified animal is placed in a cage in front of the dog. These "bait" animals are often people's stolen cats or small dogs, taken out of backyards or found wandering in the street (another reason not to let a dog live on a chain). The fighting dogs chase these animals and they are often caught and mauled to death as a reward for a grueling training session. Dogs are sometimes given steroids and repeatedly beaten to instill toughness and violence. If a dog proves to be weak or not prone to violence, they are killed or given to the more aggressive dogs, again as rewards.

Again, one must understand that Michael Vick did not simply "beat a dog." He electrocuted dogs to death. He killed dogs that were not "competitive" (i.e. they were good natured) enough. And he allowed this to go on completely unmindful of these dogs' rights to a healthy and pain free life. While dog fighting is not contained to any one social group, it is true that people who feel dog fighting is "not that bad" universally belong to a lower educated class. It is my hope this terrible ignorance and acceptance of dog abuse will completely wane from our society.

Dogs are ranked by their "gameness" is what ranks these dogs and gives them value to the people who fight them. This refers to their ability to keep fighting even when pain and loss of blood have caused their bodies to go into shock (2). One federal prosecutor reported a case of dogfighting in which one of 18 dogs found in a raid had 70 open wounds and was missing half a jaw while another dog's body was 75 percent covered in scar tissue (3). This is the horrifying research one easily finds when digging deeper into the dogfighting trade. Some people feel dogs naturally fight and it's not too bad, or at least that's what a shocking number of my students maintain. As the facts show, these pit bulls do not develop this uber aggressiveness without careful and active training.

Dogfighting is happening in nice communities this very minute. While certain underprivileged socio economic class members keep Pit Bulls as status symbols, dog fighting is not only a "poor" phenomenon. Since the intact (non neutered) pit bull has become a status symbol for people of lower economic class and people often acquire these dogs immured in ignorance and are ill prepared to properly care for them. Pit bulls can be wonderful and loving dogs, full of romp and playfulness, if properly maintained, spayed or neutered, and given loving attention.

I urge all readers to please write their legislatures to urge the imposing of stricter sentences for those sad and misguided humans who breed fighting dogs. In the meantime, if you discover, or even suspect, dogfighting activities in your city, please do the kind thing and inform local law enforcement and animal control agencies. Often, the people who raise train and fight dogs can be very intimidating and dangerous so do not attempt to personally confront them. Reporting animal cruelty can always be done anonymously and you will be safe from any acts of retribution.

I must admit I was surprised to hear of such apathy from my university humanities students. Saving Animals Via Education's focus on educating the public regarding animal abuse and animal issues is one I believe in. Also, one would assume that our universities would be filled to the brim with bright and tolerant students. In my experience, this is not always the case. Of course some students were rightfully horrified and saddened; nevertheless, a disturbing amount of them felt that Michael Vick was just "beating a dog" and was full within his rights. Training dogs to fight is not simply "beating" dogs, as bad as that alone would be. Help fight animal abuse by recognizing dogfighting is a horrendously outdated blood sport that we all should care about, at which we should all be outraged. Also, as animal advocacy issues move from their long held position as fringe issues to a more mainstream focus more people are understanding nonhuman animals' moral statuses as individuals and realizing they have all bent to humanity's wishes and dread pleasures for far too long. Eat as much of a plant based diet as possible, don't buy puppies from breeders or pet stores, expand your circle of compassion to include all living creatures, and please save the dogs.

 1) CNN.com, "Dogfighting a Booming Business, Experts Say," 18 Jul. 2007.
2)  Associated Press, "Vick Case Latest Stain on Pit Bull's Changing Image," 25 Jul. 2007.
3) Weir, Tom. "Vick Case Sheds Light on Dark World of Dogfighting," USA Today 7 Jul. 2007.