Vick's dogs find sanctuary

Animal groups bet on the resilience of rescued fighting dogs

Tuesday June 9th, 2009

Twenty-two of the pit bulls seized in the Michael Vick dog fighting case arrived in their new home on Wednesday afternoon. Their new digs are much spiffier than the kennels they left behind in Virginia and Washington, DC, where they were being held as evidence against the former football star.

Best Friends Animal Society, located on 33,000 acres of dramatic red rock country just outside Kanab, Utah, is the nation's largest no-kill animal sanctuary and it's giving the dogs a safe and humane place to live, for the rest of their lives if necessary. But the pit bulls may be doing the sanctuary a favor as well.

Gauging resilience

Best Friends, which got many of the most traumatized Vick pit bulls according to a report by Rebecca Huss, the court-appointed guardian of the dogs, plans to study how the dogs heal--or not--in their care. "This is the first time we've had a group of dogs who all came from the same situation," says Best Friends spokesperson John Polis. "We don't know if the dogs' emotional behavior has been scarred or not--that's what we hope to learn."

Polis is cautiously optimistic about the outcome. "We're hoping some of these dogs could eventually be adoptable."

The journey to companion dog

Other groups caring for the Vick dogs who fared well on temperament tests--a total of 22 dogs from the group of 47 rated as potentially adoptable--are even more optimistic. They believe that with time, training, and TLC, their dogs' chances of transitioning from fighter to pet are very good.

"They'll need time to adjust," says Susan Kelly, director of development for the Richmond Animal League in Virginia, one of the seven rescue groups that took in pit bulls seized in the case.

And they'll get time. Per court order, the dogs will spend six months to a year being trained and observed for signs they're ready for life as a family dog. "They need to learn to live in a home," says Kelly. "Quite a few of these dogs have never been indoors, never been around people or children. They need to learn what it means to be a pet."

Kelly says the dogs will also be trained to earn their AKC Canine Good Citizenship certificate, a test of basic manners and obedience skills.

What about the other dogs?

As for the rest of the dogs, another 10 are with Oakland-based BAD RAP, three are with the Georgia SPCA in Suwanee, Georgia, three with the Monterey County SPCA in California, and another three with Recycled Love, Inc in Baltimore. Animal Rescue of Tidewater in Norfolk, Virginia and Our Pack, Inc in South San Francisco each have one dog.

The people caring for the dogs can't say how the dogs are doing or release any pictures until the last defendant is sentenced on January 25. But once the gag order is lifted, DogTime will be sharing the video and story of one of the resilient survivors being fostered through BAD RAP. His name: Jonny Justice.

-Updated January 7, 2008

Tags

News

Around the Web

DogTime newsletter

No comments about this page yet. Be the first!

Recent conversations on these topics

Willamette Animal Rescue previously NW Animal Rescue Alliance- BUYER BEWARE
This organization “Willamette Animal Rescue” is NOT a foster based program as her adoption website portrays. There are only a few fosterers’ mainly consisting of family/friends. There is a facility with 150+ sick, starving, dehydrated, and wounded animals. You can conclude that these helpless beings are clearly neglected! She (Alicia Inglish) has previously operated Northwest Animal Rescue Alliance, as well as having many aliases. This all can be found just by googling around. WE NEED TO COME TOGETHER AND HELP THESE ANIMALS FROM THESE MONEY HUNGRY PEOPLE. THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT THESE POOR AND UNHEALTHY LITTLE BEINGS! THIS IS A VERY UNORGANIZED so called "NON-PROFIT" BUSINESS. IF THIS WASN'T TRUE WHY ISN'T SHE ALLOWED TO GET ANY ANIMALS FROM (WILLAMETTE HUMANE SOCIETY or MARION COUNTY DOG SHELTER/DOG CONTROL)? WHY WON'T SHE ALLOW ANYONE IN ON THE INSIDE? WHY IS THERE NO PHYSICAL ADDRESS ANYWHERE FOR THIS SO CALLED RESCUE GROUP? I am one of her many ex-volunteers, who is trying to bring this to closure, (as I heard from a Marion County Worker). I blindly came into this situation assuming these helpless beings were rescued by a good heart. This is far from the truth! Her intentions are to only benefit herself! The physical address of this so called foster based organization is: 8955 Pueblo Ave. NE Brooks, OR. 97305 (Above the main door, there is a blue awning that says Softball Oregon. It is the second building to your right. It is across from Chemeketa Brooks Facility). There is a travel trailer on the backside of this building where she hoards more animals. There is also a white van in front of the building where she stores the hazardous waste material, being she can't even afford appropriate garbage service. Due to her unhealthy disposal of waste, the animals are at great risk for further disease. Of course this makes their habitats very unhealthy and is NOT proper care. She continuously struggles to come up with her $4000.00 rent fee for the building each month. Unless there is food donated (which very rarely happens), the animals go hungry. Just by standing on the outside of this facility you can smell how unsanitary the inside is. Upon volunteering I became very tight chested, which caused an asthma attack. It smelt of strongly concentrated urine due to dehydration and feces. Their feces as well as their urine contain blood. Every single animal in this facility has diarrhea. Make sure you contact Oregon Humane Society, ASPCA, local news, local police, local shelters, Better Business Bureau, town commissioner, and city mayor with all your situations. This woman finds/collects these animals all the way down to CA and up into WA. Being she can’t have animals from the local Salem shelters, make sure our voices are heard at all Northwest shelters. Warn everyone you know!
can you love your sog tooo much
i that think you can love your dog too much so what do you think please leave a reply
Is safe/not living with a dog while I am pregnant?
Is it safe to live with a dog while I am pregnant? As far as I know that prenatal development is very important. Everything can be a teratogen. Teratogens are substances that can harm my baby for instance dogs' hair. I have a story that is a true story. My doctor had two grandchildren who were deaf since they were born. He was trying so hard to heal his grandchildren, but unfortunetly, they could not be healed. He went to Singapore to check them up, and doctors in there told him that the cause was toxoplasma. My doctor's daughter used to have a lot of dogs inside her house. What do you think about this story? I want to know more about that because everthing has a possibility that we never know. I don't want to conduct an experiment with my own baby. That's why I am so curios. Thank you readers.
switching teams
I worked at a vet clinic for sometime. We sold the veterinary level foods from several different brands. The kinds pets need when they have extreme food allergies or diabetic or renal care. This food is on the higher end of pet food price range. About twice as much as grocery grade foods. But still we regularly have people come in buying the best for their furry babies. One time, a man came in to pick up the renal food for "his wife's" cat. I think for the case of canned cat food the total was $24. He jokingly scoffs at the cost and hands me a credit card. Then he says, "I can't believe I'm spending this much on cat food. I never used to be a cat person. I didn't get them. I was a dog person. I understand dogs, they show you exactly what they're feeling and thinking. Who would want an animal that doesn't run up to you when you get home? But now that we've had these two cats, I get it. It's a different kind of love. It just took having them to understand it." I haven't worked at that clinic for a few years now but moments like that are still crisp and vivid in my mind. It sounds like a similar transition for your dad. Maybe it started as a quest for companionship but turned out to be such a close camaraderie. Congratulations to him on his newfound love and hopefully this will be a new point of connection for the two of you.

see all conversations or start your own →