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Pittie Party
Feb. 2nd, 2008 06:45 pmMichael Vick has long been discredited, but the poor dogs he and his buddies abused are still in the news.
I don't have a lot of respect for PETA and the HSUS (the national organization- not local humane societies, which in my experience have been paragons of animal welfare). They wanted the dogs put down, as sadly is policy when dogs have been seized from dogfighting. The organization in the article took on some, after Vick paid nearly a million dollars to have the dogs evaluated and treated, and I'm very pleased that the prosecution agreed.
A lot of people think that it's impossible to rehab a former fighting dog, and in some cases it is more sane and humane just to put a dog down. But in a lot of cases, it's not. You see, dogs are animals; almost by definition, they adapt to changing conditions. Dogs can learn, no matter what stage of life they're in- if that weren't the case, housetraining an older dog would be impossible. Dogs can change- if they couldn't, then a timid dog would never gain enough confidence in anyone. And I think that just because some pimple on the ass of humanity decided to fight a dog doesn't mean that the dog suddenly becomes different from any other canine.
I'd really like to see how this experiment turns out- I mean, we've got 47 dogs from similar conditions in rescues and foster homes (only one was put down for aggression toward people, according to the article). We have a chance to see if fighting does ruin a dog as is popular opinion, or if it's just another myth.
I hung out with Regis at the shelter today. I sat down on a bench, and by the time I counted to five- I'M ON UR LAPZ, REFUTING UR STEREOTYPES. I'm bringing the damn camera next time.
I don't have a lot of respect for PETA and the HSUS (the national organization- not local humane societies, which in my experience have been paragons of animal welfare). They wanted the dogs put down, as sadly is policy when dogs have been seized from dogfighting. The organization in the article took on some, after Vick paid nearly a million dollars to have the dogs evaluated and treated, and I'm very pleased that the prosecution agreed.
A lot of people think that it's impossible to rehab a former fighting dog, and in some cases it is more sane and humane just to put a dog down. But in a lot of cases, it's not. You see, dogs are animals; almost by definition, they adapt to changing conditions. Dogs can learn, no matter what stage of life they're in- if that weren't the case, housetraining an older dog would be impossible. Dogs can change- if they couldn't, then a timid dog would never gain enough confidence in anyone. And I think that just because some pimple on the ass of humanity decided to fight a dog doesn't mean that the dog suddenly becomes different from any other canine.
I'd really like to see how this experiment turns out- I mean, we've got 47 dogs from similar conditions in rescues and foster homes (only one was put down for aggression toward people, according to the article). We have a chance to see if fighting does ruin a dog as is popular opinion, or if it's just another myth.
I hung out with Regis at the shelter today. I sat down on a bench, and by the time I counted to five- I'M ON UR LAPZ, REFUTING UR STEREOTYPES. I'm bringing the damn camera next time.
