Trained Dog Fights

In the early winter of 2004, we found our beagle, Biscuit, with her one remaining puppy near a creek outside of our property line. Biscuit had managed to keep her tiny black puppy alive for four weeks in spite of bitter cold temperatures. Biscuit had a habit of having her puppies where no one could find them until the puppies were about a month old. With this particular litter, Biscuit would run home for a meal and then disappear again. Efforts to find her were in vain until that day. We fostered this puppy until she was about eight weeks old at which time we gave her to the family next door. They have a young daughter, so we thought we were doing a good thing. We were wrong- dead wrong. They named the puppy Dixie. I offered to have Dixie spayed but they declined. Looking back, I would have done things so much differently, but I learned many valuable lessons. When Dixie was about ten months old, a male chow found her. Three months later, eight more puppies were born. By this time, rumors had abounded throughout our neighborhood that the man next door was making money by fighting dogs. People claimed that late at night he was below his property in the light of a bonfire and that the screams of dogs could plainly be heard. Though no hard evidence has been presented by anyone to date, the entire neighborhood, and a few members of our police department are convinced this is true. Of the litter of eight, two puppies have been either sold or given away and two have died from circumstances unknown to anyone outside that family. The remaining puppies, plus three of the four adult dogs this family keeps frequently came to our house. At first, I believed it was to visit, since we love animals and we welcome other peoples pets onto our property, within reason. I fast determined that they were hungry. One dog- a black chow- was constantly chained in their back yard, so I never knew of her condition. The other seven, however were always dirty, neglected and hungry. We'd feed them every day. I bought extra dog food because no dog shall be hungry on my property. I went so far as to give them some money for dog food, though I'll never know if that money was used for their purpose or something else. A few days prior to this writing, two of the puppies, Teddy Bear and Rudy followed my daughter to our home right after school. This was fine until they got into a fight. In trying to stop the fight, my daughter was bit. After determining that her wound was not serious and putting her knee on ice, I ran outside to find my son now trying to stop the fight. By this time, the two puppies had made their way to the very bottom of my yard and were engaged in a literal fight to the death. I yelled at my son to get inside and had him call 911. I remained with the dogs and a broom. I was not successful in stopping this fight. When an officer finally arrived, he had to hit the aggressive dog with his nightstick and subsequently, removed the dog altogether. The dog was Teddy Bear and he was close to death as he lay on the back seat of the police cruiser. Rudy somehow managed to get up and go home. After a full day of repeated attempts to talk to my neighbor, I finally managed to talk with him a full two days after this incident. I chose the street, which provided a relatively safe and neutral environment- for both of us. I explained what happened, explained that my daughter had been bitten by one of his dogs on our property and that I was concerned that since dogs are not born with this type of fighting in him, that the neighbors suspicions that he in fact was fighting dogs might be true. Not only was he not concerned about my daughter, he completely blew up at the fact that the neighborhood was telling these lies about him. He became extremely defensive and hostile. Without offering any apology for my daughter and without offering any solution to prevent this from happening again, he yelled an expletive about the neighborhood and stalked away from me, saying he was done with it all. Had this been his daughter, and had my dog been the one on his property, my dog would be gone right now and I'd be cooling my heels in jail. That's how this man operates. He and his young daughter love to threaten to sue everyone for the smallest of infractions, but when it comes time to take responsibility, they are the very first to say we're all telling lies and that they are going to sue. Yet no one- not even the police- cared that my daughter was bit by an aggressive dog on our own property. Again, while I have no proof that these dogs were trained to fight, these are my suspicions as to why they are: A dog that fights to the death is dangerous. In this case, the puppies were about six months old. The attack was vicious, upsetting to all of us and left both dogs completely drained. Dogs, especially this young, that fight like this are taught, not "just like that", as this man claims they are. Were this man as innocent as he claimed, he would have immediately offered an apology for what happened, asked if my daughter was O.K. and then immediately took steps to ensure it would not happen again. Instead, he went into his house and the dogs remained free to wander at will. These dogs are all starving. All seven that I can see. Their ribs are clearly visible and their spines are becoming visible. A starving dog turns into an aggressive dog, and aggressive dogs are loved by their dog fighting owners. All of the dogs are skittish. Dixie was not skittish for many months, but now she shies away from even us at times. Dogs that aren't socialized are skittish, afraid and can become aggressive without warning in some situations. The neighbor yells at the dogs quite often, and his yelling can be heard from down the street. He cages all seven dogs in the same small pen for days at a time, and when they are finally let out from the cage, late that same night there is a lot of car traffic into his yard. Dogs that are caged for long periods of time build up energy. Many people will chain their hunting dogs up until it's time to hunt. The more energy the dog has to burn, the more aggressive they are when they hunt. This same principle applies to the fighting of dogs. Why is dog fighting harmful? For many reasons, the main reason being that training a dog to fight ruins a dog. It's the same principle as racing dogs, like the Greyhound. Once a Greyhound no longer has a race in them, most are killed because they simply hold no value. The same holds true for trained fighting dogs. Either the owner will kill the dog or another dog will. All the dog knows is fighting, aggression, and anger and it won't rest until it kills again or it goes insane. Not only is it not responsible, or ethical, to train a dog to fight, but it's criminal to allow such dogs to roam free, especially where there are other people in close proximity. My daughter is a perfect reason. I wonder something, though. How many more people will have to be hurt before the police do their job? Not only was my daughter bit by one of his dogs, I was also bit last summer. I still have the nerve damage to show for it. Moreover, the police did not say a word about placing Teddy Bear in quarantine to check for rabies after he bit my daughter. In conclusion, there are no good reasons to fight dogs, or any animal for that matter. In addition to the inevitable loss of the owners' dogs, there is great risk and potential for someone else to be hurt or killed by such actions. If you are a dog fighter, or know someone who is, please ask them two questions: Even though you don't care enough about your animal to treat it well, don't you care enough about protecting the people around you? Is it worth risking the life or health of someone else for a few minutes of greed, and animal cruelty just to make a few bucks or to get your kicks? It is my opinion that in the end, when it comes to dog fighting, no one emerges as a winner.