Dogtown

Last night we watched a show called Dogtown. Sometimes this show gets sad because of the way some of the animals are treated before they are rescued by Dogtown, but last nights show made me really angry. This episode was about several of the dogs that were rescued from Michael Vick's home after the dog fighting ring was discovered. These were some of the dogs that had more extensive behavior problems. One dog, Cherry, was so shy and timid that he constantly walked in a crouched position. They believed he may have been used as a bait dog for the other dogs to "practice" on. But the one that really got to me was a female named Georgia. She seemed to have a really good demeanor around people, but was dog and food aggressive. They noticed that all of her teeth were missing and they believed they had broken off during fights. When they took x-rays of her mouth, they realized that they had not been broken off, but had actually been professionally removed. The work was so clean, they believe that the teeth could only have been removed by vet. Apparently this is done in some of the "champion" females so they can force breed them and the removal of the teeth prevents them from hurting the male dogs. I was so infuriated by this. How can someone do this to a dog - or any animal? Especially a vet! After being taken out of that environment, she was happy, loved snuggling with stuffed animals, and just wanted someone to show her affection. I don't believe there is any punishment severe enough for people who participate in dog fighting.