The Healing of [Michael Vick's] Dogs: Jim Gorant on PBS' Need to Know

Jonny Rotten a therapy dog.
Hector hangs out with his loving family of people and other animals.

 Michael Vick  now out of jail.
(and
 PETA Eating CROW)

Time passes, and if you want to find out more about what happened to the dogs
 that Michael Vick and others
enslaved, brutalized, manipulated,
-- as if these men were actually packs of demons--

read Jim Gorant's book, The Lost Dogs (more click HERE) and also,
 why not watch this video clip here
from Need to Know.

You might cry a tiny bit or

get vaclempt or just change a little,

vowing to help out somehow...

The dogs were treated so badly, PETA said, they should all be euthanized. They were beyond help.
But, as it turns out, that warn't so.

So, watch the vid
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/video/
   and  go to the site above  to read all about this and related links.

also,

watch this wonderful video:  (Ms. Paisley Sky)

and-
Changes came.
 Good changes.

Here is an excerpt from the show tonight:  
"- “The Vick investigation had not only shed light on the disturbing game of dog fighting,” writes Jim Gorant in The Lost Dogs, “it had inspired action and begun to change the public view of pit bulls from perpetrators of violence to victims of it.” In several recent dog fighting busts, the successful approach used in the Vick case was applied to these new cases, and many dogs were spared as a result.
- The Humane Society of the U.S. has changed its position on how captured fighting dogs should be handled. The organization now supports individual evaluations of fighting dogs, and saving those that can be saved. (Peta, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, still believes that trained fighting dogs are too risky to try and rehabilitate.)
- Once he was released from prison, Michael Vick teamed up with The Humane Society to help them in its ongoing national campaign to educate kids around the country about the cruelty of dog fighting. Vick has repeatedly expressed remorse for his role in these crimes, and he was allowed to rejoin the National Football League in 2009 by Commissioner Roger Godell. In the 2010 season, Vick was the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles,...Just this week, Nike announced that they have re-signed Vick for an endorsement deal, after having dropped him in 2007 when his crimes came to light."...
.
Several posts examining Vick's dogs,
psychology and animal cruelty click here.


Dog faces (and a huge blue staffordshire mug) to make you laugh HERE

Here i will post some pictures of the
Lost Dogs, now rehabilitated, with their families:
I found these just by a variety of google searches.
The first two, so warming, hector-

Jonny Justice

Sunday Redemption: A Change of Heart for Michael Vick?

Howie Long's statement from today's NFL Preshow was very provocative.
Trying to get the video to play easily here --or the transcript-is proving troubling.
(he has clearly pondered Michael Vick's 'situation')

--Hehe heh- Howie's aside to brett favre-

"ULYSSES had a shorter journey home... it's time!"

 heh...

Take Howie's statement regarding Mr. Vick, add
 Richard Cohen's statement of cynical incredulity, excerpt below)
 consider the issue part 1 of 4 here
Mix with resolutions not to judge
Then, let's discuss The Title Question.



Excerpt from the washington post partisian, Richard Cohen:
The commentary about President Obama's call to the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles regarding that adjudicated dog killer Michael Vick has now reached an apogee of stupidity that strongly suggest that too many otherwise smart people have lost their ability to reason. Obama, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie recounted, said, "'So many people who serve time never get a fair second chance.' He said, 'It's never a level playing field for prisoners when they get out of jail.' And he was happy that we did something on such a national stage that showed our faith in giving someone a second chance after such a major downfall.'' It helps, I think, that Vick has completed 63.2 percent of his passes and has 20 touchdowns. He is not your average felon.


And, yet, that is the comparison that's made. You would think from the commentary that Vick was some poor kid who got caught swiping something so he could get something to eat. You would think he had on the spur of the moment stolen a car, gone for a joy ride -- and collided with a police car at an intersection. You would think that he was anything other than in immensely gifted and immensely rich professional athlete who got a signing bonus of $37 million and had endorsement deals from Nike, Coca-Cola, Kraft and others. Vick staged dog fights and killed dogs not because he had to, but because he chose to. He's a thug.
Dog fighting was Vick's hobby. He had been warned about it. His own father had told him to stop. He persisted because, as with many great athletes, he was never held accountable. A nation of jock-sniffers always looks away when a great athlete does something wrong. Nothing is an important as winning -- we all know that -- and Vick was and is a winner.

The sanctimony regarding this dog killer is sickening. He was wantonly cruel, not only pitting dogs against one another in fights, but drowning poor performers. Didn't he know this was cruel? Didn't he know wounded dogs were in pain? Is he so stupid he didn't notice the blood, the torn skin, the...? Oh, forget it! The man's an animal himself.
\Now Vick has punched all the tickets on the road to rehabilitation. He is contrite. He loves pooches. He might even get a dog himself. How much of this is genuine and how much is synthetic I leave to you. But I'll tell you this. Vick got a second chance not because he deserves it but because he can play football. This is the lesson we can all take from this sorry episode. It's one thing to be sorry. It's much better to hit your man in the end zone.

Michael Vick's Dogs, Animal Cruelty, Lost Souls and the Sociopath Part IV ( Need to Know Update 2011)

 HERE is video and pics of the Michael Vick dogs today:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/video/need-to-know-january-21-2011/6464/ (video of Michael Vick's Lost Dogs) Cry like a baby:

What happened to the dogs at Vick's Bad Newz Kennels?
Parade Magazine has a story this month about the new book, The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption by Jim Gorant. 
I am glad someone is following up on this group of dogs. The article states that usually, animals in this situation are put to sleep so we really don't know how rescued fighting dogs can change.

The dog on the parade cover is now a "Reading Dog! That is, children at libraries read to dogs. Did you know about his program? We have it here in Manhattan. It seems helps the kids so much, to read to a dog.

So, the one that got my attention was Hector. He's all scarred up on his chest.

Hector, now certified to work with the sick and elderly!

I think this is an interesting article as it brings up the issue of healing.
Many human children are maltreated by their parents or "caregivers."
 The research shows that about one third of abused kids go on to be abusive; one third have more internal, personal problems like depression; and one third go on to live wonderful lives. Some may even be higher in compassion than the norm--i read a book once, Strong at the Broken Places  about high functioning adults who were abused as children; how we develop strengths specifically from our trials.

BeAN pLANTS
Consider bean plants-- how many of you grew small bean plants in grade school? You gave some too much water or light; some not enough light, etc. It was clear that there is an optimum level of gift-giving to the plants. But consider this:
AFTER all the wounding is over, if you take the plant and give it what it needs to heal, the fruits of that plant may be richer, sweeter, than the fruits of plant which were never wounded.
Many folks have adopted a dog who seems to know that they owe life to their benefactor, and shows a gratitude and love they might not have experienced otherwise.
When we study the healing and redemption of these dogs, and the sad loss of some who apparently were too "far gone" to save, we can learn about healing our own species.

Why are some dogs unable to recover? Is it something in the dog, or is it a particular treatment, or an interaction? Can extroverted dogs who were abused but never fought, for example. heal -while introverted dogs who were champions cannot?

The psychological research literature shows that of all human child abuse: sexual, physical, emotional/psychological--the one most difficult to overcome in later adult functioning is the latter. Psychological/emotional abuse attacks the very heart of one's sense of self. In cases of sexual abuse, abusers often praise or reward the crime victim. Abusive episodes may be the one time a child feels any "positive" attention at all. During physical abuse, some children are told, "I am doing this because I love you" or "You need to learn" etc etc...

But insulting and demeaning a person is telling them that they themselves are worthless.

The sociopathic person does not care about all this--their behavior to others is always to get something or feel something. That is what i want to write a bit about next.

Sociopaths, Animal Abuse, Michael Vick and Our Own Hearts:

Part I       Part II        Part III        The Disgrace of Bullfighting

click pics to enlarge.