Now this is what you would call ‘a good outcome’
By Gina Spadafori
December 5, 2007
Just in from Best Friends:
A guardian/special master appointed by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has recommended that 22 of the 48 American pit bull terriers connected with the Michael Vick civil forfeiture action be placed with Best Friends Animal Society ( www.bestfriends.org ).
A favorable ruling from U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson would mean that the dogs will be relocated from various shelters in the Virginia-Washington D.C. area to the animal sanctuary operated by Best Friends on 33,000 acres near the town of Kanab in southwestern Utah.
Valparaiso University School of Law Professor Rebecca J. Huss, in a Summary Report to the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, recommended that 47 dogs (one has been euthanized for medical reasons) be placed with eight organizations, with Best Friends receiving the most dogs (22). The next largest group would be placed with Bay Area Dog Lovers Responsible About Pit Bulls (BAD RAP) of Oakland, Calif. (10). Other organizations that would receive dogs are Richmond Animal League of Richmond, Va. (4); Georgia SPCA of Suwanee, Ga. (3); SPCA of Monterey County, Calif. (3); Recycled Love Inc. of Baltimore, Md. (3); Animal Rescue of Tidewater, Chesapeake, Va. (1); and PACK (Pit Bull Advocates for Compassion and Kindness), San Francisco, Calif. (1).
“We are hopeful that the court will grant Best Friends the opportunity to do what it does best—provide a caring, rehabilitative home for these abused, homeless animals,” said Paul Berry, chief executive officer of Best Friends. “They deserve the very best that we can give them, and we are prepared to provide a safe place for them to stay for the rest of their lives.”
I’ve been to Best Friends, and for animals who cannot be placed with families there are few better options. As for the rest of the groups taking dogs, well: Bully for stepping up!
Here’s the rest of the news release on the Best Friends Web site.
Best Friends Animal Society is one great group! They were one of the major groups with people in boats and on the ground in New Orleans rescuing Katrina stranded pets. They put out a great newsletter and we donate to them.
Comment by Dennis — December 6, 2007 @ 5:36 am
Great to hear. I know a lot of shelter automatically kill pits, esecially those who have been used for fighting. I hope these dogs get to be pets eventually.
Comment by emily — December 6, 2007 @ 7:17 am
Best Friends is awesome! They have a huge facility in southern Utah where animals who wouldn’t otherwise be adopted can go to live out the rest of their days. I’m so glad Michael Vick’s pits are getting a second chance at such a great facility. Bad Rap is also awesome.
Comment by Jen (SLC) — December 6, 2007 @ 9:27 am
It was not very long ago that Best Friends was specifically soliciting professional trainers to foster Katrina pit bulls that they could not place. They claimed to be overflowing with pit bulls in need of rehab, and were offering significant compensation to trainers who would take the pits for rehab.
Trouble was, they were also dictating training methods — pretty much guaranteeing that any “trainer” that took them up on their offer would be either using ineffective methods or lying about what he or she was really doing.
I refused their offer, as did every other trainer I know who was solicited. I never got a reply to my email explaining why I refused.
If Best Friends had too many pit bulls and couldn’t handle rehab earlier this year, why are they now capable of taking on half of the Vick dogs?
As I understand it, Best Friends has also supported anti-pit-bull BSL in Denver and elsewhere.
I’d hate to see the Vick dogs become tourist attractions at the Utah kennel for the rest of their lives.
Comment by Heather Houlahan — December 6, 2007 @ 9:48 am
Well, ya know … you can’t have a policy (or an opinion) without someone disagreeing with it. And you know the red-blue state thing has NOTHING on the disagreements over training techniques. :)
Comment by Gina Spadafori — December 6, 2007 @ 10:16 am
Ain’t that the truth.
Comment by emily — December 6, 2007 @ 12:34 pm
I gotta say, I’m with Heather on this one. I’m thrilled to see dogs going to Bad Rap, but the thought of these dogs going to Best Friends makes me feel a little queasy.
Comment by katie — December 6, 2007 @ 12:55 pm
P.s. those supporting BAD RAP might consider buying their calendar. I love mine :)
Comment by emily — December 6, 2007 @ 1:46 pm
well, BF is happy to get a big chunk of the $900+k to care for the dogs… that amount might build a nice new wing. They’re happy to have Willie Nelson do a goofy “oh the dogfighters are flocking to Georgia” PSA.. but not a peep from them about the REAL problem with pit bull abuse in this country, what is really abusing and killing innocent dogs.
EVERY YEAR, the Denver municipal shelter kills more innocent family pets they ID as “pit bulls” than all the so called professional dogfighters in this country put together. Or so I guess, since it IS true that EVERY YEAR across this country, 10’s of thousands of innocent pit bulls are killed in “shelters”. They are given no chance of finding homes, just because of their appearance, and in part because of the hysteria about dogfighting (few if any of these pit bulls have anything to do with dogfighting).
of course, dogfighting is disgusting and brutal and should be wiped out.
But think about what constitutes the REAL cruelty in this country, promoted by PETA, HSUS and many many shelters. The automatic, mindless slaughter of innocent dogs.
Where are the headlines, and PSA’s about that? And where’s the money to fight against it?
Comment by EmilyS — December 6, 2007 @ 2:33 pm
Heather, do you care to describe what constitutes “ineffective (training) methods” as cited in your post?
Comment by The OTHER Pat — December 6, 2007 @ 3:26 pm
Sidebar……Judge Hudson is going to be sentencing Michael Vick next week, so stay tuned!
Comment by Lynn — December 6, 2007 @ 5:15 pm
That is super news. Was hoping that BF would get some of the dogs. Twenty two and ten to Bad Rap is just more than wonderful. As to the $900.000 dog support bill. Doubt if there is that much left after boarding/vet care the initial 66 dogs for about 7 months. BF did also great rescue job on about 800 cats in Pawrump/Nev recently. I donate to BF on a monthly basis, they are great IMO.
And Judge Henry E Hudson, my new hero. He could have easily condemned all the pits to death if he had listened to PETA or HSUS.
Whatever he ends up giving Vick as a sentence will be fair and wise and beyond criticism.
Comment by Serijna — December 6, 2007 @ 5:43 pm
See the comment by The OTHER Pat — December 6, 2007 @ 3:26 pm
I, too, would like to know precisely what ineffective training methods consist of.
[Heather? Will you enlighten us?]
Comment by Lynn — December 8, 2007 @ 6:48 pm
Lynn, I’m pretty sure Heather isn’t coming back to answer the question, so I looked up the information on the Best Friends website and - sure enough - they’re specifying that trainers who take the dogs must commit to using “positive” methods of training.
So - is it true what Heather says - that positive methods are “ineffective”? My answer to that would be - “Yes” - if the trainer is either unconvinced they can work, or has never learned how to apply them properly.
I would guess that there are trainers such as Heather Houlahan who will probably always find positive methods to be “ineffective”. But that doesn’t change the fact that there are many, many OTHER trainers out there who have had great successes with using positive methods to train lots and lots of different kinds of dogs - including pit bulls, dogs with aggression issues, dogs who are timid, dogs who are high energy, dogs who are distractible, dogs who are slow and deliberate, and so on - just about every kind of dog there is out there.
As long as the trainer is committed to learning how to use them properly, positive training methods can be an eminently effective way to a well trained dog.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — December 8, 2007 @ 7:51 pm