I think all of us who care about animals stared on in horror last summer as news continued to break about Michael Vick's horrendous abuse of dogs in his care, and the dog fighting ring which he participated in and which existed on his property. It was a topic that I personally was very interested in both personally and then professionally because I was working on an article for a pet news site Pet Style: http://www.petstyle.com/news_ent_article.aspx?id=5454

As such it was with great excitement this week when I caught news of the fact that Bad Rap had the dogs up for adoption! Bad Rap is the fantastic organization, which was allowed to come in, and temperament test the dogs seized from Vick's property and rehabilitate those, which were found to be of sound temperament. These dogs are true success stories, there is even a video available to be watched on the Bad Rap site which shows the progress the dogs have made: http://www.badrap.org/rescue/vick/now.html

I'll admit that when I first saw the news that the dogs were being adopted out and that videos of them were being published on the web I had some concerns for their safety. Living in an area were dog fighting is not uncommon I worried that these dogs would become a target because of their fame. At the same time, I think that there are many lessons to be learned from these sweet innocent dogs that have lived through so much. An avid lover of pits I believe fully that there is nothing innately vicious or dangerous about these sweet dogs, and that the way their bodies and lives have been sensationalized in the news and in our culture is nothing short of criminal. They are no different than any other dog, and they should be treated as such, and yet alas, these poor dogs face discrimination nearly everywhere they go because of the absurd prejudices of others.

For these dogs rescued from the Vick property, and all other fighting dogs who have been rehabilitated, I wish them nothing but the best and nothing short of a caring and loving parent(s), a soft warm home, filled with toys, and love, after all it's what all dogs deserve.