Dogfighting. It’s everywhere. It’s sad to think about, it’s downright sickening, but it’s happening and right under our noses. The ASPCA has dedicated April 8th as National Dog Fighting Awareness Day, so a few bloggers and I have got together to help spread the awareness. #NDFAD
So…how can you help!?
- If you see a dog on Craigslist or posted anywhere on the internet (especially for “free”) – notify local animal rescues that may be able to help. Rio was a CL puppy who was pulled off of the site by a local rescue. Bullies on Craigslist = no bueno.
- If you come across a profile or account on Facebook/Instagram/etc. that is clearly a red flag, DO NOT report the page or add your own comments. Save the photos, the information and contact local authorities. Banning the page/reporting the person does nothing but make it disappear from your eyes however many miles away on the internet. The evidence given to the right people can do a heck of a lot more. Dog fighting is a very secretive enterprise that is hard for law enforcement and investigators to infiltrate.
- If you know of or have suspicions that someone might be involved in dog fighting, report it to officials.
- Remember: dog fighting can be taking place anywhere. Whether in a basement, a remote area, a planned location, your neighbor’s house. Anywhere. Also, the dogs used are not necessarily all kept in the same location. They come from houses, apartments, condos…And large operations travel across the U.S.
- Look out for heavy scarring on a dog. Fighting scars are typically found on the face, front legs, hind end and thighs, and can include puncture wounds, torn/mangled ears, and facial swelling.
Things to remember:
– There are many breeds of dogs used for fighting worldwide. Breeds include: Fila Brasileiro, Dogo Argentino, the Tosa Inu and the Presa Canario. The dog of choice for fighting in America? The American Pit Bull Terrier and other pit bull type dogs. But this doesn’t mean that other breeds or mixes are exempt. Other breeds, even non pit bull type dogs may be used in street fights or as the “bait” dog which is used to train the fighting dogs. Often these dogs are stolen (or ‘found’ online – see above). M.K. Clinton is all too familiar with this. Dog fighting is rampant in her city and she suspects that her dog from college was stolen and used as a bait dog.
According to the ASPCA, law enforcement has divided the most common types of dog fighting into three categories: street fighting, hobbyist fighting and professional dogfighting*:
- Street fighters engage in dog fights that are informal street corner, back alley and playground activities.
- Hobbyist fighters are more organized, with one or more dogs participating in several organized fights a year as a sideline for both entertainment and to attempt to supplement income.
- Professional dogfighters often have large numbers of animals (50+) and earn money from breeding, selling and fighting dogs at a central location and on the road.
– Not all dog fighters treat their dogs the same; street fighters may starve their dogs to increase aggression, unlike many professional fighters who invest a lot of time and money in conditioning their animals. The dogs are commonly given quality nutrition, steroids and muscle supplements. Narcotic drugs are also commonly used to increase aggression and mask pain or fear during a fight.
Other resources:
Download the Humane Society’s dog fighting poster – print & distribute.
Watch the dogfighting video from the Humane Society.
Download the Humane Society’s “How to spot signs of dogfighting” flyer.
Get the ASPCA’s toolkit.
Meet Vinny & Crash – two adoptable pit bulls through A Rotta Love Plus rescue in Minnesota. Crash was actually pulled from a dogfighting bust on the west coast.
Join myself, Melissa at Barking from the Bayou, Sue from the Talking Dogs Blog and Jenna from Love is Being Owned by a Husky on Dogs n’ Pawz Tuesday’s Tails Blog Hop dedicated to raising awareness for dogfighting and special bullies in need of adoption.
Feel free to share dogs (especially pit bull type dogs) in need of adoption and your dog fighting awareness posts below:
Great tips, thanks for sharing!
Awesome job! Thanks so much for letting us hop on Tuesday’s Tails for a different way that we can save dogs. I hope everyone posts something, an adoptable dog, a story, and the badge!
Great post very informative, thanks for sharing.
Sheba.
And thank you for linking up, Sheba 🙂
Great post!! I am so glad we were able to pull this together for today. Such an important topic which needs much more then one for awareness! But this is a great start and it feels good to help is some way!!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Hi Jenna,
Thank you! I think if we can encourage people to keep an eye out for signs of dogfighting and then in turn notify authorities of it vs. turn a shoulder – it would be a huge help! Thanks for putting this together with us 🙂
Great post, thank you for sharing the great information. Let’s stomp out fighting.
Agreed! Thanks for commenting & stopping by! 🙂
This is awesome that you are doing this and spreading the word. Definitely need to stop this. There have been 3 busts in our area that I know of this past year – makes me happy they busted them but profoundly sad for the dogs that it was even going on. Since I have three pitbulls who I adore is it okay with you if I share this post on my site???? Again thank you for all you do for the pitty’s. Love your site. :-). Jude
Hi Jude,
Thank you for the kind words & for stopping by – yes, please feel free to share the link to this post on your site!
This is very informative. I’m sharing the link where I can today.
Great info! I linked to this post on mine & joined in the hop. Thank you for the wonderful badges, too.
Thanks so much! The more exposure we can get for NDFAD, the better.
Excellent tips and a terrific blog post! Sharing.
Thanks so much, Sue! I love all the exposure NDFAD is getting 🙂
Thanks for hosting this great blog hop. I’m in! woo woo!
woo hoo! Thanks for joining 🙂
Its great seeing all of the blogs in support of #NDFAD! I hope you’ll visit my post and enter my ASPCA giveaway and share it! Love Dolly
Absolutely! I’ll head over there this evening 🙂 thanks for sharing it in the link-up!
Great post! So glad you guys asked Sue and I to do this on the Tuesday’s Tails Blog Hop!
Thank you very much!
Thanks for all the great info on this important cause. So important to help educate people rather than turn a blind eye because it’s such an unpleasant topic!
And thank you for stopping by & participating!
I really enjoy your posts, and this one is especially informative. Thank you.
There is a lot of great information here, and I learned some things I didn’t know. This hop was such a great thing to do for this day!
So much useful info in this post! Sharing!
Such a well written post. Thanks for pulling this all together.
Now, I’ve said this quite a bit but it is more than true: DOG FIGHTING DISGUSTS ME!
We have joined the Tuesday Tails blog hop with Lyric and Cutler, both pure bred Pitty’s.
Have a pawsome day!
❀Siamese Smothers and Tuxie Tickles❀ from Mikko and Jax at Happiness is Siamese!
P,S : Lola is GORGEOUS!!
Hi Christie, Mikki & Jax!! Thanks for joining! Headed over to check out your blog now 🙂
Vinny and Crash are adorable, we will share them. Great post!!! The humans involved in dog fighting are pure evil.
Hopping over from Rascal & Rocco’s post today – Great information! I don’t know much about dog fighting, so this article was very eye opening and informative. It’s so hard to believe that there are people out there who would participate in such things. Thanks for sharing all of this info.