On Sunday, a team of 11 Red Star Animal Emergency Services responders from the American Humane Association will return to a shelter near St. Louis to help care for and socialize some 500 dogs that were rescued in a July dogfighting raid, the biggest in U.S. history, which spanned Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas. This news comes on the heels of guilty pleas from Robert Hackman, Teddy Kiriakidis, Ronald Creach and Michael Morgan entered Monday to conspiracy and other crimes, admitting their roles in breeding, trafficking, fighting and killing pit bulls in a lucrative dogfighting network, the Associated Press reports. A fifth co-defendant, Jack Ruppel, pled guilty Sept. 4.

Humane responders take on task of socializing 500 dogs from raid – Paw Print Post: A community for Dog, Cat, and Pet Owners – USATODAY.com

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Michael Vick’s dogs will be receiving some media attention today, helping to focus the spotlight on some of the victims of his crimes as opposed to shining the glory of the lights on the criminal as has been done all summer long by most news and media outlets.

Dr Phil’s looking for feedback – Should Michael Vick have been reinstated?

“Do you live in the Philadelphia area?  Do you feel that Michael Vick should have been reinstated to the NFL? Yes or No?  Why do you feel this way?  If you think Michael Vick deserves a second chance to play professional football, please let us know, and give us your reasons why.”

If you want Dr Phil and his audience no how you feel about this situation, leave your comments here.

September 15, 2009 : 8:44 AM ET

On Wednesday, Sept. 16, some five million to seven million viewers of the popular “Dr. Phil” talk show will get a look at the Vicktory dogs at Best Friends Animal Society.

A segment of the show will be devoted to NFL quarterback Michael Vick, who recently suited up with the Philadelphia Eagles and returned to the football field after serving a 23-month sentence on a federal dogfighting conspiracy charge.

But more importantly, the segment will feature some of Vick’s victims — 22 of whom came to Best Friends in January 2008 to heal from the trauma they suffered at the hands of Vick and others in his dogfighting ring.

I’m a lover…

“What is important to us is that people consider the dogs,” says Ed Fritz, campaign specialist for ‘Pit Bulls: Saving America’s Dog,’ one of four Best Friends’ campaigns aimed at reaching the goal of No More Homeless Pets. “There’s a lot of talk about Michael Vick and if he deserves a second chance, but no one is talking about the dogs. Don’t these dogs deserve a second chance? As long as Vick is playing with the NFL, it’s up to us to support the victims of his cruelty. Michael Vick didn’t serve one day in prison for animal cruelty. He was punished for dogfighting conspiracy.”

Vick has apologized publicly, but many question his sincerity.

“To our knowledge, neither Vick, his handlers, nor the NFL has called to ask how the dogs are doing,” wrote Best Friends co-founder Francis Battista in a moving commentary in the Philadelphia Inquirer. “And these very real, living victims of the crime are nowhere to be found in the continuing debate about Vick’s rehabilitation.” Read the entire commentary here.

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EDIT – I published this article a day late.  Working too many nights, my schedule got off track.  This is one of the reasons why I only run a website and not a group.  I’m not the best organizer. 

Today is National Dog Day.  We would like to celebrate National Dog Day and encourage you to celebrate it as well.  National Dog Day is not about Michael Vick nor the NFL.  It is a travesty that on National Dog Day Michael Vick is so prominently featured by the NFL and the Eagles.

In this time of recession and world wide conflict, it is difficult but if you have the means and the disposition we’d encourage you to consider supporting National Dog Day, adopting a dog, or taking action to support dog and animal welfare.  We ask you to do this in balance with your support for other causes as well, but on National Dog Day, don’t neglect this particular cause.  The world does have many problems confronting it on many levels, but we are fortunate that in our humanity, we can exercise the ability to engage many issues simultaneously.

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Since the NFL and especially the Philadelphia Eagles made the unfortunate decision to allow Michael Vick back into the NFL where he will likely play his first football game in over 2 years the day after National Dog Day, we have received some novel examples of ways to protest, boycott and share our displeasure with the NFL.

We would like to open a dialogue with everyone and brainstorm on ways to do this better, and more effectively.  We want to cover the spectrum of potential ways to achieve our goal of removing violent felons from a fan money funded NFL.  That said, we do not want to cause or inflict violence or harm on any person, nor do we want to put potential fans in harms ways by their potential protest actions.  So first lets have a brainstorm on the potential ways of boycotting the NFL and or the Philadelphia Eagles.

Different people have different levels of commitment for this cause.  Some of use are engaging in a total boycott of everything related to the NFL or that sponsors the NFL.  Others are boycotting the Philadelphia Eagles and or their sponsors.  Some are simply boycotting anything related to the violent felons still playing in the NFL today.

We want to identify all the potential ways of maximizing our efforts across that entire spectrum so that anyone that wants to participate can do so in a way that fits in with their own perspective and goals.

To kick things off here are 9 ways to boycott or protest Michael Vick & Violent Felons in the NFL

1. The easiest thing you can do is to leave your comments here on SackVick and other similar sites.  Each comment you make generates a new web page, which help fills up the internet a little bit more with more perspective and views on fans against felons in the NFL.
1. If you have a site of your own, link to our site or to an article.  Drop me a comment with a link to your site pointing at SackVick and I will add you to one of our blogrolls of animal loving sites, fans against felons or general supporters.
2. Our site has been around for over 2 years and we are heavily indexed across the internet but every little bit helps and if we can help you in return for your support with a link back, we’re more than happy to reciprocate.
3. Include a badge on your site or in a blog article if you like  Here are some different sizes
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2. Contact sponsors of the NFL and The Eagles and call for them to remove their sponsorship until violent felons are removed
   1. contact them by mail
   2. contact them by email
   3. contact them by twitter and other social networks
   4. contact them by communications channels,
   5. contact them on blogs
   6. contact them by employee email
3. Write blog articles highlighting the transgressions of felons and where possible putting sponsor logos or products next to pictures of the crimes
   1. Most sponsors that sponsor the Eagles do not want to see their products next to images like those of Michael Vick’s dogs after he fought them, brutalized them or killed them
   2. If they don’t want their brand next to images like these, then they need to remove their sponsorship or experience the synergy of their sponsorship of a brand such as the brand that is Michael Vick for example
4. Sports bars across the country both in and out of Philadelphia have stopped serving miller and coors products.  Many people at first see this as something that is bad for business, but today there are hundreds of other beer options out there, especially considering micro brews which can be more profitable even for a bar owner to serve.  Boycotting these Eagles sponsored products can be good for raising attention, good for getting free press, and good for the bottom line
5. Some sports bars are also refusing to play any game with the Philadelphia Eagles in their establishment.  This could be tougher on the bottom line, but will sure get people in the bar talking about the situation.  Sometimes its better for a bar to have its patrons talking (and drinking) than it is for them to be passively sitting on a bar stool watching a game.  That goes double if the bar finds some way to flip that attention towards some other activity.
6. Philadelphia Season ticket holders are planning to engage in a tailgate protest at Philadelphia games.  They will show up with their tickets, park and tailgate and protest Michael Vick.  The coup in this effort is that they are going to sell their tickets to people from the opposing team, hoping to displace the home field advantage for the Philadelphia Eagles until Michael Vick is removed from the team.
7. On a personal level, don’t watch any Eagles games, or escalate that to not watching any Fox broadcast NFC East telecasts, or if you are in it all the way, don’t watch any NFL games at all this season!
8. If you do watch games, take note of the companies that are running commercials during Eagles games and send them a protest letter, email, etc .
9. Protest on National Dog Day – If you are in the Philadelphia area, protest the Eagles on Wednesday August 26th – National Dog Day and on Thursday August 27th, the first day that Michael Vick is likely to play again in the NFL.  If you are at the game don’t wear any Eagles colors, bring protest signs and signs that include images of the dogs that Michael Vick fought or killed.  If you do not go into the game, bring your dogs to protest the event outside.  Howl and wail like a dog in pain every time the Eagles have possession of the ball.
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    What would you add to this list . . . .  

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Ed Sayres, the President and CEO of the ASPCA described in detail why he and the ASPCA specifically chose NOT to partner nor work with Michael Vick, despite requests from Vick and his entourage.  We would highly encourage reading this article in full, but wanted to share some of the key excerpts.  Our effort, site and campaign are also NOT partnered with the ASPCA, we have not contacted them and vice versa, but we DO respect their decision not to help promote the criminal in this particular case.

Several months ago, Mr. Vick’s PR representatives approached the ASPCA to help educate America about the heinous act of dog fighting following his release from prison. We were the first animal welfare organization given the opportunity to work with Mr. Vick but immediately turned him down due to the unique knowledge we had of his indescribable and barbaric acts of animal cruelty where he and his associates savagely electrocuted and beat dogs to death after they lost their brutal fights.

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The ASPCA’s general consultation and our specific role in processing the forensic evidence in this case were key elements that resulted in Mr. Vick and the three other defendants all pleading guilty to felony crimes.

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the ASPCA wants to make clear why this organization chose not to partner with him in his supposed rehabilitation efforts. We are simply not convinced that Mr. Vick has demonstrated compassion toward animals as living beings or the necessary remorse for his criminal actions against them.

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CBS did a grave disservice to the animal welfare community by failing to show the ugly truth of Mr. Vick’s actions and the horrors of dog fighting and animal cruelty in this country. The continued attention paid to Mr. Vick is only reinforcing that criminal behavior does not destroy fame and fortune.

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Although Mr. Vick has served his time and is now entitled to employment, the ASPCA was strongly against him being able to immediately re-join the NFL, to play alongside highly paid elite athletes who are looked upon as our heroes and role models.

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The ASPCA believes in second chances — in redemption — but that second chance has to be earned through contrition, conversion to the cause of animal welfare and finally, through hard work. Mr. Vick has only now begun his journey toward a second chance.

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Will Mr. Vick have learned something — and taken the opportunity he has been granted to impart to his legion of fans the importance of compassion toward animals? Certainly, only time will offer us an answer — but we will be watching.

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People say that Michael Vick’s actions didn’t cause any harm to other people sometimes. Well that’s a bunch of crap. Not only was one of Vick’s business partner’s murdered during this situation, but Vick’s actions against dogs set an example for other kids and people to follow, just like Vick probably followed some twisted role model himself.

I’m not saying that Vick is the start of violence against dogs or animals, but he was not enough a man to stop it before it did more damage, damage that is still spreading today.

Witness the case of the dog that was recently set on fire. Sick, twisted, demented, and one more unfortunate example of people that fell victim to the cowardly examples set before them.

I signed the petition “Justice For Dog Set On Fire”. I’m asking you to sign this petition to help us reach our goal of 10,000 signatures. I care deeply about this cause, and I hope you will support our efforts. This is your chance to say enough is enough and help set a positive example that the rest of society is not as much of a coward as Michael Vick or the other people out there that would kill and torture animals for sport.

Sign the Petition

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If we work hard to look for a silver lining that has come out of the Michael Vick dog fighting scandal and related crimes, it can easily be identified as all of the dogs that were saved.  Conventional wisdom before Michael Vick’s dogs were saved, held that Pitt Bulls could not be re-trained to be good and ‘safe’ pets after they had been trained to fight.  In most cases where dogs were seized from property where they had been trained to fight, they were typically killed.

The dogs that were rescued from Michael Vick have in many cases been retrained and conditioned and are now living happily with real families. 

Now, your average family that has a dog will not necessarily be likely to experience these extreme conditions with a pit.  However, many families with pets also tend to hold to the conventional wisdom that their current pet at whatever age they may be might just be set in their ways.  Just because a dog is 4 or 8 or 10 even, it doesn’t mean that they too can’t be trained.

It is often the pet owner that is preventing the training because they hold to that incorrect conventional wisdom that old dogs can’t learn new tricks, when in fact the old dog may never get a chance to learn because the owners are not giving them a chance. 

In reality dogs of all ages can be trained and retrained.  Regardless of whether a pup is sent for initial puppy training, or an older dog attends dog obedience school, it is possible to train and re-train that pooch!

Now, I do not write this standing on a sanctimonious pedestal.  I own three dogs.  One of those dogs has developed and re-enforced a very bad barking habit.  For quite some time she barked incessantly for no reason.  We moved a couple years back and our new home is located near water.  We get a lot of wild geese and ducks coming into our yard and they tend to make a mess everywhere, getting onto our porch, decks, sidewalks, cars, and roofs.

We taught our dog to bark and keep the geese and ducks herded out of and away from these areas.  The fowl have now been trained and they don’t set foot in our yard mostly. 

Unfortunately for our barking dog, her mission in life is now without a purpose. So she has repurposed her training and now barks to little effect at the birds in the distance.  The birds do not move and she does not stop barking. 

Things are getting to the point where we need to consider some more in depth training that surpasses our own abilities, because we essentially need to reverse some general training that we instigated and also curb something that was previously a bad habit.

I came across a group that offers dog training Toronto.  They also have franchises all around North America for that matter.  They specialize in training dogs in their homes or yards.  For our dog, it would do little good to train her not to bark in obedience school because the stimulus for her barking exists in our yard and not in a ‘school’ environment.  That’s when you really need an expert to come and visit and help with the conditioning.

For many people, they might attend the quick weekend sessions at the local strip mall with a pet store located there.  Those training sessions are usually more about training the pet owners and less about training the actual canine.   For what we need, we need the dog to be trained and we might need some re-conditioning ourselves.  Fortunately for us, and for people around the country, thanks to the tragedies surrounding Michael Vick’s dogs, the dogs that survived have helped to show people that old dogs can learn new tricks, even in the most extreme circumstances.

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