January 26, 2008

See the Vick dogs!


Check them out in all their tail-wagging glory! The whole story is here, via BAD RAP. See the BAD RAP blog for more links. Coverage by the Chronicle, with photos, is here. The Contra Costa Times weighs in with a column by noted dog trainer and behaviorist [/irony] Gary Bogue here [more photos, and a video].

Go. Read. See the photos and watch the videos, and thank doG these good dogs got the chance they deserved. I'll be adding to this post as the day rolls on. Can't tell you how glad I am for these dogs. (That's Hector above, with his BAD RAP foster mom, screen grab from the Contra Costa Times video.)

CNN video interview with BAD RAP's Tim Racer here. Excellent comments from Tim. Good job, CNN. Love his comments to the effect that these dogs didn't need to be rehabilitated -- they're good dogs. They need good care and training and a couch to lie on.

DogTime deserves its own link. Video city! Great job, DogTime.

Best Friends will introduce its own "Vicktory" dogs on Monday.

The Salinas Californian has an excellent story here. That's Stella on the left with Justin Phillips, shelter supervisor at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for Monterey County, one of the nine-person evaluation team chosen to work with the Vick dogs last October. More on the SPCAMC website, here.

The Murky News tells why Jarrod Cooper is my new favorite sports hero:
Today [the BAD RAP founders] got help from Jarrod Cooper, a Raiders special teams player. He and other Raiders players are helping fund a new initiative called "Code 597," after the penal code violation for animal abuse. The goal is to educate the public on better care and to fund dog shelters and other gear for local pit bull owners.

Cooper volunteers almost daily at the shelter, where pit bulls make up about half the animals that arrive at the shelter, and two-thirds of those euthanized, shelter officials said.
More coverage, including a great video report by Manuel Ramos, on the Bay Area's CBS station.

He made it! He's OK! Aw, crap, Donna, you made my eyes puddle up -- what great news, and thanks so much for everything, this news especially. #44, below?


That's Hector! Hector, the dog in the photo at the top of this post. Ossum.

Yet another link: detailed article at SeattlePI.com.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a GREAT opportunity for the public to learn that pit bulls, yes even former dogfighting pit bulls, can be loyal, sweet, and loving companions. This might be the silver lining to the sordid mess that Vick created. Awesome job, BAD RAP.

Donna said...

Thank you for keeping everyone on track with this project throughout the summer and fall Luisa. You have an uncanny ability to sense what's really going on without having much information and your posted so many point-on observations and things that I was just dying to say, but couldn't.

Most of all, I wanted you to know that "#44" was alive and well and as wonderful as you imagined he was back when you first spotted his face in the horrible articles that came out in the press about the dogs.

#44 - of course - is Hector in your photo above. Leslie calls him Hector Gonzales because he's a big luva boy. He sure knew how to broadcast a "Get me the hec out of here message!" from those early photos and now we know why.

Thank you for your good vibes and for keeping this story in front of everyone's eyes. If prayers can help mold grow faster in laboratory petri dishes, then I'm sure that dogs in tiny kennels can get good juju from hundreds of well wishes.

Donna

Donna said...

Yes Luisa! That's your boy.

The power of prayer, I'm tellin' ya.

Luisa said...

[sniffle] Thanks, Donna!!