Mara Schiavocampo, digital news correspondent for “NBC Nightly News” and a Best Friends donor, came to the sanctuary to do her story on what the Michael Vick dogs have been through and how they’re now doing. In case you missed the program, here is the link to the report on the Vicktory dogs that was carried on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.
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Last year a group of pit bulls from Michael Vick’s Bad Newz Kennels found redemption at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. The dogs’ experience captured the heartstrings of the media and the public—and for good reason.
Two prominent national animal welfare organizations, PETA and the Humane Society of the United States, asserted the dogs were too dangerous to live. A U.S. district court in Virginia, which placed 22 of the 47 Vick dogs with Best Friends, disagreed, believing they could be rehabilitated. The dogs proved the court right, which is one reason we call them the Vicktory dogs.
The year and a half they’ve spent at Best Friends has no doubt been a testament to the power of rehabilitation—that given enough attention, care, and training, all dogs have the capacity to transform themselves, no matter the breed or how abused the individual.
While Vick has been locked away in prison for the sadistic abuse he inflicted on these dogs at his Bad Newz Kennel, 22 of his victims, described by the court as the most damaged of the dogs, have been healing at the sanctuary. Sadly, one of the dogs, Bonita, passed away in February from complications that arose while she was under anesthesia. The rest of the dogs have made, and are continuing to make, incredible strides in learning how to behave like happy, normal canines.
“All of the dogs have made progress,” says Best Friends dog trainer Ann Allums. “They’ve all learned to sit, stay, lie, and wait for their food bowls. And they’re all going on outings.” One of the dogs, Oscar, recently passed his Canine Good Citizenship test, a national standardized assessment of good dog behavior.
Not only are the dogs progressing, they are exceeding expectations.
When they first arrived at the sanctuary, they were collectively separated from the rest of the dog population and from one another—which was seen as a necessity, given the dogs had been raised to be aggressive with other dogs. Now, half of them have been integrated into the sanctuary system, sharing their runs with other canines.
“That’s been the biggest surprise—that they’ve been able to live with other dogs,” says Pat Whitacre, another trainer at Best Friends.
Another surprise has been how phenomenally adaptable they’ve been, says John Garcia, a dog trainer and co-manager of Dogtown, the dog care area at Best Friends.
“They’ve come from a horrendous situation, and they’ve learned to adapt and thrive,” he says.
No doubt, they are putting their brutal pasts behind them.
A good case in point is Halle, a Vicktory dog who has come so far in her rehabilitation that she was taken into a foster home in February. She is currently happily living with the foster caregiver and her other pit bull, with whom Halle has bonded. The court requires that the dogs be given a six-month foster trial period before they’re formally adopted. By all indications, Halle will be the first of the Vicktory dogs to be adopted.
Media darlings
Since the 22 dogs were introduced to the media on a snowy day in January, 2008, they have been featured in countless newspaper, magazine, and news television features. Their uplifting story has landed, among dozens of other places, on the front page of the New York Times, in the pages of Sports Illustrated, and most recently in a segment on ESPN’s E:60. To coincide with Vick’s release from prison, NBC’s Nightly News will report from the sanctuary on the dogs’ progress (see sidebar).
The Vicktory dogs entered the national consciousness primarily as the result of a two-hour episode on the National Geographic Channel’s “DogTown,” about the life-saving work occurring at Best Friends’ dog care center. Titled “Saving the Michael Vick Dogs,” the episode aired last fall, focusing on four of the 22 dogs: Cherry, Meryl, Denzel and Georgia.
As a result of that show, Georgia’s scarred face has become perhaps the most iconic face of all the former Vick dogs. Her scars speak of the trauma she endured fighting in the ring, but her incredibly sweet countenance and affectionate demeanor belies that violent past and announces the miles she’s come since Vick’s Bad Newz Kennels.
Her days as a media darling began last summer at the Television Critics Association’s press tour in Los Angeles, where Georgia was there to promote “DogTown.” Georgia had the critics fawning over her and lining up to rub her belly. About six months later, she appeared with Garcia on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” By the end of the show’s taping, she had the audience on their feet applauding her.
“Georgia is the only dog I know who can do a big PR event and have a good time doing it,” Garcia says. Apparently, all the attention has gone to her head. “I always say that I would be fine staying in a Motel 6, but Georgia needs at least a Hilton. She always walks into the hotel like she owns the place.”
All in all, the Vicktory dogs have been a great boon to one of Best Friends’ major causes—to end the discrimination against bred pit bulls.
“The media coverage of the Vicktory dogs works directly with our own Best Friends national campaign to inform, educate, and put the plight of the pit bull in perspective,” says John Polis, pubic relations manager at Best Friends. “And it finally appears that the American public is beginning to get it—that the real story is not at all about dangerous pit bulls, but dangerous, irresponsible dog owners.”
Written by Ted Brewer
Photos by Best Friends staff
Read more about what Best Friends is doing to Save America's Dog.
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