Some Good Posts about Michael Vick on the Bad Rap Blog

I agree with Bad Rap most of the time (except when they're talking about prong collars or showing dogs wearing them in their videos) and they're talking about Michael Vick in a couple posts this week on their blog - one is a quote from Jim Gorant's book in relation to the talk about Vick getting a new dog that is quite awesome, the post is titled - "Have you been smoking crack" category..."From the book "The Lost Dogs" written by Jim Gorant, the senior editor of Sports Illustrated.....

As that dog lay on the ground, fighting for air, Quanis Phillips grabbed its front legs and Michael Vick grabbed its back legs. They swung the dog over their head like a jump rope then slammed it to the ground. The first impact didn't kill it. So, Phillips and Vick slammed it again. The two men kept at it, alternating back and forth, pounding the creature against the ground until, at last, the little red dog was dead.*

That is quite the counterpoint to the white picket fence family life that Vick is trying to show the world right now of him "thinking about" wanting to get a dog for his kids at some point in the future when he says "I think it would be a big step for me in the rehabilitation process. I think just to have a pet in my household and to show people that I genuinely care, and my love, and my passion for animals."


What a load of bullshit, eh? This picture here is from a Facebook group that's been formed called "The Rally against Michael Vick", and it's had some interesting links on it - so I thought I'd put the link here too - I thought this photo comparing these 4 people was really novel - because animal abuse always is the start, isn't it? Animals can never fight back.


There were 2 other good posts on the Bad Rap Blog - the first one was called - "a true friendship and a good death" and it was a post about their program for "compassion holds" - like the SPCA's palliative care program - where they place old dogs in good homes so they can have dignified old lives and good deaths - and just generally about how good old dogs are - and with yesterday's beautiful post about Zeus - it made me think about how great old dogs are - and how lucky I am to have my own "old dogs" - and it also made me think that I need to write more posts about the fabulous things about adopting old dogs.

And the 2nd post was called - "The ins and outs of language for 2011" - and this post reminded me very clearly of the trial of another dog named Zeus - this one being the Zeus that was on trial here in Nova Scotia a few years ago - and how there was no way we were allowed to call him a "pit bull" in any way, shape or form - or else Lloyd Hines was going to be able to kill Zeus for sure. If we called Zeus a "pit bull" - then he was going to BE a pit bull - so he had to be called a "pit bull type" dog.

The Bad Rap blog post talks about what words are "OUT" in 2011 and what words are now "IN" - and I agree with all of them - and if you've been reading along in the last couple of weeks - you'll get a laugh out of this one -

OUT- Temperament test
IN - "BEVAL" (short for behavior evaluation)

We now know that you really can't see a dog's true temperament through any given 'test.' At best, we can get a snapshot of personality type by observing behaviors during assessments. On that note, the word 'temperament' has been dropped altogether in some circles and replaced with the more generous word, 'personality,' to reflect an animal's flexible nature, given his environment and handling.

See? Even Bad Rap agrees with me.

Someone should really tell the "Powers that be" about that.

OUT - "Bait dog"
IN - Victim of cruelty

Like nails on a chalkboard, 'bait dog' is one of the most over-used and irresponsibly applied terms used to describe dogs with scars and unknown histories. Drop this one like a hot potato, please.

OUT - "Bred to fight"
IN - Born to be a companion animal

There's lots of other words that they define as being "IN" and "OUT" - you can go and check them "out" - the Bad Rap blog is really such a great read. I love it - except for those damn prong collars. I really wish "pit bull type" dog owners could throw those collars away.