Friday, August 20, 2010

This is a Bait Dog

-*-WARNING-*-  
While there is no blood or raw flesh, these photos may be upsetting for some people.

The only natural white fur on this dog is the white on his throat.

Meet "Scrappy" (not his 'real' name, as his foster plans to find a better one).  He is a silver-blue, full blood American Pit  Bull Terrier.  He is young, crate-trained, eager-to-please, good with cats, house-trained and just a tad protective of his people.  Oh, and he doesn't fight.


That is, he doesn't fight or assert himself with other dogs.  Hence, his scars. Scrappy is a "bait dog"--he was used to give fighting Pit Bulls more confidence.  Turned in as a stray (what did you expect?) Scrappy arrived with raw wounds, badly infected cropped ears and a swollen leg due to a severe wound.
The worst scars are on his neck and hindquarters.

At first it was assumed  Scrappy would  be euthanized, but somehow he made it to a foster home.  His wounds are healing, although many of the scars will never regain hair, and others are coming in with white fur instead of silver.  He is gaining weight and will soon be neutered.


Scrappy is living, breathing testimony to the horrors of dog-fighting.  To know that this big, sweet, lug of a dog had no other purpose than to serve as a target for training other dogs is to see the proof in how a superbly people-oriented, eager-to-please breed can be manipulated into performing as a fighting machine.  Scrappy wasn't "game" but dogs like him suffer just as much as the game "champions" in the ring.  The scars are testimony to the courage of Pit Bulls, but it is the breed's courage that has been a burden.  It's a shameful thing that a dog like Scrappy has had to endure so much.

4 comments:

  1. Dear God in heaven, he looks like a brindle. I hate people. But, I guess it's people who've gotten him to a good place, too, so maybe we're not all bad.

    Is he at all okay around other dogs, or is that going to be a no-go?

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  2. What a pretty boy. I hope he finds a home to make up for all the bad things he's had to endure so far. Kudos to his foster home for accepting him until that forever family comes along!

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  3. I have met this wonderful boy at the shelter a couple of times. What a sweet and loving dog. Hard to imagine the nightmare that he lived through, and yet he is still a sweetie. A real testament to the resiliency of dogs...

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  4. "Scrappy" now known as Sarge has found a fantastic new loving family through Guardian Pit Bull Rescue here in North Houston. He has a canine brother at home and they are now inseparable. He is also about to begin his Pit Bull Ambassador training with Guardian Pit Bull Rescue in hopes of one day becoming a Canine Good Citizen. Sarge has been a tremendous success story and we know he will have many happy years to come. Thank you to everyone that had a hand in helping saving this great dog.

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