Forced To Fight
Here is a little excerpt from an article on dog-fights. Read it to understand what these animals have to endure. It is not life”
“Typically, before their first birthdays, puppies bred for fighting are placed in front of other dogs in order to test their aggression. At around 15 months, two prospective “fighters” are forced to participate in a “roll”—their first fight, which lasts about 10 minutes—followed by a second fight that lasts an hour. Survivors are chained again (sometimes with weighted logging chains) for a couple of months until they are ready for their first “show.” Breeders “train” dogs by forcing them to tread water in pools; run on a treadmill while a cat or another terrified animal, who may be someone’s stolen companion animal, is placed in a cage in front of the dog (to be caught and mauled to death as a reward afterward); and hang on with their jaws while dangling from a chain baited with meat. The dogs are likely injected with steroids, and some breeders go so far as to sharpen their dogs’ teeth, cut off their ears (in order to prevent another dog from latching on), and add roach poison to their food so that their fur might taste bad to other dogs.”
Extracted from Martin Chow’s facebook post.
This kind of act is utterly horrendous. These poor dogs must literally go through hell and all for the sake of some cheap entertainment. Being forced to fight is bad enough, but the “training” and other aspects the dogs are forced to endure will no doubt mean that they are never without a single moment of intense suffering, fear and torture.
The real sadness is that these kinds of dogs are made this way through no fault of their own. I’ve had dogs all throughout my life and most have been “scary” dogs like Dobermanns and German Shepherds, but it’s never the dog that’s the problem – it’s the way they are brought up and treated that shapes their mind set.
I’ve never understood the need for this kind of thing at all. It’s nothing short of barbaric. Whoever moulds these dogs into fighters mustn’t be aware of the law of cause and effect; if they were, they’d surely be just as terrified as the dogs.
Om Mani Padme Hung! What a terrible thing to do – i pray those perpetrators will realise KARMA! It would be terrible to be reborn in situations like the ancient gladiators!
Dear Rinpoche,
This is a good case study for me, to think of myself what lies behind a human behavior in general.
When we human fight many would concern, but when it comes to animals people are just enjoying the show. During the olden days where not just dog, but birds, cricket and even smaller creatures are use as “gamble of fight”. This just proves that we human are selfish and take things for granted. Beside that we do have lots of fear in us that cause us to be unsecure. Just imagine we are the dogs that born to battle for human entertainment…. Thank You
Things like this have been going on for centuries, and it not only involve dogs, but other poor animals. Not to mention, ppl get more ‘creative’ through time…
I guess the ppl involved in such activity can never understand the law of cause and effect any more than i can understand their delight in such animal-fights…
Just by reading the articles, is already creates images of horribleness and cruelty. How can ppl watch it and be entertain by this act? Poor dogs!!!
Being a dog lover, i know for a fact that virtually all dogs are peaceful and loving beings. They just naturally are. Dogs which are vicious are so because they are either put through tremendous stress or otherwise seriously manipulated psychologically. All beings have a gentle side and an angry side. What manner of man would go to extremes to develop and nurture the ferocious side of an otherwise peaceful and loving animal.
There is a sign in a vet’s clinic that says: ” Animals are the true citizens of god’s kingdom. Humans are mere apprentices of the devil”. In many cases, this is not very far from the truth.
People should watch the 3rd video on this blog post:
http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/2010/06/19-videos-on-animal-cruelty.html
Shows a video account of a dog forced to fight. Worse, the dog had his mouth cut open for his teeth to be exposed.
Pitbulls seem to have the worst of it. Either people don’t want them because they’re seen to be dangerous (some US States have made it legal for people to shoot them down) or they are forced to fight. The grass is not very green on either side.
It’s so sad to hear how unwanted pitbulls are…
Pitbull is a wonderful breed… despite their negative reputation, there are many incidence where they save their owners from harm. There can never be a bad dog/animal, only bad owners, who does not take responsibility to train their pets.
People sometimes can be so ignorant to the fact that adopting a dog is a lifetime responsibility… Different breed of dogs have different needs and different levels of difficulty in training.
Amount of time spent with the dog is also a factor to be considered… for example, if a person is only able to spend 3 minutes a day then for goodness sake… dont adopt a ChowChow
I sincerely hope future owners would take things seriously and not just adopt a dog on a whim
As a young boy, i have always been fascinated by martial arts. i have attended various martial art schools. There were times when i met masters which taught me to destroy my opponents with all my might. They made me feel if i had the ability to destroy my opponent, i will had the potential to excel and be a good example. When you hold back and do not cause extensive damage to your opponent, you were deemed to be weak and promotion would be slow. This is an example that it not just happens to animals but humans too. Why not use this aggression for a better cause??? It is a illustration of how degenerate ppl can be. Its called martial ART and not mortal combat for a reason. But being humans, we are blessed to make a choice and choose otherwise. As for the poor animals, it is a game of mortal combat. i wish the trainers, being humans, will have the wisdom to make that choice. Thank you to the masters that taught me that martial art is to maintain peace, physical strength and mental balance.
I have heard of cock fighting that is in Thailand. But not dog fighting. Can you imagine puppies that are only 15 months are already trained to be aggressive by them being put infront of other dogs. Our babies can’t even walk properly at 15 months and has to be bottled fed. I wonder what the animal breeders would feel if they were the dogs and being put into such circumstances with the ears cut off and then add roach poison to their food. So that the fur will taste bad to other dogs and and will not be bitten by other dogs when they fight. And then win the fight by biting these other dogs with no roach poison.