Official Pit Bull Site of Diane Jessup

Pit Bull Informational Pages
by Diane Jessup

DOG FIGHTING - THE TRUTH
Part III

Dog fighters can say what they want;
the reality is what is actually found here...

Their deeds
speak louder
than their words

American pit bull terrier, American pit bull, pit bull terrier, pit bull, pitbull, pittbull, pitt bull, gamebred, American gamedog, game pit bull, K9, detection dogs, police dog, police dogs, detection dog, bomb dog, narcotics detection dog, explosives detection dog, Boldog Kennel, Diane Jessup, BSL, dog training, schutzhund, French ring sport, tracking, tracking dog, agility dog, weight pull, weight pulling pit bull, dog crate, pit bull books, pit bull book, dog training, dog fighting, Washington State Patrol, breed specific legislation, dog agility, gamedogs, game dogs, American gamedog, dog fighting, treadmills, jenni, catmill, springpole, weight pulling, dog aggression

To see another kind of TRUTH about the "fighting" pit bull CLICK HERE

The following are random samples of ACTUAL dog fight busts. From them, you can get a feel for the true character and activities of the people involved.

Quite different from the fiction spun by pro-dog fighters. These are not "hard working average Joes". These are criminals of the lowest kind.

Due to the sheer number, I have edited them down to the basic facts:

TOLEDO, Ohio — Deputies looking for marijuana plants found a dog-fighting operation, stolen cars and two alligators on a farm outside the city. Otha Lawrence Jones, Jr., 29, of Toledo was charged with five felony counts of dog-fighting, sheriff's Lt. Donald Atkinson said Friday. Mr. Jones also was charged with a weapons violation. During a routine helicopter search on Thursday, Lucas County sheriff's deputies saw marijuana plants on the farm. After landing to take a closer look, deputies discovered a building with 10 pit bulls inside, Lt. Atkinson said. Additional charges could be filed.

Inside the old greenhouse, on the back acre at a private home, was a crowd of roughly 75 — all male, mostly white, mostly what Bobby calls a redneck bunch. They drank beer, smoked dope, maybe did a few lines of cocaine. "Two guys in monkey suits were the coke men," Bobby said of a pair of drug dealers in fancy clothes. "And some guy was selling that date-rape drug" — a bag of five pills for $50. Drugs flourish in the dog-fighting culture, in part because dealers often keep vicious dogs for protection, in part because of a general party atmosphere around the ring. It also may have something to do with the amount of cash on hand. Last summer, animal cruelty officers in Palm Beach County had their biggest dog-fighting bust ever — 60 arrests, 12 dogs, $89,000 in cash and an unspecified amount of drugs seized in a suburban neighborhood in West Palm Beach. Naples Daily News

Two young men try and force young pups to fight.
They just can't wait for the fun to start.

Police seize drug paraphernalia and a stolen firearm from site of arrests. In addition to four pit bulls, Fort Walton Beach police officers seized a stolen firearm and drug paraphernalia from a townhouse on Hollywood Boulevard where a group of men were arrested on dogfighting charges Tuesday night. "This was a textbook dogfighting case," said Dee Thompson, executive director of the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society. "When you find people who are dogfighting, the guns and drugs are usually there, too. They all seem to go hand in hand." Shomari Nnander Minter-Smith, 22, faces the most serious charges in connection with the raid of his home at 421 N.W. Hollywood Blvd. Minter-Smith, who had been living in unit F of the building, was charged with fighting or baiting animals, grand theft of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of drug paraphernalia. Northwest Florida Daily News

ORANGE COUNTY, N.C. -- Investigators will meet with Hillsborough police on Monday to decide what charges should be filed against a father and son accused of operating a dogfighting ring. Laura Walters of the Animal Protection Society said the scars and injuries on one dog's body tell a story of countless dogfights and unspeakable abuse. "He's got scars all over his body and face and he's missing teeth," she said. "His leg is unusable, and he has a large wound that's infected." Walters said they were living in deplorable conditions. "There was no food. One dog had a loaf of moldy bread in front of him that he wouldn't eat," she said. "The puppies were shivering and shaking." Investigators plan to charge Jerry Lee Compton Sr. and his son, Jerry Lee Compton Jr., with animal cruelty. The dogs were seized from the Compton house in Hillsborough on Friday. Jerry Lee Compton Sr. denies the dogs were abused. He said his son is a breeder.

A fighting dog's leg has been peeled of skin.
This would have brought applause from the crowd.

WAKE COUNTY, N.C. -- Investigators call dogfighting a breeding ground for gambling, drugs, violence and bloody entertainment. WRAL investigates the underground culture and how dogfighting costs taxpayers and family pets. Although it is a felony in North Carolina to train dogs to fight, most offenders get little or no jail time. Last year, Lee County deputies found a fighting pit, training equipment and over 100 dogs at Gaston Williamson's home. Williams walked with only probation, maintaining to this day that he is just a breeder. Check most shelters around the state and you will see the scars of dogfighting. The animals are marked for death, whether killed in the ring or euthanized because they are raised too violent to adopt. "There's a major expense of tax dollars that go with this," said Dicke Sloop, Wake County Animal Control director. Sloop serves on a statewide task force that is trying to break up the fights. She believes the problem goes far beyond two bloodied dogs. Take last fall's arrest of Samson Pruitt in Wake County, for example. Taxpayers shelled out $27,000 to house 91 confiscated pit bulls for one month. Most of the dogs were were eventually put to death. Along with evidence of dogfighting, detectives found drugs and social workers removed two children from the home.

A fighting dog I rescued from lying in mud in freezing rain;
no dog house. He is now a much loved rescue dog.

I have yet to be aware of a dog fighting case which did not involve the lowest form of criminals and showcase the complete lack of regard for the dog's care as shown above.

There is no denying that the pit bull reigns supreme as a fighting dog when raised and encouraged to this occupation, and there is no denying that selection of the dogs for the traits which make him a BULLdog make him the tough, honest, gritty dog we love today. Because of this, the challenge to today's breeders is to find ways to replicate the rigors of baiting sports in legal and humane ways. Dog fighters insist this cannot be done, but the simple truth is that it can and is being done by those who care enough to do it. Dog fighters argue that dog fighting is not cruel - that the dogs enjoy the opportunity to scrap. Yet the legions of mangled rejects who find their way into shelters and rescues, dogs hung from trees, set on fire in the street, and otherwise tortured or destroyed for their unwillingness to fight, testify that many pit bulls would prefer to live in peace. The dog fighters and their hangers-on argue that those who oppose fighting use examples of street punks, not "real deal dog men" when describing the mentality of those who keep fighting dogs and conditions in which they are kept. That is why, in Part I, I thought it would be fair to simply use the words of the "real deal dogmen" themselves and let THEM describe dog fighting as it exists today.

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE...