The St. Joseph County Humane Society is noticing some disturbing signs that point to an increase in dog fighting.
They say one of the biggest problems is that more and more small dogs are showing up with bite wounds, and they suspect the wounds were suffered because the dogs were used as bait to train other dogs to fight.
The last thing you want is for someone to swipe your family pet out of the backyard, so the Humane Society is putting out a warning!
A Pappion named Buddy was near death when he was rescued earlier this year and brought to the Humane Society. "When he came in there was just big gapping open wounds," says Charlene Burroughs. She assisted with Buddy's emergency surgery. "There were three of us standing around the table sedating this dog, just balling our eyes out because he's just a little dog."
He's a little dog that has been through a whole lot. Burroughs says Buddy's bite wounds were consistent with injuries you'd see if a dog was used as bait in dog fighting. "That's absolutely horrific, and we do see a lot of it," she says.
Humane Society Director Dr. Carol Ecker says she's increasingly concerned bout dog fighting in St. Joe County. She's seeing an uptick in the number of loose aggressive dogs and the number of apparent bait dogs. "Don't forget we're between Detroit, Chicago and Indy," she says. "We are out here in a nice spot for them to all meet and have a Sunday dog fight."
Dr. Ecker knows how attached we can get to our pets. She adopts dogs out to loving families all the time, so that's why she's putting out the alert. She wants to make sure your dog doesn't end up as bait. "I would never let a small dog loose in the yard without watching it," she says.
As for Buddy, Charlene Burroughs ended up adopting him because of all the extra attention he'll need. "I'm hoping that his hair will grow back, if it doesn't he'll just have a little patch," she says as she hold Buddy in her lap. Although it's unlikely, she hopes no other dog will ever have to go through what he did. "It would take a pretty horrible person to do that, to allow it to happen."
This isn't just a problem in Saint Joe County. We spoke with a Starke County Humane Society Board Member who says they are also watching for it. One concern she has is about people trolling for bait dogs in the classifieds or on Craigslist. She says they typically look for ads that might say something like "free to a good home."
If you're giving away a dog or puppies, make sure you get a copy of the new owner's driver's license, a license plate number and then ask if YOU can drop the dog of at their home. If the person's looking for a bait dog, they probably wouldn't agree to any of those stipulations.
