Amal Elhachdani

A Dive into the Structure of Dogfighting

Dogfighting as a blood sport entered the consciousness of the general public in 2007 after NFL quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty to financing a dogfighting ring. Upon investigation of Vick’s fifteen acre property near Smithsfield, Virginia, law enforcement officials found over fifty pitbulls, treadmills specifically modified for dog use, and other dogfighting paraphernalia. Vick was sentenced to twenty-three months in federal prison, three years on probation, and suffered significant property loss.

It can be assumed that with a sentence of a little under two years in federal prison, the dogfighting that Vick helped to finance was nothing more than potentially uncontrolled puppy play, but in reality, dogfighting in the modern era is an illicit subculture of illegal activity that transfers human savagery into canine vehicles. Those with enough legal support can evade harsher sentencing, Michael Vick a prime example of this. Vick’s illegal fumble worked more as a public signifier of the illegality of the sport than a halt on his football career, as he signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles after being released from prison in 2009, and only retired from the NFL in 2017.

Legally, Dogfighting is considered a felony in all 50 states, and animal fighting of all different breeds or species is generally considered unlawful and cruel. Those who arrange these matches and fight their dogs can be charged for the crime of dogfighting, but other smaller offenses make it difficult to punish the supporting parts of the sport, for example, attending an animal fight may be legal or only result in a fine, but bringing someone under the age of 16 to attend an animal fight can result in imprisonment for “not more than 3 years” according to the Federal Animal Welfare Act. Each state has varying classifications of felony, and different amounts of fines assigned for the crime.

The goal of dogfighting is, of course, to train the animals to be as ruthless and aggressive against the other dogs in the ring as possible, with the ideal end to a fight between two dogs resulting in only one dog left standing. To stamp these dogs with the aggression required to win their fight, their handlers adopt them from birth from shelters or pounds. Those who are more accustomed to the industry will purchase these young pups from top breeders that tout successful fighting bloodlines as a means to make thousands of dollars.

Once adopted or purchased, these dogs spend their entire lives in cramped cages, heavy chains, and isolated from other dogs in an effort to ensure that interactions with other dogs are only under antagonistic circumstances. The living conditions of these dogs are frequently dirtied by the blood of past fighting dogs, and intentionally uncomfortable to keep the dogs alert. Handlers will exercise their dogs on modified treadmills to build endurance needed for the ring, and make them tug on hanging objects, an object common among them being tires, to increase their jaw strength. Teeth sharpening is also utilized so as to inflict maximum damage on opponent dogs. Alongside rigorous training and beatings, these dogs are fed anabolic steroids like Stanozolol to increase muscle mass, painkillers and antibiotics to dull the injuries of beatings and infected wounds, and other illegal substances including gun powder and cocaine to increase aggression the days leading up to a “show.”

With the turn of the digital age, dogfighting activities have become easier to conceal. Private Telegram group chats and universally agreed on coded language, have made transactions and fighting set-ups easy to procure. Social media has also given a platform to these fights, with livestreams set up for those who know where to look. According to court records found regarding a dogfighting ring busted in 2017, an unidentified dogfighter “live-posted” a fight he attended, where a pitbull named “Eulogy” lasted one minute short of two full hours in the ring against another dog.

In the dog-fighting world, code words to describe facets of the subculture are as follows. A dogfight is called a show. A campaign is a dog’s fighting career, and a champion is a dog that has won three fights in its lifetime, and a grand champion is a dog that has won five fights in its lifetime, an incredibly rare feat. These distinctions start to make more sense after learning that most dogs that don’t win their shows are killed or used as “bait” for other canines in training, sometimes with their teeth removed so that they cannot fight back. Scratch lines are lines in a dogfighting ring behind which the dogs are set to start in a match, dogmen are professional trainers and handlers, and the keep is the training a fighting dog undergoes leading up to fight. A roll is a dog’s first fight, which takes place when the dog is around 15 months of age, that lasts ten minutes and allows handlers to measure their gameness or fighting capacity.

These shows are structured by the 19 Cajun Rules, published in the 1950s in Combat Rules by a tavern owner named Gaboon (Galbert) A. Trahan. These rules lay out what is prohibited, allowed, encouraged, and expected by referees and owners during a show. Rule 1 dictates the size of the pit, and where the scratching line must be drawn. The dogs are set to fight each other until one or both of the dogs can’t fight, or one of them dies in the show. In terms of time, the shows themselves can last anywhere from a few minutes to several hours, with the dogmen standing on the edges of the ring, eyeing their fighters but unable to touch them or intervene with their fight. Rule 12 orders that “no handler is to handle [their] dog until ordered by referee” and continues that if [they do], it shall be called a foul” and that they must then forfeit to their opponent. According to the Cajun Rules, under rule 14, in cases where the dog “fangs” itself, which is if a dog gets “his teeth hung in his own lip, his handler is allowed to unfang him…”, the owner is allowed to intervene and “unfang” their fighter.

Many of those involved in dogfighting do so for money or status within circles already entrenched in illegal activity, but some do it for the love of the blood sport, a tradition that can be traced back to 43 A.D. At present, the fate of dogs rescued from these fighting rings by law enforcement early enough is rehabilitation, and readoption into loving homes. Dogs can receive care by recovery centers run by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) that specifically emphasize “cruelty recovery” and behavioral rehabilitation.

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