Vicktory Dogs

Photos by Gary Kalpakoff

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We call them the Vicktory Dogs - 22 pit bulls seized from ex-NFL star Michael Vick and placed in special care at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. They're here because they had nowhere else to go.

Many of them are suffering from serious psychological and emotional trauma, similar to what you see in children from situations of abuse and neglect. Many of them had been forced to fight to the death - like gladiators in some primitive arena.

Other national organizations had simply called for the dogs to be killed. But what kind of message does that send about how our society treats the victims of such horrible abuse? There are real options, and with your support these dogs can have good lives that make up for everything that went before.

Already they're making progress: learning how to play, how to relax, how to love. Many of them will be adopted to experienced homes. Others will live out their lives in the beautiful environment of Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.

Best Friends' staff photographer Gary Kalpakoff took beautiful black-and-white portraits of the dogs, and had a show at Best Friends to display them. Gary has this to say,

"The story of the Vick Dogs continues at Best Friends with five dogs adopted as of March 2010. The trainers and caregivers have an ongoing program to socialize and train these animals to live in homes -- something that was unknown to them in their past. Other organizations have said that these pit bulls should be euthanized and could not be socialized. This is simply not true. I did the Vicktory Dog show to present this breed to the public after all their publicity and notoriety, and I think the public has embraced them. It is a privilidge to be a part of sharing these dogs' faces with the world."

Ongoing stories about the Vicktory dogs can be found on our main website, bestfriends.org. To learn more about the work Best Friends is doing for pit bulls, please visit Pit Bulls: Saving America's Dog @ pitbulls.bestfriends.org.