There is Fury in the Canine Nation

I was sitting around with my husband and teenage daughter - and our ever-present golden lab Stuart - when I happened to remark that I didn't think Stuart was all that bright.

Retribution came swiftly.

My husband demanded to know why I would say such a thing about a dog that - with the proper training - could almost certainly master long division. My daughter rattled off his encyclopedic knowledge of commands - sit, shake hands, stay and, well, it kind of drops off after that - unless you count: "Stuart, sit there and look happy."

And Stuart took it all in with his normal hanging-tongue and love-struck gaze, until he was interrupted by some pressing business in his lower regions.

As I listened to their defense of Stuart's intellect, it occurred to me that Michael Vick will never play professional football again.

He has messed with the wrong crowd.

According to the Humane Society, there are 73 million owned dog in the United States. Although owned and owner are probably misnomers. How about: inter-species cohabitaters?

Almost 40 percent of US household share their home with at least one dog. Of those, 25 percent have two dogs, and 14 percent have three or more.

Yes, the canine nation is mighty. But numbers are only the dimension of Michael Vick's problems.

There is also the depth. Ask any dog lover, and they will tell you that these animals who share our lives are not property. They are all members of an extended family. Visit your local dog park on a Saturday morning, and listen to conversation strikingly similar to a play-date - with parents discussing the best day care while keeping a close eye on the bullies.

Michael Vick crept into this family under the cover of the deep Virginia woods, and did evil things inside pitch black buildings behind the house on Moonlight Road. He has admitted to brutalizing, torturing and killing not the most cuddly members of the clan, but members just the same.

Just to get a sense of what he is up against, consider some recent trends.

The outside dog house is a relic of our less-enlightened past. Recent statistics say that 80 percent of dogs live indoors.

An American Pet Products Manufacturer's Association survey found that these house dwellers often enjoy their own private space - often their own room. Confirmation of that came Friday in a USA Today story that interior designers have a hot new niche in designing dog rooms - often including DVD players looped with animal shows and separate canopied outdoor entrances with their own address.

The APPMA says we'll be spending $50 billion on pets by the end of the decade. A lot of that is for food. A lot of it is not.

A quick scan of a site called puppytrends.com turns up Kate Spade dog bowls, fruit-scented cleanser for "dirty little fur faces", raised and grassed indoor potty areas, designer dining tables and a 60s retro-print designer dog coat. Other sites offer Swarovski-encrusted collars, dog strollers and flowery spring party dresses.

There are books for planning the perfect dog birthday party, and helpful advice for dog weddings. I found a group advocating -- and offering to facilitate -- marriages between people and dogs (Isn't that what former Sen. Rick Santorum said would happen if this whole gay marriage things got out of hand?).

Interestingly, you find little of any of this for cats. Experts say people don't see cats as a personal reflection of themselves in the way they do dogs. Besides, I'm pretty sure cats would laugh about it behind our backs

Dog funerals are big. As cremation cuts into traditional human funerals, there are now 500 funeral homes offering pet funerals - up from a handful 10 years ago. The number would be much higher, the industry says, were it not for states that frown on the idea of commingling the departed - which is why some firms are building $100,000 separate facilities for pets-only cremations.

Maybe it's an uncertain world that is driving people to overlook the slobber and embrace unconditional love. Maybe it's boomers doing a little emotional back-filling as kids move out. Maybe it's the increase in singles and young marrieds having kids later, who hate coming home to an empty apartment.

Whatever the reasons, it's big trouble for Michael Vick. When he leaves prison, the PETA people will be waiting, and they will hound him (the puns are flying) every place he tries to earn a dollar. Who Let the Dogs Out? will become his life's anthem.

Scanning the extended NFL player rap sheet, there is gambling, recreational and performance-enhancing drugs, DUI manslaughters, assaults, sexual assaults, illegal weapons, disorderly conduct and even murder. In the majority of cases, the highly-paid perp admits the crime, does the time or pays the fine -- then works his way back onto the field and into the good graces of a public that can overlook a lot in return for power, speed and a little remorse.

Not this time.

Sure, many of those who consider Michael Vick a serial killer wrap their little four-legged darlings in angora and put on padded booties when the temperature dips. But they are legion in numbers. They are mad as hell. And they won't forget.

Comments

[Kyra Vivian]

I take issue with one particular section of your blog posting Ms. Drexler: "He has admitted to brutalizing, torturing and killing not the most cuddly members of the clan, but members just the same."

Contrary to popular belief, Pit Bull Terriers are some of the friendliest, most loyal, well behaved dogs any human companion could ever ask for.

Dogs and children behave according to how they were raised and treated by their adult counterparts. The exhibit whatever behaviors have been reinforced in them.

PLEASE STOP PERPETUATING IGNORANT MYTHS ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL, COMPLETELY MISUNDERSTOOD, BREED ALREADY!

[nyquist27]

well booties make sense for dogs in the north .. when below -30.. still I saw people walking huskies in Manhattan at +37C with sweaters on.. a kind of dog that sleeps outside in the winter... now thats insane

[argentino]

if michael prick ever plays nfl football again - that's the day they lose my business...in addition, any sponsor will lose my business also - and that is what makes me and those like me the most powerful players in this situation...our dollars speak louder than any journalists/bloggers/tv commentators, etc...

[Crazyshirley2100]

Everyone is very cute in finding their take on the Micheal Vicks situation. Is it like hunting? Is it like Martha Stuart? Is it an animal rights thing?
Have you stopped to consider that animal abuse is a warning sign for human abuse? And that police, etc. are now being taught to look for human abuse when they see animal abuse because of that connection?
I know dogfighting is illegal. I find dog fighting to be disgusting. But I worry for the whomever else Vicks has control over and if he is abusing them.
I can also say, that I would never be able to watch him throw a football without thinking of dog fighting. Anymore than I can watch a PeeWee Herman movie and not think about him doing the lonely nasty in the back of a porno theater.

[Oakland]

Dogs are needier beings than humans. We have made them dependent through domestication,which makes them dependent on us for care. To brutalize these helpless, voiceless creatures makes Michael Vick (and your light hearted play on what he did) disgusting.

[Dunnage]

Why all the dogs put to death in pounds around the nation?

[lipschitz]

having been raised with a family dog/companion and various other pets home would not be home without them - our dogs were at our side all the time, they were with us everyday of our young lives - we fed them, groomed them,played with them and yes we loved them - where ever there were family photo's there appeared our dogs, even the slip covers for the sofa's were there for the dogs - now in old age we have four cats - they're easier to travel with and require less attention - for me a home is never truly a home without a dog - god bless them all!!!

[cernunos]

Vick deserves all the legal nastiness that he gets. Whether black or white he broke the law and got caught so he has to face the consequences. That being said, I would add that some of the posters on here are incredibly silly. Any person who calls a dog his/her grandchild needs serious help from a professional mental health care giver. Animals are animals, people are people and how someone could mix that up is beyond me.

[smak]

>>>> Animals are animals, people are people

Yeah, and your precious car or sound system is just wires and metal. And the Warhol on your wall is just some parchment and paint. Your CD collection is $10 of plastic circles.

[Silverstar]

"I am creeped out when a human says he/she prefers dogs to people ..."

I am one of those people. I have agoraphobia, and people scare me. I only get out of my apartment because my service dog needs to be walked.
I have also worked in an animal shelter, where I have been bitten by dogs, cats, and once, a pet raccoon. I know why there is the saying, "crazy as a pet coon." I much prefer animals to people, because when they bit me, I knew it was because of their distress. Not so the coon, however, he did it for fun. If he had been serious, he could have torn my hand to shreds. And I was feeding him. One animal I didn't mind euthanizing.
On the other hand, I have been viciously attacked by people, both physically and mentally/emotionally, and often can't figure out what I did. So yeah, I prefer dogs. Cats will do in a pinch, but I'm allergic to them.
Even my siblings and parents have attacked me. My father is a narrow-minded ditto-head. I can't talk to him. I love him, but I can't talk to him. I sent him an email in which I accused him of being an old dog who refused to learn new tricks. My bad. He chose to be insulted by the reference to the dog, and not to his narrow-mindedness. If he knew anything about me, he would have understood that is the kindest thing I said to him.

[larstein]

In a world where America has come to stand for torture, delusion, corruption and a voraciously immoral corporate empire whose only goal in Iraq is to milk it for all the money and oil it can steal for as long as it can keep the thing going, Michael Vick stands in as a surrogate for Bush/Cheney and co. The frustration with seeing the whole culture going down the drain, money becoming the driving moral compass, celebrities acting like complete idiots, politicians and news outlets pandering to the lowest common denominator, the whole thing is too frustrating. And now Vick appears in the ghoulish role of corrupter-and-murderer-of-innocents, a timely metaphor for what the war has done to the military, what neo-con fascists have done to the Republican party, and what Bush has done to the entire nation. Of course, Vick will never be able to show his face in public again. He'll be "dogged" by this stain for the rest of his days, or at least until he shows some respect for life itself and pays his penance. And even then, he will never really be forgotten or forgiven. Anyone who looks into the eyes of their beloved pet will remember with horror a man who did unspeakably murderous things to an animal that could have been their own precious baby.

[TherapyDoc]

Long division. Sure.

[lackeylocal]

Michael Vick doesn't deserve a another chance with the NFL but will probably be given one.

He may not be treated very kindly while in prison and that may affect his outcome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3FTy_3B4wI

[kellamd]

These are dogs. America should be more concerned about the 700,000 Iraqi civilians we killed.

[PresumptuousInsect]

I don't think the tone of this piece is at all appropriate, especially considering the extreme ugliness of what Vick did. I am a dog owner and am on the board of the local dog park and work with rescue groups. I daily hear of horrific abuses of animals and I know how difficult it is for people--almost all volunteers--who work on the frontlines of rescue and shelter work to just keep going every day in the face of unending, shameless brutality against these innocent creatures. Please don't characterize dog lovers as slightly kooky people who like to dress up their dogs and treat them like some kind if substitutes for humans. I know many many dog lovers and very few of them treat their dogs that way. What I do know of my fellow volunteers and dog lovers is that their hearts are expansive and open to all kinds of love in this world. When we see this kind of unspeakable cruelty, we die a little inside.

And I would just like to add that when I see people trying to use race as a shield against Vick's responsibility for his heinous acts, well, my rage knows no bounds.

[smak]

>>>>>>>> when I see people trying to use race as a shield against Vick's responsibility for his heinous acts

They are full of it and they know it. Pathetic.

[chilifan]

I absolutely agree, and I believe it takes a very special, deeply compassionate person to engage in any type of rescue work, be it with animals or people. It also takes a spine of steel. I could never do the job that rescue workers do, and they are true heroes to me. What you do is important, and deeply appreciated. If more people were like you and less were like Vick, this world would be a much better place for all living things.

[tablogloid]

Michael Vick has been coddled through life because he can throw an accurate pass 50 yards in a game Richard Nixon called,"the most conservative element of the military industrial complex".
Deep down, Vick stills feels he is not man enough. He can't speak well,is surrounded by a hubris afflicted posse and when asked a question that is not a fawning softball, he scowls at the reporter.
I think he suffers from anti-social behaviour syndrome or whatever it is they now call "psychopath".