The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption by Ji

Description: The Lost Dogs by Jim Gorant The bestselling story of survival and our powerful bond with mans best friend, in the aftermath of the nations most notorious animal cruelty case. Featuring a new Afterword with updates on the Vick dogs.Animal lovers and sports fans were shocked when the story broke about NFL player Michael Vicks brutal dog-fighting operation. But what became of the fifty-one dogs who survived? As acclaimed writer Jim Gorant reveals, their story is the truly newsworthy aspect of this case. The Lost Dogs traces the effort to bring Vick to justice and turns the spotlight on these infamous pit bulls, which were saved from euthanasia by an outpouring of public appeals coupled with a court order that Vick pay nearly a million dollars in "restitution" to the dogs.As an ASPCA-led team evaluated each one, they found a few hardened fighters, but most were lovable, friendly creatures desperate for compassion. In The Lost Dogs, we meet these amazing animals, many of whom now live in loving homes and work in therapy programs. The Lost Dogs exposes the terrible practice of dog fighting and shows us that even after being subjected to heartbreaking abuse, above all, a dog still wants to be mans best friend. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Author Biography Jim Gorant has worked as a magazine editor and writer for twenty years and is currently a senior editor at Sports Illustrated. He is the author of Fanatic: Ten Things All Sports Fans Should Do before They Die, and his work has appeared in magazines such as Mens Journal, GQ, and Outside. Review "Gorants fine book is a heartwarming tale of how the love and commitment of a community can heal even the deepest and most abhorrent of traumas." — Sports Illustrated"The Lost Dogs is a page-turning investigation of dog fighting and an implicit indictment of the sport." — The Daily Beast"The Lost Dogs has the quality of a page-turner as it chronicles the entire story, in all its upsetting detail, of the dogs rescue and re-entry into the world." — Los Angeles Times"A well-researched, moving account" — The New Yorker Book Blog"The Lost Dogs shows us that goodness can be found in the places where we may least expect it." — The Christian Science Monitor"Packed with vivid characters and dramatic incidents, The Lost Dogs is a sobering reminder that mans best friend isnt always viewed that way. But this deeply affecting portrayal also reflects that fairy-tale endings are within reach when those involved are infused with spirit, confidence and commitment." — The Seattle Kennel Club"Gorant has crafted an insightful and uplifting tale about the way that nurture can sometimes triumph over nature, and how the remnants of cruelty can be transformed through the power of hope and love." -Allen St. John, author of The Billion Dollar Game: Behind the Scenes at the Super Bowl "Jim Gorant provides a powerful narrative that is, at times, heartbreaking, but also illuminating and inspirational. You will come away from The Lost Dogs warmed by the knowledge that it wasnt only Vick who got a second chance." — George Dohrmann"The Lost Dogs should be read by dog lovers." — Temple Grandin, author Animals in Translation"The Lost Dogs is a gripping story of redemption that uncovers the other side of the Michael Vick story." — Ken Foster, author of The Dogs Who Found Me"Jim Gorant goes beyond the headlines of Michael Vick and the Bad News Kennels to richly tell the rest of the story: how these amazing dogs, in the wake of such brutality, help bring out the best in the human spirit." — Tom Verducci, author of The Yankee Years Promotional The bestselling story of survival and our powerful bond with mans best friend, in the aftermath of the nations most notorious animal cruelty case. Featuring a new Afterword with updates on the Vick dogs. Review Quote " The Lost Dogs shows us that goodness can be found in the places where we may least expect it." The Christian Science Monitor Promotional "Headline" The bestselling story of survival and our powerful bond with mans best friend, in the aftermath of the nations most notorious animal cruelty case. Featuring a new Afterword with updates on the Vick dogs. Excerpt from Book 1 A BROWN DOG SITS in a field. Theres a collar around her neck. Its three inches thick and attached to a heavy chain, which clips onto a car axle thats buried so one end sticks out of the ground. As the dog paces in the heat, the axle spins, ensuring that the rattling chain wont become entangled. The dog paces a lot, wearing a circle in the scrubby weeds and sandy soil around the perimeter of the axle. She paces because theres little else to do. Sometimes a squirrel or a rabbit or a snake crosses nearby and she barks and chases it, or she lunges and leaps after the dragonflies and butterflies that zip and flutter past. She flicks her tail at mosquitoes and buries her muzzle in her fur, chewing at the itchy crawly things that land on her. If shes lucky she digs up a rock that she can bat around and chew on, but otherwise there are just the weeds and the bugs and the hot sun inching across the sky. She is not alone. Other dogs are spread around this clearing in the trees. They can see one another, hear one another bark and whine and growl, but they cant get to one another. They cant run, they cant play, they cant anything. They can get close to their immediate neighbors, stand almost face-to-face, but they can never touch, a planned positioning meant to frustrate and enrage them. For some it does; for many it simply makes them sad. Out in the field are mothers, fathers, off spring, littermates. The families are easy to spot. Theres a group of sand-colored dogs, some with pink noses, some with black snouts. There is a group of red dogs, some small black dogs, a few white ones, a few black-and-whites. A handful of other colors and shapes are mixed in. All are pit bulls and many have that classic pit bull look, stocky and low to the ground, front shoulders higher than haunches and a wide muscular chest that dwarfs narrow hips, so that they look as if theyre waiting for their backsides to grow into their fronts. Their necks are thick and hold up rectangular heads. Some are bigger, as big as seventy pounds, while another group is more compact, reaching maybe twenty-five pounds. These smaller ones are actually Staffordshire bull terriers, a close relative of the American pit bull terrier. The brown dog has a soft face, with searching eyes and an expressive brow that furls into deep ridges and undulating rolls when shes scared or nervous or trying to figure out whether she needs to be either. Her uncropped ears rise from the top of her head until they fold over, but one of them folds differently from the other, so that it hangs lower, making her look as if shes eternally asking a question. To help fight the heat, theres water spread about in large tubs, sometimes a little dirty but drinkable. Once a day a man comes to put food in the bowls. At least its usually once a day. Sometimes two or three days go by before the sound of his all-terrain vehicle breaks the monotony. As he gets off the vehicle and makes his way across the clearing, all the dogs run to the end of their chains, barking and wagging their tails as if theyre excited to see him. But when the man actually gets close to them, they tuck their tails and skulk away. Only after he has moved on do they creep back over to their bowls and eat. They cant see anything beyond the perimeter of the clearing, but they are not alone. Another clearing lies through the trees where another fifteen or so dogs live on chains, and beyond that, at the edge of the woods, is a small compound with kennels, freestanding pens, and four sheds. The buildings are small and painted pitch black, including the windows. One is two stories tall, and the men who own these sheds, who live and work here, they call that one "the black hole." A breeze stirs the trees--scrub pines and sugar maples, a few pin oaks. The lilt of songbirds mixes with the whine of cicadas and the low, singular whoooo, whoooo of a mourning dove. The summer heat draws moisture off the Atlantic, thirty miles beyond, adding the weight of humidity to the air. Within the perimeter of each axle theres a doghouse. Rough-hewn plywood structures, they provide something else for the dogs to chew on and claw at to while away the hours. They also offer a break from the sun but not much relief from the heat--just as in winter they stop the wind but dont do much to protect against temperatures that can drop into the thirties. Curled up in their little houses the dogs look and listen and sniff the air. They are incredibly intuitive creatures. They learn by watching--trainers sometimes let young dogs watch experienced dogs in action so they see how to behave. They can detect odors 100 million times more faint than people can. They can hear sounds at a broader range of frequencies than humans, and they can hear them from four times as far away. People who train dogs for search and rescue contend that dogs can hear a heartbeat from a distance of five feet, which gives them insight into the mood and disposition of the people and animals they come in contact with. As pack animals, they are keenly aware of the behavior of those around them. One dog can tell what another is thinking and intending simply by observing the way he acts. When two dogs meet, there is a detailed ritual of movements and gestures. The way they hold their ears, tail, head, their posture. Everything means something. Attitudes, feelings, intentions, dominance, and submission can be established immediately. So can a challenge. Dogs understand whats expected of them. When people are around, dogs see what wins them rewards and praise and what leads to scorn. Something deep inside of them, woven into the very fabric of their being, a genetic impulse, compels them to please those around them. But sometimes, the things that men want from them cut against their natural inclinations, setting off an internal chain reaction of anxiety and uncertainty, triggering hormones and nervous system fluctuations. When they are extremely scared, dogs secrete a powerful musk that other dogs can smell from great distances. The things they see and hear and smell have an impact on them, too. Studies have shown that if two mammals are placed side by side in boxes and the first one is given electric shocks, just by listening to the suffering the second one produces identical brain waves and nervous system activity; the trauma isnt limited only to the animal thats experiencing the pain. Out in the field is the little brown dog with the floppy ear--none of the dogs know whats happening around them, but they do know something isnt right. Theyve seen things they are not supposed to see. Theyve heard terrifying sounds and theyve smelled fear and pain drifting in the air. The brown dog lays her chin on the ground and exhales. Her brow folds into a furry question mark. The afternoon is fading and the heat has begun to fade too, but little else is certain. Sometimes men come and take a few of the dogs away. Sometimes those dogs come back tired and panting from running and running. Sometimes the dogs come back scarred and limping. Sometimes they come back looking the same, but acting completely different. Sometimes they dont come back at all, as if theyve simply disappeared. As if theyve vanished into a black hole. 2 ITS NOT EASY TO get to 1915 Moonlight Road. Branching off of the two-lane country highway that curves up through the tidelands, Moonlight Road looks more like a driveway than a street, a narrow unlined stretch of blacktop that twists into an old-growth stand of trees. The houses along the road are sparse--worn trailers, single-story cabins and larger suburban manors pop up in clusters of two or three, separated by cornfields, woods, and open expanses. Driving west on Moonlight Road, the house appears suddenly, its white shape set off against a tree line that rises beyond it. It sits close to the road, directly across from the Ferguson Grove Baptist Church (Pastor J. D. Charity), a white clapboard building without a cross on it that sits in a clearing. From the front, the white brick appears bright against the black roof. A peaked portico with long columns and large, arched windows give it a distinctive architectural twist. Inside there are five bedrooms, including a master with a fireplace and a hot tub. A six-foot-tall white fence surrounds a yard thick with broad-leafed Bermuda grass. Outside the gate at the end of the driveway theres a camera and an intercom. Motion sensor lights hang on the garage. The flower beds are tidy and neat, dotted with trim young shrubs. In the backyard a boat sits on a trailer. Theres an above-ground pool and a full-length basketball court complete with white painted lines and glass backboards that can be raised and lowered. The house looks like any one of a half dozen others on the street, another newly risen McMansion that signals the countrys burgeoning real estate economy and provides a plush home base for some happy, anonymous family. But the property extends well beyond the pool and the unmarked white fence. It twists back into the dense woods where several dozen dogs sit chained to car axles and four sheds stand among the trees, nearly invisible from the road because they are painted pitch black. Michael Boddie was still a teenager when he began dating a girl who lived across the courtyard at a housing project in Newport News, Virginia. Her name was Brenda, and by the age of fifteen she had borne the couples first child, Christina. A son, named after his father, followed the next year, and then another son, Marcus, came four years later. By the time the pair married, in 1989, theyd Details ISBN159240667X Author Jim Gorant Short Title LOST DOGS Language English ISBN-10 159240667X ISBN-13 9781592406678 Media Book Format Paperback Illustrations Yes Imprint Gotham Books Subtitle Michael Vicks Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States Audience Age 18 Year 2011 Publication Date 2011-09-06 US Release Date 2011-09-06 UK Release Date 2011-09-06 Pages 320 Publisher Gotham Books DEWEY 636.0832 Audience General NZ Release Date 2017-06-30 AU Release Date 2017-06-30 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:141750086;

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