Forced To Fight
Here is a little excerpt from an article on dog-fights. Read it to understand what these animals have to endure. It is not life.
“Typically, before their first birthdays, puppies bred for fighting are placed in front of other dogs in order to test their aggression. At around 15 months, two prospective “fighters” are forced to participate in a “roll”—their first fight, which lasts about 10 minutes—followed by a second fight that lasts an hour. Survivors are chained again (sometimes with weighted logging chains) for a couple of months until they are ready for their first “show.” Breeders “train” dogs by forcing them to tread water in pools; run on a treadmill while a cat or another terrified animal, who may be someone’s stolen companion animal, is placed in a cage in front of the dog (to be caught and mauled to death as a reward afterward); and hang on with their jaws while dangling from a chain baited with meat. The dogs are likely injected with steroids, and some breeders go so far as to sharpen their dogs’ teeth, cut off their ears (in order to prevent another dog from latching on), and add roach poison to their food so that their fur might taste bad to other dogs.”
Source: Martin Chow’s Facebook post
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This is how bad the animals can be treated for human pleasure. The dog’s training started as young as a puppy and there goes their life in a battle mode for the rest of their life.
Imagine if this happen to us. We are taken when we were born and already put on in the training to fight for survival. The entire life is just to train ourselves to kill our opponents to stay alive. We live to keep fighting until we were killed. Can we live in such a way? If NO same to the dogs but unfortunately the dogs can’t tell the human that they want to live just like the human. They need love, care and peace too. But even if the dog can’t tell the human which consider themselves as superior because they can think better than the animals should able to think that dogs are living beings that have a feeling just like us. They can feel scared, worried, pain…. just like us. So why the dogs have to go through all this just for our pleasure?
The people who involve in such cruelty act should really contemplate and put themselves in the dog’s shoes and feel how they felt. If we can’t really help them but at very least don’t create more suffering to them.
Oh dear …terrible and sickenening watching these daogs fighting each other for survial. Cannot imagine cutting off dogs ears just to prevent another dog from latching on..Do hope the authorities will stop these dogs fights ,its such a cruel act just to please one’s self and for money.
They are one of us that needs care and love,please do not abuse or hurt them.They are our best friends and have feelings too.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing.
This is terrible what they do to these dogs, they even start from such a young age. I don’t know why i would want to train my dog to fight other dogs. It just seem so pointless. Ok, maybe people do this for the money and fame. But in return, all they really get is a dead dog, and some bad karma.
And dogs are not built to be fighters, they are built to be lovers. They are meant to love people and other dogs, not to fight other dogs. All this has to stop.
These people are nuts, the dogs are forced to kill each other in order to get food. Why must they treat their dogs like that, dogs should not be used for fighting against each other they should be treated with all of your heart. Please stop abusing them and start caring for them because they feelings too. Thank you
Why do people do such thing for fun? Why can’t just people leave the animals alone? And besides that they find such ridiculous ways to enhance the fight?
I pity these people and the animals they torture for they are also stuck in the same vicious cycle again and again. We should always have love and compassion for everyone around us and not take it for granted. Ever!
This is horrible. The breeders are so cruel, torturing these dogs for the sake of gaming pleasures and money. I guess the breeders to not know or understand Karma and how these actions they are doing will come back to them.
This is just so sick, people treat dogs with all these torture, poisoning and all these suffering just for the sake of money and entertainment. May the awareness of the dog fights suffering spread wide.
It is amazing that human beings can think of this cruel way of generating happiness out of the pains of animals.
Dogs, as far as I understand, do not go into fighting that much. They fight mostly only to protect their own territories. Having said this, of course, there are certain breeds that are more wild.
It is sad to read how they are trained since they are still puppies to become fighter dogs in the future. Most likely, they end up dead, either getting killed in fights or being abandoned.
This kind of game should end. Dogs are supposed to be human’s best friends.
I have heard of cock fighting that is in Thailand. But not dog fighting. Can you imagine puppies that are only 15 months are already trained to be aggressive by them being put infront of other dogs. Our babies can’t even walk properly at 15 months and has to be bottled fed. I wonder what the animal breeders would feel if they were the dogs and being put into such circumstances with the ears cut off and then add roach poison to their food. So that the fur will taste bad to other dogs and and will not be bitten by other dogs when they fight. And then win the fight by biting these other dogs with no roach poison.
As a young boy, i have always been fascinated by martial arts. i have attended various martial art schools. There were times when i met masters which taught me to destroy my opponents with all my might. They made me feel if i had the ability to destroy my opponent, i will had the potential to excel and be a good example. When you hold back and do not cause extensive damage to your opponent, you were deemed to be weak and promotion would be slow. This is an example that it not just happens to animals but humans too. Why not use this aggression for a better cause??? It is a illustration of how degenerate ppl can be. Its called martial ART and not mortal combat for a reason. But being humans, we are blessed to make a choice and choose otherwise. As for the poor animals, it is a game of mortal combat. i wish the trainers, being humans, will have the wisdom to make that choice. Thank you to the masters that taught me that martial art is to maintain peace, physical strength and mental balance.
People should watch the 3rd video on this blog post:
http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/2010/06/19-videos-on-animal-cruelty.html
Shows a video account of a dog forced to fight. Worse, the dog had his mouth cut open for his teeth to be exposed.
Pitbulls seem to have the worst of it. Either people don’t want them because they’re seen to be dangerous (some US States have made it legal for people to shoot them down) or they are forced to fight. The grass is not very green on either side.
It’s so sad to hear how unwanted pitbulls are…
Pitbull is a wonderful breed… despite their negative reputation, there are many incidence where they save their owners from harm. There can never be a bad dog/animal, only bad owners, who does not take responsibility to train their pets.
People sometimes can be so ignorant to the fact that adopting a dog is a lifetime responsibility… Different breed of dogs have different needs and different levels of difficulty in training.
Amount of time spent with the dog is also a factor to be considered… for example, if a person is only able to spend 3 minutes a day then for goodness sake… dont adopt a ChowChow
I sincerely hope future owners would take things seriously and not just adopt a dog on a whim
Being a dog lover, i know for a fact that virtually all dogs are peaceful and loving beings. They just naturally are. Dogs which are vicious are so because they are either put through tremendous stress or otherwise seriously manipulated psychologically. All beings have a gentle side and an angry side. What manner of man would go to extremes to develop and nurture the ferocious side of an otherwise peaceful and loving animal.
There is a sign in a vet’s clinic that says: ” Animals are the true citizens of god’s kingdom. Humans are mere apprentices of the devil”. In many cases, this is not very far from the truth.
Just by reading the articles, is already creates images of horribleness and cruelty. How can ppl watch it and be entertain by this act? Poor dogs!!!
Things like this have been going on for centuries, and it not only involve dogs, but other poor animals. Not to mention, ppl get more ‘creative’ through time…
I guess the ppl involved in such activity can never understand the law of cause and effect any more than i can understand their delight in such animal-fights…
Dear Rinpoche,
This is a good case study for me, to think of myself what lies behind a human behavior in general.
When we human fight many would concern, but when it comes to animals people are just enjoying the show. During the olden days where not just dog, but birds, cricket and even smaller creatures are use as “gamble of fight”. This just proves that we human are selfish and take things for granted. Beside that we do have lots of fear in us that cause us to be unsecure. Just imagine we are the dogs that born to battle for human entertainment…. Thank You
Om Mani Padme Hung! What a terrible thing to do – i pray those perpetrators will realise KARMA! It would be terrible to be reborn in situations like the ancient gladiators!
This kind of act is utterly horrendous. These poor dogs must literally go through hell and all for the sake of some cheap entertainment. Being forced to fight is bad enough, but the “training” and other aspects the dogs are forced to endure will no doubt mean that they are never without a single moment of intense suffering, fear and torture.
The real sadness is that these kinds of dogs are made this way through no fault of their own. I’ve had dogs all throughout my life and most have been “scary” dogs like Dobermanns and German Shepherds, but it’s never the dog that’s the problem – it’s the way they are brought up and treated that shapes their mind set.
I’ve never understood the need for this kind of thing at all. It’s nothing short of barbaric. Whoever moulds these dogs into fighters mustn’t be aware of the law of cause and effect; if they were, they’d surely be just as terrified as the dogs.