A Blood Sport Exposed

Young pit bulls that survive training become "match dogs," weighing 35 to 55 pounds and fighting in weight classes. With a pile of cash riding on the outcome, a regulation match is officiated by a referee. A typical bout lasts 45 minutes to an hour, usually ending when one of the bloodied combatants is too torn and gouged to go on.

Dog men have too much invested in their animals to let them fight to the death, so fatalities in the pit are rare. But grave, disfiguring wounds are the norm.

"At the top level, there are probably several thousand guys," said John Goodwin, manager of animal-fighting issues for the Humane Society of the United States. "When you include the guys who are part of organized dogfighting but don't have quite as sophisticated an operation as we saw in Surry County, we're talking about upwards of 40,000."

The July 17 indictment accused Vick and the others of running Bad Newz Kennels, a boot camp for fighting dogs on 15 acres near Vick's home town of Newport News. Starting in 2001, officials said, the men entered pit bulls in more than two dozen fights in several states, with bets of up to $13,000 per side. Officials said they seized 66 dogs, pit bull carcasses and training gear at the compound.

Authorities say the pit bull fighting subculture encompasses not only dog men with their training kennels and scheduled matches; it also includes less organized dogfighting that frequently takes place in poor urban neighborhoods, including in the District.

Although in both types of fighting the dogs maul each other in a frenzy of blood and saliva, inner-city fights usually are spontaneous. One gang member strutting with his nasty pit bull sees another, egos swell, and soon they're in a vacant building, the dogs ripping into each other while still on leash chains. "Street fighting," these impromptu bouts are called.

Unlike a dog man's pit bulls, most street maulers aren't carefully bred from fighting stock. They aren't put through weeks of pre-fight cardiovascular training on treadmills and in swimming pools. They're not steroid-enhanced. Their jaw muscles aren't pumped from a regimen of "bite-and-shake" exercises. Their teeth haven't been sharpened with electric grinders while they're sedated.

Pit bull fighting emerged as a popular betting pastime in the mid-1800s. As laws against it were enacted, it moved underground. By the mid-20th century, it was mostly a rural pursuit.

About 15 years ago, after it became fashionable in the urban thug life to be seen with a menacing pit bull, spur-of-the-moment street fights became common.

In this realm, to train them, owners often whip their pit bulls, burn them with cigarettes, feed them gunpowder and jalape?o peppers until they turn unremittingly vicious. Authorities said a dog man's pit bulls normally are safe for people to handle, while a street dog usually will attack anything that moves, except the "alpha male" who abused it.

A dog man's pit bulls are taught to be human-friendly because, under fight rules dating to the 1950s, each side handles and washes the other's dog before a match, in case the opposition has coated its animal with a poison or sedative.

In time, street-fighting pit bulls -- scarred and missing ears, racked by infection, their teeth broken and legs mangled -- will cease to look menacing.