People fight each other all the time in sports like boxing, so what’s wrong with dog fighting?
Boxers choose to enter the ring, knowing that they might get hurt. They train for the sport so that they are physically and mentally prepared, and they can always make the choice to leave the sport, even if it’s in the middle of a fight. Someone else makes the choice for the pit bulls that face off in a fight. Most dogs want to please the humans around them and will do anything they are told to do, even if it means injury or death. If a pit bull refuses to fight, then they will often be treated horribly until they do fight or are killed.
Don’t dogs naturally fight?
You’ve probably seen pictures of wolves in wild fighting, or maybe even neighborhood dogs wrestling over food or toys. When dogs fight with each other over food or something else that they think is valuable, they give each other a lot of signals to show who is in charge and who is giving in. Eventually one of the dogs surrenders to the other, so the fight stops. Pit bulls that were used for dog fighting were taught to ignore the signals of other dogs. Only pit bulls that kept fighting even when the other dog started to weaken and give in were bred. When a pit bull fights, it is until the other dog is dead. |
