Quotes from Jim Gorant

Last, I would like to thank the dogs, not just the Vick pack, but all of them, simply for being dogs, which is to say, tolerant and perseverant; willing to connect with a world that does not always return their affection; and for proving, time and again, that life, while messy, difficult, and imperfect, has the capacity to exceed our expectations and feed our undying hope.

But no one names a thing that doesn't have hope. No one names a thing that doesn't have a future. No one names a lost dog.

Some of those reported legitimate pit bull attacks—the price of so many unsocialized, abused, and aggressively trained dogs popping up around the country—but many were the result of pit bull hysteria, in which almost any incident involving a dog was falsely reported as a pit bull attack. The breed, which had existed in some form for hundreds of years, didn't suddenly lose control. The dogs simply fell into the hands of many more people who had no interest in control.

If you show goodwill and kindness toward those who cannot stand up for themselves, you set a tone of compassion and goodwill that permeates all.

You cannot accurately assume that all the dogs saved from a fight bust are vicious and unstable or that all pit bulls are biting machines waiting for their chance to attack. It may be easier and less expensive to think that way, but it's not true. Yes, if pit bulls attack, they're equipped to do the job well—they're strong, agile, and determined—and they may even have some genetic inclination to be aggressive toward other dogs, but nurture plays

Animals, Huss felt, could teach us a lot about how to live if we paid attention to them. She had chosen to pay attention.

Their dog, the dog that no one wanted, the pit bull that a 'no kill' shelter had wanted to kill, had outrun, out-jumped, out-hustled, and out-hearted all the herding dogs and retrievers and shepherds. In not just one event, but in a grueling series of games and contests that tested every aspect of a dog's abilities. Wallace was a world champion.

The Vick dogs are, after all, still simply dogs. Dogs of all breeds and backgrounds run into the street and get struck by cars, attack other dogs, and bite people every day. There are 4.7 million5 dog bites recorded annually in the United States, which comes to something like twelve thousand a day.