“They would take the dogs in the garage during the day and you could hear them fighting.” That would be the garage behind the house that operated a licensed daycare.

When Cook County police raided a Chicago suburban home earlier this week, they found nine dogs in horrible condition and plenty of dog fighting paraphernalia on the property. Inside the home, they also found ten children entrusted to the care of these same people.

Let me make this clear: the problem here is not “pitbulls and children.” The problem is the people who can watch their animals mutilate one another for “entertainment,” who can neglect and abuse them for the hopes of profit, being allowed anywhere near children. There is a well-known (and documented) correlation between the way people treat animals and the way they treat humans. Even if these children were kept completely separate from the dogs, would you trust them to provide compassionate care for your child? Would you want to give them the opportunity to influence your child with their (lack of) moral sense?

The police had received multiple calls in recent years about this house, but were unable to find enough evidence to do much about it (which is, unfortunately, a common problem in prosecuting all sorts of animal abusers).  Odds are, this has been going on for years. This – and many other similar operations that don’t make the news or have yet to be discovered – is not some Michael Vick fad. The general public may not have known much about dogfighting before the Vick story, but it’s not a new thing and it has never been confined to some comfortable demographic of supposedly obvious suspects, like drug dealers and convicts.

This is an unfortunate truth-is-stranger-than-fiction moment. Many of my beta readers have questioned some of the characters associated with dogfighting in my novel – Would there really be parents and professionals at a dog fight? Wouldn’t the protagonist know if an acquaintance was into such a thing? All the dogfighting references in my book that have taken people by surprise do not add up to the facts of this latest bust to hit the news.

Some days it feels like you’re doing the same thing over and over again, and you begin to wonder whether you’re starting to resemble that definition of crazy about repeating the same actions and expecting a different result…

That’s part of life, right? There are always more dogs to rescue, more words to write, more ____ to _____.

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But we keep going in the hopes that it’s not an institution waiting on the other side of the road, but the answer to what we need.

We all spend a lot of time and money to keep our pets safe – choosing high quality food, paying attention to recalls, buying the right toys that will keep him entertained and hold up to his teeth (at least for a little while). I mean, you wouldn’t let him chew on block of lead or an arsenic-filled bone any more than you’d let him play in traffic, would you?

But what if, despite all of your good intentions, your dog or cat is surrounded by toxic chemicals in their toys, beds, and collars?

There are no government standards for hazardous chemicals in pet products and, in HealthyStuff.org’s test results on over 400 items, it shows. One-quarter of the toys and nearly half of the collars tested had detectable levels of lead, many of them exceeding the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) limit for children’s products.

The tennis ball you bat around the court is less likely to contain lead than the one you bought at a pet store for your dog to put in his mouth.

Our pets are highly sensitive to chemical exposure. Just about everything in your house sheds chemicals, which become part of the dust that settles on the ground, where your pet sniffs, lays, and has probably eaten a thing or two. Even if your pet doesn’t eat things he shouldn’t (though he was a puppy at some point, so odds are that he has), his toys are designed for chewing. That’s what dogs and cats do. They also groom themselves, directly ingesting the chemical-laden dust.

If they’re in trouble, we’re in trouble…and not just because they’re a part of the family. Are you familiar with the Canary in the Coal Mine? Now there’s the Beagle in the Bedroom, the Siamese in the Sitting Room.

Some people argue that we don’t know exactly what these results mean for the health of our pets – whether the presence of a chemical means there’s exposure, or what the “safe” level might be for different size dogs. There hasn’t been much research done in this area, but bio-monitoring of cats has already shown the exposure to toxic flame retardants is 23x higher than humans.

When there are safe options available, why would we choose to expose our pets and ourselves to toxic chemicals?

What can you do? 

- Check out HealthyStuff.org’s database to help you make smarter shopping decisions and see what’s in your house. In addition to pet supplies, there are children’s products, clothing accessories, even cars. You can also let them know what you think should be tested next.
 

- Though the tags say to throw away a toy once it becomes torn, most of us let our pets destroy their toys until they’re unrecognizable or obviously hazardous. Sometimes the innards of toys hold the worst chemicals, like flame retardants in stuffing or lead in the parts that reinforce tougher toys. So, it might not be a bad idea to pay extra attention to what your critters are putting in their mouths and get rid of toys that have seen better days.
 

- Contact the manufacturers of your favorite products and let them know you want safe products for your furry friend (and let the ones with healthy products know you appreciate them!). The pet industry is huge – it’s our dollars that have gotten it there and it’s our dollars that can impact where it goes next.
 

- Go to the Take Action section of HealthyStuff.org to find out how to contact your elected representatives. You can’t tell just by looking at stuff whether it’s healthy, and Made in the USA isn’t a guarantee either. It’s impossible to test everything on the market and, ultimately, we need stronger laws to get safe products on the shelves.

As pet owners, we’re used to speaking for those who can’t speak for themselves. Now they need us again, so spread the word and stay informed!

Meet Wilbur.

His scars are healing, but when he first arrived, his whole muzzle was covered by scabs. One of his ears is misshapen, like it had been torn and never healed properly some time ago. The first assumption many people make is that he must be a fighter. Though the scars on his face might have nothing to do with another dog.

Has he fought with other dogs? Possibly. But did he do so because he’s a dog or because someone made him do it? That’s the piece we’ll never know.

Does it matter?

Not at all. On their own, dogs fight for all kinds of reasons. Everything from needing to defend themselves or their basic needs, to the canine version of personality conflicts. Some of the worst fights that people I know have had to deal with in their own packs took place among mid-sized mutts and retrievers. But he’s a big-headed bully breed, so it’s possible that someone at some point faced him off (or tried to)…

How can I say we’ll never know and I don’t care to know?

Because right now, he’s laying on my couch, Moby and Turtle are curled up a few feet away, Juno and Sierra are snoozing on the floor. When the cats come by, he either ignores them, or shows mild interest tinged with apprehension. This is not a dog looking for a fight. This is a dog looking for a comfy place to snuggle, a human to greet with a wagging tail, and a yard where he can indulge his zoomies.

He and Turtle love to play. When she gives a melodramatic squeal, he stops and looks worried, as if he might have hurt her (though usually he hasn’t even touched her when she squeals…he enjoys chasing and bouncing more than mouthing). He pays attention to the shepherds’ disinterest and doesn’t try to engage them. It’s hard to ignore an excited puppy, but when Moby is calm, so is Wilbur. He plays with toys on his own, too, and trots around the yard with a big bully grin and wagging tail. In the house, he hops on the couch and quietly chews on a toy or curls up for a nap.

He loves people. So far, everyone he’s met is his new best friend. He listens well, comes when called, sits for his food bowl. He’s housetrained and doesn’t chew on anything that he shouldn’t. That’s one of the many advantages of being beyond the puppy stage.

He’s going to be the perfect housedog for someone.

He’ll be listed on Pit Bull Rescue Central soon, so if you know anyone looking for a great dog, you know where to find one.