CHANNEL 4 DOCUMENTARY

“Going to the Dogs”

What is ‘Dog Fighting’?

Dog fighting is known as a type of blood sport which means it results in killing. This involves pitting two dogs against each other purely for

entertainment.

The fight ends by one of the dogs being declared ‘winner’, if the losing dog has not already died through injuries from the

fight, it will typically be killed by its owner through a gun, beatings or torture.

Dog fighting has been illegal since 1835; however there has been a 400% increase in the last few years.

Training:

To train the dogs, they suffer through starvation, beatings and exhausting

exercise in order to encourage malice, build

endurance and strengthen the dog.

Why do People Watch/Organize Dog Fights?

• For entertainment purposes.

• Dog fighting creates revenue for the owner if their dog wins.

• In addition to this people can place bets on the dogs they think will win.

• Prizes can be up to as much as £50,000 if your dog wins.

What is Being Done?

The program was seen by those at the RSPCA who found it necessary to ask for more

footage, in order to investigate the illegal sport shown, and find who was responsible or involved

in the matter.

Some Example Comments:

'Channel 4 should be fined and made to hand over the details of the cowards involved along with the

footage. This makes me so angry I could cry. I do not understand how this was considered suitable

content.’

'Dog fighting is as bad as fox hunting, anyone who takes part in such barbaric sports should be

imprisoned for a long time.’

'It is sick. People who make their dogs fight should be tortured in my opinion. Dogs are for pets and not

bred to fight.'

Hate:

'when the first fight came around, it was descended into benevolent farce as the pit bulls attempted to mate rather than rip each other from limb to limb.’

This made the opinions against the show much stronger, as it was made apparent that none of the dogs wanted to fight, and that it was actually the

opposite.