Is about a gang involved withdog fighting....

i dont hink i could watch that.  would be too upsetting.

I want to watch it to see if they rap the SBT.

Hopefully it will show people that its not the SBT's that are dangerous and they are a good dog with no bad traits at all, fingers crossed.

Surely if they show SBTs fighting this will put them in a bad light and heighten the madness that the media has created about them?

Hopefully it will show that it is the PEOPLE and not the dogs that are to blame

Melodysk explained what im trying to say all in one 1! :)

That people 100% should blame deed not breed, fingers crossed it happens.

I love staffies and totally agree with you both but i just hope that some people don't view it the wrong way! I don't want anything else to add to the bad press about this beautiful breed!

Fingers crossed they dont do that is all we can hope for!

Well it says it's about pitbulls and the illegal breeding, owning and fighting of them, but as we all know some Staffies are mistaken for pitbulls.

Hopefully they will make a point of mentioning that important fact, and people will finally see the difference between the 2.
This could either be really good for the SBT or really bad :(

ops didnt realise it was already on here . i only checked the 1st two pages... its heavy stuff.

well just watch the programme i was ok up untill the last 5 min when they showed the dogs age 10 month to adult dogs flightingm

i had to go out of the room just make me sick that there a big loop hole in the system to get this dogs in the uk as boxer X retrievers on the pet passport,but to hide the pedigree which has pitbull writen on it.

how do this breeders and owners get away wiith it.

snap. When ever they showed the fighting I had to close my eyes and put my fingers in my ears to stop me from feeling sick.

I can't believe how easy it is for them to get a pitball in, my problem with it was what did they do with Nipper afterwards? Very sad and upsetting :(

Awful, just awful :(

I taped it while I watched Big Brother, but I flicked over during the advertising breaks - in time to see the 10mth pups fighting. What sort of people would deliberately breed dogs to be as aggressive as possible and then set them on each other and get pleasure from watching them ripping holes in each other? They want shooting (the people that is).

I didn't watch it or I'd never sleep.

Can anyone who did tell me how anti-dogs it was and did they talk about staffies (or any other breeds)?

no it was just pit bulls they didnt aim for other breeds.

they show you photos of what they can do with that powerful jaw. it was like a shark attack on a human ripening the skin and puncher wounds,
then they show you a skelton of the dog and how he has the power behind him and the jaw line to.

the loophole how to get these dogs from irland and finland to the uk,

some dog went under ground with the breeder to spain.

some country it not against the law for dog flights like finland.where there is this top breeder for the breed there and in ireland.

the names on the pedigree in ireland was farmer boy as an affix.

but they can get away with on the pet passport as a cross breed,

These people have links everywhere. Certain animals welfare groups have always maintained they have links with puppy farmers who regularly ship puppies all across the UK.

Dogs coming in from Ireland are often brought in via P & O ferries. Waterside Action Group have constantly tried to highlight this and stop the transport of these dogs and puppy farmed dogs, but have always lacked the support. Surely if we are as concerned as we say we should do something like perhaps writing to the ferry companies who tranport these dogs, the RSPCA, customs authorities etc? Even high light in your own local papers how this and puppy farmers/dealers are all linked and anybody buying from a retail outlet could be supporting this vile business.

As the Kennel has said we need to be "pro-active" defending dogs rights.

I chickened out of watching it, I went to the channel as it was starting and felt a 'frog in my throat' so changed channel.

I think it is sick and needs to be stopped

I didn't even start watching it, I saw a programme about dog fighting in Scotland a few years ago and it still upsets me to think about it. These people have no place in a 'civilised' society.

The worst bit for me was when one of the dogs had to be put down after a fight - I assumed he would be shot, but no....:-( this is just so unbelievable...:-( he had a crocodile clip attached to his tail & his ear, had a bucket of cold water thrown over him, and was then linked up to the mains electricity.......and it didn't work straight away, the lights fused....:-( :-( :-( After the event the owner was pleased that he now had some free "chain space".
Anyway the good thing about the programme was that these cruel, cruel people were exposed and are being charged with animal cruelty.

i thought it was quite informative but the stupid bbc woman drove me nuts with her hysterical shouting everytime she confronted one of the men....not professional atall
I thought it was hilariouis when the finnish woman suggested telling customes/border control to "F" off if they asked what breed it was!!! sounds like the perfect way to draw attention to what you are doing! Just  feel sorry for anyone now who genuinly does want to bring a boxer x lab into the UK.....have a feeling they will be interogated some what now!

It was barbaric
I watched some of it but couldn't watch when the fights were on and had to switch channels.
I feel really sick inside about this and yet there is nothing much we can do as it still seems to be going on :(
What people (if we can call them that) could actually be involved?  At the beginning of the fight these people semed to be enjoying it :(
An eye for an eye - and I definitely think anyone involved with this should be treated the same way as they have treated these poor dogs

And those damn breeders was it in Helsinki?  Did you see how they kept their dogs?

In N. Ireland we had another programme last night as well as the Panorama one. I haven't seen the Panorama one yet (recorded it) but it sounds like it covered some of the same ground. The local one was by the same reporter (agree with Sam...she is so irritating but she often reports on local news items so have got used to her by now) and showed how she and an undercover agent infiltrated the dog-fighting gangs here and in Finland.  I couldn't watch a lot of the footage of the fighting and injuries and it broke my heart to see those gorgeous, people-friendly dogs been treated in such a horrendous manner

I am very glad that the 'top men' in these local gangs have now been exposed.  It has always been known that dog-fighting is prolific (and pit-bulls commonplace in the guise of 'Irish' Staffs) here but even I was shocked to discover that there are no less than five 'kennels' in my local area and one very near the village where I grew up (and my parents still live) :(  I sincerely hope the exposure of these people and of their methods of getting the dogs into the country will go some way towards bringing an end to this barbarism.

As for what I'd like to do to the perpetrators....well, crocodile clips, cold water & electricity would only be the beginning

I couldn't bear to watch it either. 

I've just watched it on the BBC website, and I'm almost lost for words - it was the most shocking, horrific thing I have seen in a VERY long time.

One thing that particularly shocked me - right at the end - was when Dunkel got all of 2 years for animal cruelty.  I honestly believe that cases involving dogs bred to fight, and experienced fighters, should take the potential dangers into account as well as what has happened already - the risk to children, for example.

And why in the hell did they take Nipper back to the Irish Republic?  I realise that he's an innocent victim in all this, but he is an experienced - and good, as I understood - fighting dog; I'd have had him euthanased.  Not fair on him, but it'd be very difficult to find a suitable home I would think, and there's a chance he could end up back in the hands of dog fighters.  Especially after the talk of stealing pit bulls near the beginning of the film.

I was also horrified to watch the CCTV clip of that poor little dog being attacked - one of my biggest fears with my dogs is an attack like that (regardless of the breed attacking).  Truly horrendous.

Nikita - Are on about the poor lady running through the shop with a dog hanging off her Westie - It made me cry, like you it is my biggest fear my dog being attacked in such a manner

I watched this in shear disbelief and find it shocking to think people in this country get kicks out of doing this.

My biggest shock was none of these dogs appeared to be aggressive to these evil people putting them in the rings to fight to their death, they were pleased to see the owners and even when they were treating the horrifc wounds there was no sign of them snapping or being nasty to them.

Made me sick to my stomach.

It was a very hard to watch programme.

But At least it showed its the poeple and not the dogs who are responsible for this torture theyre put through and why dogs are attacked and children, because of people, not breed of dog.

I couldnt watch the actual dog fighting bit at the end, espicially the 2 10 months old puppies being trained to go for the killing blow, disgusting.
I dont even want to write anymore about it, i was a hard hitting programme which both saddened and angered in equal measure.

I didn't want to watch it, but I did. Even my 16 yr old said it was sick. And that poor little poodle at the beginning being dragged through the shop with the dog hanging off it was awful, made me feel sick.

Just heard on the local news that one of  the 'Farmers Boys' gang has been publicly disowned by his family.  Brief report here

I dont know what I would do if I found out a member of my family was involved in that sort of thing.

I would certainly disown them forever and probably give them a right good hiding to go with it.

On the programme I saw a few years ago a man was taking his family pet labrador to be put in a fight with a pit bull, apparently he got cash for bringing his dog (he was unemployed and needed money) and they bet on how long the lab would survive. I was so upset and horrified by this, (my stomach still churns at the thought), that I can't watch these programmes, hanging is too good for these vile low-lifes IMO.

That's one of the most horrific things I've ever heard!

That is awful

If I was desperate for money -  I would sooner starve than see anything happen to my dogs, regardless of what I might get out of it.

Personally I'd like to put each of these "people" in a ring with a pit bull and see how long they last before they're begging for help.

Oddly it reminds me of a story I heard a few years ago about an ex-poacher; he attended a lecture on communication between elephants, and learned how they signal distress and fear through sounds we can't hear.  Apparently he was so horrified he was in tears, had never had any idea of the emotional trauma the animals go through when they're hunted for ivory, and never poached again - now he helps fight the poachers.  I'm not saying this would work on these dog fighters, but it is food for thought; I reckon a lot of them just don't realise the psychological damage they are doing, if even the physical.

What got me was that when they were treating the dogs after the fights, they actually showed signs of caring - gently petting the dogs, handling very gently - but then they go on and put those dogs in that awful situation again.  The mind boggles.

Have you a link

Was that aimed at me Brainless?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/6962563.stm

That's the site, the video is top left by the article.  Opens in a new window.

Thanks.

Pretty gut wrenching.

I wish they had gone more into pointing out that these dogs should be non human aggressive and why children were victims.

None of those dogs showed a scrap of aggresion towards any of the (adult) people. in fact quite the opposite

Yep, that is one of my worst nightmares too: that poor woman with the poodle trying to get it away from the attacking dog. :( It was awful.

And while in a lot of ways I agree that Nipper may have been better euthanased for his and other dogs safety, if they were going to do that it would have been totally unfair and inhumane to put him through all those flights, car journeys and ferries for hours just to see how easy it was to import a dog illegally then to kill him at the end. And he appeared perfectly people friendly - I just hope they've been very very careful about who's got him. :(

I would imagine as an illegal dog he will have been put to sleep.  I don't expect the BBC are keeping him for an office pet.  Even neutered, chipped,  tattooed, registered and muzzled.

The programme stated that he was taken back into the Republic of Ireland where, of course, APBTs are perfectly legal.  They obviously can't say any more than that as he would be at a real risk of theft if his exact whereabouts were known.

Of course, he may have been PTS and they're not likely to tell the public this either.

They said he was taken back to the RoI, where pitbulls are legal. From that I understood that he had not been euthanased - they didn't say he ahd been.

Oh well didn't see that, but pretty big responsibility for a trained fighter to be sitting in someones home, legal or not.  After all the whole premise of the piece was what a danger these dogs were to children.

That's what i would have thought too, Barbara...that it would be a huge responsibility to place/take on a dog that had already been used for fighting.

Although i knew that there was dog fighting still out there i just cannot believe how easy it is for them to ship these dogs in and out of the country!

I had to watch it although when the fighting came on i had to keep changing channels as it made me feel sick!!

I don't think it will have done staffies etc alot of good because people are now going to be even more wary of these "types" of dogs i though it could have emphasised a bit more that pitbulls are actually (in the right hands) not normally people aggressive!

The sound that i cannot get out of my head is the cry of why of the 10 month old pups that they were fighting, it made me feel so sad and angry!!

The people that fight them are the lowest type of scum!!!

At the end of the day these dogs are trained to be 'dog aggressive'.Therefore they are as much likely to attack a human as any other breed.That said the sheer power of these dogs is enough to make you wary.Did you see how happy the dogs were to see the people making the documentary???
I am a definate believer in deed not breed and would happily let a pitbull share mine and my childrens lives provided I was the 1 who moulded it.By that I mean,that it came as a puppy and was trained and raised by myself and my family.

here, here Waffy.

a pitbull puppy raised and trained by ellie lawrenson's family killed her

I have a sneaky suspicion this dog was raised and trained to fight though - just by looking at the family -  I'm assuming (which I know we shouldn't) but why else would Ellie's uncle own the dog?