Knock Out Dog Fighting // Knock Out Dog Fighting Aims to Take Down Violence Against Dogs

- Kris Crawford

Kris Crawford wins Hero Award from American Red Cross

Knock Out Dog Fighting Aims to Take Down Violence Against Dogs
Elisa Jordan for iLoveDogs.comand Kris Crawford
July 19, 2010

When football superstar Michael Vick was arrested for dog fighting in 2007, most of the world was shocked when the gruesome details of his Bad Newz Kennels operation came to light. While many people knew that there was a dog fighting subculture, it was unknown to the general public just how widespread the problem is and how horrific the conditions in which the dogs live really are.

But there were some people who did know about the dog fighting problem. In fact, there were—and still are—committed individuals actively working to stop it. Kris Crawford, for instance, has been fighting to stop cruelty to animals, Pit Bulls in particular, for years.

In 1997, she founded For Pits’ Sake, a Northern California-based non-profit organization devoted to humane education, safety programs and training dogs for search-and-rescue, therapy and service dog work. Currently, Crawford has three working dogs: Tahoe, Cheyenne, and Dakota. (Her search-and-rescue Pit Bulls have responded to more than 200 search missions, including the Laci Peterson case in Northern California and the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.) After founding For Pits' Sake, she followed up with the programs Safety Around Dogs, which educates children on dog bite preventiom, and Knock Out Dog Fighting, a program devoted to ending dog fighting and the inhumane treatment that comes along with it.

If there is a silver lining in the wake of the Vick case, it’s that more people are aware of dog fighting and the torture dogs endure, such as beatings, electrocution, drowning and hanging. Pit Bulls, used in disproportionately high numbers compared to other breeds in fighting rings, are often erroneously seen as vicious animals as opposed to devoted, affectionate companions as a result. Then came the Vick case. Perceptions about the breed were about to shift considerably.

“The Michael Vick case is what brought dog fighting to the forefront of America’s consciousness,” Crawford says. “After the Michael Vick case, the Pit Bull started to be seen as a victim of dog fighting, not a willing participant. People starting learning what was happening to these dogs—that they were being brutalized and tortured.”

Knock Out Dog Fighting combines several elements to create its unique program. Crawford is keenly aware of the challenges she faces and tries to come up with solutions that actually work. The result is a proactive, thorough and multi-faceted approach to dog-fighting prevention. She knows, for instance, that just giving an inspirational talk to a group of kids won’t do much good.

Many of the kids Crawford tries to reach come from gang-impacted neighborhoods and they may not be getting any guidance, security or a sense of belonging at home. As a result, many kids turn to gangs as a way to fill those voids. “Right now, a lot of gang-impacted 13 to 17-year-old youth are getting more involved in dog fighting because they saw a role model involved.,” says Crawford.

Consequently, at-risk youth can more easily fall into something like dog fighting, because it's an activity that helps create a tough reputation in the neighborhood, becomes a source of revenue, and that’s glorified in hip-hop and pop culture (such as the game “Mafia Wars,” which recently removed Pit Bulls as a weapon option).

That’s where the “knock out” part of Knock Out Dog Fighting comes in. Despite everything she’s accomplished with her own dogs, Crawford knows she’s not what inner city teens look for in a role model. So she has partnered with several professional Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters to get her message across because they have a much better chance of connecting with kids. “We have some of the toughest men on the planet working with these kids teaching them that it’s not cool to fight or animals.”

Through Knock Out Dog Fighting kids can learn that dog fighting is not only not cool nor proves how tough you are, but how it’s inhumane, from people they look up to. It’s helpful, too, that many of the fighters who participate in the program come from similar backgrounds as the kids, so they’re in a position to understand what they’re going through and relate to them.

Such is the case with Brett “The Grim” Rogers, an accomplished MMA athlete who grew up in the Cabrini Green projects in Chicago. Like the other athletes who volunteer for the program, he works with kids at the ground level and helps them put a stop to their own dog fighting before it starts.

“The kids are going to be put in a place where they decide whether or not they should or shouldn’t fight dogs, so before they get in that position I want to already have my voice in their heads saying ‘Hey, it’s just not the thing to do,’” Rogers says. “I explain to them why dog fighting isn’t a good thing. Don’t put your pets up for fighting, even if it is for money. I don’t care if you’re poor. I come from a poor background. That doesn’t mean I raise animals to have them kill each other. It’s just not right.”

As with Rogers, the athletes who volunteer for Knock Out Dog Fighting do more than just pose for promotional posters or recite dialog for public service announcements. They get heavily involved with talking to kids and educating them and give up their free time to participate. Like Crawford, their time is donated. No one receives a paycheck for working with Knock Out Dog Fighting. Everyone takes time off from their paying jobs and they pay for their own travel expenses to and from children's classes and events.

But it doesn’t stop at setting up meetings between fighters and kids; follow up is vital for success. Inspirational talks do no good unless resources are provided to help the kids stop. Otherwise, Crawford says, it’s a waste of time.

Through Knock Out Dog Fighting, Crawford teams up with community-based organizations, such as gang prevention task forces, community leaders and law enforcement, including the FBI, among others. By doing so, she says, they can offer services such as substance abuse programs and vocational training, which is a crucial element for the youth's success.

Because many of these kids have dropped out of school and may be covered in tattoos, their options are often limited to minimum wage jobs. Money is earned faster and more easily byselling drugs or fighting dogs, so they need better options than, say, working at a local fast food restaurant.

Crawford points out a commonality between Pit Bulls and MMA fighters—both are frequently misunderstood by those who don’t take the time to learn about them. While Pit Bulls are dismissed by many as vicious, so, too, is mixed martial arts seen as a blood sport by those who don’t understand the skill and discipline involved in learning the art.

Just like Pit Bulls face breed-specific legislation (BSL) that hampers their existence in certain cities or counties, MMA has fought similar legal battles for acceptance. When Royce Gracie, member of the respected and legendary Gracie family and son of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu co-founder Helio Gracie (one of Brazil’s first real sports heroes), was crowned champion of the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 1993, it took place in Colorado because it was one of the few states that legally permitted the tournament.

Although the sport is the fastest growing spectator sport in the world right now, it is still banned outright in some states, including New York, Michigan, South Carolina and West Virginia. Senator John McCain, in fact, once famously dismissed mixed martial arts as “human cockfighting.”

Crawford even notes that when Michael Vick was busted for dog fighting, “a lot of his football-playing buddies publicly defended him by equating dog fighting with mixed martial arts, which couldn’t be further from the truth.”

In reality, combat sports, martial arts in particular, teaches students respect, discipline, motivation and self-esteem. The athletes who participate in MMA take their training seriously and are some of the most conditioned athletes in the world.

Labeling MMA fighters as merely aggressive or violent individuals who beat each other up in a cage belies their commitment to training, conditioning and nutrition—the exact opposite of many people’s perception of them.

“MMA athletes are some of the best conditioned athletes in the world,” she says. “In addition to helping kids get physically fit, we also teach them discipline, respect and self-motivation. We help build their inner strength so they can go back into the community and say no to peer pressure.”

To provide this service, Knock Out Dog Fighting partners with combat sports gyms so kids can train free of charge. The program also provides their training equipment and when necessary tries to partner with rapid transit so students who don’t live close to a participating gym can easily get to class. Easing kids’ limitations, such as financial burdens or transportation woes, helps keep them into the program, as many participants come from low-income families. By doing so, it gives kids an outlet, a place to go, and teaches them respect and discipline.

Once in the gym, trainers often find themselves in the role of mentor, not to mention “counselor.” Crawford notes that the man who runs the training facility Knock Out Dog Fighting mainly works with actually moved into a gang area; his program works because the kids relate to him and trust him. He doesn’t just train them in the gym, he finds out what’s going on in their lives, in the neighborhood and families. And why they’re in gangs.

And that’s part of what’s unique about Knock Out Dog Fighting. The program’s willingness to understand the people they’re working with and connect with them at the street level gives volunteers versatility in their approaches. The program reaches out to schools, community centers, juvenile halls, detention ranches and even parks.

Because she works with gang prevention task forces, it helps Crawford identify the gang “hot spots” in a community, enabling the program to have the ability to target the areas she needs to work with most on at the street level.

Her approach is working, so Crawford was recently asked by a couple of community leaders how her organization does such a good job reaching kids. In addition to using professional athletes, she also uses pit bulls to attract the youth. For example, she took a group to a community center in a park that was located in a gang-impacted area to prover her point. Accompanying the group was one of Knock Out Dog Fighting's Frisbee-loving pit bulls.

“We walked over to the park and there were three kids hanging out in the park. I told the cummunity leaders, if I walked up to those kids and said something like 'Excuse me, I’d like to talk to you about the resources available to help you stay out of gangs,’ the kids are not going to listen to a word I say. I then sent our pit bull frisbee dog handler and his dog into the park and within 15 minutes we had over 45 kids in the park asking us if we could teach them how to do that with their dogs. THAT is how we get them involved in our program.” Crawford says.

Crawford's Knock Out Dog Fighting team tells kids in detention ranches and juvenile halls where to find the program after their release and how they can get help. Some of the presentations offer information on more than just MMA, which might not appeal to some kids. There is a dance program, for instance, and a partnership with scientists at Stanford to get kids interested in science. Programs at detention centers and juvenile halls are tailored to the kids there and to what the rules allow, of course.

“They are joining us,” she says. “They are now helping us stop dog fighting in the community.”

One of Knock Out Dog Fighting’s major facets is teaching kids positive training methods for dogs and the importance of humane treatment.

This requires retraining the kids about how they view their dogs, as many of them show up with dogs that are on chains as opposed to collars and leashes. Up front, students who participate in class receive the tools they need for responsible dog ownership: a collar, leash, Kong, bait bag and dog bed, all of which are paid for by Knock Out Dog Fighting.

The results of the program’s influence are multiple. In addition to educating kids about dog fighting, the program aims to curb their violent behavior altogether by teaching humane education and alternatives to at-risk activities, moves that ultimately make the community safer in general.

“A lot of people don’t want to get involved in what we do because they think, ‘Oh, it’s just a Pit Bull issue, why should I care?’ or ‘It’s just a dog issue.’ But research shows that there is a link between animal abuse and those who go out and commit crimes against people. The way you approach a community is not just about saving the dogs, it’s saving the kids and the entire community by what we’re doing. We bring the humane education aspect into it. If we can get a kid to stop abusing an animal, we may be preventing that child from going on and committing violent crimes against people.”

She recalls one instance where she approached an upper-middle-class community about giving Knock Out Dog Fighting presentations in area schools. She was met with resistance because the people she spoke with didn’t think they needed such a program, because they didn't have a dog fighting problem.

“I asked, ‘But do you have child abuse? Spousal abuse? Elder abuse?’ And I talked to them about the link [between animal abuse and people abuse] and that we don’t just go in and say, ‘You need to stop fighting your dogs.’ We go in with the humane education portion and that we work with kids about treating animals humanely and getting children to stop abusing animals to prevent other crimes. Now they are begging us to go to their schools!"

And that’s part of the problem Crawford faces in many aspects of her work. In addition to fighting against breed-specific legislation and the prejudice Pit Bulls face in general, she also works to educate the public as a whole. Animal abuse and dog fighting aren’t the plague of certain neighborhoods, but ALL communities. Until more people get involved, these problems won’t go away anytime soon.

"A lot of people condemn dog fighting, but that’s where they stop," Crawford says. ACTION and participation is needed to truly bring dog fighting and animal cruelty to an end."

“Unless more people get involved in stopping it, it’s not going to change,” she says. “So we’re trying to mobilize the MMA community to get involved. But just mobilizing the MMA community isn’t enough. Just condemning dog fighting isn’t enough. Signing an online petition isn’t enough (these don't work because signatures aren't validated). Producing change takes a lot of time, money and is a lot of hard work!”

One need not be a famous fighter to help. Donating time, skills (such as athletic training, dance instruction, writing, graphic design, photography, etc.) and money all go toward bringing an end to dog fighting.

Because Knock Out Dog Fighting is so thorough, it requires money to pay for equipment (both sporting and dog training), youth, transportation, etc.. Furthermore, Knock Out Dog Fighting and For Pits’ Sake also get involved in the rescue and re-homing of the former fighting dogs themselves, which is another expense. The list of things to keep the program going is extensive.

“I get emails for our posters every day from police officers, animal shelters, and schools,” Crawford says. “But then always the last sentence is ‘But our budget has been cut. Is there any way you can send them for free?’ We want the information to get out. How do you say no to that?”

Despite the the long hours and uphill battles, Crawford continues to forge ahead, buoyed by the program’s success. “We’re making a difference,” she says. “It is really, really hard work, but then seeing the kids that we’ve made a difference to and seeing the dogs that we’ve made a difference to makes it worthwhile.”

But she can’t do it alone.

“Simply condemning dog fighting isn’t enough,” she says. “We need help. Dog fighting is huge and that’s why I recruited the best fighters in the world to help, but it’s not enough. It is hard work and if you can’t do the work, try to figure out another way to do something, even if it’s just running our newsletter or something like that. We’re a perfect example of people getting involved and it’s working. We can stop this but people have to get involved.”

Anthony "Rumble" Johnson speaking to over 100 kids at an Alternative School