Bait dogs

[pawsies]

I'm just wondering how people know their dog was used for bait?

Have they seen dog fighting premises and therefore know their dog was used for baiting?
How common is dog fighting in the UK and why would a dog bred for fighting need to practice on an innocent animal?
Are bait dogs really that common? Whenever I've asked someone for more details they tend to just show pictures and exclaim their dog was definitely a bait dog but why would dog fighters release bait animals into the general public? Surely they'd not want the backlash?

I'm just a bit confused as to how so many rescue dogs have baiting as a history.

Thanks :)

1. Bait dogs are used to teach fighting dogs how to kill another dog
2. Unlikely that any adopted dog was ever used as a bait dog.
3. Why do you ask?

Sometimes badly injured dogs are dumped. Why go to the bother of finishing them off.

@MrsPernicious

1. Bait dogs are used to teach fighting dogs how to kill another dog

1. Unlikely that any adopted dog was ever used as a bait dog.
2. Why do you ask?

Ok but if they are genetically bred for fighting then I don't understand why they need to be taught?

I would have thought the meer sight of a dog would be enough to trigger that instinct.

1. Whenever a dog is posted on facebook or social media with scars or an injury of some sort the comments about bait dogs come up.

1. Just curious as to how there are so many people claiming these dogs are bait dogs but I just don't understand the logistics of it.

I like evidence and research based facts so it seems strange to me that there are so many reports made but not backed up.

I spend most of time in dog rescue and have not had one yet.

Where are you seeing all these?

I have a bit to so with dog rescue and dogs in general, I have never seen a dog described as a bait dog.

Honestly, the dogs used as bait would be unlikely to survive a mauling from a fighting dog.

Can you link to where these dogs are?

Not sure how you would breed a dog that killed all other dogs at mere sight.

Another one who has not witnessed all these SM posts.

I have a very dog heavy facebook feed. Lots of local groups, rescue groups and general dog groups.

That's where the majority of bait dog posts are found.

Also whenever a worldwide post is shared of a dog with scars or injuries they'll be comments about bait dogs again.

How bizarre to infer that bait dogs are a figment of some FB posters imagination.

www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-49908430

www.bbc.com/news/uk-46991589

metro.co.uk/2018/11/29/dogs-trauma-at-being-used-as-bait-for-dog-fighting-8191304/

I fostered the two remaining puppies out of a litter where the rest of them had been killed as part of illegal dog fighting - they were seized by the police.
Dogs don't know to kill, just as they don't innately know to chase down rabbits - they will be only fed when they kill, and those that don't perform will be killed themselves

Why do you think people are lying to you.
What is motivating them to lie?

I've got a lot of rescue centres on my Facebook too from all
Over the world. I see it too. I usually skip past though as I can't take reading it. I think a lot are from other countries

@Verashat nobody is denying that there is such a thing as bait dogs, just stating that they don't tend to turn up at rescues.

[quote MrsPernicious]@Verashat nobody is denying that there is such a thing as bait dogs, just stating that they don't tend to turn up at rescues.[/quote]
You know that how?

www.bishopsstortfordindependent.co.uk/news/rescued-staffie-kali-highlights-savagery-of-illegal-dog-fighting-in-east-herts-9066029/

www.bishopsstortfordindependent.co.uk/news/rescued-staffie-kali-highlights-savagery-of-illegal-dog-fighting-in-east-herts-9066029/

🙄

Well if so many of these bait animals survive - their purpose is to be killed - then the fighter dogs in training are bloody useless at their "job" then. Presumably the monsters who practice dog fighting are nice enough to drop off the ones that survive at the local rescue centre.

@CMOTDibbler

I fostered the two remaining puppies out of a litter where the rest of them had been killed as part of illegal dog fighting - they were seized by the police. Dogs don't know to kill, just as they don't innately know to chase down rabbits - they will be only fed when they kill, and those that don't perform will be killed themselves

That's a poor analogy. Most Dogs do innately know how to chase rabbits - food finding/predatory sequences are evolutionarily conserved despite domestication although successful hunting requires practice.

@pawsies bait dogs are used in illegal dog fighting because whilst hunting behaviours are highly conserved, killing a consiecific is actually evolutionarily expensive due to the risk of injury so most dogs that fight require significant genetic selection for dog aggressive traits and then significant training to get a kill rather than just a scrap until they both give up. This is what bait dogs are used for. Fighting dogs will also be trained on trees to 'strengthen' their jaws

Very few bait dogs enter rescue because very few of them survive, they're much more likely to have experienced general abuse, neglect, aggression from other dogs in the household etc

@Moondust001

Well if so many of these bait animals survive - their purpose is to be killed - then the fighter dogs in training are bloody useless at their "job" then. Presumably the monsters who practice dog fighting are nice enough to drop off the ones that survive at the local rescue centre.

I find it really sad, that you would post something like that, because what is your motivation?

If you worked in animal rescue (and you don’t) you would realise that there are lots of examples of dogs escaping, being dumped, being raided.

But the sort of person who would deny that it existed is just alien to me and it’s not really worth wafting time on.

No one is denying that they exist

It's just that they're actually not that common.

As a vet every other client tells me their new dog is a 'rescue' when I ask a bit more it transpires rescue is a euphemism for rehomed from gumtree.

People generally tell the story that they want to. It's not malicious. It's just that they want to feel good about rescuing a dog from a terrible situation

FWIW I live in a city with illegal dog fighting activity. Several parks here have large trees with bark damage due to training fighting dogs.

It's very rare for one to turn up in the local rescue centre/vet clinic

@Veterinari

No one is denying that they exist

It's just that they're actually not that common.

As a vet every other client tells me their new dog is a 'rescue' when I ask a bit more it transpires rescue is a euphemism for rehomed from gumtree.

People generally tell the story that they want to. It's not malicious. It's just that they want to feel good about rescuing a dog from a terrible situation

I disagree but then my vets Instagram is full of French bull dog puppies. My dogs are rescued and not from gumtree. I think a lot of people feel uncomfortable with the reality of what goes on with dog fighting and rescue and they tell themselves that in order to feel better.