PIT

Around the outside of the cage I could see men with barking dogs on chains. There were all types of mean and vicious looking dogs down there. Rottweilers, Doberman pinschers, and pit bulls were some of the most recognizable ones. Some were mixed breeds, half-Doberman half-German shepherd, and others just mutts. All of them had one thing in common. They were all killers.

Two owners brought the first two dogs into the cage. The owners held their dogs by their scruffs at the top of their necks. The two dogs snapped, barked and snarled at each other as the owners held them just close enough to smell each other.

The dog on the left was a brown pit bull with a patch of white around his right eye. Although he looked like a pretty young dog, he was very healthy and muscular looking. When he snarled and showed his teeth, he looked like he could kill a horse. I was sitting quite a way from the action but he struck a fear in me so deep that I was becoming short of breath.

The other dog was a Doberman with the standard black and brown Doberman colors. He was a beautiful dog but his rage made him look ugly. Why someone would subject a purebred Doberman to this was beyond my understanding.

As a matter of fact, why would someone do this to any animal?

During the preliminaries, Mike gave me the play by play. "The reason why they hold 'em around the neck like that is to make 'em mean and ready to attack."

Mike barely knew the reason why the pencil had been invented, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt since he was more experienced in this field than I was.

Suddenly a whistle sounded and the owners let their dogs go.