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'Lover, Not a Fighter'

Alf lazily lounged on Jemi Hodge's lap on a couch at the Richmond Animal League Friday.

The white and brown-colored pit bull propped half of his body on her thigh and stretched his short back legs toward Gracie , a black mix sprawled next to him.

After a few minutes, Alf decides he wants to kiss Gracie and begins to lick her short snout. Gracie eagerly returns the favor.

"He's a lover, not a fighter," Sharon Cornett said of Alf.

"And she's a couch potato," Susan Kelly said of Gracie.

Alf and Gracie are just two of the dogs rescued from Michael's Vick's Bad Newz Kennels in Newport News. The Richmond Animal League offered to take any of the dogs the federal government seized from his property; the group received four dogs in December.

The organization, along with seven others across the country, was finally able to talk about the dogs Friday after the last co-defendant, Oscar Allen , was sentenced. A federal judge sentenced Allen, who admitted to giving the former Atlanta Falcons football player a female pit bull and instructed Vick and his co-defendants how to pair dogs in fights, to three years of probation and a $500 fine.

Allen, 67, of Williamsburg, pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce to aid in illegal gambling and to sponsor a dog in animal fighting, the same charge to which Vick and three co-defendants pleaded guilty.

But prosecutors said he did not help kill six to eight dogs that did not perform well. He also cooperated with prosecutors against Vick, Purnell Peace of Virginia Beach, Quanis Phillips of Atlanta and Tony Taylor of Hampton.

Peace was sentenced to 18 months; Phillips to 21 months; and Taylor to two months. Vick received the longest sentence at 23 months. He was being housed as a federal prison Virginia, but was transferred earlier this month to a Leavenworth, Kansas, facility to enter a drug treatment program.

Forty-eight dogs were seized from Vick's property and only one was euthanized. The Best Friends Animal Society , an animal sanctuary in Utah, said Friday that of the 47 surviving dogs, 25 were classified as sanctuary dogs. Best Friends received 21 of those. The 22nd dog that Best Friends received was assessed as being highly adoptable.

Cornett, a member of the Board of Directors for the Richmond Animal League, said Friday the four dogs they received were not fighters and have not shown an aggression.

In general, Cornett said, fighting dogs aren't people-aggressive because their handlers are often in the small fighting pits with them and don't want their dogs attacking them.

The dogs bear no fighting scars and except for a little eye problem in Gracie, were physically healthy, Cornett said. They've also since been spayed or neutered, micro chipped and vaccinated.

The four dogs are in different foster homes, only one of which is local, that were chosen based on their experience with animal rehabilitation and their work with the pit bull breed, said Kelly, director of development with the animal league.

They're learning how to be dogs, which means discovering what toys are, running, living inside and socializing with other dogs, cats and people. Alf and Gracie were only at the animal league facility Friday for the media.

In about two months, after the dogs have passed federal rules, such as getting a good citizen certification, the dogs will be available for adoption. Cornett said she hopes the foster homes might consider adopting the dogs.

If not, potential families will go through a thorough screening process before they can adopt any of the dogs, and they won't be told that the dog was one of Vick's until after they're approved.

If they then change their mind, Cornett said, it was probably not a good fit anyway.

Best Friends has started calling their dogs "Vicktory dogs" rather than Vick's fighting dogs. They are also working with them to place them in appropriate homes.

Because of concern that dog fighters may try to get them, the Vick dogs will have more security, according to the Best Friends Web site, and the adoptions staff will require more in-depth background checks from potential adopters.

The four dogs given to the Richmond Animal League have come a long way, Cornett said. Though Alf used to cower and curl into a ball when a man was nearby, he doesn't do that as much anymore. And both he and Gracie get along fine with other dogs, cats and people.

Hodge, an animal behavioral specialist and owner of K-9 Consultants Inc., has worked with dogs for more than 30 years and worked with more than 3,000 dogs last year. She has never seen any aggression in Alf during the time she's taught him.

Alf barely seemed to care Friday when she gently stuck her fingers in his mouth and playfully jostled his large, square head and floppy ears. The only thing she came away with was drool-covered hands.

As horrible as the dog fighting situation was, Cornett said, it finally brought the public spotlight to the gruesome activity.

"Despite the unknown number of dogs that died," she said, "we have some who made it."