What happens to dogs saved from illegal fighting rings

Anya Kopchinsky was not involved in rescuing the dogs found at the alleged fighting ring in Orange and Meriden — described by authorities as one of the largest dogfighting operations on the East Coast.

But she is often called upon to assist authorities when they bust dogfighting rings, first making sure they get the right evidence and, whenever possible, rehabilitating the dogs.

Authorities described horrific conditions at properties in Orange and Meriden, connected to arrests here and in Long Island. Between the two states, more than 100 dogs were rescued in recent months, 15 of them in Connecticut.

Kopchinsky said about half of the dogs rescued from dogfighting rings can never be placed.

Dogs, she said, are not meant to be aggressive toward each other. The people who create fighting dogs out of puppies are making them into something that shouldn’t exist, Kopchinsky said.

“You're making something that genetically isn't really supposed to happen,” she said. “Dogs are not supposed to kill each other.”

As Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy D. Sini said in a release regarding the fighting ring, the individuals charged in the case are accused of “torture” of animals.

“This case is about how a criminal network bred dogs, tortured them, and put them in serious harm’s way just to make a buck,” he said.

Fighting dogs who display innate aggression are bred in hopes of making dogs less friendly toward other dogs.

“If you have, say, a female dog that's won a couple of fights, you'd want to breed that one with the most aggressive male that you have in your group,” she said. “In a litter of maybe eight to 10, you get two to three that are born, like just real ready to go.”

Those hyper-aggressive dogs are bred and, Kopchinsky speculated, sold to stud to create more hyperaggressive dogs.

“Part of this is that the people are betting, so you're making a lot of money on the fights themselves and then you're making money probably off of studs and finding dogs from other people that are also, ‘winners,’ and getting them together,” she said.

For the dogs that aren’t natural fighters, there are things like break sticks, designed to keep the dog constantly frustrated.

Break sticks, she said, “are a long, sharp object that you can put in the little space behind their molars and kind of open up their jaw.”

In July, police raided a Britannia Street property in Meriden where authorities said they found eight dogs in a “makeshift kennel.”

Police said they also seized numerous items associated with dogfighting, including shock collars, weighted harnesses and collars, whips, and a homemade fighting ring.

In October, Connecticut State Police seized seven dogs from a Grassy Hill Road home in Orange. Sini described the investigation as “one of the largest takedowns of a dogfighting ring in New York state history.”

Calls made to Connecticut State Police and Orange Police were not returned.

The dogs, which Kophinsky said are often kept as evidence, are being held at the Milford Animal Control, according to officials.

“The dogs are in the custody of the state Department

of Agriculture, but Milford is assisting in providing the shelter space for them,” said Elizabeth Benton, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Agriculture declined to comment as the case is “a pending criminal matter.”

When and if they can, the dogs may be placed with foster homes for rehabilitation, such as Kopchinsky’s, and then ultimately with long-term families.

Dogs trained to fight are expected to be aggressive to

other dogs, not people.

“The perfect 10 out of 10 dog for them would be a dog that you can totally handle and was super social with people,” Kopchinsky said.

That means when a dog can be rehabilitated, they’re often great dogs, Kopchinsky said. She has six at home right now.

She starts off slowly. It takes time. Dogs held in fighting rings have often never been outside of cages or off chains. It’s common they have never seen stairs and have no idea how to navigate them.

“Some of them are really scared, I've gotten a lot of those that they're in a new environment, they've never left that place before and if they have, it hasn't been good,” she said. “So they're kind of like slinking around and trying to figure out how to live.”

But if and when they do realize what life outside of a fighting ring is like, Kopchinsky said they become extremely well behaved and happy animals.

“The nice part is that most of these dogs are incredibly social, like, stupidly social,” she said.

Connecticut State Police / Contributed photo This dog was one of eight found in a Meriden residence in late July. The dogs were removed as police suspect they were being used in illegal dog fighting rings.