Rescuing Marley: Updated with Wifey's Writing on the Experience

I thought I would share this, as it ended up being a pretty touching experience. For my wife and I, it was an experience, and a dog, we will never forget.

Heidi (my wife) and I will briefly foster dogs. Nothing long term. We had Marley for about a week.

Marley is a pit bull puppy that was being trained for fighting. He was ritually abused. One of the worst tortures they would do to Marley to try and get him to be aggressive is put him in a small plastic pool and electrocute him. Another was during his feeding time. They would put his food out, and whenever Marley would try and eat, they would electrocute him with a small version of a cattle prod.

When the feds finally busted the fighting ring, the sick fucks killed all the dogs, except for, strangely, Marley. So, when the feds got to the house, there were dozens of dead dogs...and Marley.

Now, luckily it appeared that Marley had not been there for long, and his spirit had yet to be broken. That's what the dog fighters do, is break the spirit of the dog...not only break it, but kill the spirit fully in order for the dog to be a killer.

This is a video we took on the night we received Marley. It was literally only 2 days after the feds raided this fighting group. So, just 2 days prior to this video being taken, Marley got to witness all the dogs around him get slaughtered, and less than a day before that, was being tortured.

As you can see, Marley's spirit is of such strength and beauty, it is a true miracle to behold.

In these couple videos taken late at night, I was testing Marley to see if anything would trigger an aggressive behavior from him. NOTHING I did would make Marley aggressive. He literally always has the same smile on his face. You will hear me say things a little louder than normal, or try and surprise him, or pull his tail a little, just to see what his threshold is. He NEVER ONCE showed ANY type of aggression. A truly incredible dog.

Marley was adopted about a month ago, and now lives in a very, very happy home down in Florida...with 3 other very happy dogs.


[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]


[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

Heidi (wifey) writing about the experience.

October 8th, 2012
It was a typical Knoxville morning, much like any other. I was on the way to work when I got “the call”…a call asking if I could help. With that, my morning changed and my day became anything but typical. “The call” resulted in an experience that will forever live with me and reinforce my commitment to those that have no voice.

Our role in this mission – simply let a dog bunk with us for the week until he could move on to rescue. Seems pretty easy, right?? Well, our house guest was Marley, a young (probably around 8 months old), male pit bull – the sole survivor of a dog fighting ring recently busted by the feds.

As with most rescue situations involving dogs, my heart spoke louder than my brain and I immediately jumped in and said that I would help. It wasn’t until this bundle of muscles and energy was in my car that I started to think, “What the hell am I doing???” I knew the environment that he was coming from and had no idea how he would respond to me, my family and my dogs. Marley showed absolutely no evidence of aggression or fear and frankly, his tail never stopped wagging. When I got him home, I let him roam around the back yard and set up a crate with bedding and lots of bones for him in my husband’s Man Cave. Given his unknown history and the circumstances from which he came, we felt it best that our house guest be kept away from our pack.

From the moment of his arrival, Marley was a complete gentleman. Aside from being a very strong and energetic pup, his manners were impeccable. No accidents in the house, went into the crate without issue, very little barking, respectful of my children…I can go on and on. Why was this such a big deal to me? Let me give you just a glimpse into the reality that was this boy’s life prior to crashing at our house…

As mentioned above, this beautiful creature was saved from a dog fighting operation. All of the other dogs were brutally destroyed prior to the feds moving in – Marley is the sole survivor. The individuals operating this ring were “training” their warriors in plain site which was part of their ultimate downfall. This training was caught on police surveillance and, along with many other items, will be used in the federal case against these barbarians. Who was caught on video? Marley – sweet Marley was caught on video. While I am sworn to secrecy and prohibited from discussing what was done to this sweet boy, I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt, that it is the “stuff of nightmares”. The brazen nature of this training; being done in broad daylight, makes me wonder what these people were doing to these poor souls in the private hell that they created. Surviving his training, amazingly Marley came to us virtually unscarred – physically and emotionally.

During his short stay with us, Chad (who is far more experienced in training than I) pushed Marley to see if there were any triggers. He grabbed his feet, played with his toes, rubbed him all over, bear-hugged him, played with his tail, put his hands in his mouth, put his hands in his food, gave him bones – took the bones away…it goes on and on. During all of these exercises Marley remained playful and the tail NEVER stopped wagging. Never once did the tail drop or ears go back – NOT ONCE.

As most of you know, Chad and I are “Dane People”. I adore the bully breeds and I am a huge advocate of doing away with BSL and don’t even get me started on Michael Vick, but our pack and my primary rescue efforts revolve around Great Danes. Having very little personal experience with pit bulls (or any of the bully breeds), I must say that Marley truly is an ambassador. This beautiful boy lives each day of his life with enthusiasm, forgiveness and joy and oh that big, beautiful pittie smile!

While Marley’s time with us was brief and we played a very small role in the rescue of this sweet soul, a piece of this dog will forever remain with me. To read about dog fighting and the horrors that these dogs experience will rip your heart out, but to physically look into the soul of one of the victims is an entirely different story. Marley’s story will have a happy ending and thankfully his spirit was not broken; but sadly this is not the case for so many. Our shelters are overflowing with bully breeds – some used as bait dogs and thrown away with the trash, others taught to be dog aggressive and others that are simply the victims of over breeding and a bad rap. After this experience, I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that I will look into the eyes of these dogs with a much greater understanding of the hell that they experience. Establishing a relationship, albeit brief, with one of the faces of dog fighting has somehow made it more real, more tangible – not just a horror that you read about in the news. To look into Marley’s eyes and feel the love and loyalty that exude from this dog knowing what was done to him shook me to my core. It takes a special kind of evil to do what was done to Marley, an evil that doesn’t deserve forgiveness.



As I move forward in rescue, my resolve to stand up for the voiceless is stronger than ever and I owe this renewed passion to a stocky little pit bull named Marley. Thank you my sweet boy – for giving me just one week of your life.

I so appreciate everyone that has been involved in Marley’s rescue – while for your protection I can’t call you out – you know who you are. And for the thousands of Marley’s that are not so fortunate – run freely knowing that you are in a much better place – they don’t discriminate at the Rainbow Bridge. As a race, humans can learn so much from God’s four legged creatures but quite honestly, most of us are too arrogant to even acknowledge it.