Lisa Spector From Care2

Putting the words “dog” and “Michael Vick” together in a sentence can cause an immediate emotional response from many Care2 readers. My post titled “Should Michael Vick be Forgiven?” ignited a much heated debate on the topic. Since then, there have been rumors floating online about Vick owning a dog. He tweeted a picture in his home that included a box of milk-bones in the background. Later, he issued a statement that his family now owns a dog.

Dogster reported this week that Vick has been taking his new dog, a Belgian Malinois, to training classes at his local New Jersey Petsmart. Sports blog Crossing Broad has reported many details and pictures of Vick and his new dog, Angel.

Even though he was stripped of all of his endorsements in 2007, when he was arrested for running a dog fighting operation, his rights to own a dog were only taken away temporarily. Of course, he is making public statements claiming that Angel is a part of his family. In Vick’s words, “I understand the strong emotions by some people about our family’s decision to care for a pet. As a father, it is important to make sure my children develop a healthy relationship with animals.”

My curiosity lies in what he has personally done to develop a healthy relationship with animals before he brought Angel home. The good news is he is taking training classes at Petsmart, where the emphasis is on positive reinforcement dog training. While Angel may not be Vick’s sweetheart, my hope is that he is a loving member of the Vick family and his children learn to treat Angel with the compassion, respect, and tenderness that every pet deserves.

What are your thoughts? Should Michael Vick be allowed to have a dog? Thanks for taking our poll and posting your thoughts below in a comment.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/should-michael-vick-be-allowed-to-have-a-new-dog.html