Jim Gorant

Excellent story! This is a story of resilience, risk, love, courage, perseverence. This couple took a risk with a crazy, out-of-control dog. I appreciated the fact that the author didn't sugar-coat Wallace. He was a bad dog. (Bad dog as in most dogs are until they get training--though this dog needed a little more than most.) A dog that the majority of Americans would not have the knowledge, time, energy and/or experience to handle. Some dogs are like that, but that doesn't make them evil. show more Just in need of civilizing.
I think what I appreciated most about this book is it gives a true picture of a wild, high drive dog. It shows people what it takes to handle a dog like this, so people will (hopefully) think before getting a dog, evaluating what they're capable of and what kind of dog they need. You hear so often through the years of how a breed is ruined when it suddenly gets popular (Dalmatians after the movie, Border Collies after Babe, etc.). While Wallace was extreme even for a pit, hopefully this book will make people think whatever type of dog they decide to get.
Moreso, it's also a great positive presentation of the pit bull.
The story of the work they put into Wallace, into their marriage, into their other dogs, is excellent. Great, well-written book. show less

I almost didn't buy this book. I almost left it on the shelf after telling myself that it was only going to make me cry. I told myself that maybe after reading the Sports Illustrated article that I already knew the story and didn't need to read this book. Then I looked at the cover picture again and thought, "This is exactly why dog fighters are allowed to continue thier heartless trade, because good people decide, "I don't need to know about that, it's only going to make me sad."
And sad I show more was, I broke into a great heaving,messy,wet bawl in the middle of the 5pm rush hour commute at South Station in Boston after making the poor choice to start reading this book on my way home from work.
The book is a good solid timeline of what investigators, prosecutors and police know happened on Michael Vick's property both while he was there and what happened with his knowledge and approval when he was not there.
The sub title of this book, "Micahel Vick's dogs and thier tale of rescue and redemption" is lovely but a little misleading. Many of the dogs from Vick's property were resued and placed with loving families but many others were not so lucky.
I think sorts fans would like to belive that maybe Michael Vick didn't really know what was going on, maybe it wasn't really as bad as the evening news made the situation sound. Was Michael Vick really involved or was he away alot and didn't really know what others were doing on his property? He was there, he participated and he took pleasure and joy from maiming and eventually killing the creatures in his care.
This is a very hard book to read and not for the squeemish but it's such an important book because it documents the facts of this particular case and opens our reluctant eyes to the evil that men do so we may recognise it when it comes to our neighborhood.
Was it really as bad as we've heard? Yes, in fact, it was worse. As nice as it is to read about how happy the lucky dogs that survived are, we should never forget what this man, and many others like him, did and still do. show less

The first sentence on the back cover of Wallace: The Underdog Who Conquered a Sport, Saved a Marriage, and Championed Pit Bulls--One Flying Disc at a Time says, "Today, Wallace is a champion." Spoiler alert! Basically the entire story is laid out on the back cover (and in the title), but somehow the details of a couple rescuing a high energy pit bull and training him to be a disc catching maniac still propelled me through the book.

Before reading this story I knew basically nothing about show more competitive disc, but the author made me feel like an expert without boring me. Reading descriptions of Wallace redirecting his energy toward dashing after and catching discs thrown by Roo Yori made me turn pages like it was The Hunger Games. I loved reading this feel-good story that gives the pit bull some positive press. In fact, this is my favorite nonfiction story I've read so far this year. The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption, another book by Jim Gorant, has already been added to my wishlist. show less

This was an emotional read for me. I followed as many of the Vicktory Dogs as I could online. I watched the Dogtown series. Frodo was a look-a-like to my mixed-breed dog, Hannah, who was 8-years-old at the time of the raid on Vick's dog fighting operation. I loved her to pieces and couldn't imagine how anyone could treat a dog the way that Vick and his henchmen treated them.

Later I read The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption and it became one of my show more favorite books. In 2017, I lost my beloved Hannah. In late 2021 the last of the Vicktory Dogs left us. Jonny Justice and then Frodo passed away.

Oddly, I didn't realize that Gorant had written a follow-up book on all the dogs. I found it a couple of weeks ago! It was a nostalgic roller coaster that had me crying and smiling in turn, thinking of each dog and their personality quirks remembered from blogs and Facebook posts.

I feel like this is my true goodbye to these special dogs. If you want to know what they look like, just do a search on “Vicktory Dogs” and they will come up. show less