>> >>

In the Streets, Out of the Ring

May 29, 2008


	©The HSUS
	ADA Tio Hardiman at The Barking Lot in Chicago with his dogs Rocky (left) and Destiny (right). Last year, Hardiman took Destiny from an abusive home in Chicago’s Cabrini Green housing projects, where she was kept in a closet 24 hours a day.

by Erica L. Green

Tio Hardiman spends most of his time looking for a fight.

Part investigator, part counselor, and part activist, he combs his native Chicago searching for signs of violence toward people and animals.

Sometimes those signs are subtle, as when he spotted two young men pulling an obviously well-cared-for pit bull through the city's Austin neighborhood. Versed in the language of the streets, Hardiman trusted his hunch and asked a few questions that went unanswered. Threats to call the police and the animal shelter quickly garnered the truth: the men had stolen the dog and were going to put him in a yard to fight three other pit bulls.

"That's from knowing the streets—I could just tell," says Hardiman, who followed the two up the block until they returned the dog to his family. "They were just going to see what he was made of."

It's this insider knowledge that has made Hardiman so successful in his quest to bring peace to places of chaos. As the 12-year frontman of the acclaimed anti-gang-violence organization, CeaseFire, he has long worked to help change the lives of people caught in the cycle of poverty and crime. In May 2006, he signed on to start helping dogs as well—and now leads outreach efforts for The HSUS's End Dogfighting in Chicago campaign.

Based on CeaseFire's "violence interrupter" approach, the campaign's Anti-Dogfighting Advocate program identifies neighborhood role models who can target susceptible populations and intervene in escalating situations. To assist in the endeavor, Hardiman has called in other trained violence interrupters—each with his own specialty and personal attachment to animals—to educate young pit bull owners and foster more positive interactions with dogs.

Working from Within

The team hits the streets, alleys, garages, and abandoned buildings on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m.—peak hours for dogfighting. They scan "hot blocks" from their cars and on foot, focusing on people walking pit bulls or households with pit bulls in the yard. They trail crowds they suspect are headed to a fight, sometimes eventually notifying law enforcement.


©The HSUS
Roscoe in the dog day-care facility The Barking Lot, where he has been living since ADA Antonio Pickett removed the abused pit bull from the back yard of a home in the Austin neighborhood.

Positive responses to their overtures hinge on one thing: trust, says Hardiman. "You have to be credible and have credible messengers that come from within the community," he says. "People are paranoid and they don't like outsiders."

At the end of every encounter, Hardiman and his fellow advocates invite dogfighters to join their campaign, offering incentives such as assistance with vaccinations, grooming, and food. "If we see guys standing out on the street, we'll just go up and introduce ourselves and tell them what we're about," Hardiman said. "But when we walk away, we want them to think: 'Those guys are cool; they don't just want to draw us in, but also help us out.' "

One of the people Hardiman targeted, Michael Cox, knows firsthand the advantages of credibility in the streets. "I'm knowledgeable about what gangs are in certain turfs and [about] those that have dogs who protect the drug trade," he says. "Those problems go hand in hand. I know because I used to be a part of the problem."

An Anti-Dogfighting Advocate for the past year, Cox has well-honed street smarts garnered from previous involvement with gang members and drugs dealers, his education in social work, and his violence intervention experience. The insider knowledge helps him reach out to those he still sees as comrades. "I sometimes go up to a house and knock on the door and talk to someone's mother about their kids dogfighting," he says. "I can tell the young guys, 'I know your family.' "

Alternatives to Violence

Through his work, Cox hopes to improve the reputation of pit bulls. "They're on the verge of being outlawed," he says. "We need to show people that they can be productive members in society and not just vicious, psychopathic dogs. They can be lovable pets."

Because many people raise pit bulls to be weapons, the work to end dogfighting can be dangerous, as Antonio Pickett has discovered. But even after two years as an ADA, Pickett says he has nothing to lose by taking an in-your-face approach—except maybe his shirt.

In one incident, Pickett approached a young man in a wheelchair who uses a pit bull to guide and protect him. Just as the man was claiming his dog was not aggressive, the dog turned on Pickett and attacked him. Employing a safety move he'd learned, Pickett managed to calm the pit bull and walk away from the experience with more than a ripped shirt: the extra motivation needed to educate others in the Austin community.

"When I walk up to them and ask if they want to enroll in the program, I tell them, 'It's to retrain the dogs, and it also retrains you,' " says Pickett.

John Sanford, a resident of Chicago's South Side, has heard that message. For three years, the 21-year-old fought his pit bull, Midnight, for money until she was shot after escaping from Sanford's yard in 2005. When a friend told him about The HSUS's dog-training program, Sanford decided to participate.

"All I know how to do with a dog is teach them to attack—nothing else," Sanford says. "If I did have a dog again, there isn't any telling what I would do when I got broke. I would probably get one, get him healthy, and start fighting him again. I hope this gives me a new outlook."

Dogfighting

Dogfighting Fact Sheet

Ranking of State Dogfighting Laws