A veterinarian is standing by at most fights, they say. One dog owner says she knows of only one case in which a dog was so badly mauled, it had to be put down after a match. In Vladivostok, the fights tend to be open secrets among aficionados. A guard at the gate challenges people he doesn t recognize, and an organizer orders a reporter to put away his notebook. In fact, the event has the weird air of a family day out, rather than a descent into a dark world of cigar-chewing gamblers.
Dogfight fans circulate videotapes from past bouts.
In one, a 1995 commercial bout held in Vladivostok, the animals fight to the point of collapse in a chainlink ring surrounded by bleachers. The handlers drag the dogs off, rub them down, and set them fighting again. In the fight between Hyena and Black Dog, the contestants savage each other while their handlers circle them in the ring, egging them on. The handlers crouch so close the blood spatters their faces. When one dog clamps the other s cheek and eye, the referee grabs a gnawed wedge and pries open its jaws.