Michael Vick: If He Wants A Dog, Let Him Earn It

Michael Vick paid his debt to society—18 months' worth.

Now the man who fell so very far from grace has come out with nothing short of this eye-opener:

He wants a dog.

No, it's not a joke. He came out with that in a recent interview.

Perhaps this all falls back on the old saying that folks so often want what they cannot have.

You see, when he was sentenced, the judge also gave Vick a lifetime ban on owning a dog.

Life—at Vick's age, that's a long sentence.

Perhaps what Michael Vick is telling us is that he desperately needs a best friend. And we all know who man's best friend is—the goodly dog.

Dogs as friends have been immortalized over time. Even in the original Wall Street movie, the ruthless Gordon Gekko declared, "If you want a friend on Wall Street, get a dog!"

Michael Vick wanting a dog is one thing. Michael Vick ever owning a dog again is another.

"I would love to have another dog in the future," is how Vick put it, even though he understands the impossibility of that concept for the moment.

People are not wishy-washy about all of this. Face it—Americans love their dogs. I do, my neighbors do; everyone I know who has a dog LOVES that dog.

So perhaps, just perhaps, IF, and that's a mighty big IF, we were to consider Vick's potential for dog ownership, how about this:

If Michael Vick really and truly wants a dog, perhaps he can prove it and earn it.

What if Vick were to log no less than 200 hours of community service at local Philadelphia animal shelters? We're talking real work here, cleaning cages, doing the dirty work, understanding what these poor animals go through when they're taken off the streets.

What if Vick were to contribute no less than $50,000 each to at least a half-dozen different dog rescue groups? Those groups do great work but constantly need working dollars.

Those are just for starters.

This should be a long-term effort to show understanding and good faith on Vick's part.

Most of the outrage against Vick came as a result of his declaration that he really didn't see the wrong in dog fighting. He felt it was part of his culture as a youth and failed to see what a dastardly practice it was.

He'd have to come up with something, anything to show a new and improved attitude toward animals.

He's proven that he can be reborn as a football player. What he's done on the field has astounded everyone, perhaps even himself.

Now he's got to go even farther.

Michael Vick would have to prove he's a kinder, gentler human being.

He would have to prove himself worthy of having a "best friend."

If it were a dog judging him, the dog would give him another chance.

That's the way dogs are—and that's why what he did to those dogs was so very hard to swallow.

Just perhaps, Vick should be given a chance to one day own his own dog, his pet, his best friend.

But first he'll have to earn it.

Writers note: Michael Vick can, indeed, own a dog once his "supervised release" a fancy word for probation, is over, which means that in 2012, Mike can buy himself a nice toy poodle.