Rebecca’s War Dog of the Week: The dog app you don’t want on your phone

By Rebecca Frankel
Best Defense chief canine correspondent

There was an uproar this week over a Google Android App that was released earlier this month — "Dog Wars." The app, whose graffiti-like logo is a pit bull with a bloody muzzle, is designed so users can water, feed, and train their avatar dogs for fighting — "raise your dog to beat the best!" goes their slogan.  

Not surprisingly "Dog Wars" has been denounced by almost everyone. In addition to outraged Android users, the Humane Society, PETA, and Alicia Silverstone all issued statements, calling on Google to pull the app down permanently. Even Michael Vick who a few years ago could’ve been the app’s spokesman, came out against the app, now that he’s "on the right side of the issue," saying it’s not right to "glorify this form of animal cruelty…."

But the developers of the app, Kage Games, stood by their product, issuing a statement of their own in which they defended "Dog Wars," claiming it is meant to be a "a satire about the ridiculousness of dogfighting" and designed as a "media tool to educate and raise awareness of the real horrors" and would be a "net benefit to dogs" since Kage Games would give part of the profits to "animal rescue groups." Kage Games took its defense a step further and added this note to the app disclaimer:

Just because something is illegal in real life in certain countries does not mean it is illegal to make a song, movie or video game about it… Just go slingshot some virtual birds to kill some virtual pigs."

Mary Elizabeth Williams over at Salon points out that "Dog Wars" "doesn’t violate the Android terms of service." But she also observes that while "even douchebags can make somewhat legitimate points" that "it’s a safe bet that when your email is pitboss@kagegames.com, you’re not trying to broadcast your respect for all living creatures to the world."

In other war-dog related news: Nominations for the 2011 Hero Dog Awards are now being accepted. The contest, sponsored by Cesar® and the American Humane Association, honors service dogs in 8 categories that include therapy dogs, military dogs, and search and rescue dogs. Though the entry period is open through the end of May and you can already view quite a few of the entries and read the amazing stories that go along with them, like Thunder the therapy dog for Justin, a young boy with autism; Chef, a patrol dog who served two tours in Iraq before he had to retire after experiencing debilitating PTSD; or Crash a dog learning to detect ovarian cancer. The money goes to dog-related charities. And the celebrity judge? Whoopi Goldberg.