Ugh, Michael Vick. If I am Michael Vick, you better believe I am going to edit any and all information I send out to avoid even the slightest reference to dogs. So when I hear about a picture he posted on Twitter, in which an astute online follower noticed a box of Milk-bone dog biscuits, I was disappointed. Not because he has a dog – though I truly believe he should never be able own another pet – but rather, I am disappointed in his carelessness in keeping it a secret. Without question Vick’s publicist (and every other person in his life) must have warned him to be cautious about making any allusion to pet ownership.
But the internet does not exist to make it easy for celebrities to hide from their past improprieties. The only people who get to enjoy anonymity online are the lowly internet trolls, who are out to catch mistakes like a Milk-bone box in a photo of a known associate of dog-fighting.
While I am all about “live and let live,” Vick doesn’t have that luxury. I hope Vick is preparing answers for how to handle the inevitable and persistent questions about dogs he is bound to encounter. One can only hope he comes up with better answers than how unfair it is to his kids. Let’s get one thing straight, having a dog is a privilege and not a right. Your kids will be fine. My parents didn’t give us a dog when we were little and we turned out just fine. (Also they didn’t participate in dog-fighting so I think I had more reasons to feel deprived.)