Dear PoPville – Anyone Ever See a Dog Swinging from Tree to Strengthen its Jaw?

Photo by PoPville flickr user maria jpeg

“Dear PoPville,

I was walking past the park at the intersection of Sherman and Park and I saw a dog (probably a pit bull) swinging from a tree while a teenager/young adult was sitting next to it with headphones watching passively. The dog seemed to be biting a short rope tied to a branch so that it was hanging by its mouth as it swung around in the air. A police officer on a segway came, said something to the effect of “move along now,” the guy with the headphones released the dog from the rope and all went on their way.

My first thought was “WTF?” and my second thought was that the guy might have been using the rope as a way to strengthen the dog’s jaws and neck, likely training it for dogfights. That was just a guess though- I have no idea what it was about; the police officer didn’t seem too bothered by what was going on and the dog even seemed upset that it couldn’t swing anymore.

Any ideas?”