BY KEITH EDWARDS

Staff Writer

Winthrop native and filmmaker Darcy Dennett, in a television episode premiering nationwide Friday, helps show how 22 of disgraced former pro football player Michael Vick's pit bulls -- trained to fight and kill -- are getting a second chance to overcome their violent pasts and find happier, healthier lives.

Dennett, 37, is the series producer of the National Geographic Channel series "Dogtown." The first full season of the show premieres Friday with a two-hour special, "Saving the Michael Vick Dogs."

The episode chronicles the efforts of Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in the canyons of southern Utah to rehabilitate 22 of the "toughest cases" among the 47 fighting dogs seized from Vick's illegal dogfighting operation, Bad Newz Kennels.

Dennett said she was at the sanctuary for about 95 percent of the episode's shooting time and worked closely with her executive producer, Kim Woodard.

Dennett and Woodard, and a small group of others, developed the series and got the first three episodes off the ground and onto televisions nationwide late last year.

Since then, it has been picked up for a full season, and will have shot 18 episodes of "Dogtown" by the end of the year.

Best Friends is often described as the last hope for dogs deemed by others to be too aggressive or sick to be adopted. Its 33,000 acres of land are a no-kill sanctuary for about 1,500 animals.

As series producer of "Dogtown," Dennett, a 1988 Winthrop High School graduate working in film and television in New York City, helps tell the stories of the animals and more than 60 staff members who oversee their every need, including medical attention, training, rehabilitation and -- the ultimate goal in most cases -- adoption to good homes.

"It's a show about second chances and about finding hope where there would otherwise be no hope," Dennett said. "I think it could have a big impact on the way people perceive animals and animal welfare. Puppy mills, hoarding, dogfighting, they're definitely worthwhile topics. They work with dogs that might seem unadoptable by most standards, and show you what happens if you get to know that dog, and the potential behind it. Which is a very positive message to send. They're an amazing organization."

Dennett majored in film at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. When she arrived in New York City 10 years ago, she worked in commercial digital still-photography and imaging, then gained experience in motion picture film for three years. After she shot a number of music videos and did some commercial work, she began shooting and field producing documentaries.

In 2000, Dennett and her co-producers were nominated for an Emmy Award for footage shot in Savannah, Ga., for "Trauma: Life in the ER," a program that aired on The Learning Channel. Dennett has also done freelance work for the Discovery and Lifetime cable television channels and worked on television programs including "King of Cars," "Family Plots," "Doctors Without Borders" and "Code Blue."

Dennett's parents, Charles and Diane, still live in Winthrop, and she has other family members scattered around central Maine. She gets back to Winthrop about three times a year including a trip, this summer, for a high school class reunion.

She said she wasn't really a "theater kid" in high school, as she said she's terrified of live theater and prefers to be behind the camera.

She said working on documentaries such as "Dogtown" has been especially rewarding.

"I love it. I'm really, really passionate about my work," Dennett said.

She was hoping to spend last summer finishing a screenplay she was working on when she interviewed for what came to be the "Dogtown" job. Once she learned about the idea, she said she couldn't say no to the project.

Dennett served as the producer and writer for the first episodes and then, with Woodard and others, submitted them to National Geographic executives, who required a new version, incorporating changes they suggested.

"Television and film is really a collaborative process," she said. "Oftentimes it only makes the project or show or series better. It's their channel. They have a certain idea what will work for their format."

Much of her work on the initial shows was out in the field, supervising shooting and working with episode producers and editors at Best Friends. Now that the format of the show is established, she spends most of her time in offices in New York, overseeing edits and making sure episodes in the series are produced in a cohesive manner.

She said she is but one member of a team of interns, associate producers, researchers, photographers, the staff of Best Friends, and the many others who work on the show.

And, of course, the dogs -- even the much-maligned pit bulls found in the kennels run by Vick and three other men.

Elissa Jones, manager of special projects at Best Friends, said she loves the Dogtown show and believes it has brought attention to their adoptable animals and, hopefully, will show people "that dogs who have been thrown away for having problems are worth a chance -- not just at Best Friends -- but everywhere."

"It has turned out well -- many dogs have been adopted through the attention that the show has brought to them," Jones said. "We are just excited for the world to see what we have seen -- that these dogs are wonderful dogs, each an individual who certainly deserved the second chance that was afforded them."

Jones said Dennett has been very understanding of Best Friends' desire to make sure the dogs' needs came first during shooting.

When the dogs were seized, many, including some animal rights groups, said the Vick dogs should be euthanized because they thought they would be too aggressive.

Dennett said the dogs never attacked her or other Dogtown crew members, even though they often worked in close quarters with them.

On the show, Best Friends assistant dog care manager John Garcia defends the pit bull breed, saying the its willingness to please and devotion to people can make them, with proper socialization and the right family, great family pets.

"These are fighting dogs rescued from Michael Vick's property. That's a big reputation to come with," she said. "Before I showed up, I didn't know what to expect. But the dogs were a lot more sociable than I'd have imagined.

"Pit bulls are very loyal, very trusting. All they want to do is please people. That characteristic can be used to make them fighting dogs. They want to please their person so much. It was amazing to watch the transformation they made, in the time we filmed them, about three and a half months. They made great progress."

While the Vick episode runs Friday at 9 p.m. on the National Geographic Channel, "Dogtown" will usually air at 10 p.m. every Friday.

Dennett also brought back something more than film footage from her frequent visits to Best Friends -- two adoptees.

But since she lives in an apartment and travels often for her work, she adopted cats, not dogs. Mao and Weazel were both adopted from Best Friends. Mao, named for the sound she makes, is a "special needs" pet, with a compressed lower spinal column and no tail, and hops like a bunny.

"I saw her in the clinic when we were shooting at Best Friends," Dennett said. "I just couldn't not adopt her."