KANAB - A trainer from Best Friends Animal Society will appear Monday on the Ellen Degeneres Show with one of the Michael Vick's rescued fighting dogs.

John Garcia, from Fredonia, Ariz., will appear on the comedian's national television show on Monday with Georgia, a pit bull rescued from Vick's dog fighting operation in Virginia.

In January, Best Friends, the largest no-kill animal sanctuary in the country, received 22 dogs at the shelter with the ultimate goal of adopting them out to proper homes.

Vick, the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback, was sentenced to 23 months in federal prison for his part in a dogfighting conspiracy. He and three co-defendants raised and trained pit bulls for fighting. Poor-performing dogs were executed.

John Polis, Best Friends spokesman, said Saturday that Degeneres is a supporter of the sanctuary and has been talking about featuring them on the show for a while.

He said that Garcia and Georgia will be the main feature on the program that airs Monday at 4 p.m. on KTVX channel 4.

"It's always gratifying to see our work recognized by the general public," said Polis. "We say Michael Vick is the best thing that ever happened to pit bulls by bringing recognition to how the breed has been maligned and shines a light on the widespread problem of dogs trained for combat, something Best Friends continues to fight against."

Polis said Georgia is a good example of progress made with the fighting dogs that each has its own particular set of problems trainers work to over come.

On Thursday the first Vick pit bull will be released to a foster family for further training.

Monday's television appearance comes on the heels of a series of shows titled Dogtown, produced by the National Geographic Channel featuring the work the dog trainers at Best Friends are doing.

Polis said five episodes have ran beginning last September and five more are scheduled to be produced in fall 2009. mhavnes@sltrib.com