NC man raised and trained his dogs for an outlawed sport. Now, he’s off to prison.

If his sentence were in dog years, Delontay Moore would spend most of his remaining life behind bars.

In human terms, the Concord man will serve more than six years in prison after a federal judge sentenced him Wednesday for dog-fighting and weapons charges.

The documents from his federal case provide a glimpse into a brutal and torturous world with a disturbing view of the relationship between man and beast.

Dog fighters conduct their affairs within a shadowy network in which animals are bred, bought and sold, trained from puppy days on to kill, then matched up by weight in vicious and routinely deadly fights, often for large wagers.

Moore, 26, raised and trained fighting dogs at his home for at least the past three years.

In March 2018, the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office arrested Moore after seizing 14 Rottweilers and pit bull-type dogs from a home, along with tools to train the animals to fight.

According to prosecutors, one of Moore’s dogs died on the drive home after a December 2019 fight in South Carolina, a struggle that had dragged on for more than an hour.

In February, 25 dogs were seized from a home in the nearby Rowan County town of East Spencer. Public records show Moore lived there.

According to the government, most of the animals were in “dire condition,” — from severe scarring and untreated and infected bite wounds to broken bones, internal injuries and infected ears that had been improperly cropped, prosecutors say.

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Many of Moore’s animals were emaciated or dehydrated. Three required emergency treatment, including one terrier mix that suffered from a fractured foreleg with an exposed bone.

“The intentional infliction of pain and suffering on animals for sport is unfathomable,” said Jason Williams, a special agent in charge with the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Office of Inspector General, said in a statement following Moore’s sentencing.

It is also common. While the sport has been outlawed in all 50 states since the 1970s, it continues to occur in rural and urban areas alike, including close to Charlotte.

In June, a Gastonia man was charged with three counts of felony dog fighting and 12 counts of felony animal cruelty after several dogs were seized from his home.

In Moore’s case, law enforcement officers learned of his dog-fighting operation by accident — when they were investigating the convicted felon for drug and weapons violations.

According to documents attached to Moore’s July plea agreement, Concord police seized a phone that contained video of dog fights later traced to the home in East Spencer. On some of the clips, Moore could be heard in the background, documents claim.

Moore’s phone, according to prosecutors, also contained multiple conversations between him and other dog fighters about training, food, bets and arranging fights.

The dog owners had their own slang:

▪ “Calling out a weight” is the process of trying to arrange a fight between similarly sized animals.

▪ A fight is “hooked’ when both sides come to terms.

▪ A “keep” describes the six to eight weeks of intensive training a dog undergoes leading up to a fight.

▪ Dogs who don’t like to fight are known as “cold,” and are often “culled” or killed at an early age.

In December 2019, Moore’s dog fought for almost an hour and half before being pulled, mortally wounded, from the ring in South Carolina. The animal did not make it home alive.

Moore had wagered between $1,000 and $2,000 on the outcome. He had a dog-fighter’s expression for animals who lose a fight.

“Motor gave in,” he told an unknown contact the next day, according to court documents.

“Damn,” the contact replied. “U gotta tune car yourself man. S--t not hard. Just dedication.”

“Damn man,” Moore replied. “I got 2 tighten up.”

He’ll have time.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs in Winston-Salem gave Moore the maximum 60 months for his dog-fighting conspiracy charge and 63 months for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Because most of the sentences will run concurrently, Moore is facing total prison time of 75 months.

Moore’s attorney, James Exum of Charlotte, told the Observer by email that he thought the sentence was “very fair compared to how this could have turned out.”

Moore’s dogs? They’re the subject of a lawsuit that will eventually put them under the care of canine rescue groups that will try to find them new homes.

For now, they remain in the custody of the federal government — just like their former owner.