BY DAVID KRONKE >TV CRITIC

Michael Vick achieved an approval rating even lower than President Bush's last year when his dogfighting ring was exposed. The gratuitous atrocities Vick rained down upon his canine coterie produced no end of heart-wrenching hand-wringing, with many pundits suggesting Vick's dogs needed to be euthanized.

Tonight's season opener of "Dogtown" offers some rare good news from that deflating story. National Geographic Channel's series depicting canine rehabilitations spends two hours with the dedicated folks at Utah's Best Friends Animal Shelter, a shelter with a no-kill policy, as they attempt to wrest the demons from four dogs out of the 54 found on Vick's compound (in all, Best Friends took in 22 of Vick's victims).

At the dog park where I take my own dog, this documentary has become a topic of conversation in recent weeks, with some people saying it's too depressing even before it has aired. It's not; in fact, it's fairly inspirational. But, to the producers' credit, neither is it maudlin. It simply depicts the incremental progress a handful of dedicated trainers make in socializing traumatized dogs, noting that after six months, 25 of Vick's 54 victims had already been cleared to live in homes or foster homes.

Tonight's installment follows four of Best Friends' most hard-luck cases. We meet Cherry, a dog terrified of people and even walking on a leash. (He may have been a "bait dog," used as a weak opponent against champion dogs in training.) We meet scar-torn Georgia, whose teeth had been removed and who had been bred against her will.

We are also introduced to Denzel, a sickly dog who is eventually diagnosed with a parasite particular to fighting dogs, and Meryl, a pit bull considered so fierce that a court order forced her to live the rest of her days outside the general population.

And we watch as remarkable progress is made with each of these dogs. Dog care managers John Garcia and Michelle Besmehn treat Georgia and Cherry, respectively, to great success. Veterinarian Patti Iampietro saves Denzel's life, and trainer Ann Allums seems to prove that Meryl is hardly the menace to society that the court considered her.

Tonight's episode not only charts these dogs' remarkable turnarounds, but also gives viewers insight into what made their mentors so dedicated to saving such hardscrabble cases. It might also give you insights as to how to deal with your own pet's peccadilloes.

And, in a back-handed way, it also champions the cause of rescue-pet adoption in general. You don't have to adopt one of Vick's hard-luck cases to be a hero; there are plenty of critters out there looking for owners who will overdose you with affection for simply saving their lives.

David Kronke, (818) 713-3638 david.kronke@dailynews.com

www.insidesocal.com/tv/

review>

DOGTOWN

>What: Utah's Best Friends Animal Shelter rehabilitates some of the most violent dogs from disgraced quarterback Michael Vick's dogfighting ring in the show's season premiere.

>Where: National Geographic.

>When: 9 PM Friday

>In a nutshell: Not too maudlin, but, for animal lovers, affecting all the same.