Adoption Drive, 20th May 2012

SOSD will be holding an adoption drive next Sunday!

Date: 20th May 2012,
Time: 11am - 3pm
Location: Torte Restaurant, 96 Waterloo Street, #01-07 Singapore Council of Women's Organisations 
                Centre, Singapore Tel: +65 6571 0197

It will be a fun filled day featuring 17 puppies (11 from Punggol), and other lovable adult dogs from Save Our Street Dogs!
Other activities include:
- a flea market with interesting little trinkets to help raise funds for the doggies,
- Doggie treats from The Barkery, who will sponsor 500g to your newly adopted dog,
- Puppy/ Dog training demos by Playful Paws

Join us for an afternoon with the Punggol puppies. :)

The Truth About Shelter Life

I do not like going to shelters.
I board my dogs at a shelter, along with other members of Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD), and I make regular visits there to see my dogs, but I always approach with mixed feelings - much as I am excited to see the dogs, every trip there leaves me with inexplicable sadness and an unpleasant taste in my mouth.

If you have gone to a dog shelter before, you will be familiar with the  smell of excrement and urine which fills the air. Piles of dog poo scatter around like booby traps for unsuspecting victims to tread on. It is a cacophony of barks the moment you approach. The keen-eared canines always crave for human presence, and so they will announce your arrival with pomp and fanfare. The floor is always wet and clammy, and the walls, dark and dank.

But the noise, the smell and sight of dog poo do not bother me. It is the hard fact, that these poor dogs, who are supposed to be rescued, are really just thrown from one prison to another, which makes ruffles my heart the most.
The dogs in the shelter are there because people found them a nuisance and wanted them removed, or they were bailed out from AVA, or they simply have nowhere else to go. Once placed in shelter, the luckier ones who can get along with others or stand their ground against other dogs, may be let out into the common compound so that they have a little more space to roam around; the less fortunate ones are doomed to life in a little enclosure no bigger than a toilet. A few days in this environment is fine, but prolonged periods in such a state will impact the dog in more ways than one.

Diseases spread rapidly in a shelter environment. Close proximity to many other dogs which are constantly moved in and out means that the dogs are being exposed to a whole cooking pot of pathogens all the time. We have all heard about parvovirus outbreaks in even the cleanest and most reputable shelters resulting in the demise of numerous dogs. It is not for the lack of trying - it simply is a limitation of the environment.
The public seem to think of shelters as the cure-all for unwanted dogs - Stray dogs in Halus? Call ASD and tell them to put in shelter. People complaining about dogs barking? Call authorities to cull, if not then throw into SOSD shelter. I assure you that shelters, contrary to popular belief, are not a panecea.




Faith, locked up 24/7 in our shelter because she cannot get
along with other dogs. This sweet girl is still awaiting a home.

After staying in a shelter for awhile, a dog changes. They become more barky, less friendly, and hence less rehomable, sealing their fate to spend their lives behind bars. Wouldn't you too, if you were locked up for a long time? It is a fact that adoption viewings at shelters are less successful than those conducted in foster homes - the shelter environment is simply not conducive for humans to interact with our canine friends.

For this reason, I am always so reluctant to place my rescued dogs in shelters unless there is no choice. And this is why we are always so desperately looking for fosterers. A fosterer does more than provide a temporary home for a dog - he/she is giving the dog a chance to experience love and warmth, and prepare the dog to settle into his permanent home.
Shelters all over Singapore are getting more and more full.
There is simply no space to take in more dogs. For the rescue to continue, we need more fosterers. If you think you can do your bit to help save a life, consider fostering a dog. It will make a huge difference, to the dog, to you, and to the state of animal welfare in Singapore.

Love and Loyalty Without Boundaries

This is Bobby, a mongrel boy who has lived in Defu Lane all his life. He finds shelter on one of the factories in Defu, under the care of the factory owner, while a stray feeder helps in feeding and caring for his health and well being.

Bobby may not stand out in the looks department, but he has always made up for it with his friendly and sweet personality - A calm and quiet boy, he rarely barks, nor causes trouble for anyone.



The last picture feeders had of Bobby

But, like all boys, Bobby loves to play. In an environment with little entertainment, he picked up the bad habit of chasing cars passing by - so often the cause of the demise of many a factory dog. Neighbours began to complain, and his owner had to leash him up all day in fear that further complaints would be made.

We do not know the details which followed, but the owner grew frustrated, and eventually decided he did not want Bobby anymore.

3 weeks ago, he brought Bobby along with him, drive to a remote corner of Punggol near the waterfront, and left him there.



Another Picture of Bobby circulated around

Bobby's feeder was furious and frantic when she found out what happened.

 

A 3 week search for Bobby followed, but tracking a moving dog was no easy task. Despite numerous reports of sightings of him, they still did not have any luck finding him.

 

The last sighting of Bobby was 1 week ago, near the prawn fishing farm in Punggol. His feeder and volnteers had searched for him numerous times for hours there but it was proving to be futile.

 

 

Just when the feeder was giving up hope, she could not believe her eyes when she went about feeding today - There Bobby was, back at his home, looking up at her! He looked tired, but he was otherwise fine and in good health, other than some wounds on his legs, which must have been inflicted during his 3 week ordeal. 

Bobby, back at the place he knows as home

It became clear that the reason why they could not find him during the past one week was because he had left Punggol and was on his way back to the place he knew as home, to the owner he loves.

He had walked from Punggol to back to Defu - a good 10km, and managed to find his way, despite having never left Defu before.





Some scratches on his legs

Mongrels, loathed by so many, possess so many traits which put most of us to shame. They exhibit amazing survival skills - finding home and water against all odds, and finding their way around. You can literally dump them anywhere, and they will still know how to make their way home.

They are  loyal to you with no reservations. You can hit them, abandon them, or shout at them, but they will never bear a grudge, and continue to love you. I do not know what went through Bobby's mind when he thought he was going for an outing with his loved one, only to find himself abandoned in a foreign place, without food, shelter or water. He must have been terrified and lost at first, then sad that he could not find his owner, then made the decision to be home with him again, no matter what. 



And so there he was, 3 weeks later, at his owner's doorstep, wagging his tail and announcing his home-coming. Like all of us, mongrels want a place they can call home. Like all of us, they want someone to love, and to love them back.

Bobby's owner was very touched by what Bobby did, and has decided to keep him. He promises the feeder that he will never do something so horrible again. We have also volunteered our help to rehome this sweet boy should his owner again decide to give him up. But who can bear to leave this sweet boy behind?

Bobby's 10km trot back home from a place he had never been before

 

Rosie

Along with her siblings, Rosie was rescued from Punggol after stray feeders alerted us that they may be kept by workers to be eaten once they are older.

Rosie, being smaller and more timid than her sibling, Joanie, makes us want to love and protect her even more. She is friendly, and gets along well with other dogs and humans.

Those floppy ears are just irresistable!

She has been vaccinated, dewormed, de ticked, and is at a fosterer's awaiting a home. See more of her pictures here:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.212944992142590.30729.156463767790713&type=3

Rosie with Chestnut

Watch Rosie play with her new friend at her fosterer's.. then instinctively head for the pee pad to pee!
It is amazing how stray dogs often come paper trained!

Joanie

Joanie is a 3month old girl, who was rescued from Punggol. Stray feeders alerted us that there was reason to believe that there was a litter of puppies being kept and fattened up so that they could be eaten.

Joanie, along with her siblings, were rescued from the construction site they were born in.

This friendly, boisterous girl will make a fantastic companion. She gets along very well with humans and other dogs, is paper trained, and is awaiting a home. 

She has been vaccinated, dewormed and deticked. See more pictures of her and her sibling Rosie here:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.212944992142590.30729.156463767790713&type=3

Butter

Butter is a 3yr old, medium sized (13kg) girl. She was caught together with Satay.

She has been sterilised and will go to a shelter. The poor girl is extremely timid - terrified from her ordeal. We hope that she will open up soon, so she can be put up for adoption.

Satay

Satay is an old girl with a beautiful medium black and brown coat. She is 6-7 yrs old, 18kg and was caught after complaints were made about dogs in Punggol recently.

What ever the complaints were about, Satay could not have been the cause of them. She is the sweetest, most gentle and unassuming girl, like a fine wine which have  mellowed with age. Perhaps she unknowingly wandered into the conplaint area - she is blind, and is not able to find her way around easily.


Satay is now sterilised, and will be sent to a shelter. But a shelter environment is no place for a blind girl. We hope that a kind soul will adopt this sweet soul, and provide her a loving home.

UPDATE: The vet says that Satay is not totally but partially blind! :)