One issue that angers many expats in the Philippines is the way they perceive dogs are treated here. I have a different view which may piss a few people off – but we’ll get to that.

When Janet and I first moved into our rental house in Valencia there were a handful of dogs that roamed the street. They’re often referred to as askals. One in particular was tiny, bony and emaciated. He looked like he hadn’t had a good meal in forever and would be no match for the other dogs when it came to fighting over scraps. We saw him regularly for a couple months, and almost ran over him a couple of times. Eventually we stopped seeing him and speculated that he’d passed away.

There are untold numbers of stray dogs here plus millions of dogs with owners who nonetheless live most of their lives outdoors, returning home for the occasional table scraps, if table scraps are available. In a country in which millions of people struggle to feed their families it should come as no surprise that animals aren’t lavished with streaks and kibble.

The reality is that outside the two major cities, the Philippines is an agrarian country. If I take a 10 minute walk on my suburban street on any given morning I will pass by 10 cows, an equal number of goats, pigs, countless chickens and roosters, occasionally a horse, and a large number of dogs and cats. They are outside, roaming the streets, making noise, doing what animals do. The cows and goats are usually (but not always) tied up. Animals graze wherever their owners take them, which sometimes means somebody’s lot. Janet and I are in the process of purchasing a lot (more on that in the future) and we have visited said lot to see a couple of cows happily grazing there. Since no cow pooper scoopers exist, we have to tread cautiously.

In my experience most people do their best to care for their animals but their best might not be up to Western standards and frankly animals here are treated like animals. People in the Philippines generally buy animals for economic or gastrointestinal reasons (aka – to eat). Janet’s father has roosters and chickens and  takes very good care of them but once in a while we will be having dinner and Janet will mention that dinner is one of Dad’s chickens.

So let’s get back to the title of this opus, One “Starving” Dog in the Philippines. When we first moved to the Philippines about a year ago I noticed that there was a dog hanging around Janet’s family home. He looked to be in bad shape, all skin and bone and ribs. Knowing Janet’s family it was hard to believe they would let a dog starve. In fact her family is very generous and I have never had a meal there in which at least one child from the neighborhood wasn’t also eating. In short no one is ever turned away. I finally mustered up the courage to cautiously ask Janet what was the story with the dog; I didn’t want her to feel that I was insulting her family, but by that point I was used to seeing hungry dogs in the Philippines.

“He used to be my Lolo’s (grandfather’s) but he was given to my Dad.” Lolo is now 89 and had gotten to the point that he could no longer care for the dog. At some point the dog got into a fight with another dog and was on the losing end of the affair and was carved up pretty severely. Janet said the fight was over a female dog who was apparently ger gering (take a wild guess) both combatants! It’s the way of the world for every species; men fighting over women whom they get or hope to ger ger.

Now there is no way in hell that Janet’s family can afford a veterinarian, let alone surgical procedures on a dog. So it was determined that the dog would be allowed to fend for itself. He would either survive or he would not. Over the months the dog’s gained weight and now looks like a normal Philippines dog, which means he runs into the house and everyone yells and shoos him out 🙂
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I also have to add that instead of judging we should remember that it wasn’t much different years back in my home country.  I am old enough to remember the dog catchers picking up strays. Even as a kid I was sharp enough to know they weren’t taking them for a home cooked meal. Even today in the US, 2.7 million animals are euthanized annually because no one adopts them. So it’s a problem everywhere. We’re just able to hide it in pounds and animal shelters and dispose of the unwanted.

Growing up, my concept of the ultimate dog was Lassie.  Now there was a dog! But Lassie lived on a farm, where she had free reign, as well as free reign over the entire town. There didn’t seem to be anything that happened in that community that Lassie didn’t know about, often running back to grab that idiot Timmy to save someone.  That was our image of idyllic life in the 50s and our image of how a dog should live.

Today, dogs in the US may be spoiled but they live cooped up indoors, mostly seeing the light of day for their morning daily walk/crap. I wrote in my last blog entry, Noise Pollution in the Philippines, about how I had fenced in my yard so that my dog would have a nice play to run, play and bark, only to find out that many neighbors weren’t thrilled with a running, playing and barking dog. Of course she was well fed. But just as I am living a life now in the Philippines where I might be subjected to more risk and a shorter but happier life, I can’t help but speculate whether my dog would have been happier as an outdoor Lassie rather than a fat and slightly lonely American.

All this said, the sight of malnourished dogs does sadden me, just as the sight of a malnourished child saddens and horrifies me. But I know there’s no one easy person or persons to point the finger at.