Stray Dogs

I like dogs. They're cute, lovable, loyal, and they don't talk back. Stray dogs, however, are another issue.

Okay, let's talk reality. Kuching is packed with stray dogs, that's pretty obvious. My neighbourhood has been dominated by stray dogs since goodness knows when. When I really started actually noticing the stray dogs, I remember a family of them which consisted of an old male dog (whom we dubbed as the Old One), a white bitch and a small Daschund (Sausage Dog, if you please). And they had a puppy, a cute brown friendly puppy. Then at one point at about two years ago (?) they all just... disappeared. So it looked like authorities were doing their job (unbelievable, but seemingly true).

Unfortunately, from then on the strays started popping up from nowhere. I recall the first dog that appeared was a brown female (whom I have always though was actually that brown puppy). Then there was this furry, creamish dog (whom we have named Shaggy) and that went on and eventually an epidemic just crashed right before our eyes with dogs of all sizes and colours creeping from around every corner and lurking in every alley and...

*sigh*

So what's wrong with a few stray dogs here and there, you say? Let me count the ways:

1. They need to eat. And since they dont usually have anyone feed them, they rumamge through rubbish bins and topple them and drag their food back "home" which is usually this semi-abandoned house next to mine, so there are always scraps of food, styrofoam containers, plastic bags, tin cans, bones etc strewn all over the front of our driveway.


2. They need to rid of the food the eat. In one end, out the other. And being very uncivilised dogs, they do their business all over the front of our driveway, so we are left scraping up their waste or run the risk of our cars driving over them (ew?)

3. They mate. Boy, do they mate. Puppies every 3 months. If not, every 6 months. And do you know what mating means? It means reproducing. And reproducing means MORE stray dogs. We've attempted to "rescue" some puppies for the past few years. Two have beens sent to homes of people we know and two to the SSPCA. A good number were taken by other people (those who occasionally rent the house next to ours that some stray families "tumpang") The others couldn't or wouldn't be "rescued".


4. They fight for a mate. The males, that is. They fight and fight and make so much ruckus that they can wake up the entire neighbourhood. Worse off, they tend to fight in the middle of the road - hello, people need to drive?


5. They sleep in my Mum's school compound. Okay, we lave the gates open sometimes - but that's because we have to because parents have to drive in and out to pick/drop off their kids. Logic. But when we do that, the dogs take advantage and creep in and sleep around. They don't go into the school or anything but they can leave germs and ticks and fleas or whatever else they may be carrying (don't even want to think about it). And what would the parents say? We've tried chasing them out, tried throwing stones at them, yelling at them, everything - but they keep coming.

6. They sleep under the bushes surrounding my house and send in ticks that infest my dogs. Fortunately, lately they haven't been sleeping there and miraculously (?) my dogs have not been having ticks. I rest my case.





Come on, it's official - stray dogs are a nuisance. My parents tried reporting it to authorities, who then claimed that they had received several other complaints from other neighbours - so why aren't they doing anything about it?. Me thinks they've tried, but the dogs are much too smart for them, hiding everytime they come by, dodging their nets, running with the faith that four legs are faster than two... (can you believe that? and we're supposed to be the more intelligent species)


So recently I've been taking pictures of these dogs. I can count up to fourteen, and am still looking because I know there are more. Strange thing is some of these dogs have collars, but they are free to roam and catch ticks and mate with any other mongrel they want (what the heck is that, right?). I shall not post up any pictures I have taken yet because my Dad wants to send them to authorities and try to get them to DO something about it.

Anyone else have a similar problem?