We picked up Yo Yo

early this morning. A shy fellow he is, almost timid, he would silently stand there and let you do whatever you need to with him.

At the backseat with him, he was still apprehensive at the start, he must be confused about what's been happening for the past few days. But after a while, he warmed up and you can see him relax right in front of your eyes.







As he is new to the pack, it would appear that he has been owned or at least had close contact with humans cos he doesn't have the kind of wariness usually inborn in some streetdogs who avoid human contact and space. After spending some time with him, Yo Yo has more of a shy, timid nature than one untrusting of men. Give him time and chance, he is the type of dog who will come up to you bashfully for some tender touch. I believe he enjoys it.

But once we let him off leash, catching him again would be an entirely different matter. So, we are glad that he has also been sterilised and collared. Such is the small measure of protection we can offer dogs like Yo Yo, who still roam the streets, hoping they be given the simple gift of FREEDOM TO LIVE.

Yo Yo will come back for food quite regularly and the farm worker will look out for him to administer his course of antibiotics and powder. Beyond that, we'll leave Yo Yo to gradually heal on his own.

* To contribute to Yo Yo's medical and sterilisation cost, please email projectjkteam@yahoo.com.sg. Thank you.

I am so grateful for things

that turn out well without us planning for it. Being at the right place at the right time.

On Monday, I was following V on the route. As we got to Flippy's site, somehow, and I don't even remember how now, and whether it was S or me who saw it first -- that 2 of the pups had jumped into the back of a rubbish truck and got themselves stuck in there. They jumped in from the ramp, but once inside, there is no leverage for them to climb back up and out.

We were not sure how long they have been in there already. This litter is born of a wary mom, so from young, they have learnt to be wary of humans and resist human touch. They will bite in defence when they have to.

So, S first started to adjust the junk in the truck to create a height for the pups to lift themselves up and get down from the ramp. Then she got into the truck to shoo the pups out in the right direction.

One little pup got the idea and was out in no time!



This little one managed to scoot out of the truck.



But not this little one!

The little one, Flippy's sister I believe, got nervous and started to retreat into the corners of the dumpster no matter how we coaxed and 'chased' her out, she just kept playing the circling game. Catching her by hand was also not possible cos she was ready to turn back and bite, and these small teeth can be pretty painful.

So Ly, your gloves come in real handy and it was the only way we could handle her and get her out. One of the workers there said that there are 2 more brown ones hiding among the bushes. Though I have not seen them the few times I came by, I am quite sure one of them is Flippy.







Next, we came to Mr Brown's pack. Here, we were informed that there is a newcomer male, the workers call him Yo Yo, not sterilised, who has gotten into a fight, probably, and been very badly bitten. With a bite wound on his nape, which probably got infected along the way. And he was living with this open wound for 2 weeks now.

Unfortunately, he does not come by regularly and when he does, no one was able to catch hold of him.

By good timing, as we were standing there, this boy came out from wherever he was hiding and came right up to us. It was getting dark already and I couldn't quite see his wound but I could smell it when he got close.

We decided, no matter what, we will bring him to the vet there and then. While we were trying to sort out transport issues, K suddenly shouted to us, and I saw that he has managed to catch hold of Yo Yo and was in fact, carrying him in his arms!

So, with no time to waste, we rushed him to the clinic to treat his gaping wound. At the clinic, I could see how deep his wound is. Raw, bloody, pussy gaping pool of flesh.




After it was cleaned out ... not as gory as before.

The fur surrounding the wound was shaved off, and the area flushed and cleaned out thoroughly, and he was given an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory jab. Yo Yo looked very dopey and I was a bit concerned, but his temperature was normal and so far, the days he had spent in the clinic, he has been fine and eating well.




We decide to hospitalise him so that his wound has a chance to dry up and heal. Also, knowing that we might not be so fortunate to be able to catch him again, he has also been sterilised before his release.

In a few more hours, we will be bringing him back to the farm.

* We will appreciate your support in Yo Yo's medical expenses. Please email us at projectjkteam@yahoo.com.sg for more details. Thank you.

The little one who looks most like Ah Boy,

Little Lucky

the guard calls him Lucky, and he shall most probably be adopted by the guard with the management's approval. All proper paper work (licence, microchip, sterilisation) will be done in time. The guard will work with us to train the pup from young to stay close to the compounds.

Only gal

The other 4 are up for adoption. If you have or ever had and understand local breeds/big dogs before, staying on landed/private property, and are looking for a dog as a lifetime companion, committed to dedicated and responsible care, please email us at projectjkteam@yahoo.com.sg

* New owners will be responsible for applying for dog's licence and microchip, and sterilisation after 6 months. Owners will also be responsibility for the cost of pups' vet check and vaccinations. (we will help to make the arrangements)

* Strictly no first-timers please. And no, these pups will not go to homes who are merely wanting guard dogs.

The bittersweet story of Ah Boy & Ah Girl

was revealed to me last evening when I decided to drop by and visit Ah Girl as I heard that she has just given birth.



Ah Boy

As I think back, Ah Boy was caught by the authorities on 12 Sep. You can read his story here - http://projectjk.blogspot.com/2007/09/very-unfortunately-we-were-informed-too.html


Yesterday, the security guard told me that Ah Girl gave birth on 8 November. The gestation of dogs is about 63 days. Counting back, just days after Ah Girl conceived, Ah Boy was caught and eventually lost his life.

Ah Girl had 6 pups, 1 didn't make it. Here we have: 4 boys and 1 girl. Their eyes just opened on Wed.




No one can reach Ah Girl, unfortunately, not even the security guard who is the one feeding her daily. We will make plans for alternative ways of getting her for sterilisation once her pups are weaned.

Meanwhile, we will attempt to find genuinely good homes for these pups. If you know of a good family who has experience with local breeds and a genuine heart for these pups, please contact us at projectjkteam@yahoo.com.sg

Been noticing a new light greyish cat

around my neighbourhood for the past 2 months. Very sweet, placid girl and quite unafraid of humans. Sometimes on my way back, I'll meet her along the pathways and she'll be comfortably lazing right in the middle of the path, belly up, stretching her lithe body, and sometimes coming towards me in greeting. Just barely touching me abit.

Then, she just disappeared. Well, last evening, I saw the reason.

She probably had 2 or 3 kittens but only this one survived. Feisty little tiger-striped fellow. More than a month now I reckon. Hissed at me a little when I approached before he/she decided I'm harmless. Will let Auntie B know and to arrange for mommy cat to be sterilised.

Remember BB,

our jolly beagle boy whom E reported to us, that he is constantly being chained up with a short heavy metal chain in the front yard.

SPCA was informed and an officer went down to advise the family. JT and I then followed up with our own visit cos it was seen that no improvements were made at all by that family.

During our first visit, we spoke and discussed with the family on what can be done to give BB a more fulfilling life. That visit, we took BB out for a long-awaited walk to give him fresh air and joy in his heart.


Resting at the bus-stop after a long walk

He is a simple, happy fellow. No temper, no airs, no discontentment in his bones. He is just so grateful someone has come along to release him from his chains, be it just for about 1 hour - just 1 short hour in the many many long lonely hours he has been relegated to a corner, bound down by chains he just cannot remove no matter how hard he prayed.

For families who cannot even offer a living being a decent measure of FREEDOM, please, the kindest thing you can do is - NEVER GET A PET.

JT has been visiting BB to take him out for walks. The happiest moments of his days. During these months, the family has shared that they have some family issues and they now have decided to give BB up.




Which is good, I feel.

So, here is BB. A young healthy beagle with his second chance at finding his new family - people who understand that he, just like any kid, any of us, lives not only for shelter, food and water --but for a measure of kindness, understanding, companionship and love.

Please email us at projectjkteam@yahoo.com.sg if BB is for you. He has been in chains long enough. Unfortunately, he is not alone. Here is another dog in chains posted on Stomp - http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/viewPost6730.aspx

* Make a report to SPCA on any such cases of neglect/cruelty you see. Speak up for them so that positive changes can be made. If not, if you choose to keep quiet and walk away, the animal may remain in chains till he breathes his last.

Been very busy lately

making time for family, work and getting things sorted out and ready for my vet course next year. Very likely it will be New Zealand. Term starts mid-Feb 2008.

Do pardon my delayed/short responses/non-responses to some of your emails and requests for help. Please give me some time to sort matters out and I'll swing back into action.

Come on down this weekend

to the AVA Responsible Pet Ownership roadshow at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza to find out their plans and measures for their theme this year - "Do Not Abandon Your Pets".



Abandonment is still a very tricky issue to charge irresponsible owners for, judging from Junior & Ginne's case. Both dogs were taken from their home and dumped all the way in forested areas near the farm where Ginne was adopted from.

After suffering and starving on the streets for 7 days, Junior and Ginne were found after they both made their way to the HDB flats, possibly to get close to humans to find their owners who had betrayed them. At the flats, both of them were crying so loudly over 2 nights. They must have been terrified, hungry and totally disoriented. Throughout the 7 days, residents around the area saw both Junior and Ginne staying close to each other. Never losing sight as they only got each other now in a strange environment. Some residents informed SPCA and Ginne was later picked up by the SPCA, leaving Junior alone in the estate. That night when she was left by herself, Junior timidly stayed close to 1 HDB block, even more terrified now that Ginne was also gone. Fortunately, she was spotted by a dog-loving couple who held onto her and then called us after seeing our Lost notice online.

Both dogs were significantly thinner and suffered from diarrhea for many days after.

It is only by great blessings that we manage to find both Junior and Ginne. Many more abandoned animals are not that fortunate. Many are never found. Either killed by car accidents or slowly starving to death for they know not how to survive in the elements. Some are abused. The 'fortunate' ones would be picked up by SPCA/AVA and maybe adopted or put to sleep, both a relief from trying to survive on the streets.

Due to 'lack of evidence', the owners were not charged at all for abandonment. Even though they KNOW that their dogs are found, and they told the authorities that they DO NOT WANT their dogs anymore....




* You can read their full stories in our posts of Jan & Feb 07.

Junior & Ginne are now still boarding at Animal Lovers League. Patiently awaiting a good home to take them in. Your kind donations in January have sustained their boarding fees till end of this month. We seek your support in maintaining their lodging at the kennels from December onwards. Pls email us at projectjkteam@yahoo.com.sg for more details on how to contribute.

Till a good family comes for them, to give them another chance at love.

Good old-fashioned, committed, faithful love. The kind that never abandons. No matter what.

Going to meet and speak

with Mr L and Mr Y at Mama Girl's farm later on. To work out a mutually acceptable arrangement for the people and pack there.

"There will always be

critics and naysayers in life.

It’s not what’s said about you that affects your life, but what you say and believe about yourself. Has the opinions of other people caused you to water down your dreams? One of the most important things you can learn is that other people don’t have to believe in you in order for your dreams to come to pass.

Other people don’t set the limits for your life — you do. "

On my way out this morning,

I saw an SPCA van parked in my estate, engine running still, so I reckon the SPCA staff must be somewhere near and returning soon.

I was curious and somewhat concerned on why SPCA was called, so I waited for him to return. After a few minutes, I saw a family (father and 3 boys) walking with the SPCA staff and a local dog in tow. Sigh....didn't look good.

I walked up to them to ask what was the matter.

The family was surrendering their dog. Their companion for 1 year.

I asked further if they has tried to rehome him, put him up for adoption. The father said they did and no one wanted cos he had bitten his sons. More than once. He also had a host of other skin and health issues that had cost the family huge bills.

When I first saw the dog, he looked wary. His eyes darting around as his humans pulled him nearer and nearer to the blue van. Just in front of the van, he held his weight to the ground, refusing to budge, before he had no choice, succumbing to greater human strength and up into the van he went. The back half of his body was shaven down, showing a spread of rashes arising from inappropriate care or unsuitable diet.

The boys had picked him up when he was a pup. Cute he must have been then. But as he grew, I'm sure without any appropriate training at all, he knew not how to interact with his human pack other than what is instinctively built into him. He plays with his teeth.

One of the sons has a long scar next to his right eye where the dog had bitten him.

The father made the decision to call SPCA to surrender the dog as they realised they do not have the ability to co-exist. They should not have picked him up as a pup 1 year ago. He may or may not have a better life but I guess nothing would have felt quite like the experience of your human pack giving you up to the pound. Knowing you will be put to sleep.

I asked the father if they understand that their dog will be destroyed. He knew. To him, he had no choice. To me, I am not much better. I could naively think that I was placed in his path to save him. But I knew that was a prideful thought. I am not the answer to all problems. And I will run myself dry if I undertake to. I cannot help him then as we have dogs on our hand, in shelters, who are still not rehomed.

As the van door was shut, the boys pushed their faces near the glass pane to see their dog for the last time. Their faces were solemn and I knew they were sorry. I was very sorry too. And for a dog I have never met before, someone I had no relationship with, I find myself holding back tears as I turned and walked away from that van.

The least comfort I could get is knowing this dog will lose his life in a fast and painless way.

That is the very least we can do for those we cannot accommodate on our earth.

I guess, for not being the answer to this problem today, I at least bring upon the question of what action each of us should take when we next encounter a stray pup on the streets.

It has been a question on my mind - more so for the litters born at the farms. What do we do to these pups born of mothers we cannot reach, cannot catch to be sterilised?

Do we bring them to SPCA to be humanely euthanised? Or do we leave them to nature to survive or die as the days pass by?

Many of them do not survive. Car accidents. Drowning. Sickness. Infections. Starvation. Some simply disappear. Where? I do not know.

Some of them die. Later. Sometimes slower. Just not under our hands.

So what is the right choice to take?

Pop by to visit Do Do

just now and to pass a bottle of organic skin spray for her skin dryness, rashes, and a longtime sore on her paw.

Allopathic (meaning conventional) medicine has its place in cases where fast relief is desired and to control deep and painful infections, and to bring bacteria and viral infection under control quickly. But I feel that for longterm and thorough healing, we should make efforts to find a more natural cure that reaches the roots of any disease in a gentle and effective manner. It may appear to take longer than conventional medicines, but most of the time you'll realise, the healing is real and complete with no recurrence. As compared to fast 'healing' which is mostly a masking of symptoms. Very soon, you find yourself making that trip again for yet another dose of medicines or a stronger version of it.

Do Do is looking better. She is no longer displaying irritation of her ears, they look dry and on the way to recovery.

Here, you can see her full glory - all 17 kg of it! :)

Thank you JN and JL for your kind donations which we'll utilise for Do Do's vet bills, her vaccinations, and dog food for her. Thank you C also for your donation of dog food for Do Do. We'll be bringing Do Do back to the vet next month for her follow-up vax and a review to make sure her ears are all clear.

Will update again. Thank you for your support.

Been picking up this good book

and reading it through, here and there. Almost every page I turned, there are nuggets of wisdom. Heartwarming. Stirring. Sad. Joyful. Painful truths. Freeing thoughts. All of life and death and the beauty of each.

Go get a copy of this book, I am sure you will be touched in many ways.

"If A Dog's Prayers Were Answered...Bones Would Rain From The Sky" ... Deepening Our Relationships With Dogs, by Suzanne Clothier.

I got mine couple of years ago from Borders, I'm sure they still have it now.

I received an email from a lady who was troubled by the fearful behaviour of her 10 month old labrador - she has grown very timid and fearful of strangers, hiding when she hears strong winds, growling when attempt is made to remove something from her mouth ... the owner is puzzled as to why her dog is behaving this way. As we corresponded, I was shocked when she told me that she has made arrangement with a dog trainer who trains with the e-collar. Meaning the Electric Collar.

I immediately shared with her my views of training with e-collars. In my personal opinion, it has no place in the training of dogs. If your idea of training a dog is to control, coerce, force, intimidate, and make a dog obey you out of fear, threat, avoidance of pain, then please ... stay away from another dog. You are merely looking for a quick fix. As a mechanic will 'fix' and tinkle an object.

If your dog is already fearful, you are the last person on earth she will expect who will inflict more fear upon her. Think. And think again. Sit down and be quiet and take a good long look at your dog. What have you or your family members or visitors done to create this unnatural emotion in your dog? Fear is not baseless. It arises from bad experiences that have gone unnoticed. Cos you are not looking at your dog's world through his/her eyes. Get down on all fours if you need and begin to SEE exactly where has gone wrong that you may have contributed to. What is causing the fear. And then what you can do to reassure and reverse this unpleasant memory in her mind.

There was an experiment done which in short revealed that many people, placed in positions under authority, will obey the authority (the trainer) and inflict pain (electric shocks) to their dogs far above the acceptable levels .. not cos the owners are sadists, but cos they were only doing what they were told, cos they were unable to defy authority.

"Seeking guidance from dog trainers, behaviourists and obedience instructors, we may find ourselves in real-life experiment when these 'experts' tell us what we must do to our dogs in order to train, correct or punish them. Even when our senses tell us that we have stepped past the bounds of what is right and humane, we may find ourselves more concerned with what the teacher or trainer thinks of us than we are with what is happening to our dog. If we are not aware of our very human tendency to obey what an aauthority tells us to do, even when we are uncomfortable or even horrified by what that may be and the effects it has on our dogs, we may end up far from where we hope to be."

"If we understand that being human includes weakness and tendencies that pull us toward the dark, unlighted corners, we then can choose deliberately to move toward the light, and thus continue to grow."

"Our power remains authentic when we refuse to give it away by surrendering to the illusion that others know more than what our hearts tell us. At the moment we set our intention to walk the paths that we believe will lead us to the deeper connections nad more profound relationships we need and long for, we have begun to shift our world."

Always SEE the person, SEE the dog, the animal whom you are encountering. It IS up to you. Your thoughts, your words, your actions. SEE with your heart.

"When we know what we believe and who we are, we stand strong and sure about what we will and will not allow. For those in our caretaking, such soulful coherence offers them a powerful shield against cruelties large and small."

We need help

with Mama Girl's pack. To keep them safe.

For the past months, a certain person has been making rampant complaints against the dogs. Much as I would like to say that the complaints are baseless, but the truth is, on some ocassions and towards some workers and passers-by at the farm, some of the dogs in Mama Girl's pack will react - that is, there are some people they do not welcome, and the pack, usually led by Little Anne, will chase them barkingly. For those who have no affinity with dogs, this can be intimidating and the normal human reaction is to pick up something for defence - and this is usually a rock or a stick.

Some of the dogs thus have been hit for their advances.

Lately, the situation has become a bit hostile among the people on the farm, and I can understand the difficulty Mr Y is in. On the one hand, he wants to help us safe keep all the dogs there. But on the other hand, he is a tenant and in a difficult position to make sure working relations with the owner are not jeopardised.

The AVA has come along a few times. The 'unwelcomed' people have hit the dogs. The tension is brewing.

We have to make some changes very soon.

* We have to relocate some of the dogs fast. For their own safety and longterm welfare. Mama Girl's pack are all very human friendly. And they will make very faithful, loyal family companions if only they are given the chance to share a home with a human guardian.

There will be the usual host of questions like would they settle down well in a home environment, will they adjust to being away from their pack ... but for their longterm welfare, and for the simple reason that they so choose human interaction, I believe they will integrate well with us in time. The best will be to rehome them as a pair, so that they each have familiar company amongst us humans.

Sensing from the tension in the air at Mama Girl's farm, we have to relocate her pack very very quickly before something untowards happen to them.

* We appeal here and now for good homes for this very faithful pack. Keep them safe from unkind intentions. All they need is an open door - an open door to a kind home, to good hearts.

* We also hereby seek donations of dog food for this pack, as that will really relieve the efforts of our stray feeder who goes to the farm everyday. Both dry food and can food are welcomed.

Please email us at projectjkteam@yahoo.com.sg if you can assist in the above. Thank you.