I daresay, most stray dogs are burdened with diseases and marred with scars from territorial fights, Hayley is one quiet survivor, almost unblemished, clean and fit as a fiddle, among the street dogs that I have encountered.
What began as a plan to apply TNRM -- that is, to leave her as she was -- is now a lifetime dedication to ensure her safety (that's utmost important) and a roof over her head.
On part of N, whom we've helped with sterilising, vaccinating and microchipping Hayley.
Hayley belonged to a fairly large field smacked in a corner of a HDB estate, probably slated for more urban developments, given how grossly and disproportionately rapid Singapore is losing its interim secondary forests and other spots that we can claim as our visual respite of greenery.
According to N, there were a few people who fed Hayley and this medium size of a black/tan mongrel, a little scruffy-looking, had a field all to herself and her puppies. For reasons unbeknownst to N and probably her other feeders, her puppies were gone, and Hayley remained unspayed and awaited another six-month cycle before she could get on heat and mate. Her teats were sure sign that she had given birth and been suckled.
Sensible enough, N, whom I got to know through the selling of ALL's calendars, was determined to get her and at the minimum, sterilise her. When you stop at the mother, at least you help prevent unwanted births of generations of puppies.
At one fell swoop, N lifted the feather-light Hayley in her arms and dashed lightning-quick into the car, that day we decided to send her for sterilisation. Before the duo entered the backseat, the dog was so frightened she urinated at the curb -- her bum protruding over N's arm when her flush of pee gushed out. Out of fear and uncertainty.
That stopped N in her tracks alright -- a dog caught in her arms, finding time to pee and de-stress before her car ride.
What happened in the last few weeks, or a month or so, was a flurry of getting her accordingly spayed, vaccinated, microchipped and tested (negative) for heartworm and tick infection, and boarding at A's for a while, and I remember Hayley being such a gentle, docile female that for people she got to know at first chance, she submitted to our caresses on her forehead and our whispers to tell her "Everything is going to be alright, Hayley."
"Good girl, Hayley. Good girl, Hayley," I found myself repeating under my breath.
Without resistance -- quietly, peaceably and sensibly, Hayley led a gentle, charismatic existence at the clinic's and boarding facilities. Her posture seems meditative and still, her demeanour gentle and her face lean. What a beautiful dog.
Hayley--before she was whisked into the car
Today, Hayley will enter the quarantine of a non-profit shelter and join the rest of the dogs that have been unable to find homes under an over-arching residential policy that discriminates against and forbids local dogs.
As we plunge further into 2009, cases like Hayley will inevitably come our way. With a number of dogs ultimately submitted to taking residence in boarding facilities, we need the funds to do more for the populations of street animals out there: STERILISATION, VACCINATION AND MEDICATION.
To turn away a dog in need of medical treatment means starting on a guilt trip of leaving a needy one behind. To begin with, we'd never intended to have too many dogs under our charge boarding at shelters, but in come these few years, we have ended up with a growing number of dogs we are responsible for in their long-termed maintenance at the shelters.
Email projectjkteam@yahoo.com.sg if you'd like to chip in to our dogs' boarding expenses and/or offset our costs in sterilising and providing medical care for our dogs.
Any amount is deeply appreciated.
1 comment:
Today when i look at Hayley again, her submissive personality and gentle demeanour- reminded me of somebody who had been so dear in our
lives- Mama Girl...
jt
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