1. handle guards properly in Sabah

Paper on how to handle dogs in the community by Joshua Y. C. Kong copyrights reserved.

1.                   Introduction

2.                   Why do we need dogs?

3.                   Why do dogs bark and howl ?

4.                   Why do some dogs bark more than others?

5.                   How do we handle neighbour dogs?

6.                   The policy of two dogs per household.

7.                   Other benefits of rearing dogs

8.                   Why do some people hate dogs?

9.                   Sabah should be a place for more dogs.

10.               Conclusion

1.         Introduction

This is a paper belated as I have been keeping dogs without stop since 1990.  I am sharing with you my more than twenty years of dogs keeping with much devotion.  The insight of keeping dogs can enlighten others hence my small paper here can help others to appreciate the animals nearest to the human beings – friendly, faithful, and wholly trustworthy around the clock 24/7 as long as we feed and look after them well.  All animals need attention and dogs in particular need sort of natural instinctive relationship/attention or personal touch regularly.

I started with a single bitch from a puppy given to me by my landlord in a sort of remote housing estate.  That bitch Magi –an Alsatian half breed - survived 9 years.  Magi saved me from a likely attack of a cobra a few feet from me.

I learn very much from my dogs and hope this sharing would benefit you and society at large.

2.                   Why do we need dogs?

We really need dogs and the little inconvenience and the noises at times of keeping them is nothing to be compared if we can sleep soundly at nights, hence if we need to sleep more sound nightly, we definitely need more than two dogs all the time.  One or two dogs are inadequate to deal with some scenario.  The more we have and come close to them we can observe all the behaviour of dogs living together.  One or two dogs may not give us the learning of the animals.  If we have two male dogs, there is less to learn.  If we have a bitch and male dog, then we may have puppies from the pair giving us more experience on the behaviour of the animals in our own home.  It is pretty fascinating to experience the growing up of puppies from their birth rather than just adopting them at the eight weeks or more after weaning from the bitch.  We really need to keep dogs so that we can draw near to the animal kingdom like friends.  Some say that monkeys can be good watchmen against intruders but can they be handled like dogs? Some dogs do have many harmless tricks like getting out of the fence by jumping over it or digging the ground below the fence.  Dogs do tell you the weak points in the fence and explore that to get out of the enclosure.  So such activities do alert us to be on our toes to tackle such escapes/break outs.  So we need to appreciate dogs in our midst not only puppies.

3.                    Why do dogs bark and howl ?

Many of us do feel disturbed by dogs barking and sometimes howling in strange ways.  Such barking would be embarrassing if directed to some of us.  People need to understand why dogs do barking in certain ways.

Dogs bark for many reasons namely as follows:-

3.1                  It is common knowledge that dogs bark to alert the owner of the stranger at the gate or near the gate or near the house.  Some strangers may not be known to the owner hence the dog would bark louder if the strangers remain longer than usual.  Sometimes the dog may bark to get to know the person or persons and the dogs would respond accordingly as how such persons react to such encounters.

3.2                  Dogs also bark at other wildlife like snakes, rats and cats, sometimes the dog can bark all night against stubborn intruders.  For those who are sleepy, they will also sleep throughout the barking although with initial irritation.  We need to accept such scenarios at times, and don’t say ‘get rid of the dog’.

3.3                  Some sick dogs may make strange and unusual noises telling us of their difficulties.  That is when we need to attend to the dog in crisis.  Some dog in chain can play itself into situation when the chain can be so short to bring much discomfort to the dog and could be on the verge of death from self strangling.

3.4                  Dog also make different tones in their barks signaling different situations like friends, strangers, wild animals etc.  We have to learn to recognize the tones over several times.

3.5                  When dogs howl at high pitch  we do not see any visible targets around us and such howling do bring about some fright to the owner and such howling can occur any time of the day and nights, and some repeated several times over 24 hours.  We may observe one or two dogs howling but it would be more ‘fascinating’ to see more of them howling at the same time reacting differently.  Do we really need to know why they howl in frantic ways when no physical stances were observed?   So we all put that to evil spiritual stances or forces of darkness passing their way.  We also witness that not all the dogs in the vicinity howl at the same time, although sometimes we could hear the original of these howls from a close distance.  The question before us is where have all those evil forces of darkness come about?  Were these evil forces meant for the owners as target now disturbed by the dogs howling or simply the presence of dogs? Do those evil forces come cheap?  What is the source of those evil forces or darkness?  Are these dabbling in black magic or sort of voodoo?

4.                   Why do some dogs bark more than others?

4.1                  In a new environment where there are more strangers around.

4.2                  In an environment where the partition fence are close by and the neighbours walk too close to that partition fence.

4.3                  When dogs are threatened in their domain.

4.4                  The barking can more and even more intense when people passing by and the neighbours including foreigners which to the dogs are not welcome to be around.  Why dogs have such attitude towards foreigners especially Indonesians and Filipino cannot be explained.  Maybe another natural instinct of dogs even when they are months old.

4.5                  Dogs would make more noises during mating seasons or cycles as other dogs would be attracted to other dogs but it would last a few days only possibly at some hours at night.

5.                   How do we handle neighbour’s dogs?

5.1                  Just accept some inconvenience as dogs bark or make noise for whatever reasons.

5.2                  Never throw anything at the dogs as they will likely retaliate somehow by remembering the deeds.

5.3                  Try to make friends with dogs with friendly gestures like talking to them.

5.4                  Dogs do know the persons by their heart and any complaints against them the dogs would be aware.

6.                   The policy of two dogs per household.

6.1               I do not know when and why such policy was made as earlier there was no such restrictions.

6.2                  DBKK would not register or give licence to more than two dogs losing some revenue.

6.3                  Such policy may make life difficult for the private animal doctors to sustain their business.

6.4                  Such policy can be cruel to dogs and dogs lovers.

6.5                  Two dogs can be as noisy as more then two per household.

7.                   Other benefits of rearing dogs

7.1                  While there are pro and con about keeping or rearing dogs, feeding them maybe a daily problem, the benefits can be satisfying in many aspects.

7.2                  While the noises of dogs can be tolerated, we cannot tolerate those scenarios of crimes – grievous and petty as dogs are hardworking, faithful, trustworthy and friendly guard dogs 24/7 throughout.

7.3                  Dogs are definitely a deterrent to evil forces all the times and spiritualists know about this.

7.4                  We do not know what we lose out without keeping dogs.

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8.                   Why do some people hate dogs?

8.1                  There are some people who had been bitten by dogs in earlier years most  likely for their own faults.

8.2                  Some people tend to hate dogs simply for the little inconvenience they encounter.

8.3                  Some people find the excuse to hat dogs for reasons known to them in whatever belief held by them.

8.4                  Why should dogs as created by God be targets of hate when we have to appreciate God in His creation.

8.5                  Hating dogs is itself a negative attitude and can attract negative responses from the dogs themselves. 

8.6                  If anyone hate dogs, would they dare to put their hands into the mouths of dogs even their own family dogs as some members of family may hate own dogs.

8.7                  Bad guys into crimes would hate dogs and can influence others to do likewise.

9.                   Sabah should be a place for more dogs.

9.1                  Many do not realize that Sabah has a special place for dogs as the land area in the map do show the feature of a dog’s head or just like any animal. 

9.2                  Dogs for all the purpose have a superior right to exist on earth especially in Sabah.

9.3                  God had created the animals first on earth and expect the Man to look after them well.

9.4                  We in Sabah once a peaceful land and land below the wind cannot self inflict harm on ourselves by hating dogs to the extent that we want to make them extinct in our urban areas.  Policy of two is in that direction.

9.5                  Like any tourism product, dogs rearing and keeping can be amongst one of the sustainable items.

9.6                  We need to adopt a positive attitude to dogs in Sabah to claim the rights to be living in Sabah.

9.7                  When God means it good to have created dogs for all purposes, we have to respond in like manner lest we are doomed in conflicts over dogs.

10.               Conclusion

10.1              What is written in this simple paper is only tip of the iceberg for the welfare of dogs.  Some unfounded fear against the dogs can be removed by young kids keeping one or two puppies to learn from them to be faithful, friendly, hardworking, trustworthy and responsive.  Dogs are given names individually and they will respond when their names are called.  Single child would not be lonely if some dogs are around.  Unfortunately a few children could be mauled by some dogs somewhere in the world and that could be due to the offensive treatment by some people in the family. Unborn puppies already know the owners even before they are born.

10.2              With dogs, it is a continuous learning process and each dog is like a human being with specific character and behaviour and we can learn more of the dogs in bigger family than just two.  Dogs are special as how come they never go to schools but can understand the languages and dialects of the owners without much difficulty.  So I believe God would translate the multi languages or dialect to the dogs.   How blessed we are in when we cannot touch other animals except dogs and possibly cats.  So why fear dogs and be hostile to them for what they are in our midst.  Find true peace with God in His creation and Man would be a happier creature on earth.

Written by Joshua Y. C. Kong   12^th August, 2013.  Please treat this as a birthday gift to society.

Also attached are two recent news articles:-

1.                   Sabah millionaire to share newfound fortune with sister of Borneo Post dated 25 July 2013 where the winner in JB won RM6.3m in Toto 4D Jackpot1 for the licence numbers of stray dogs adopted two years ago.

2              Beijing cop goes off the leash to rescue dogs of Daily Express page 26, 3 Aug., 2013, where the dog policy of Beijing