Doggone good in 2018

The Chinese New Year taking place in 2018 will be celebrated as the Year of Earth Dog. And as per Proclamation 269 signed last year by President Rodrigo Duterte, the Chinese New Year falling on Feb.16 is a special non-working holiday all over the Philippines. It’s a Friday, so it will be a long weekend.

Our canine friend dog is the eleventh in the 12year cycle of the Chinese zodiac signs. According to this Chinese zodiac sign, the dog is the symbol of loyalty and honesty. People born in the “Year of the Dog” possess the best traits of human nature. It enumerated their human-like traits of being honest, friendly, faithful, loyal, smart, straightforward, venerable and a strong sense of responsibility.

On the negative traits of human beings, dogs are described as likely to be self-righteous, cold, terribly stubborn, slippery, critical of others, and supposed to be not good at social activities, according to the same Chinese zodiac sign. I beg, however, to disagree.

Quite on the contrary, dogs are social pack creatures. I should know because I own 19 dogs, eight of them two-month old mixed-breed puppies. The rest are all adult canine pets, from small to medium and large breeds of dogs. My pack grew big because some of them were given to me as gifts while they were still puppies.

I have a three-year old German shepherd I named “Barack,” obviously after the former US president Barack Obama because he was given to me while the latter was here in the Philippines for brief state visit. He’s a huge dog. So he stays in his own pen at the backyard.

Two years ago, I was gifted with a male golden retriever whom we call “George.” No, he was not named after the other former American president George Bush. But his bushy tail fits his name. He is still playful at his age. So we have to keep him at the lanai in the morning and allow him in the house at nighttime only.

My medium-sized dogs are “Charlie” and “Daphne,” a couple of pure-breed beagles. Last year, they bore seven puppies which all, except for one female pup, I gave away to my friends and relatives who are also dog-lovers. I kept the only female pup “Daisy,” now six months old.

I have five-year old male jack russell named “Buknoy” and a three-year old male shih-tzu we named “Chuwee.” Completing the “pack” are my four-year old mongrel “Phil” and sisters Tiffany and Brittany, the three-year old mixed huskiesspitz breeds. My oldest dog right now is “Chabol,” eight-year old mongrel born from my two previous old dogs, which died one after the other due to old age.

The current eight mixed-breed puppies I will give away again soon – four males and four females – all came from “Brittany” which she bore after mating with “George.” My veterinarian calls the puppies as “ret-skies,” or short form for retriever-huskies. “Brittany” first mated with “Barack” two years ago and bore seven puppies, all of which I also gave away to my relatives and friends.

I am not a breeder. “Brittany” twice gave birth already by accident because she escaped her pen and got “raped” first by “Barack” and then last year by “George.”

I don’t sell my puppies but just give them to my friends and relatives. It was not my intention to have this big number of dogs at home. At least four of them were given as gifts by friends – who are also dog owners themselves – after they learned about the demise one after the other of my four old dogs.

Of course, having such a big “pack” of dogs entail expenses for dog food and veterinary visits for their yearly anti-rabies and immunization. This is not to mention the needed baths, cleaning their poops and urine, upkeep of their pens, and daily walks for my dogs.

Since I have no more kids to raise – my twin sons are both already professionals – tending to our dogs have become a family affair. I tease my retired partner as our “dog-sitter” as he supervises our kasambahay to help him attend to the care of our dogs.

All my dogs, big or small, live well with each other and along with humans. Except, of course, there were instances of snarling among my male dogs when “Daphne” is having her period. But we made sure only “Charlie” could mate her to keep the pure-breed beagle intact. But none of them are food-aggressive nor do they bite or attack people.

Like any other house pet, dogs could be disciplined to behave in ways acceptable to their human master.

If there are any negative traits that certain dogs possess, it could only be the influence of their human master or owners who raise or care for them. Ask famous dog whisperer Cesar Millan.

Wordspy.com defined a “dog whisperer” as a person who has, or claims to have, a natural ability to relate to or connect with dogs. I used to watch the erstwhile popular television series “Dog Whisperer, with Cesar Millan.” The reality TV series featured dog trainer Cesar Millan who works with problem dogs, or dogs with bad behavior issues.

A Mexican-American, Millan became popular Hollywood animal trainer specializing on dogs with behavior issues. In his TV series, he featured guests’ problem dogs through documentary-style footage and shows how he tries to correct the bad behavior of dogs through simple yet effective training methods.

Millan offers suggestions on how the owners could become their pet’s “pack leader,” working on the theory that dogs are pack animals. He used various “behavior modification techniques and the philosophy that exercise, discipline, and affection are required “in that order” for dogs to be healthy and balanced. The “Dog Whisperer” had been the National Geographic’s top rated series for six years until it ended airing in 2010.

Dogs are human’s most loyal friends protecting their owners since the primitive society. The touching stories about dogs and human beings are too numerous to enumerate. The most popular one and was even turned into a movie was about the Japanese dog “Hachiko.”

I do the walking of the dogs on my day-off every Sunday. It’s a good walking exercise around the village while lugging poop-picker. For 2018, it’s doggone good to be home with such loyal pets.

Like any other house pet, dogs could be disciplined to behave in ways acceptable to their human master.