Stray dogs for me!

[angelmae3995@hotmail.com]

Hello! My name is Melissa, I am an American living in Taiwan. The streets of Taiwan are loaded with helpless strays. Most are tossed out. People buy them, ohhh soo cute... Then can't teach them and end up wanting to get rid of them. Sometimes their dog has puppies, and if a puppy has 4 white feet, they will toss it out as this coloring supposedly attracts spirits. After living in Taiwan for one year, Aug 2008 to Aug 2009, I moved out of the school dormitory and into a rented house off campus. Within days my ex roommate and I found a little less then two month old puppy. Originally we thought this puppy was a female but turned out to be a male. His male parts were a bit on the small side. He had a heart shaved into the fur on his back. We called him Missy at first, but then changed it to Mr. Mister.
When Mr. Mister was about 4 months old I found a stray kitten... well actually Mr. found it. The kitten was not afraid of Mr or myself, so I took it home. I gave him a Chinese name, Ti Qi (Chee) Lai (lie). After a few days, we found a four month old puppy that was tossed out. I ended up calling her Xiao (Sh ou) Bai (Bye). Xiao Bai found another home after a while. Soon after Xiao Bai left, in Jan 2010 I found a new 2 month old puppy I named Missy. Missy also quickly found a home.
Now while walking Mr. Mister I often bumped into the very nice Taiwanese man who fed stray cats. After finding Missy, I asked him to help me post an advertisement for her online in Chinese. I gave him my email address, and soon after that we started dating.
A month later one of the cats he was trying to feed would not eat, the temperatures were dropping, my boyfriend feared she would die, so we took her in. We called her Niao Niao. About the same time I adopted another kitten named Peanut from an animal rights group.
After this I found yet another puppy who was so young he could not take anything but milk. Oh Oh was most likely born on the street and abandoned by his mother. He had a limp when I found him. As soon as he could chew food, he got a new home but soon died during Typhoon Fanapi
A few weeks later another 4 month old puppy appeared which I named Jenny. Jenny was most likely thrown out, and before she was tossed out, she was most likely crated in a crate that was too small as her back legs could not stand straight. After a few months she began walking straighter, but as she was now 1 yrs old, we could not find her a home. Eventually we found a woman who took care of strays in a big wide open place. Jenny went to her as Jenny was quite noisy and the neighbors complained to my landlord. The landlord said I had to get her out.
Two weeks ago I found another puppy, male, about 2 months old. I have named him Koopa. He will be large and he is quite smart. He has already learned to sit, shake, and lay down. My boyfriend is hoping he finds a new home, but as he will be big, and he has 4 white paws.. It will be hard in Taiwan. I like Koopa and would prefer to keep him.

So I now have 2 dogs and 3 cats. Niao Niao, a female cat, is now over 2.5 years old. (we took her in at about 1 yr old) Mr. Mister, male dog and Ti Qi lai, male cat are both 2 years old. Peanut, female cat is about 1 year 9 months +/- and Koopa, male dog, who is 2-3 months old.

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Wow, you have certainly helped a lot of animals in a place where their value seems very low. Kudos to you!

Welcome to the Daily Puppy from Oliver & Henry, and their Mum, in London, Ontario, Canada.

[angelmae3995@hotmail.com]

Thanks but I have done nothing compared to Natasha and Chris, both from Canada. They started Bark-Taiwan and have rescued so many. ***Link removed by Moderator***

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

I am thrilled to hear that your Canadian friends are doing so well. Ironically, my OH's niece brought a dog home from Korea not too long ago. They went through a great deal to accomplish that.

I am sorry I had to remove that link. It contained advertising, which is not permitted. I realize you are simply trying to show other people doing good things, and I wish them every success.

[angelmae3995@hotmail.com]

i didn't realize it had advertisements sorry.

[angelmae3995@hotmail.com]

the only advetisments i see re links to other dog help groups here in Taiwan.

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

That is probably because you are using a server from Taiwan. I saw advertisements for places located in North America.

I did apologize for having to remove the link, but I'm sure you can appreciate why we are not allowed to let any post stand with advertisements. This site is owned by a corporation, that has paying advertisers who's revenue is what keeps this site going. Unpaid advertising is not permitted.

Please refresh your memory of our "Terms of Use" to avoid future misunderstandings.

[angelmae3995@hotmail.com]

Oh I completely understand, I didn't know you would get advertisements and I wouldn't. I was just confused. Sorry -.-

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

No worries. We'll just move forward from here.

[kian]

Welcome to DP, what a kind heart you have to help those strays in Taiwan. I didn't know about the 4 white feet with the superstition there. Good luck finding a home.

[angelmae3995@hotmail.com]

Its pretty bad, my boyfriend and I are hoping to find Koopa a new home... (honestly I want to keep him!) But nobody has answered our advertisement, 2.5 weeks now. with the 4 feet, his size, its hard to find him a home. Taiwanese like toy dogs like chihuahua in the city, in the country side he would be more welcome as a protection dog. but the last dog I gave to people in the coutryside (OH Oh) was killed because they didn't bring him in during the typhoon. Taiwanese don't take great care of dogs. hitting is a common form discipline.

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

My OH's niece rescued a dog from South Korea, after living there for a year and apparently treatment of dogs there is similar to Taiwan. Like you, I would find it very difficult to witness such abuses and do nothing about it, or at least try.

I wish you the best of luck in your endeavours. Attempting to change a long standing culture is a tall order. Are there no rescue groups there? I suspect not or you wouldn't be doing what you are doing. It's a shame that there isn't some way to start a Humane Society, or SPCA organization.

Being an American in their country would also present its own hurdles as local politicians would be less likely to listen to a visiting student than a respected or revered member of the community.

Best of luck to you and especially to those unwanted dogs.

[angelmae3995@hotmail.com]

Oh it's been slowing changing for year, Korea is much worse they Taiwan, some actually eat dog meat.

There are lots of groups, but as its common here its hard to get past it. I'm trying more to work on the new generations. I take my young students (3 and up) to the animal shelter for a class trip yearly.
For the weeks previous I keep repeating with them that if a dog goes to the pound it only has 12 days or it will have a shot and die. I also draw pictures of sad, crying doggies in cages. The pound is awesome, they have a video that shows a kid getting mad at his kitten and kicking out. The boy tries to find the cat the next day, but by then the cat has met an angel who turns him into an animal superhero, teaching people how to treat their animals. Soon the little boy gets a new puppy, gets mad at it and tries to kick it out, the cat comes and makes him remember what he did to the kitten and how sad he was then reveals his identity to the boy.
After that the kids get to see the dogs and cats in cages. And the get to hold and pet some puppies. To enhance the lesson, I brought Mr. Mister and showed them how to teach a dog with positive reinforcement and explained that by hitting the dog doesn't fully understand. But doggies love to eat, or play and if they get to get a snack for sitting down they will keep doing it. I figure getting to the younger generation, so they grow up with more knowledge will help more then talking to elderly people who refuse to change their ways.

My neighbor has 4 dogs, and when mr. was still very young and being trained he bit me. I was told by a Canadian animal rights advocate to put an egg in his mouth when he tries, when he bites down on the egg he gets a surprise. It seems to have worked, he never bit me again, but the neighbors didn't care for that the kept telling me to hit him... The youngest there is 18.. they way she treats the animals, its not very bad but it seems a little wrong.

I'm sorry to sy my boyfriends family has 3 dogs, two are always changed. they are on long chains and can move around the yard.. but they never get taken for walks, the third gets to run free. This is because the other two keep trying to break into the grandmothers farm area and eat the food. In bad weather they bring them inside, but they think of dogs as only meant to protect the home. The one chained dog is old and spends much of his time laying day, but they other is high energy and needs a walk really back. he just constantly runs in circles... My boyfriend doesn't like it, but its his parents pets... He does want to take in the one dog if we buy a home, currently we are renting.