Benefits of Owning an Aspin / Askal

Chooey Update: Chooey's doing a lot better. She's recovering pretty well. I've taken off the Cone of Shame during day time as she's no longer fighting the bandage tape muzzle that was made by the vet for her jaw bone to recover. She's on strict dog soft diet and she's crated every night.

You must be wondering what I am talking about.  Seeing as most of my bloggy friends are non-Filipinos, I'll be giving  a short definition of an askal/aspin.

Brother dog is a full-fledged, 100% genuine aspin. He's been with us for a long time now. He's probably 7 or even older.

An aspin or an askal is a dog native to the Philippines.  They are often found in streets and homes of the average Filipino family.  They are independent,  cunning and street smart (literally speaking).  Askals/ aspins are often categorized as mongrels, mutts and mixes, but I still personally like calling them street dogs because of their intelligence (and persistence) in finding their own food and evasion skills as escape artists. You don't normally learn that in a sheltered environment.

Literal Translations:

Askal -  asong kalye -  street dog
Aspin -  asong Pinoy -  Filipino dog

Why should you adopt an Askal or Aspin from your local pound? 

1. Most askals/aspins are food-driven. They're not picky on training treats. 

2. Aspins/ Askals normally thrive on people food, but dog food works wonders on them. I give mine Bow Wow dog food and their coats have turned extra shiny. 

3. Aspins make great models for photography. 

The camera may have the wrong settings, but dear Ginger's pictures will always be perfect.

4. Since the askal / aspin family tree is so diverse,  the tendency for them to have genetic diseases are slim to nothing. 

5. A little training goes a long way. Food rewards are highly effective. Saver the Wonder Dog is one of Philippines' most famous askal.

Note: Don't be discouraged by their stubbornness.  You'd  be surprised how easily they learn the rest of the tricks once they've gotten the first one right.

6. Most askals/ aspins have survived without vaccinations through  the years.  This means that most of them have built an immunity against highly contagious diseases.

Note: Fortunately,  due to government programs providing free anti-rabies vaccinations,  the rate of rabies infection in cities have decreased.

7. They're far cheaper to adopt.  Some Philippine pet shelters already have their dogs and cats spayed / neutered and vaccinated. 

Note: The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) charges an adoption fee of 500 php for cats and 1000 php for dogs. These pets are all neutered/spayed, rabies vaccinated, groomed and dewormed before adopted out.

8. They require less maintenance than purebred dogs. 

Bottom line,  aspins / askals are great dogs to take care of. And some city pounds are teeming with them. So do VISIT THEM before you buy that puppy in the pet store or online ad.

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Doggy Christmas Greetings from Us to You

We would like to greet everyone (dogs, cats and peeps alike) a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May you and your family have a great 2013 ahead of you.

Once again, thank you for being part of our lives. We hope to spend another year with you in this wonderful community.

P.S. We have started our Christmas break early, so see you around after the 27th.

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10 Reasons Why My Dogs Don't Use the Computer

Have you ever wondered why it's mostly the mom, the dad or the assistant who does all the blogging? I doubt it's because humans are the only ones capable of punching the keys in the keyboard correctly.

You POST. I'll POSE!

According to a number of dog books there are multiple reasons why dogs prefer posing for the camera and showing us what to blog rather than blog themselves. This here is a mix of our opinions and theirs.

1. They can't stick their heads out of Windows 7.

2. The treats in Youtube videos taste like glass or plastic.

3. Just like Mac OS' Lion and Leopard, they think Twitter is exclusive for cats.

4. They know book"MARK"ing will get them in deep trouble.

5. Carpaw Tunnel Syndrome.

6. Tail wags and nubbin wiggles don't have emoticons or smileys on most instant messaging applications.

7. Why paw a mouse when you can put it in your mouth and chew it to pieces?

8. Facebook's age limit only allows dogs who are a bagillion years old.

9. FETCH command is not available in all platforms.

10. It would take forever to type in with those paws.

Hope you enjoyed this post. Happy Tuesday!

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Laundry and Brother Dog's Reaction

I apologize for not being able to visit your blogs so often. I've officially taken a new role at home which includes playing nurse to the sickly, doing the dishes, cooking, cleaning and waking up every morning at 5 AM to open the door so my partner can come in (his shift is from 8 PM to 5 AM and we have double chain locks). All of this plus my doggy responsibilities.

So today, I've added one more chore in my list- doing all the laundry. As I carried the washing machine outside- situating it on top of the dogs' balcony, one particular being stands up and "THANKS" me.

INGRATE! Now, I'm having second thoughts of washing your beds.

You might be wondering why BD looks thin. That's because he won't eat dog food like the others. I have to feed him rice and viand from our meals.

And he's still not allowing me to pet him or hold him, which annoys me to death because I wouldn't be able to cure the nasty case of mange on his back.

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More Airtime for Brother Dog (BD)

Today's a Monday and I am unfortunately out of words due to the earthquake that had just occurred a little while ago. It was of a 6.9 magnitude from its point of origin, which totally shook up the entire house.

What made it weird was that all dogs, even Peanuts, did not bark or react before and during the earthquake. Odd right?

In the mean time, please enjoy this Brother Dog airtime as requested.

Here comes the smoulder.

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Patting Your Dog's Head as an Act of Dominance

Today, let us tackle one of the actions we humans do to our beloved pets.

Do you pat your dog's head? Does he move away when you do so?

According to Dr. Bruce Fogel and the Faculty of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, patting or stroking the head is an action perceived by dogs as dominance and not affection.

Other forms of establishing dominance to your dog is by staring at him, standing over him, or stroking the top of his head. Simply said, stroking the head is just plain uncomfortable to them.

So don't be surprised if the dog will move away when you start raising your hand towards its head- especially if you haven't done the "nose swat".

Patting the dog's head is an excellent way of asserting your pack leader position. If you have a naturally submissive dog, this action can possibly make him more insecure.

So what's the best way to show your loving touch?

Most dogs prefer being stroked. Although Peanuts just loves being patted in the tummy.

Where?!?

• Side of the Face 
• Front of the Chest
• the Soft Tummy 
• the Rump
• Under the Chin

Ingrate! Is that how you thank me for giving you more airtime?

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Old Pet, New Introduction

Some time over the months, I mentioned Brother Dog as the leader of our pack. Apparently, he used to be the leader of the pack for the entire street we were leaving in. That's composed of 13-15 dogs. He even used to come home with battle scars which keeps me worried.

I'm to cute for you to touch, mere human.

Unfortunately, he never lets me touch him. So I couldn't pet him, nor can I give him affection like I do with the others. Brother Dog a.k.a BD used to be, once again, our neighbor's dog. I wasn't here when he got "adopted" by my mom. She went on a vacation for a month, staying at my sister. Later, she came home and found my brother feeding another dog. She asked him whose that dog was and he answers her, it's not yours?

Later we discover that he is our neighbor's dog who started coming in our gate waiting for food to be served to the others.

Now, I believe he'd lost the fight with another dog. His title is now his son's. Shark had a brother named Sam. Sam is living with our other neighbor. Whenever BD sees these guys pass through, he goes all territorial on them and a bark and growl-fest commences.

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