I understand that times are hard, and whatever you can save, you keep it. Consulting a vet or any of those pet health services don’t come cheap, and I know sometimes it’s tempting to simply search the net and try to discern for ourselves what our dog’s symptoms mean. But don’t forget that when you decided to keep a pet, you understand the responsibilities that go with it — and that includes vet expenses.

I don’t mean to sound preachy, but really… When you think your dog isn’t breathing properly, or that something is out of the ordinary that got you worried in the first place — bring your dog to the vet. ASAP. The time you spent scourging the net for answers or asking every Joe Schmoe you know could cost your dog his life. That’s a bit exaggerated, but really, every minute counts to ensure your dog’s recovery.

I made that same mistake with my baby Sheero before — I should have brought her to the vet sooner, and it didn’t occur to me that there might have been another reason why she got sick again. I just assumed that the meds prescribed by the vet before will work once more. It was only after few days that it became apparent to me the meds aren’t enough anymore — and that was the only time we did take her to the vet. Sheero passed away due to a heart attack that led to a coma. Together with our vet, we did everything we could to save her, but still… There’s this question of what-could-have-been had we brought her to the vet sooner.

I hope nobody goes through what I did — Sheero’s passing really broke our hearts. It took a while to recover. And while we’re learning to accept the fact that we did everything in our power to keep her alive, there will always be the nagging feeling that things could have ended differently if we didn’t hesitate.

Remember, when you decided to take a pet, it’s assumed that you know what you’re getting into. I’ve said this more than twice but I’m going to say it again: bring your dog to the vet immediately if he seems sick and don’t play vet unless you really are one. Even if your pet’s symptoms “seem to match” a general article you found on the internet, or that you feel that you’ve told everyone every single detail of your pet’s condition in the hopes that some tech-savvy vet will advise you online — there could have been something you missed that only the trained eye of a vet can see. It’s always better to bring your dog to the vet for an actual, face-to-face consultancy.

For the first time, a race event tailor-made to accommodate dogs! The race kits include not only singlets for human racers, but “race bandanas” and poop scooper for their canine partners as well But that’s not all… The race event categories and race maps were also made for dogs in mind — 1.5km, 3km and 5km. The 1.5km event is a realistic distance for short-legged fur-babies like mine — Shantee can do 2km walkies, did you know? Winners will receive prizes. Though Shantee and I don’t have illusions of winning the race, we’re still banking on finishing it!

Can’t run? Well, you and your dog can still join in the fun! At around 6:15am, fun games will begin for non-runners. A lot of activities are planned from 4:00am to 10:00am on race day, dog-lovers like you just shouldn’t miss it!

TailRunners: The Metro Dog Run 2010 will be held on Saturday, 17 April 2010 at the SM Mall of Asia and is co-presented by Royal Canin, Pet Express, and MyPetChannel.tv. For more details, visit the official TailRunners microsite. See you there!!!

They also have a website, be make sure to take a look!

I was supposed to add a photo of the doggies in this post, but they don’t seem to be in the mood for pictorials today. Firecrackers are scaring them! (As early as now, we can already hear some firecrackers and fireworks in the distance).

It’s been a long human tradition to celebrate the coming of New Year with a bang (or rather, loud bangs) — doing so is believed to ward of evil spirits and bad luck. Well, that’s for us humans, but for dogs, it’s an entirely different story. A dog’s hearing is much more sensitive than ours — imagine how loud the firecrackers can get for them.

It might be a good idea to keep the dogs inside the house once the celebrations start, making them feel “safer.” If that’s not possible, cover their house with a cloth or anything that can muffle the noise. Our bigger dogs usually roam the yard, but on New Year’s Eve, my dad always makes it a point to let them in the covered laundry area. We can’t really let them in the other parts of the house, as we already have other dogs in there and doing so might result to a doggy war for territory. Our “inside dogs” don’t really go to the laundry area, so that’s where our bigger dogs go before the loud bangs of New Year’s Eve begin.

It also won’t hurt to give your canine friend a comforting hug to make them feel safer I certainly plan to do that later… All of our doggies will receive a comforting hug tonight!

Happy New Year everyone! And stay safe!!!

That’s Kubrick and Choknat “gossiping” on the wooden swing in our garden.

Kubrick gets along pretty well with all our other dogs (being the friendly pup that he is), but sometimes he doesn’t like them getting too close (he’s so small, the others scare him sometimes). Our aspin mix Harry and Choknat are the only ones he allow to get that close to him

See below for the official press release:

Boxer Champions Compete for the Annual Douglas Uytengsu Memorial Cup

Around 70 champions are set to compete for the annual Douglas Uytengsu Memorial Cup Boxer National Championship Dog Show slated on November 29, 2009 at the Bonifacio High Street in Global City, Taguig.

Now running on its 25th year, this event is presented by Alaska Milk Corporation. Organizer Boxer Club of the Philippines is bringing in Specialty Show Judge and Champion Breeder from Canada Shirley Bell to examine boxer champions for the following categories: Best Baby Puppy in Show; Winners Dog and Best of Winners; Winners Bitch; Best Opposite Sex and Best Philippine Born in Show; Runner-Up in Best in Show, and; Best in Show and 2009 Douglas Uytengsu Memorial Cup Winner.

Dog lovers are invited to bring their canine pets to witness the display of the most premium breeders and kennels in the country. There will also be veterinarians available to provide free check-ups for any dogs that attend the event. Limited vaccine drops for dogs are also available.

The 25th Douglas Uytengsu Memorial Cup is made possible by Alaska Milk Corporation with sponsors Pfizer Animal Health, Samsung, and Royal Canin and in cooperation with Bonifacio High Street. This show is under the rules and regulations of the Philippine Canine Club, Inc. No entrance fee will be charged. Venue opens at 1:00 PM and the actual dog show starts at 4:00 PM.

The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), in cooperation with SM Mall of Asia and Alpo Chop House, celebrates World Animal Day with an exciting event for all animal lovers on Saturday, October 10, 2009 at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall.

Start the morning with a special mass and pet blessing at 11am featuring the 92AD choir.

Browse through the booths of different organizations championing animal rights in the Philippines.

Aside from PAWS, participating groups include Animal Kingdom Foundation (AKF), Compassion and Responsibility for Animals (CARA), Earth Island Institute Philippines (EII-Phils), Feathered Friends Foundation (FFF), Network for Animals (NFA), Palawan Animal Welfare Association (PAWA), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA) and World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF-Philippines).

There will also be a display of YOCard’s “Visuals with Vision” entries with amateur graphic designers doing their own interpretation of the themes “Saving the Seas” for the Haribon Foundation and “Adoption of Stray Animals” for PAWS.

Then, starting at 2pm, you and your fur babies can strike a pose in the pet photo area, have our face painter turn you into a dalmatian or a pug, explore the newest pet portal on the net, Mypetchannel.tv and work on animal-themed projects in the arts & crafts booth.

And at 3pm, animal-loving celebrities and bands come together to raise funds for the PAWS Shelter which has been turned into an evacuation center for the animals displaced by typhoon “Ondoy.”

Jam with international star Sam Bradley together with True Faith, Rachel Alejandro, Gian Magdangal, Joey Ayala, Jan Nieto, Aliya Parcs, Harry Santos, Camerawalls, Reklamo and more as they sing for the animals.

Donations in cash or in kind (canned pet food, roofed cages, dog shampoo, old blankets and medicine) will be accepted at the PAWS Booth from 11am – 8pm.

So come and spend a meaningful weekend with your four-legged love ones only at the WORLD ANIMAL DAY Celebration at SM Mall of Asia.

This event is made possible through the generous help of Alpo Chop House, McDonald’s, Frontline Plus, Magnolia Healthtea, Magnolia Fruitdrink, Magnolia Purewater, By Nature Handmade Soaps, Human Nature, Yes Movement, The Picture Company, Krispy Kreme, Mypetchannel.tv and the Philippine Star Pet Life Section.

Marc and I might be going with Shantee and Kubrick. See you there!!!!

If you’re a Filipino and own a blog, you can join! If you have a pet-related blog, do make sure you enter it under the Hobby and Recreation main category. If it’s a commentary about pets, Commentary category is better for you. If your blog focuses on advocacy (ie. Animal Welfare!), the Advocacy category is the best category for it. Just make sure you enter it under the correct category so you’ll have a chance of winning!

As one of the co-founders and organizers of the Philippine Blog Awards, Shantee, Kubrick and I can’t join. So it’s up to you guys to make known to the Philippine blogosphere about the animal-related blogs out there! Good luck to all!

For more info, visit this page.

Shantee and Kubrick! by kutitots, on Flickr

Our other dogs, especially my two boys Harry and Choknat, hate traveling. They get dizzy even for just a very short ride. Shantee doesn’t get dizzy at all—she’s so used to traveling. Kubrick threw up at least once going and leaving Tagaytay—it’s his first long trip and he got all excited, and you know as well as I do that anybody can get dizzy moving around so much inside the car. Anyway, I’ll talk more about traveling with pets on different post, because this one is not about that.

Marc, Shantee, Kubrick and I would like to extend our warmest and deepest thank you’s to Sonya Garcia and her staff at Sonya’s Garden for their hospitality and kindness. Never before had my dogs felt like VIPs—Very Important Pooches—and we cannot help but feel a bit overwhelmed by the VIP treatment they’ve given us.

Shantee wants to doze off by kutitots, on Flickr

Yes, folks, Sonya’s Garden is as dog-friendly as they come. It’s probably one of the most—if not the most—friendliest establishments to dogs we’ve ever gone to. While some are tolerable and designate pets to open areas, at Sonya’s, dogs aren’t just allowed in the gardens—they can go just about anywhere, even sleep in the cottages. You see, Miss Sonya is a dog-lover. She went out of her way to make us feel welcome—she even offered to give my dogs free grooming and assured us that she has dog food in case we run out.

But the best thing we love about Sonya’s is the fact that they treat their furry guests the same way they do human guests. We reserved a cottage and informed the staff we would be bringing the dogs along way ahead of time (about a month before our vacation dates). So you can understand that we would feel on the defensive when this other guest (who obviously hated dogs) complained loudly about how our dogs’ barking “disturbed” them. Their cottage is directly below ours, and this guy angrily yakked to the staff how they’re going to sleep when my dogs start to play and “make noise.”

Kubrick at the huge window of cottage lobby

First of all, my dogs were actually well-behaved and unusually quiet while in the cottage, doing nothing more than but sleep (the place was so relaxing that even the dogs couldn’t help themselves and doze off). This guy only heard Shantee bark when she thought we were leaving them in the cottage to eat at the dinning area. Other than occasional short barks whenever they want water or food, or they get surprised by fruits falling on the roof, that’s it. Their behavior was far from being disruptive, they behaved well for the simple reason that they know they were not in their territory. Unless, of course, if you hated dogs—barking of any kind will irritate you.

I was prepared to argue that my dogs were well-behaved and that I have informed the staff one month before of my pets. I would not easily agree to transfer to another cottage just because that guy apparently didn’t like dogs and failed to inform the staff his preference ahead of time. It explicitly states in the website that Sonya’s Garden is a farm (with free-roaming animals of its own) and that pets are allowed in the cottages. If he preferred not to be near guests with pets, he should have said so ahead of time, right?

My husband and I readied ourselves for a staff to come calling our cottage to negotiate. But none came. As it turned out, Miss Sonya already resolved the issue: she transferred the complaining guests to a different cottage. She seemed apologetic for those guests, and told us that there really are just people who don’t like animals. She kept us company during breakfast, and seemed particularly charmed by friendly Kubrick, much to attention-whore-diva Shantee’s annoyance

There weren’t that many guests on our second day, and that evening when we had our dinner, we basically had the dining area to our own except for a mom and her kids who adored Kubrick and Shantee. The staff seemed more relaxed, the absence of the aggressive guest evident (he and his companion were scheduled to check out after breakfast). Our server lady chatted with us a bit, and we learned that Miss Sonya prefers dog-lovers, that she had a belief that dog-lovers are more compassionate. We felt flattered, though we felt the same.

Marc and I also have preference for people who can find it in themselves to care for animals. It’s not easy extending love and compassion to a creature, and it takes more effort than usual unlike caring for a fellow human being. They do not communicate the way we do. Reaching out to bridge that gap must come from us, being blessed with a bigger brain, and that takes effort. Not many would bother bridging that gap, and for that, we feel those who do have a little more compassion to spare.

You will see that unselfish love for animals at Sonya’s Garden. Not only humans are welcome guests, but your dogs will be too. For a dog-lover like us, Sonya’s Garden goes beyond its famed “country living” and relaxed atmosphere—it’s a home away from home where even the furry members of your family are graciously welcomed with arms wide open.

For more photos, you can visit my Flickr photo set or watch the slideshow below:

PAWS is holding a charity dinner on May 30, 2009 at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall. Tickets are Php2,000 for each human bringing a furry date, while Php1,500 for those who will come stag. Proceeds will all go to the PAWS Animal Shelter. One dog per one human only!

Here’s the fun part: there will be performances by celebrities who support PAWS, a buffet for humans, and a buffet for dogs! See? Even your furry dinner dates get to enjoy the charity dinner

What: Dine with PAWS
When: May 30 (saturday), 6.30pm
Where: SM Mall of Asia Music Hall
What to expect: a buffet for dogs, a buffet for humans and performances by celebrities who support PAWS. All proceeds of ticket sales will go to the PAWS Animal Shelter.

Please note that tickets won’t be sold at the door on the day of the event. You will need to reserve tickets! For reservation, just text 0917-8352405 or send an email to philpaws (at) yahoo (dot) com with your contact info so a PAWS representative can get in touch with you. Tickets may be picked up at the PAWS Rehabilitation Center in Katipunan or at a designated pick-up point (you need to coordinate with PAWS regarding this first though).