One of the most interesting person I met in our bookstore was a retiree who hated dog lovers. He spent more than half of his life working in Canada but decided to return home after his retirement at the age of 65. He was a voracious reader, buying at least 10 books per week, and usually was in a friendly mood unless he's talking about his neighbor who was raising and training dogs for a living. Most of his neighbors also have dogs, and so he would rather lock himself in his condo unit rather than acquaint himself with them.
He was used to having neighbors with pet dogs in Canada but he said they were clean and don't smell that bad. Dog owners there were not allowed to take their dogs for a walk without leash and they have to pick up their dog's droppings or be apprehended for littering. Since it was very cold out there, dogs too don't sweat that much so they don't smell that bad and dog owner usually treat them like kids, giving them bubble bath and brushing their fangs. Its not very unusual to visit homes with dogs sitting beside the children in their sofa, sometimes even in their beds.
Here it was really different. His condo unit is just a few blocks from our bookstore but he said that he fears walking the streets to our place. It was not because of thugs hanging on street corners but because he was careful on not stepping on dog shit on his morning walks. He could not understand why Barangay officials allow dog owners to have their dogs relieve themselves on the streets. Dog owners don't bother to pick up their dog's droppings where it get trampled by passing vehicles or stepped on by pedestrians. There are even dog owners who don't bother to put their dogs on leash posing danger to children and other passers by.
There were even neighbors who tie their dogs on the side walks, some in alleys, and some near their gates. They feed them with left-overs, and most of the the time lie on the pavements with their shit and piss smelling all over. Add to these the noise they make when they are hungry, or pleading to be led outside to relieve itself.
His other neighbor who breeds dogs, mostly pitbulls for dog fights, put the animals in cages. The smell of shit and urine goes up beyond their walls and he has to keep his windows closed so as not to smell them in the morning. And to think that his neighbor brag around how he love dogs as well as those who order them for pets.
After about a year, he decided to sell his condo unit and transfer to another place. When he said goodbye, I handed him a copy of " Old Yeller" from my personal collection. It was a book written by Fred Gipson and one of my old time favorites about a a boy who reluctantly took in a yellow dog which later proved its worth by saving the family in different occasions. He smiled and said that he doesn't really hate dogs, just the locals treat them. It was okay to hear people say they love dogs but found it hypocritical that they don't have regard for others who are affected by their "unsanitary" way of taking care of their pets. He moved to a new location downtown where pets were not allowed.
Well, as Mark Twain use to say, "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man." And perhaps, Jerome K. Jerome got it right when he said - "People like dogs, because they never talk about themselves but listen to you while you talk about yourself, and keep up the appearance of being interested in the conversation."
As for me, I have to see a dog who read books for they read people. They do everything to please their master, and even if you hit them, they don't take it against you. I enjoyed reading Old Yeller, Sounder by William Armstrong, The Incredible Journey by Sheils Burnford, and white Fang and Call of the Wild, both by Jack London. Also enjoyed "The Lassie TV Series", Hatchiko movie, and remember Rocky's dog Bumpus, but that it the farthest I am willing to go with dogs. You can't leave them with books, and you have to take care of them. I rather see them on the farm running after monitor lizards, protecting our hens and its chicks, and warning us of intruders. I rest my case ...
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