Spreading mongrel pride

WHILE ethnic Chinese everywhere welcomed the Year of the Dog last week, animal welfare activist Zhang Su Li views the arrival of this year’s animal zodiac with a sense of dread.
Every year, dogs – especially pedigree breeds – are purchased from pet stores, but this year will most probably see a surge in sales, simply because of people wanting a pet to match the lunar zodiac.
And along with that, the number of abandonment cases is likely to rise as well.
Zhang is the founder of Mongrel Pride, a movement that deals with several areas of animal welfare (primarily with strays) through education, and spreading awareness of neutering and spaying.
She also runs the programme Table for Paw, Please! (TFPP).
“The programme supplies food to rescuers and shelters that also neuter and spay,” says Zhang. “It’s a very controlled situation, where the shelter will rescue or trap the strays to neuter and spay them, then continue to feed them at the shelter, or release them back into the streets.”
With the firm belief that mongrels deserve the same, if not more, recognition than pedigree dogs, she adds that once the strays are neutered, spayed, and fed, they’re absolutely no trouble to the public: “You see them just lying by the roadside.”
Zhang sincerely wants people to always choose adoption if they are considering a pet, and to understand that certain breeds just aren’t meant to live in our tropical weather.
She cites the public’s obsession with owning huskies, despite the beautiful creatures not being acclimatised to the heat here. Huskies are also difficult to train, with their seemingly endless amount of boundless energy.
“There are huskies everywhere that have been dumped,” she laments. “You can’t even tell they’re huskies any more, because huskies are prone to skin conditions due to the heat and once they become strays, they lose most of their fur.
“I’ve seen quite a few that were in really terrible condition because they need special treatment. “They’re also too friendly for their own good, and they don’t know how to avoid traffic. They’re justrunning around being really adventurous.”
Another reason to adopt? It helps stop the demand that powers puppy mills, which are breeding centres that supply puppies to pet stores.
Dogs born in puppy mills are often rife with congenital diseases due to inbreeding.
Zhang said: “Almost every golden retriever I know of has hip dysplasia, and the puppies that you see at the pet shop, they are the survivors.
“What about those that are deformed, that you don’t see?
“When they’re past the breeding age of six or seven, some of them have no teeth, no fur. They’re just dumped because euthanasia costs money.”
Zhang also cautions would-be pet owners not to go out on a whim and purchase a pet, especially one with brown fur, simply because it’s the Year of the Earth Dog.
“Just go straight for a wooden dog, because you don’t have to feed that dog, you don’t have to take it for a walk, and you don’t have to train it!
“And you don’t have to get all frustrated if the dog is not behaving well, because it’s a wooden dog! It will just sit there and look pretty.”
Zhang has three mongrels herself.
She met her first dog Russell after offering to foster him when he was two months old.
The pup was injured after his hind leg was run over by a car. She took care of him for four months while he was in recovery, but she eventually adopted Russell after receiving a helpful financial donation from a Facebook friend from Canada.
Zhang’s next dog was Agatha Streetwalker. Aggie, as she is fondly known, is the “purest, kindest dog” Zhang had ever encountered.
Aggie was found in Damansara Kim, and before adopting her, Zhang decided to first get her spayed. Zhang decided two dogs were enough, and promised to not adopt a third. “But now I’ve got another one called Peter,” said Zhang with a laugh.
His full name is Peter O’Toll, inspired by the legendary British actor Peter O’Toole.
The precocious pup was found living in a drain, and when Zhang first started feeding him, he was called ‘Penjaga Toll’ because he would bark every time he saw her car.
Zhang explained: “I would give him food as if he’s charging me toll, then Penjaga Toll became PT, PT became Petey, and Petey became Peter. Now, he’s Peter O’Toll.”
She has no doubt that rescue dogs or former street dogs can make the best of pets.
“Every stray, every mongrel, every dog, has its own character to begin with,” said Zhang. “So you can’t say that pedigrees have better characters than strays.
“If people would ... try to see beyond the surface, then they can really see the beauty of mongrels and strays, even if these dogs don’t look conventionally beautiful.”