Move over Lassie there's a new dog in town who can communicate with humans and lead them to little Timmy trapped inside the well. Or rather to a newborn abandoned in a vacant lot near the town dump.
An abandoned newborn was saved by locals in Sibonga town last Christmas Eve, December 24, thanks to the help of a motorcycle driver who heeded to the barks of a stray dog.
A newborn baby boy, whose umbilical cord and placenta still attached, was found wrapped in a towel on a grassy vacant lot near the town’s dumpsite in Barangay Magcagong.
Authorities from the Sibonga Police Station reported that it was a certain Junrell Fuentes Revilla who made the discovery and brought the infant to the nearest hospital for treatment.
Revilla, 36, who also reported the incident to the police, told investigators that he was driving his motorcycle along the area on the morning of Christmas Eve when a black dog kept barking at him.
He added that he stopped when the dog did not stop pestering him, and he decided to follow the canine to the spot where he found the infant crying.
In a surprising twist it turns out that the dog is not a stray.
Hero dog is no stray after all!
Remember the dog who helped a motorist find an abandoned newborn baby boy in Sibonga town on Christmas Eve?
Turns out that this hero dog is not a stray after all. And he goes by the name “Blacky.”
Blacky is a year and a half asong Pinoy or aspin.
Blacky lives together with nine other dogs under the care of their master Kuya Lyndon Olingay in Barangay Magcagong Sibonga.
According to Gea Ybarita, Hope for Strays founder, they were supposed to rescue Blacky yesterday, thinking that he was a stray. But things turned out differently.
“While naa mi sa dumpsite waiting for Blacky that time kay naay niagi na motor, mag ask ta mi niya kung naa siyay nabantayan na dog, to our surprise siya diay ang owner nya ilang house kay unahan lang sa dumpsite,” she said.
They followed Kuya Lyndon to their place and saw Blacky guarding his master’s property together with some other dogs.
What an interesting story. There is a lot that could be said about it. A dog owner lets his pet wander around and he rescues a baby. Dogs should not be wandering around but he rescued a baby so its excusable right? Hard questions and irony abound! Not really as breaking the law is never excusable be it stray dogs or unapproved vaccines.
But let's focus on something else. This dog is an asong Pinoy or aspin. Basically he is a mutt. But the asong Pinoy is also the national breed. The national dog breed of the Philippines is a mutt!!
By the mid-late 20th century, dogs commonly seen wandering the streets were called "askal", a Tagalog-derived portmanteau of asong kalye or "street dog". In 2007, the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) suggested the alternative term aspin, short for asong Pinoy (Pinoy dog) probably to avoid the stigma associated with the term "askal".
The coat can be short haired or rough. Coat colors ranges from Black, Brown, White (commonly), Red (rare), Brindle, Gray, and Cream. Spots are commonly found at the base of the tail and at the back in semi-circular fashion. The snout sometimes appears black if the coat color is brown. The tail is usually held high and the ears can be floppy, semi-floppy or fully pointing upwards. The bone structure of a native Askal is on the medium range, never heavy like in Rottweilers.
Askals is the Filipino word for stray mixed-breed, indigenous dogs. There are over twelve million strays in the Philippines. Many consider it a problem because these dogs can go without much food or shelter their entire lives. The term "askals" can also refer to a domesticated, indigenous mixed-breed dog. They have been raised traditionally as guard dogs. They are naturally suspicious of strangers, independent and protective of family members. They are good to young children as companions, due to their devotion to family members. They are trusted by their owners to roam markets or the neighborhood to socialize with other dogs which is why some domesticated dogs are seen by the Western people as stray dogs when in fact they may not be. They are, however, expected to be home before dusk, especially males who always look for females in heat. Female dogs usually stay home and are excellent watch dogs. askals were allowed to compete in the First Philippine Dog Agility Championships in 2013
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Askal
PAWS the Philippine Animal Welfare Society says Aspin is the politically correct term for askal. Don't want to hurt the poor doggies feelings, right?
The fact is, it’s become politically correct, fashionable, and downright cool to champion animal rights. Animal welfare groups now have more donors to tap, but also more groups with specific causes to “compete” with, whether it’s saving the whale shark in Donsol or rescuing the askal (stray dog) down the road.
“The politically correct term now is asPin or asong Pinoy,” points out Anna Hashim Cabrera, program director of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS).
https://web.archive.org/web/20090215173312/http://services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=78027
You know what they say, a street dog by any name is still a street dog.
Look at the distinguishing characteristic from the Wikipedia article. Owners trust their dogs to wander the neighborhood and "socialize with other dogs." Socialize means mate and fight of course. Owners also trust their dogs to wander around all day and return home before dusk! Did they sit down with the dog and have a talk?
"Now I'm gonna let you wander around the neighborhood so don't get hit by any cars or trickle and be home before dusk."
Obviously that never happened. Dogs aren't people. They wander around the barangay eating trash, sniffing butts, pissing on objects, mating, fighting, maybe biting people, and even eating the corpses of other dogs!
You may not be able tp tell and I'm sure not going to give the gross proof but that is a dog corpse he is eating.
Take another note from that Wikipedia article:
...which is why some domesticated dogs are seen by the Western people as stray dogs when in fact they may not be.
Now the issue of stray dogs, and make no mistake dogs who are allowed to roam as they please are strays, becomes an issue of cultural relativity! But lest we chuck any notions of right and wrong to the wind in the name of cultural relativity know that child marriage is also an issue of cultural relativity. So is the issue of pitting one animal against another animal in a fight to the death, i.e. cockfighting. So is eating dogs as some in this country do.
Let's sum up here. The national dog of the Philippines is a mutt and of course that is fitting for a people whose blood is mixed with Chinese, Malay, Spanish, and European strains among so many others. A hazardous genetic dump one might say. The way these dogs are treated is above reproach because it's an issue of cultural relativity. What can we learn from all this?
Anytime and anywhere in the world you see a stray dog you can nod your head and say that's the Philippines.
