Sai Lup

Hello everyone!

Today is Sai Lup's turn to give us an account of how he came to be!



Basic information:

Name: Tiny
Nicknames: Max, Sai Lup, 細粒, 細粒B, BB, "O Tufão" (the tempest)
Commonly known as: Sai Lup (細粒)
Breed: Mutt, mongrel. Has been mistaken as a Husky and a Corgi.
Birthday: Unknown, rescued on 7 April 2010

Story:

I used to live in the common area of an apartment complex. It was the guards that kept me. I never had any constant source of food. As there already were some 3 dogs in the complex prior to myself, I was at the end of the hierarchy.

The residents in that complex didn't like me. Well, some did, but most didn't. I think they didn't like that I jumped on them. However, there was a girl that would regularly come by and let me jump on her. Oh! She was so nice! She would play with me! She gave me, and the other dogs, treats, but I was never sure what the treats contained, so I never ate them. However, I liked to follow her around when she came by.

One day, some people came, surrounded me, and caught me with noose and a big net. They put me inside a car. It was big and scary! After a bumpy ride, they let me out, but as soon as a lifted up my head, I was inside an enclosed area with 5 other dogs! It was scary! I sat by the wall near the fence.

Whenever someone passed by my fence, all the other dogs would start yowling, whining and crying. It was terrible! But, soon, I assimilated to them and learnt from them. Whenever someone would walk past, I would start whining as well.

Perhaps some 10 days passed? I am unsure of the days that passed. But, the people soon put me into the car again and transported me to another place. Similarly, it was in an enclosure with other dogs, however, nobody ever walked past anymore. It seemed pretty good, not having people walk past and hearing all those cries and yowls now. However, it still felt creepy and scary!

One day, just as suddenly, they caught me and put me into a moving vehicle again. Once again, I was taken back to the first enclosure. Then I heard a voice. It was the girl that played with me! I yowled and yowled and yowled, causing all the other dogs to yowl as well! The girl was talking to someone with a white overcoat. After some pointing and talking, the girl told me "Be patient, it will be over soon!" I had nothing better to do, so I just sat down and continued to wait.

Around 2 weeks after this encounter, the same girl came back again. She had a leash in her hand. I was given a collar and the girl tied the leash to my collar. She tugged at the leash lightly and indicated that I should follow her. So I did. She took me to a car, went inside, and drove for some 15 minutes. We entered a car park, walked the rest of the way to a building. I was so scared that I pee-ed and crapped at the entrance of the building. The girl laughed and tied me to some post and started cleaning the mess I made.

We then entered the building, into an elevator, and out again... A door was opened and the girl led me into an apartment, already with 2 dogs inside. Then the girl led me to the varandah, and closed the door. Once again, being left alone, I was afraid and started yowling. After some half an hour, the girl came back, opened the door, and let me in. She pointed to a blue bed and said, "this is where you will sleep".

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Thoughts from Kat, "the human girl"

This would sound confusing from Sai Lup's point of view. So, I'll elaborate.

Due to some car parking issues I had at home, I used to park my car over at my Aunt's place. So it was at her apartment complex that I first saw Sai Lup. Whenever I had to use my car I had to walk over to my Aunt's place to pick up my car (and park it back there again then walk home). Nobody really knows how he came to the apartment complex. The nearest likely story I got was, the guard got off the bus one day and saw the dog roaming around, so he took it with him to the apartment complex.

One day, for some reason, I was clicking through the Municipal Kennel's website, and saw one of the photos of "recent caught dogs"... it looked familiar... and I decided to go back to the apartment complex to verify... the guards said yes, Sai Lup was caught by the Municipal Kennel... I was heart-broken as he was quite a friendly dog, and I would play with him a lot. I offered the guards there that I would pay for his license and get him back, but one of them just said, "the dog is awful sick, with mange and un-tameable. You're not going to 'breakeven' with him, so it's not worth it to invest in the licensing money."

I was shocked to hear this kind of reasoning. Quoting Schindler, "when you know people, you have to behave towards them like human beings," I personally think the same goes for dogs. I knew I had to act fast. I didn't know exactly when Sai Lup was caught, so he could very well be on the "deathlist" already.

I called the Municipal Kennel and learnt that he was transferred already to the island satellite kennel (where the euthanasia takes place) and immediately placed a request to adopt him. Soon, he was transferred back to the peninsula kennel, and after my verifying that he is the dog I would like to adopt, they started with the paperwork, quarantine, de-sexing and chipping the dog.

Officially, he is named as Tiny but in reality we call him by "Sai Lup" (meaning "Tiny" in Cantonese). After welcoming him to our household, he is no longer as "Tiny" as he used to be... hahaha...

And the requisite Sai Lup photos

A traumatic day

Today was a really traumatic day for the four of us!

It was license renewal and rabies shot day!

After lunch, we saw the human girl bringing out all our leads and leashes. Woofy was so happy that he danced around! When we were all set, the human mom and the human dad took us all out!

We thought it was to a picnic of sorts, but, we ended up in a park, where we had to queue in line.

Apparently, it was license renewal day.

The Macau Municipal Kennel does have an online renewal service, however this year we had to take our rabies shot (valid for 3 years), and so we had to go to the kennel, or the mobile stations they set up in January and February.

We went into the line and Sai-Lup was being almost like a saint (as near a saint as he could, knowing him). It was easy to renew the license from Menina, Sai-Lup and Bido. However, Woofy is an illegal immigrant and so the human girl had to go to another place, fill in a form and submit it again.

After paying for the renewal, we queued in another line for the actual rabies shot. Sai-Lup didn't care for the shots, and Menina was really calm about it too! It was only Bido that made a big fuss out of it. If the human girl did not put a muzzle on Bido, her right ear would probably be history by now. Bido had to be carried (just like Scooby-Doo) by the human girl when the Vet administered the shot.

The human dad took the three of us back to the car, while the human mom and the human girl continued to wait for Woofy's application. Finally it went through and it was Woofy's turn to take the rabies shot. It was particularly painful for him as he continued to cry even when he was in the car, on the way home. Perhaps it's all just fuss!

Anyway, back at home, everyone got some extra treats. The human girl had her hands full of us so there was no chance for her to shoot any photos, so you'll have to take our word for what happened there today!

Menina

Hello everyone!

Today, we have Menina introducing herself to the world!

First, some basic information is required.

Name: Lizzie
Nicknames: Elizabeth, Mui-Mui, 妹妹, 阿囡, Mädchen, Menina
Commonly known as: Menina
Breed: Unknown. Looks like a Dachshund and Terrier mix
Birthday: Unknown, rescued on 6 December 2005

Story:

It was the coldest day of the season on that fateful day, 6 December 2005. I was walking along the street when I saw a girl walking a white dog. The white male dog was sniffing around, and the girl sat down on a bench. I thought, "since she is walking a dog, she must like me!" so I immediately jumped up and sat on her lap.

"Oh, hello!" The girl said to me. "Where is your owner?" she asked.

I don't understand what "owner" is, but just then another man walked past. If the girl doesn't want to hug me, fine. I'll go with the man. So I jumped off her lap and followed the man across the street.

The man wasn't too friendly either, so after following him for a while, I turned around and walked back, but I did not cross the street. Along the way, there was a small patch of grass and so I walked into the grass, hoping to lie down for a while.

I then saw the girl with the white dog again! So I ran towards her. She had her back facing me, and in order to call for her attention, I barked once.

"Woof!" I said.

The girl turned around and said "oh! It's you again! I thought you followed your owner?" she asked me.

She was talking to me! So I wagged my tail furiously. But the girl just walked away.

"Aren't you coming with me?" I heard the girl call out to me. Wagging my tail, I ran towards her and followed her closely. I hesitated when she crossed the street and stopped mid-way. Certainly, the girl was exasperated and yelled "Come over here, quick! A bus is coming! Come!" and whistled. I ran towards her.

For the rest of the way, the girl kept looking back at me and whistling. We walked up slopes, we turned into alleys, and we had to stop and let cars and motorbikes pass. Finally, we went into a building. The girl talked with some people, and they looked at me. Suddenly, I'm not so sure if this was a good idea or not...

But the girl called me again and we went inside something I now know as the elevator. After a while, we exited again and the girl opened two doors and we went in.

It was a warm house. A woman and a man stood there looking at me. I was suddenly afraid and tried to wag my tail again.

The girl suddenly picked me up from behind and put me inside warm water! The water is warm, but it's still a cold day! What would happen after I got out of the water? I'll feel a lot colder than now!

I did not have to worry as the girl used a blow dryer and dried me thoroughly as well. Then she took some photos of me, gave me food - quite a lot of food! And even told me to sleep in a red round dog-bed! Wow!

This night, I slept very well, shielded from the elements with a full tummy. I slept well!

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Thoughts from Kat, "the human girl"

I honestly thought she had her own "boss" so-to-speak, so when she came back to me I was surprised. it was a cold winter's day (coldest winter day of that season) and the traffic was quite heavy, so I decided to take her home. I was lucky that my parents didn't say anything. Mom was just worried that she did belong to someone else and we took her away. Dad however, said "don't worry, this is a good dog. We will keep her."

The following days flew by because those were really busy days. I had to take her to the vet to make sure she had no serious sickness (I had Peppie at that time) and found out she had a really serious infection in her ears. I was told to name her for the vet records, and said that, "I don't know, I just picked her off the street. Call her 阿囡 (Ah Loi) first. 阿囡 practically just means "Girl" in Chinese.

I don't remember the details, but eventually we took her to another vet because her ears never got better and then we decided to actually keep her, and officially named her Lizzie (she is "Lizzie" on her papers, short for Elizabeth). Her ears cleared up (finally!) but her "official" name Lizzie never stuck. In the end, we just kept calling her "Menina", which, also means "Girl" in Portuguese. My Dad calls her "Mädchen", which means, take a wild guess, "Girl", in German.

One of my neighbours believes that this was the dog she saw being bullied by some school kids - they had the dog on a chain and pulled the dog everywhere. To date, Menina looks at children with special attention (I do not know if that is in fear or in anticipation). I also noticed her tail was slightly crooked, as if someone had twisted or bent it... but it did not seem to bother her at all, so maybe she was born this way. The vets she went to never commented on that.

She is now one bossy girl and probably even Queen amongst the dogs. All she has to do is shriek and all the other boys will stop whatever they are doing.

The following are a couple of photos featuring just Menina :)

Hello World!

Hello everyone!

We would like to introduce ourselves!  

 

We are (from left to right): Menina, Max, Woofy, Bido  

We are all rescues, living together in Macau, with a very loving family.

The people in this family treat us very well - we are well fed, we are spoiled; and yet, they firmly believe in "A dog is a dog is a dog," so while we are spoiled, we are not coddled.  

We get walked twice a day: early in the morning before the humans go to work, and early in the evening, when they get off from work. We even get to walk in mountain trails and hikes every weekend! In the winters though, the humans sort of miss their morning alarms, then it gets too late to hike anywhere.  

But anyway, we are a happy bunch :)  

Occassionally, we may decide to write about some of our predecessors in this household. We may or may not have met them, but we'll make sure the human girl that types this will give you a detailed account about them.  

Wooooffles!!