MRDO 2007

Cleo saying hello to another retriever...

Cleo & Pacco

These are the only 2 pictures of Cleo at the MRDO from Pacco... didn't have time to take any pictures of Cleo on the day...

MALAYSIA RESPONSIBLE DOG OWNERSHIP DAY 2007

The Coalition of Animal Lovers (CALM) volunteered to man the Responsible Dog Ownership (RDO) booth the the MRDO organised by Puppy.Com on October 7.

The event was well organised and there were many activities to keep everyone entertained. The demonstrations by the K9 units and dog protection teams were brilliant and had everyone ooh-ing and ah-ing.

However, we were somewhat disappointed with the attitute of a large number of dog owners that were present at the event.

Many dog owners did not pick up their dogs' poo and merely left the poo on the ground for others to trample on. And some who did pick up after their dogs conveniently hung the poo-filed plastic bags on the little signposts (which were to provide small plastic bags for the convenience of owners) instead of depositing the bags into the many rubbish bins provided.

And of couse we were also quite shocked that some people also "stole" the small water bowls provided by Purina for dogs that attended the event. Our booth was provided with 3 bowls so that dogs who were thirsty could drink from them. But within 2 hours of the event, one of the bowls had disappeared. After that we had to constantly monitor the remaining 2 bowls to ensure that they remained at our booth.

While we laud Purina for being so kind and considerate to provide water bowls and water for hte dogs, what we could not understand was why the dog owners did not bring their own supply of water for their dogs? Dog owners should always ensure that they have water for their dogs whenever they take their dogs out. Dogs can overheat easily in this country's hot climate!

And then of course there were some dog owners who were oblivious to their dogs' needs... We noticed many dogs that were foaming at the mouth and who were panting with thirst due to the heat... but the owners did nothing to cool these dogs down. CALM members had to run around with the water bowls to quench the thirst of many dogs that came by our booth...

Promises to my Dog
Spay & Neuter Your Pets

CALM’s focus of the day was The Importance of Spaying & Neutering Your Dog. We also talked about the responsibilities that came along with owning a dog, while highlighting many real cases of cruelty and neglect in this country. See the links above for more information.

We also discovered that many dog owners were unaware that with modern technological advances, puppies can be safely spayed / neutered from as early as 8 weeks. Of course there are also many health benefits that came along with spaying / neutering dogs apart from the fact that spaying/neutering would directly reduce the number of unwanted puppies.

There were also dog owners that literally snubbed us for even trying to promote spaying and neutering of dogs. They claimed that it was cruel and unethical... Interesting.

We were also horrified that there were irresponsible breeders present at the event. Some of them went so far as to distribute little handouts to people at our booth!!! They were selling puppies from as little as RM600!!! These breeders were really awful as they were only concerned about making money and were not at all concerned about the welfare of their dogs.

They brought two of their dogs with them and their Labrador Retriever was suffering from the heat and they made no efforts to cool her down. Again CALM members had to provide the poor girl with water and when we informed this person about it, they weren't even slightly embarassed.

Well done to Puppy.Com for announcing to the public that they should not be buying puppies from irresponsible dog owners that hand out fliers at public events.

Unfortunately it started to rain towards the end of the event. Luckily CALM had prepared some quiz questions which were used for an impromptu Quiz Session by Puppy.Com. Many dog owners knew answers to the Basic Questions, but we were horrified that there were some people who didn't have a clue as to what the answers should be... One person responded that health benefits from spaying or neutering included better digestion and healthier teeth???

Take the Quiz... see how much you know

Quiz Questions
Quiz Answers

But all in all, we believe that the event was a success and we hope that Puppy.Com will continue to organised this event on a regular basis so that dog owners will be aware of their responsibilities to their dogs...