PEt (as in dog) Peeve..

[Robnc]

Ok, so can we talk pet peeves? As in, how dare people treat my dog like she's some rabid, ferocious nightmare, when she is a tail waving, butt wagging smiley bundle of love??? I have had 2 year old children scream bloody murder, 7 year old kids try to climb their parents legs, adults stare at me walking her not only disdainfully, but with outright Malice! most make a VERY wide berth around us wherever we go. WTF. I am so over it. I can't put her in a cab cos MOST cabs wont pick you up, and if you happen to get somewhere and want a cab home, forget it! Honestly, its just ridiculous. I cried for the first month, worrying about how this would affect her, why did I bring her here to this place etc, etc, but now, I am just mad! ( now been here 5 months) it IS getting easier, but This is not an uncommon reaction. Why on earth are the locals so put out? I don't get it and I don't like it.

So there. That's my "pet" peeve. Thanks for listening.

[JR8]

Yeah, I hear yer. To most SGns dogs are just completely alien, and odds on most have only seen them in films. To muslims they are haram ('unclean') and taboo. So, not a good start.

Want my dog gripe story, it's how SGns that do 'do dogs' completely wreck them by spoiling them in a boundary-less pampered world (rest of the story some other time!). Again it is via complete and utter ignorance.

Seems like it is all or nothing...

[Robnc]

Ahhh JR8 Yes! Thank you for replying. ive been getting so steamed over it, i was glad I wasnt flamed! it is crazy to me that the dogs we do meet, many are unsocialised and quite mean, or scooped up by their parents and not allowed to sniff or meet my girl... or when we walk down " their " street they are turning in circles of rage and other sorts of bizarre behaviors that look a lot like boredom. I did think maybe some are just there as guard dogs. It's so sad!!! Fellow expats I see always allow thier dogs to sniff and meet - this basic right of the canine world! I think I am going to have to bite the bullet and lease a car so I can at least take her to dog friendly places / dog parks where other dog lovers go. I wish watching Caeser Milan was compulsory! I guess it's a side issue of high density life, that so many people have no experience of dogs.... Sigh! Thanks tho. I do feel better for having said this out loud.

[JR8]

I wish watching Caeser Milan was compulsory!

Amen to that!

You'd have happier dogs and happier owners. I see it as a very simple equation.

As it is the indulgence breeds severely mal-adjusted dogs, that as you say are incapable of normal healthy interactions with other dogs.

It's sad, but it's the f'd up owners who make them this way!

[poodlek]

Once when I was walking my dogs home from the vet at vivo city a group of Muslim men threw rocks (tiny ones, but still...) at us and laughed! There have been other instances of completely inappropriate teasing that kids have done to my dogs here. So count yourself lucky if they only avoid you.

[beppi]

This is a very typical case of culture shock:
You enter a new environment and, since you cannot adjust to or accept what is normal there, you start blaming the world around you instead of your own inflexibility and lack of tolerance.

Do most Asians dislike dogs? Yes.
Is that morally wrong? No.
Will it change because you want it to? No.
So accept it and stop whining!
(And yes, it was probably a bad idea to bring your dog here!)

Oh, by the way: What would you say if you encounter the other kind of Asians, who love dogs so much they make lovely dishes out of them?

[Mary Hatch Bailey]

This is a very typical case of culture shock:
You enter a new environment and, since you cannot adjust to or accept what is normal there, you start blaming the world around you instead of your own inflexibility and lack of tolerance.

Do most Asians dislike dogs? Yes.
Is that morally wrong? No.
Will it change because you want it to? No.
So accept it and stop whining!
(And yes, it was probably a bad idea to bring your dog here!)

Oh, by the way: What would you say if you encounter the other kind of Asians, who love dogs so much they make lovely dishes out of them?

Wow! Pretty heavy handed on the stereotypes...

Most Asians? Has someone really polled all 2 billion of them?

Why oh why is it a bad idea to bring your dog with you?

Who said the OP was inflexible or intolerant?

And I was wondering how long this thread would go without the obligatory dogs as food comment.

Sheesh!

[sundaymorningstaple]

Don't know about obligatory comments, but I have to admit, after reading OP's initial post, I didn't have a very good attitude either. She could probably have worded it much differently. And that's from someone who "always steps on toes".

[JR8]

OP was letting off steam, and said as much.

The later comments are all 'measured, thought out and made at leisure'.

[Mary Hatch Bailey]

...Not being one who usually agrees with JR8, but what the hell? She was venting, no harm in that. How does a spew of generalizations help?

I find the dog culture in Singapore to be growing by leaps and bounds ~ it's kind of in an awkward adolescent stage now (the doggie t-shirts with Nazi swastikas and iron crosses should be evidence of that).

I don't really mind if Singaporeans or others pamper their dogs, my gripe is that too many people, especially in Singapore buy dogs based on looks or size but not their temperament and breed. A Jack Russell does not belong in an HDB flat or any other small, confined space. Nor does an tired old Lab deserved to be chained to some idiot's front gate every night to prevent break-ins. The assh*les who lived next to me in a multi-million dollar house kept their Labs in cages and told the maid to hit them in the face with sticks when they barked. After seeing this I called the SPCA and they were out of there in a few hours.

[movingtospore]

You know what I don't get is the number of cold weather breeds I see here, huskies et al, owned by local families. That's just mean, making them live here!

[the lynx]

You know what I don't get is the number of cold weather breeds I see here, huskies et al, owned by local families. That's just mean, making them live here!

Exactly!!!

I just don't understand how huskies would survive this tropical climate... Goodness... There are some families I've met that actually claimed they keep their huskies in air-conditioned kennels/rooms but still, I believe these poor huskies are better off elsewhere other than Singapore...

[sundaymorningstaple]

You know what I don't get is the number of cold weather breeds I see here, huskies et al, owned by local families. That's just mean, making them live here!

Exactly!!!

I just don't understand how huskies would survive this tropical climate... Goodness... There are some families I've met that actually claimed they keep their huskies in air-conditioned kennels/rooms but still, I believe these poor huskies are better off elsewhere other than Singapore...

These are the same people who pay $80 for a No. 10 tin can of tasteless abalone because in cantonese or hainese or some dialect is sounds auspicious.

[nuff]

My pet dog is about to start his travels later on today. The area I stay is just down from Kembangen mrt and part of the reason we chose here was because it seems very dog friendly.

1 in our apartment block and several others in this road. Each morning and evening I see loads being walked in the park so hopefully we don't experience too many of the problems that you have.

Not wanting to stray too far off topic but did anyone go to Expo on Sunday for the pets exhibition that was being held. I thought it was really good, lots of talks on how to be a good pet owner and about animal cruelty. I think that attitudes towards pets are changing for the better.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I think that attitudes towards pets are changing for the better.

Dog knows, it can't get any worse. Can ONLY get better or stay the same.