I met a nice woman named Lori who was walking what is
known as a "meat
dog" puppy who was so sweet and adorable. I stopped to talk to her and
learned that the dog belonged to her neighbors who live right off-base
and who
kept it staked out on a 3 foot lead on concrete and threw it rice and
kimchee as
it's only food. She felt so bad about it and would walk it (the owners
never let it
off the lead) as often as she could. We agreed to work together to get
them to
give the dog to us so we could give it a better chance in life. At that
point, the
Korean owners (actually an American husband and Korean wife) hadn't
decided if they would eat it or not, so the puppy's prospects were not
good.
It didn't even have a name. It is about six months old, small and stocky
with
thick fluffy brown fur, a curled tail, upright ears and a pointy nose
and the most
loving personality -- that is what drew me to it in the first place, and
Lori just
loved the little guy.
After several weeks of trying to better the dog's
condition (Lori bought a long
lead to give the dog more space, but the owners just shortened it to the
original
three feet because they didn't want to have more area to clean up), the
owners
decided they didn't want it anymore so we went right out there and got
it! It was
the Memorial Day holiday weekend here, but we were able to page the Osan
Air
Base vet clinic and have someone come in on their day off to take the
puppy.
I just visited it today and it has the biggest "smile" on it's cute
little face as it
romps around the outside dog run at the clinic. The vet clinic really
tries to
place all the animals they get, sometimes keeping them for months or
even
years at a time. They only destroy animals with behavior problems that
render
them unadoptable (biting, aggression, etc.) I feel confident that this
little puppy
will find a home. In fact, I spoke to a man who said his wife was coming
to
look at the dog today with the thought of adopting it. I explained it's
back-
ground and told him about how terrified the puppy was about climbing
stairs.
You see, it was staked out at the top of a long flight of stairs, and it
just goes
limp with fear and urinates when it encounters stairs of any kind. I
guess it
thinks it will be staked out again if it goes up them.
I want to thank all the people on the list who care so
much and who work so
hard on the dog issue in Korea. I do want to let them know that, in
recent
weeks, there have been articles in the English-language newspapers here
about dog meat (the legislature wants to regulate it so it is more
"sanitary") with
some horrible pictures of the stalls at the markets. The good news is
that there
is now a Korean Animal Protection Society that staged a protest in Seoul
to try
to get Koreans to stop eating dogs and cats. The paper said there are
only 12
members, but you know, that is the first POSITIVE news I've ever heard
on this
issue in Korea. The photo of this group in the paper showed Korean men
holding dogs in a kind manner at the protest. That even one person in
the
country, let alone a man (men are the main consumers of dog meat) cares
about this is good news indeed.
For the animals,
Deb
Osan AB, ROK
Update: I also want to let you know that the dog has
already been adopted by an
American couple, so the happy ending is indeed complete!!
Source:
[email protected]
Go on to Misery for
Dinner
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