Pet Dogs and Strays

Hong Kongers are great dog lovers. To many, dogs are nearly human, they love them and care for them and spend much time with them. There are also others who want to own pets and so choose to reside in the country side; that is in villages in the New Territories. They have exacting careers and put in long working hours with little time for themselves or their pets. Love and passion come in small doses mainly on week ends. Often their dogs are left in the care of maids who are employed to do household chores; and not to take dogs for long walks, bath and feed them and pick up poo after them.

Some dogs are left unattended either inside the homes, in balconies, or on roof tops. In the village where we live one neighbour left their five dogs on small balcony while they went to work, and overwork, and often came home close to midnight. The dogs barked all day. Most dog owners or their maids pay no attention when their dogs bark incessantly day and night.

There are also many inconsiderate neighbours who walk their dogs. They carry newspapers and plastic bags and look as if they are intent on cleaning up after their dogs. These pet lovers are happy to keep their homes and gardens clean and walk their dogs to someone else’s gate or path or parking lot and allow their pets to urinate and defecate. When their dogs have done their business the owners or maids delicately walk away with their precious pets and their newspapers and plastic bags.

Some dogs are left loose and vicious day and night. They spend their day having much fun attacking passers by and by night running wild with packs.

The problem of stray dogs is further aggravated by people who believe they are doing good, getting merit points in dog heaven, by going round their villages leaving large amounts of food for dogs. This practice not only feeds the dogs, tame and wild, but also encourages a large population of well fed rats.

Calling the Agricultural and Fisheries department to alert them of wild dog situation is a fun process; one is sent from one department to another until one comes back to the first person spoken to. One fine day the dog catchers did arrive in our village. Since I called them and they had my address they came, in their van, to a screeching halt outside my home, several men jumped out exceedingly noisily. One pulled out a large butterfly net while the others whipped out their mobile phones to check out the autheticity of the report made and the exact location. The three wild dogs that were resting outside my gate slunk away from right under their noses and right before their eyes. I admire the men’s style but not their dog-catching skills.

We still have a huge nuisance of barking dogs, dog poo in our parking lot, and the wild pack has now increased to seven.