Dog Woes

We are plagued with dog woes lately. And the source is not The Furkid, but rather, a stray that has decided to make the small forested area right across my flat its dwelling.

Come to think of it, it will be easier to solve if it is The Furkid. Wielding out the cane will quieten any barking/whining from her. Before you think we are abusive pet owners and is reaching for your phone to call SPCA -  we hardly cane her lah. Just a handful of times in the course of her 4 years of life with us when she was very naughty, and always sparingly on her thigh. And it was always done because all other ways of corrective measures have been used to no avail and with our hearts aching.

Anyway, back to the stray. This handsome stray dog (not sure about its gender, actually) has been residing in a large plot of forested area about 300m away from my estate. Since 6 months or so ago, that forested area has been cleared to make way for condominium development. Unfortunate for the dog as it has to go in search of a new habitat. Then the misfortune fell upon us as the dog chose to live right across the road from our flat.

Here is why it is a misfortune for us:
The dog barks in the middle of the night. ALOT. And loud enough to wake up our entire household, including Furkid and Anya, even when all windows and curtains are closed. It started a few months ago and I knew The Furkid was disturbed because it growled and whined during the first few times. These days, she has learned to ignore it.

Being animal lovers, The Husband and I have tolerated the barking and kept our fingers crossed, in hope that the dog will move off to somewhere more desolate soon or somehow cease barking at night. To our dismay, it got worse instead. The occurrences used to be once or twice a week; sometimes we get one or two straight weeks without disturbance. Out of the past one week, it happened in five nights. Usually it starts barking at around 2am and continue on till almost dawn. As a result, we are sleep-deprived and are prompted to take some form of action.

Now, I still maintain that we are animal lovers, especially dogs. So of course I am not going to run down with a chopper at 2am tonight. Actually, I can think of only one option presently - seek help from a non-profit  organization that cares for stray and abandoned dogs and cats. At this point, I have eliminated ASD Singapore (their hands are full since a couple of years ago when we had fostered an abandoned Jack Russell and asked them for help), SPCA (they do euthanasia!), Noah's Ark CARES (Website under construction, can't seem to find the info I needed from their blog site that I was redirected to). From the links that was given in SPCA's website, I spotted Animal Lovers League. I have just emailed them.

Prayerfully, they will be the glimmer of hope that we need.