UPM Dogathon and MBPJ World Animal Day 2012
by Chia Su-Ling on Thursday, 15 November 2012 at 08:10 ·
I was invited to both the above-mentioned dog-related event by Sir Anthony Thanasayan, a columnist for The Star newspaper, Chairman of PETPOSITIVE and a MBPJ Councillor. I would like to give my views of the events I was invited to attend- UPM Dogathon on November 4, 2012 and MBPJ World Animal Day on November 10, 2012. As an animal lover, especially dogs, naturally I felt extremely thrilled to be able to attend both events where I would be surrounded by my favourite animal, dogs of all possible kind of breeds, from mongrels to pure breeds during UPM Dogathon; and selected pure breeds during MBPJ's World Animal Day.
I was invited to help out at the PETPOSITIVE booth during UPM Dogathon. It was pure pleasure and an honour to be able to serve PETPOSITIVE during this event. I get to meet people from all walks of life with their respective dogs as well as disabled friends of Sir Anthony. It was an eye-opening experience for me, especially when it comes to meet the disabled people. I was and still am very much humbled meeting disabled people and getting to know them personally. Most importantly, they didn't make me feel inadequate, being a hemiplegic myself. I was more concerned for the well-being of the disabled friends of Sir Anthony instead, due to the fact that they needed more assistance than I do because they are using wheelchair and also the white cane for those who are blind. However, they made me feel at ease and very much part of their respective group.
While helping out at the PETPOSITIVE booth, I had managed to meet people who own all kinds of pure breeds, especially pure breeds that have been labelled to be aggressive and dangerous to humans. However, I can say that they are NOT aggressive and dangerous as most people would perceive them to be, as long as they are well trained and well cared for by their owners. I have managed to see a Doberman, German Shepherd and Rottweiler up close and they were as docile as they can be and showed NO signs of aggression despite being surrounded by strangers, other humans and dogs. Not to mention they are contented being led by their owners to mingle with other people and dogs.
I enjoyed myself very much during UPM Dogathon. It was the very first time I was able to meet Sir Anthony in person after months of only communicating on Facebook and phone. I felt extremely privileged to be part of the PETPOSITIVE team and help promoting it to the public who came to visit the booth with their respective dogs. Not to mention, being able to get to know Mr. Anthony better as well as meeting the other disabled people who came to the booth. This first experience of volunteerism was a REALLY eye-opening and humbling experience for me. Most importantly, Mr. Anthony had made sure that I was treated well and NOT any differently from other people.
Following the success of UPM Dogathon, albeit PETPOSITIVE being invited as an NGO related to dog issues, the MBPJ's World Animal Day was an event organised by MBPJ's Canine Advisory Team (CAT), headed by Sir Anthony himself I had attended the weekend immediately after UPM Dogathon. World Animal Day came into fruition for the very first time in Malaysia organised by a local town council, i.e. MBPJ where Sir Anthony is one of the elected Councillors. This event was organised to create greater awareness of the importance of responsible pet ownership, in this case it was dogs; as well to create the awareness there are no dangerous breeds of dogs, only that dogs become dangerous to the public when their owners do not take the responsibility to train their dogs well and have control over them when the necessity arises.
I attended MBPJ's World Animal Day at the invitation of Sir Anthony. It was an honour and privilege to be part of this event. I was given the chance to see up close pure breed of dogs where the general perception of the public that they are dangerous to humans. I saw a German Shepherd, a Doberman, a Rottweiler and even a Bull Terrier (the pure breed that received undesired publicity because it killed a senior citizen in Subang Jaya not too long ago). However, those dogs I saw are all well trained and well behaved and no untoward incidents happened with these dogs when the event was in progress. In fact, all the dogs were well-behaved and very approachable despite the fact that they were surrounded by total strangers during the event.
I even had the chance to play with a female Golden Retriever belonging to Malaysian Kennel Association (MKA) trainer Mr. Vincent. Her name is Doo Doo and she is such a sweet dog that she even tried to lick my nose and face when I came extremely close to her physically. Doo Doo literally saw me as her potential playmate instead of a threat, that was what I could see in her eyes. Having had this very positive and proper first encounter with a pure breed dog, I was able to very much relate when Sir Anthony mentioned how dogs can be effective "depression busters" in his speech during the opening of World Animal Day.
Thus, there is no doubt dogs have always been regarded as man's best friend due to their abilities to help humans in many ways and more than one can imagine. Not to mention, the unconditional love they have for their respective owners. The UPM Dogathon and MBPJ World Animal Day are two events that can bear witness to the fact of the importantce of responsible pet ownership and the invaluable returns these owners reap when they treat, care and train their animals (in this case dogs) well. More often than not, the decision of having a pet as part of the family structure will bring positive experiences when it is properly and responsibily managed by the family members looking after the pet.
Lastly, I would like to give the credit and thank you to Sir Anthony, Marcus and Thomas for giving me this wonderful experience of being able to bear witness that there are ABSOLUTELY NO bad breed of dogs; only IRRESPONSIBLE dog owners who mistreat them and made them becoming the "beast" we all would love to hate when undesirable incidents related to dogs happen. All the more I wish I am able to adopt a dog of my own so that he/she would be able to give me his/her iunconditional love and life experiences no amount of money can buy...
- Maznah Mohamad likes this.
Anthony Siva Balan Thanasayan Thanks so much Chia Su-Ling. You have written a very beautiful account which I am going to post in my blog. You are such a blessing to all of us!
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