Dismal Day For Animal-Assisted Therapy At UPM's Dogathon 2013 Tomorrow.

aNt's aNgle:

Whilst animal lovers will be having a whale of a time at tomorrow's Dogathon 2013 on University Putra Malaysia's grounds, the same can't be said, unfortunately, for disabled people and animal-assisted therapy.

Unlike the recent noticeable feature of this great doggy event tradition for several years, one is unlikely to see the presence of animal-lovers with disabilities in the function. 

That's because Petpositive is not included in tomorrow's show. 

This is a far cry and a big blow for the promotion of animal-assisted therapy as Petpositive has always been included without fail each year by the organisers. 

UPM Dogathons had even gone the extra mile by providing disabled-friendly toilets, creating special wheelchair paths and giving Petpositive a booth to carry out our activities. 

Organisers had also made it their tradition to provide special gifts and food for our disabled members who have included persons in wheelchairs and the blind.

These features were a result of each Dogathon spending weeks and months in consultation with Petpositive before the actual event. 

Petpositive Snapshot with UPM

When I spoke to a co-organiser this

Petpositive's booth in 2012

afternoon about this, he brushed off Petpositive's participation by saying that Dogathon 2013 was leaving out "established groups" and concentrating more on new and upcoming animal NGOs. 

When I asked about SPCA and PAWS who were even more "established" groups than Petpositive participating, he appeared speechless about the obvious double-standard.

I told him that it was very sad that the disabled will have to miss the 2013 event.

Furthermore, I have always made it a point of covering UPM's Dogathon for several years in Wheel Power in The Star - always praising them for coming up with new and ingenuous ways of making sure that handicapped people also participated with the able-bodied. 

Dogathon's move this time is a dismal step backward and a shock. 

I can only hope that people with disabilities will be sincerely included in every of their future Dogathons and activities - without having Petpositive reminding them about this each year.

UPM's top brass must make this compulsory not only in an effort to promote animal-assisted therapy for the disabled and the elderly to the public but also to sensitise all veterinary students about the issue.

I will be personally raising the matter up with UPM's head Prof Dr Mohd Hair bin Bejo. 

In the meantime, for those of you who are going, have a great time! If you can, please express your support for us to the organisers.

Woof! Woof! Y'all! 

UPDATE: PET+NEWSFLASH! The adviser to UPM's Dogathon 2013 had just called me to sincerely apologise for overlooking Petpositive's participation in the event. They invited me to come on behalf of the society tomorrow and promised a booth for us. However, it was difficult to organise things at the last minute and we have decided to give the event a miss for this year. It is most encouraging to note though that animal-assisted therapy is still in the agenda of future Dogathons and we look forward to take part in Dogathon 2014. See you guys then! 
   
PET+BLOGSPOT is the ONLINE BLOG of the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association or Petpositive. Our stories are CURRENT, ACCURATE and RELIABLE. We offer both local and foreign news on animals, disability and the elderly. PET+BLOGSPOT was first established in October 2007. Our hits since then are now 250,000 and ever increasing! PET+BLOGSPOT is updated daily. Kindly note that views expressed in PET+BLOGSPOT are not necessarily those of PETPOSITIVE. You may also visit our Webpage by browsing: www.petpositive.org You can also find us in Facebook under PETPOSITIVE EMPOWERMENT. Please sign up as a FOLLOWER of this Blog if you haven't done so already in order to show us your kind support for our work. Thank you!

Petpositive To Spread Animal-Assisted Therapy at UPM's Dogathon 2010

PETPOSITIVE NEWS: 

DATELINE DOGATHON, UPM, SELANGOR: 

THEY'RE BACK! This time with even more canines, people and heaps of fun activities that owners and their dogs can take part in the sun.

We're referring to this August's Dogathon™ 2010 where PETPOSITIVE will once again be playing a major role in the entire event.

We'll let the organisers Veternak tell you - in their own words and style - about their upcoming 14th DOGATHON™ 2010 and how and why Petpositive is involved in the event.

Take it away, guys! 

"DOGATHON AND PETPOSITIVE……AMALGAMATED

THE BUZZ is on with the up and coming Dogathon™ 2010 and our new and fabulous Ancient Egyptian theme: The Celebration of the Timeless Guardians (auuuwww…..!!!!). 

Is has gotten a lot of tongues wagging with our over the top theme picture having Cleopatra, Giza and the masculine Pharaohs surround you while you bask in the sun. 

What, when and where?

14th DOGATHON™

Date : 8th August 2010 (Sunday)

Time : 7am to 2pm

Venue : Bukit Ekspo, UPM

Organized by: Zoologico Club and the Students' Society of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (VETERNAK), UPM.

You must be wondering how Dogathon™ came about? Well, it all started with the urge to help rescue the ever increasing number of strays in our community. 

So, a master plan scheme was set up by the students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Universiti Putra Malaysia which aims at capturing stray dogs and cats, getting trained professional veterinarians to neuter them, perform proper post-operative care, and releasing them back to their actual habitat. 

And we decided to call this program ProKasih. Hence, students needed to raise funds to support this program and this is when Dogathon™ was introduced with that is our core agenda. 

Ever since Dogathon™ came in the picture, we have gathered nothing but success with marked reduced number of strays and our education program targeted at children and adults has enhanced awareness. 

In the future with the kind contribution and support from fellow Malaysians, we are hoping to establish a Prokasih Clinic which will act as a non-profit organization that will hire veterinary doctors for the purpose of neutering strays in order to monitor their population.  

We have been pretty providential as our efforts have been fully supported by Petpositive. And this is not only because we share the common interest in the welfare of our local strays but also because we are compassionate towards those sentient creatures. 

Petpositive has always focused on facilitating animals to the disabled and elderly. The animals themselves are the therapists (be they cats, dogs, fishes, lizards, rabbits or any other animals), and the disabled and the elderly are the beneficiaries. 

More to the point, Petpositive actively gets involved in any activity or project which will help to improve the lives of disabled and elderly people in Malaysia. 

This may be through lobbying the government, organizing fun activities or holding talks with guest speakers on issues relevant to the disabled. We Malaysians should consider ourselves fortunate to come from a community that takes pride in the goodness of our society.

You may have been living under a rock if you have not heard of Mr Anthony Thanasayan, the President of Petpositive and also the City Councillor for Petaling Jaya in the state of Selangor. 

He is the man who can juggle a handful but still manages to pull of a wide smile across his face. Many times included as our VVIP during Dogathon™, Mr. Anthony Thanasayan has always been very supportive and encouraging and what more vital is that he has inspired us all to engineer the upcoming Dogathon™ to be disabled-friendly. 

 

This only goes to show the credibility of our pet dogs and their potential of being very contributory towards our lives. 

Apart from managing Petpositive, Mr. Anthony Thanasayan is also a writer for The Star every week: Wheel Power in StarTwo on Thursdays and used to write for Air Raves on Wednesdays. A dog lover himself, Mr. Anthony also has three loyal pet dogs, Vai the Rottie (which sadly passed away this year), Soo the Golden and Biman III the GSD.  

Therefore, with so much of goodness oozing out of Dogathon™ 2010, we are cordially inviting all Malaysians to join forces in making this Dogathon™ a success. 

This year we are aiming to achieve more than 800 dogs at our event to break the previous record we have coined in the Malaysian Book of Records. 

Surprise!!!!! We have saved the best for last, all participants and their adorable pooches stand the chance of bagging pet products, food, merchandise and so much more goodies from very reputable and established pet supplier companies. 

And I am sure you will all be out to out do your competitors in fun filled games we have assimilated in packages. 

Just to name a few of our theme orientated games, we are proud to introduce Rise of the Giza, Mummification, and Race of the Anubis. 

So its just about time for you to start flexing those muscles and get the engines roaring for competition. For further information, email us at dogathonpublicity2010@gmail.com. Or visit us at http://dogathon2010.blogspot.com.

PET+BLOGSPOT is the official online blog of the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association (Petpositive). Our contents are ACCURATE, RELIABLE and THE LATEST. We offer both local and foreign news on animals, disability and the elderly. PET+BLOGSPOT was first established in October 2007. Our hits since then is 40,000 hits and counting. PET+BLOGSPOT is updated daily. Kindly take note that views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of PETPOSITIVE. You may also visit our Webpage by browsing: www.petpositive.com.my

PETPOSITIVE AT UPM THIS SUNDAY

PETPOSITIVE QUICK UPDATE:

The Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association will be in at the Dogathon event in UPM this Sunday from 7am until 1pm.

We will be having a stall, thanks to the kindness of the veterinary students, to help raise funds for Our Society. Please come, one and all to show your support to the event which is trying to get 600 dogs present, a feat that will make it to the Malaysia Book of Records.

The disabled will also be present at the event. The venue will have a disabled-toilet for the handicapped for their convenience.

For more info, kindly visit:

www.vet.upm.edu.my/~dogathon