Hi There,Dog Lovers !

This piece is for you,dog lovers!!Hey, I don't mean those who love to eat dog meat as "Pulutan",but those who love to take care of dogs as pets.

I am a certified dog lover,be it "askal"(asong kalye) or those with breed.I had two dogs which I have loved so much.One was "Douglas",a lovable askal which used to fetch me on Saturday evenings at the jeepney stop,after I arrive home from my MA classes at PNC many years back.And there was "Curly",a Pekengese breed, black furred lady dog.She was given to me by a friend as a gift.I was so close to Curly,spending much time during weekends combing her curly fur,removing her ticks and playing hide and seek with her.I was so fond of her and she seems to feel the same.With her around ,my weekends are complete.But the joy of having a pet did not last.I grieved so much when she died of hemmorage while pregnant.I did not know that an Askal had made her pregnant,so despite bringing her to a veterinarian,,I lost my Curly .I cried a river,so from then on until this time,I refuse to have a pet dog.

I realized later that dogs are just animals,but they do great things for us everyday,even if it is just being there for us when we get home.Here are other interesting facts I gathered from some readings:

---dogs' sense of smell are generally 10,000 to 100,000 times superior to
that of humans.
----there are service dogs for the visual and hearing -impaired,police dogs,
search and rescue dogs,therapeutic companion dogs for seniors and the
clinically depressed.
---there are dogs that work as "medic" alerts predicting seizures,dange-
rously low blood sugar levels.Recent studies say that the dog's sense of
smell may also be used to detect prostate cancer.
---human development and family studies showed that a small but significant
increase in the IQ scores of children who cared for animals in their
homes.
---researchers at the National Institute of health in the US claimed that
dogs have the ability to help people with manic depression or Bipolar
disease.They can detect people in the early stage of mania,a time when
people do things like spending their savings in a single week-end frivo-
lous purchases.
---in UK,a study found out that dogs serve as social libricant and
conversation catalyst.The positive interactions stimulated by the
dogs are key to a greater sense of psychological well being of
humans.

And in closing,"Dogs don't take the day off from greeting you at
the door,don't posture for personal gain and have no hidden agenda.They
just display unconditional love and limitless affection and loyalty ."