| 1228Singapore dog
transport van, pet health and welfare educational for animal lovers, excerpts from The Glamorous Vets,
Singapore, sponsored by AsiaHomes Internet. The Alsatian plays dead The black and gold dog was muzzled and brought to the clinic the second day after Christmas accompanied by his Owner, Ms Tan. A 10-year-old Alsatian cross male with the size and fierce looks as the typical Alsatian in the Police Dog Unit. He was muzzled with a black polystyrene type of muzzle meant for a big Rottweiler. That was much space that he could even yawn inside this muzzle. "Is the muzzle effective?" I asked the dog transport man. He tightened the straps a bit. The dog transport man looked kind of fierce too but in a different way. He looked as if he had been rudely awakened from his sleep, hair unkempt, stubble of beard seen on his chin, a crumbled blue shirt hanging out and with two top buttons not buttoned up. Most dog transport men in Singapore have a good presentation but I guessed he might have a late Christmas celebration. The dog refused to enter the clinic. I took a table to examine him outside the clinic. I asked the dog transport man to help put him on the table. The dog transport man was apprehensive about being bitten. The dog did not bite. It was diagnosed with fever and was treated. Now, you would never believe that it was very difficult to get the dog up the two steps into the van. The dog transport man tugged at the chain, but the dog would not budge. "Come, Baby," Ms Tan called softly from inside the van. The dog just ignored her. The dog went into a sit-down strike and would not move even though the dog transport man tugged at the chain. "My dog seldom leaves the house," explained Ms Tan. "He would rush into the house when we take him outside the gate." A nervous dog? Nervous dogs are unpredictable and may bite.  I asked the dog transport man to drive his van nearer to the kerb. He
did it. My theory was that the dog was walk up the grass patch and then up into the
van. The sliding door would close. Easier said than done.I asked Ms Tan to get inside the van, thinking that the dog would follow. The dog just laid down on the concrete floor near the grass patch. Playing dead with its legs in the air, as if asking us to scratch his belly. "How did you get the dog into the van before you came to the clinic?" I asked the dog transport man. "I just pulled the chain and got him up the steps into the van," he said softly to me. We should never use brute force to restrain a nervous dog and the Owner must have objected to his method. The dog just got up a bit and plonked down all 40 kg of his weight onto the concrete floor. He did not show any sign of aggression, like curling up the sides of his muzzle and showing his whiskers or growling. It was not surprising that he did not try to bite anybody. It seemed like he wanted to play dead The dog transport man requested the Owner to go inside the clinic saying that it was difficult for him to handle the dog. Fifteen minutes had passed and we were nowhere to getting the dog up. I presumed he wanted to yank the dog into the van as he had done so earlier. It seemed difficult for him to handle the dog with the Owner around and twenty minutes had passed using gentle words. Ms Tan did not know why she had to go inside the clinic. "Do you have a stretcher?" I asked the dog transport man. We could put the dog onto a stretcher and carried him into the van. I searched his van for one but there was none. There were two cardboard box pieces which were of no use. Should I leave and let the dog transport man do his job? Was I minding other people's business? The dog transport man brought a big piece of blue canvas from his van and put it down on the concrete floor. We managed to push the dog onto it. I quickly held up two ends while he held up the other end with the dog standing up. The element of speed and surprise was important. The dog could have jumped down if we were tardy. It was an undignified way for him to be half standing and wobbly as we hauled him unceremoniously inside the canvas into the van. I thought of wrapping the dog inside the canvas and transporting him into the van. Somehow it was not as romantic as the method used by Cleopatra to meet Anthony by being delivered inside a carpet and it might be misconstrued as cruelty to the dog, suffocating him in this manner. "Close the door quickly," I said as I slid the door to prevent the dog from escaping. Both the Owner and the dog transport man were inside the van together with the dog. The dog transport man and the Owner slid the door back to get out of the crammed space. Would you believe it? The dog jumped out too! It was none of my business now. I had work to do. Fortunately, the dog got into the van in the next minute. How this was done I do not know. The dog transport man and the Owner sat in the front and they said good bye. I never forgot this dog transport man! The picture you saw above was one second before the dog transport man drove off. In retrospect, the nervous creature was the dog transport man rather than the Alsatian. Maybe he should equip himself with a proper size muzzle next time! Maybe that should be a dog transport and handling school for a dog transport person? |