So far I’ve been able to gather two stories. I’ll give an overview here in the blog, but it’s best you visit the full post for details. Oh, and prepare a box of tissues — these stories of amazing animals will surely warm your heart.

Dogs save family from Iligan floods
Typhoon Sendong sneaked in the middle of the night, when Marrietta Ardiente and her family were asleep. Before the furious flood waters swept through their village, Aspins Loloy and Jackie immediately woke up their humans — scratching the door and barking loudly. Because of the dogs’ warning, Marrietta and her family were able to get to safety. They lost their home, but unlike most families affected by the flood, their family is still complete. The family was so grateful for the dogs that even in the evacuation center, they could not bear to be away from their dogs — their life savers. Complete details from Bandila here. *Please note that the video is in Filipino.

Dog saves girl in Cagayan de Oro flashflood
In Cagayan de Oro, seven-year-old Jennylou Yecyec and her family climbed up to the roof of their home in the hopes of safety. Unfortunately, the strong flood waters easily destroyed their home (which was made of light-weight materials). In the chaos, the young girl and their pregnant dog got separated from the family. But the dog didn’t leave Jennylou’s side, fighting the current by all means to stay with her, and eventually implored Jennylou to ride piggy-back on her. Jennylou and the dog were swept to sea — the girl hanging on to her pet as the dog swam for the both of them. In her last act of heroism, the exhausted pregnant dog swam to a floating log to which Jennylou clung on to. The moment the girl was safely hanging on to the log, the dog was gone. She succumbed to exhaustion and the open sea has swallowed her. The dog was never seen again, but Jennylou and her family survived. They were rescued at daybreak, and eventually reunited.

Jennylou and her family have never been able to give their dog a proper name. But they would forever be grateful for the child’s selfless rescuer. They must have loved the dog a lot and made her feel part of the family — why else would the dog think beyond its natural instinct to survive and give up her life for the child? More details of the story from Inquirer.

I can’t help but become teary-eyed when reading stories like these. We all know animals have a natural instinct for survival, but the bond we have with them surpasses that to a point where they are no longer just concerned for their own safety. We love them, and they love us back with everything they can give — even their lives.

Life in Batanes is slow and relaxing. The people, called Ivatans, are very friendly. If you’re not from around there, you can expect that they’ll give you a welcoming smile as you pass by. This friendliness, it seems, is a trait that even their dogs share.

The dogs we met in Sabtang, one of the islands of Batanes which can be reached by a 35-minute boat ride from the main town of Basco in Batan, are unleashed and roam freely around town. Now, before lecturing the people on responsible dog care, you must first understand the Ivatan’s culture. Friendliness isn’t the only trait that you’ll see common in them, but honesty is greatly valued as well.

You can leave your things lying around and not worry about it getting lost. If you misplaced something, you simply go to their radio station and describe your item. If your stuff is found, a local will no doubt bring it to the station for you to claim. Something like this is probably a big deal in the city (taxi drivers returning tourist’s forgotten baggage even makes the news), but for the Ivatans, it’s a normal part of life.

When it comes to dogs, it’s the same thing. Kidnapping dogs is unheard of in this province. Every dog in the town of Chavayan is everyone’s responsibility. Your dog can wander into the neighbor’s stone house and you can be assured that he will come home full and happy.

The towns in Sabtang are quite far apart, which is probably another reason why dogs don’t just wander about. Each town can be reached by going through single-car, cliff-side roads, and can be quite dangerous to navigate at night (seriously, falling off the road is a long and treacherous drop to a rocky shore). The remoteness of the towns and the isolation of the islands (not to mention the untouched greens and wildlife) have kept the dogs near or within human settlement—for both safety and survival.

It was pretty interesting to see how the Ivatans bond with their dogs. Lazy mornings are spent chatting with neighbors (a town can be as small as one long street; everyone knew every person in town), which is also a time when the town dogs congregate. People walking to another town are accompanied by their dogs (the man in the first photo said he and his dog were off to the neighboring town). Their canine buddies are not only companions in those journeys, but also protectors from wild animals they might encounter along the way.

Among the places I’ve visited for this year, Batanes is probably the province where the dogs are very much integrated into the townsfolk’s life and culture.

This, apart from its breath-taking beauty, makes Batanes worth another visit.

Thank you very much to SEAIR for making this trip possible.

Advertisement: SEAIR flies from Manila to Batanes and vice versa every Saturdays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. The flights from Manila to Batanes are from 0550 to 0725 and the flights from Batanes to Manila are from 0755 to 0930. One-way airfares start at P35++ (as low as 2895.20 one-way all-in fare). For flight reservations, call SEAIR at 8490100 or visit www.flyseair.com for more details.

Shantee used to be satisfied to curl up just under the desk (she’s so small it didn’t matter if there wasn’t much room), but now she insists on sleeping on my lap while I worked.

After Marc resigned from his day job and started working full-time on our company, he had wanted to impose a “no dogs in the office” policy. But I stood my ground. I couldn’t work properly without my dogs near me—I’ve just been so used to having them around that I found it really hard to come up with designs when they weren’t there. I suppose this effect on creative productivity convinced my husband that he just had to get used to having the dogs in the office

Maybe it’s because it’s just what I’m used to, but really, having dogs in the office can help a workers’ productivity. I saw a documentary on TV about a dog who’s job was to hang out in the office and keep the employees happy. Some job eh? The dog loved it. I even know of a local company that had a cat in the office.

Shantee pretending to be “stressed” with work

I don’t know what the effect of having furry friends in the office for other people, but for me, my dogs somehow alleviate my stress. Seeing Shantee curled up on my lap calms me down even after seeing an email message that really pissed me off. It’s hard to do anything productive when you’re in a bad mood (especially in my line of work, it’s hard to get inspired and create designs in a bad mood), but my dogs take care of that. One look at my furry friends napping loyally beside me doesn’t fail to bring a smile on my face no matter how terrible my mood was.

I’m so lucky I have these furry guys (and girl) beside me And yep, I’m still having pets in the office even after we move to our new home.

The native dog, commonly called the “askal” (a colloquial shortcut for “asong kalye,” which translates to “dog from the streets”), are usually looked down upon. Worse, they usually get intentionally run down by merciless drivers or taken to slaughter houses to be put to death and later eaten. Some people think they’re expendable since they don’t have pedigrees worth thousands of pesos. Heck, even some breeders who claim to be “dog lovers” look down upon the native dogs.

They may not have pedigrees to boast about, but native dogs are as smart and as loyal as any other dog breed.

Spike, our dog pack‘s alpha male, is a native dog. He’s been with us for more than 10 years already, and I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said he’d die for us if he had to. Spike is closest to my younger sister, Joyce. Joyce is schizophrenic. She’s ok now, but there was a time when she was still throwing violent tantrums.

Spike kept watch at my sister and made sure that she was ok. He even slept near her—near enough to see what she’s doing, but far enough from her reach just in case she had another tantrum. I can clearly remember a time when he saved my sister from hurting herself. We were all asleep, and had no idea that Joyce was already having a violent tantrum. Spike woke us all up, and took us where Joyce was. If it weren’t for him, we don’t know what could have happened.

A few years ago, I’ve seen a feature on TV about a native dog who can perform incredible tricks. And saw a different one on a magazine. Now, you can’t say that these dogs aren’t smart—because obviously, they are.

Loyalty? Of course, the native dog can be very loyal. They love their masters to the hilt—and would remain loyal to them till death. Honestly, I rather think that sometimes a native dog is more loyal than some of the more stubborn purebreds.

Let’s give the Philippine native dog the recognition it deserves, shall we? Be proud of being a native dog owner!

* * *

Luckily, there are animal groups that support the Philippine native dog. The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) currently launched a campaign for these dogs entitled, “See the Beauty Beyond the Breed.” Actors Heart Evangelista and Jericho Rosales are the spokespersons for this campaign, which is dedicated to all native dogs and cats as well as their rescuers.

The Animal Kingdom Foundation, another dog rescue group like PAWS, also has native dogs up for sponsorship or adoption.

Meet Hunter, a fully certified mold dog. He’s currently employed by Advanced Mold Diagnostics from New Jersey, helping the company get rid of mold and their sources from homes infected by these fungi.

According to their site, molds result from moisture and can be very hazardous to one’s health once inhaled. Molds are only detected when they’re already doing damage, and the source is usually very difficult to find. Well, that’s where Hunter comes in to save the day!

I think it’s common knowledge that dogs have a very keen sense of smell. They can detect things that we can’t. And as highly intelligent creatures, dogs can be trained to detect smells that are otherwise undetectable to the human nose. As an avid fan of the Animal Planet, I’ve seen how dogs are being used in the US for detecting diseases, prohibited food and other stuff from airport baggage, as well as concealed bombs and illegal drugs. Heck, they even help the police look for missing cadavers buried deep down in the ground.

I have honestly been a bit skeptical taking on this review. I thought, at first glance, that dogs are being used to test molds or some drug or something. But reading further, I was able to see that it wasn’t like that at all.

I always admired dogs who “work,” they’re like heroes having great fun with their jobs. They aren’t just there to enrich our lives, but are actually more than willing to help us.

I think what Hunter can do is pretty amazing. Sure, it’s his instinct, but still. It’s not every day you encounter a dog who can detect molds that may turn incredibly hazardous to your health.

I don’t know how much Advanced Mold Diagnostics charges for its mold testing services. And maybe I’m also biased because of my fondness for these talented, furry animals. But I think it would be quite safe to say that you’d get your money’s worth when a dog is on the job. The accuracy of their detection is way beyond what a human alone can do.

One thing I do hope for is that the company treats Hunter and their other mold dogs with tender loving care. I have seen dogs-at-work here in Manila, and I’ve already come across at least two or three who are obviously not well-cared for. But then again, there are Filipinos who make use of these lovable creatures as part of their menu. It’s not like in the US, where animal abuse is a punishable offense.

Good luck, Hunter! Happy mold hunting