Changing The World, One Human At A Time

A much quicker way to save more dogs

You’d think saving dogs would be about vet treatments, finding them homes and filling their bellies with tasty food but I am starting to realize there is an even more effective way of helping our four legged friends.

It involves…changing human behavior.

In the last couple of weeks I’ve seen some shocking incidents involving dogs and also some massively heartwarming ones. The intersection between street dogs trying to survive and humans living their lives is a place of huge turmoil.

It would be easy to be angry as I write this but I only want to focus on positives…

2 Very Special Boys

Coconut and Thumper are 2 street dogs that I’ve fed for over 2 years now. Last week their world fell apart…

• I was feeding their little pack when Thumper started chasing a man on a moped. He’s been doing that a lot lately.

• The man pulled out a knife and threatened myself and Thumper.

• I pulled out my phone to film it and that just about defused the situation. It was tense but the man drove off.

• After talking to locals it was clear that Thumper was increasingly coming into grave danger. We agreed to take him off the streets and re-home him.

• At the same time his best friend Coconut had just been killed. He had been warned for chasing chickens in the area.

• Coconut’s owner (I use that word very loosely) had been warned repeatedly. We believe Coconut was poisoned or shot. Despite looking for a week I haven’t been able to find his body.

It was a day that shook me to my core. Losing Coconut was brutal as I’d just finished treating him at the vets for an injury. I’ve fed him every day for over 2 years. He was a very good boy who was just woefully let down by humans.

A Huge Win - Bella’s Family

She is a massively overweight dog who we took in 3 weeks ago with her heart under enormous stress. She lived in a Thai temple which is very safe but locals and tourists have been overfeeding her. This week Bella had visitors…

• The market traders from the temple who cared for her visited

• They took a half day off work to bring our team food and bring Bella her old toy

• Bella nearly exploded with excitement seeing her people

• She will return to live with them when her weight loss is complete along with her thyroid medicines and regular check ups from us

It would be easy to look at Bella and say she needs a home. But actually her people love her and she adores them. What Bella needs is a proper medical plan from us, treatment and then the comfort and love of her humans. I was very proud seeing her humans head off armed with the medical knowledge and education needed to give Bella a great life.

Bambino’s Little “Hospital”

There is a really problematic area on my morning feeding route where I have had to save about 10 dogs. I’ve actually re-homed 4 from there internationally…Tommy, Rolo, Snickers and Mars Bar. It is a place where poor migrant workers live and puppies often just “appear” with parents clearly trying to please their kids.

• Last week I got yet another call about a new injured puppy there.

• A little girl of about 6-7 years old had set up a little emergency “field clinic” for the puppy keeping him safe.

• She somehow knew to keep it dry, resting and away from the road

• Little Bambino had internal bleeding after being hit by a car

• We are fixing him and our community team are explaining it all to the children

I can’t explain the levels of poverty in the area but to see that girl listening to our community officer Jah made me hopeful for the future. Something is stirring in that young girl’s mind and a seed has been planted. She will help a lot of dogs in her lifetime. Of that I am sure.

2 Amazing Girls in India

I was left speechless in Delhi last month when 2 young girls of about 19 years old approached to tell me how they had been inspired by Happy Doggo and had started their own project…

• They saw 40 dogs on their college campus and the population was growing

• None of their professors or elders in the college cared or were supportive

• They went ahead and raised money to sterilize all 40 dogs on the campus

• They took all the dogs to the vets themselves.

• Their project was a success and they educated the community and everybody on the campus now supports their work

• Their project which is growing and super inspiring is called VenkyzDoggo

What I find so amazing about this is I never knew these 2 girls before meeting them. They had done all this on their own. I was blown away at the ripple effect this mission is having and I just thought about all the dogs the girls are saving but also the other people they in turn are educating and inspiring.

The Human Behaviors That Need Changing

Sometimes I feel like we are just going around mopping up other people’s mess. We aren’t getting to the crux of the problem. The real change has to come by a huge wave of people changing their actions. Some of the key areas include..

• Have people sterilize their dogs voluntarily

• Responsible pet ownership (don’t let your dog eat chickens for example)

• Don’t get random puppies to entertain your kids

• Take dogs to the vet (or ask us) for simple medical attention

• Feed dogs good healthy food

• Dogs feel pain just like we do so don’t hurt them

We spend a lot of time and money on very tangible things like sterilizing, feeding dogs and medical treatments. They are super measurable and there is a very clear ROI (return on investment) and it feels good. Fixing a dog’s broken leg is very easy to understand and you can instantly see the results.

The work around education, community and changing human behavior is a lot harder to quantify. Seeing the girls in India or Bella’s family gives me so much encouragement. I feel we need to try and do even more of this. Education and young people feel like the future to me.

I can’t explain how hard it is mentally to have a knife pulled on you when trying to help a dog. And then to find out his best friend that you have cared for has been shot. It nearly breaks me at times. The sheer depravity of it.

While humans can be cruel it is also humans that keep me going. I am seeing the green shoots of change within the community. We have to keep winning over one human at a time no matter how hard it is or how many times we get knocked back.

There are a lot more Coconuts out there who we’ll never know about. My role is to make sure his life doesn’t get wasted and to keep winning over humans. The huge irony is that I started this because I love spending time with dogs but I now realize the dogs aren’t actually the problem, the humans are!

We’ll never stop fighting for the precious little voiceless creatures.

Look after yourselves wherever you are in the world and as always thank you for the support. I never take it for granted.

Big Love

Niall

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