The True Price Of Helping A Dog

After getting involved in dog welfare volunteer work for almost a year, I know more now than I did years ago. This blog entry is to share with you the true price of helping a dog, so you can make informed decisions on how you can help as an individual. When I decided to start D.O.G.S with my like-minded friends, my objective is for it to be a positive organisation that can support other dog welfare groups, as well as raise awareness through public education and understanding.

You can make a difference as an individual. Yes, you can! Here's how...

1. Volunteer at a dog shelter  

Apart from SPCA, there are also many dog shelters in Pasir Ris Farmway Drive and Lim Chu Kang. Even if you can only volunteer your time once in a while, the dogs are happy to be walked and given some TLC. Every shelter needs volunteers, so write to one and find out how you can help.

I volunteer at Madam Wong's Shelter when I have spare time. I walk and bathe some of the difficult dogs. I also rehabilitate some dogs with fear and aggression issues.

2. Foster a dog

This is good for those who want to help a dog on a short-term basis. Usually, puppies and recuperating dogs would need a home environment. If you love dogs, you can consider opening up your home for a needy dog.

Peanut and Butter are puppies that have been recently rescued by Uncle Khoe's Shelter. They are looking for foster homes before the adoption drives. Shelters are no place for young growing puppies. Please send D.O.G.S a message if you are able to foster them.

3. Adopt a dog

If you are looking to have a pet dog, consider adopting instead of buying one. Many shelters offer dogs of different size and age. So do look around and you may find your ideal dog mate. You don't just save money, you save two lives. How so? You save the life of the dog you adopt, and you free up the kennel space for another dog to be rescued. Good deal!

Many shelters have Facebook pages where you can also browse the dogs that are up for adoption. SPCA has an adoption gallery and its website provides useful information about adoption, as well as a list of dogs that are HDB-approved.

4. Do not support puppy farms and unethical breeders

If you absolutely have to buy a puppy, please do your research and buy from a reputable and ethical breeder. There are many puppy farms out there and way too many unethical breeders. I wrote about the ugly truth of puppy mills last year.

Visit http://sgpuppies.com to learn how you can spot a puppy mill or unethical breeder. Let's put an end to this cruelty. Even if you are not buying a dog, you can share the information and create awareness about this cruel trade of dog breeding.


5. What if you found a dog?
Say you found a dog while you were out, what should you do? Call AVA or SPCA? Are you sending the dog to its death sentence? This is what you can do.

Step 1 - Check if the dog has a dog tag with a contact number. If there's a contact number, the lost dog can be easily reunited with its owner.

Step 2 - If the dog has no tag, you can contact SPCA to check if anyone reported a lost dog of similar physical attributes. It is also important to note down the date, time and location that you found the dog. You can also bring it to the nearest vet to check if the dog has a microchip. If the dog has a microchip and is licensed with AVA, you will be able to help locate its owner.

Step 3 - If the dog has no tag and no microchip, you can try to foster the dog in the meantime, while trying to locate its owner by sharing the info and photos on Facebook, putting up posters in the area where you found the dog, and asking SPCA to post the info on their website.

It is a big misconception that you are sending a dog to its death by calling SPCA. What SPCA does is to find a fosterer for the dog while trying to locate the owner. SPCA will actually ask the person who found the dog to foster if possible. Many people don't know that SPCA will put out classified ads for lost dogs. They also try to foster and rehome the dogs to the best they can. Unfortunately, some dogs may have to be euthanised in the process if they are unsuitable to be rehomed due to temperament, age or health conditions.


6. What if you found a stray dog?
If you find a healthy stray dog, leave it be as long as it is not aggressive and poses no threat. If you have found an abused stray dog, please do call the SPCA and report the animal abuse. If you found an injured stray dog, you can try contacting dog welfare organisations such as HOPE Dog Rescue to see if they can assist. Otherwise, you can choose to bring the dog to the vet and pay for its medical bill, foster it till it gets better. After which you can try to rehome it or set it free where you found it.


This is the true price of dog rescue and welfare work. Instead of being a keyboard warrior by criticizing and pointing fingers at AVA or SPCA for having to put some dogs to sleep, you can choose to help solve the overall big problem in your own little ways. Making informed decisions and doing what you can, this is how we can make Singapore a better place for our canine friends.

Last but not least, if you are a dog owner, please be a responsible dog owner and don't abandon your dog. *woof*

D.O.G.S Updates

I first wrote about D.O.G.S in July and it's time to give you all an update. D.O.G.S has been incorporated as a company limited by guarantee and is now in the process of applying for charity and IPC status. What that means is we will be able to enjoy tax free donations while donors will enjoy tax exemption benefits on the amount they donated. This is the most efficient and effective way to ensure all proceeds go towards helping the dogs. In future, all donations that we have collected are 100% going towards dog welfare, and no one in the organisation will be drawing any salary at all. This is our pledge to the dogs and our supporters.

It is only when we get charity status that we will start campaigning for donations. In the meantime, my co-founder Manida, and I are still using our own money to help the dogs. Here's a quick look at what we have been doing the past months...

D.O.G.S has been featured in the Oct/Nov issue of Pets magazine. The article talks about how we rehabilitate dogs to improve their quality of life at the dog shelters. If you like what we do, please LIKE our D.O.G.S Facebook Page and share it with your friends.

For the month of September, I also did a private donation drive for dog food for Madam Wong's Shelter. I am thankful to all the friends who responded and donated generously. Together, we raised 156 cartons, which is a total of 1,872 cans of dog food worth over $4,680. The dogs are happy, so are we.

While Manida and I were in Perth for work in September, we visited Shenton Park Dogs' Refuge Home and the West Australian Guide Dog Association. At the Dogs' Refuge Home, we learn why this established dog shelter has a high success rate in re-homing the rescued dogs, as well as the good practices and volunteer training program that they have in place. We hope to be able implement some of these good practices in the dog shelters in Singapore.

 Shenton Park Dogs' Refuge Home in Perth

Manida and I with the guide dogs in training at WA Guide Dog Association

With the festive season just around the corner, we have decided to launch some cute merchandise for sale to raise funds to help the doggies.

The first batch of our limited edition D.O.G.S button badges. These are given to those who have supported us and to those who purchase 5 packs or more of our Charity X'mas Cards. 

The limited edition X'mas cards in aid of Madam Wong's Shelter. The cute illustrations were done by Melissa Tan, a talented artist who is also a volunteer at the shelter. The dogs in the pictures were dogs that D.O.G.S have rehabilitated. Each pack costs S$8 and consists of 4 cards in different designs. The response have been overwhelming and they are almost sold out. We will raise over S$2,800 from this charity drive and will be using the money towards the medical welfare of the dogs at Madam Wong's Shelter.

For more information, you can visit us on D.O.G.S Facebook page.

D.O.G.S

I have been very busy last month setting up a new dog charity with my good friend Manida, and that explains why I haven't had much time to update Style Canvas. D.O.G.S stands for Dogs Owners Guidance Support, a charity that aims to raise and allocate funds to various dog welfare organisations and individual dog rescuers in Singapore.

D.O.G.S is a non-profit organisation in Singapore that aims to be a collective voice for the dogs, and to assist various dog welfare groups and individual dog rescuers.

This is me with Bailey from Madam Wong's Shelter.

My good friend Manida with Rocky from Madam Wong's Shelter.

Our primary focus is on public awareness program to promote responsible dog ownership, good canine behaviour, equipping volunteers and fosterers with the right knowledge to help dogs. We will also help to rehabilitate rescued dogs and make them more adoptable. Our goals are to help re-home rescued dogs, impart knowledge to owners to ensure they have a meaningful relationship with their dogs, reduce dog abuse, abandonment and related issues.

Please like the D.O.G.S Facebook page if you support what we are doing. On our Facebook page, you will see pictures of the dogs that we have helped and you can also pick up some tips on how to rehabilitate dogs. You can also post a picture of your pet to show support for D.O.G.S.



Here are some of the dogs that we have rehabilitated at Madam Wong's Shelter since we started helping them 3 weeks ago. To read the full story and follow their progress, all you have to do is to visit D.O.G.S Facebook page.

#1 Success Story - Rocky

Rocky was happy to feel grass for the first time in his life. Madam Wong was so happy that we managed to get Rocky out for a walk. Due to his "aggressive" nature, he has been isolated in the kennel for maybe about 3-4 years. Rocky now enjoys walks with selected volunteers.

#2 Success Story - Bailey

Handsome Bailey had a sad past as his owner passed away while he was being boarded at a pet hotel. Madam Wong adopted him and so he won't be homeless. He was also deemed "aggressive" and un-leashable, and hasn't been on a walk for about 2 years. Bailey now gets excited at the prospect of going for walks and has transformed into an affectionate dog who loves to be petted.

#3 Success Story - Timber

Timber was a rescued dog who used to roam free around the Tanjong Pagar area. He is being isolated in the kennel as he has aggression towards certain dogs. He has also never been out for walks since he became a resident at the shelter. His first step out of the kennel saw him hiding under a car as he was so fearful. However, he has now discovered the joy in being taken out for walks by volunteers.

#4 Success Story - Xiao Bai

Of all the dogs we rehabilitated so far, Xiao Bai is the one with the most "aggression" when she sees a leash. She will show her teeth, growl, bark and then yelp. However, once we overcame that, she was happy to go for a walk and actually walks really well on leash. We now need to overcome her fear of water as we really wanted to give her a bath!

#5 Success Story - Shadow

Beautiful Shadow is also a rescued dog from the Central Business District area. She was extremely fearful and shy. Even after we managed to leash her, she will remain frozen and will not move. It was only on the 2nd attempt a week after that we discovered how to encourage her to venture out of her kennel on her own terms. She is now opening up and is walking a little more.

The reason why I wrote "aggressive" and "aggression" in quotation marks is because the dogs are perceived to be aggressive or with aggression. In fact, most of the times, the dogs are just fearful and insecure. Now that they opened up and are being taken for walks, they are mentally more stable and have less pent up frustration, making them easier to manage.

If you are interested in adopting any of the dogs featured, please email me at marie@alchemyc.com and I will put you in touch with the personnel in charge at Madam Wong's Shelter.