I want to put this up for discussion and I am really waiting for some reasonable answers.

To live with Filipinos in one neighborhood is for a foreigner living here as an expat not an easy task.  Especially when some of the neighbors are uneducated and most of the time drunk and their children are liars.

Today I walked with our two German Shepards from our house in Cugman to Mapawa in Sitio Malasag. After passing the Office of the DENR there is a house to the right. They have three or four azkals roaming around their place. Those azkals comming from their house down to the public road and trying to attack our dogs. I walk already all the time on the far side of the road but it will not help. Those azkals comming false and sneaky from the back. High breed dogs don’t bark like azkals do, they turn around and bite. I gave my dogs some leeway to fend for themselves and our male German Shepard grabbed the closest of the azkals who started screeming. Two or three other azkals tried to bite my dog in the legs but the second German Shepard got another one to bite. The daughter of the houseowner watched it from their windows. I didn’t want to touch the azkals, I don’t believe their dogs are vaccinated so I dragged my dogs forward until they let the azkals go.

Here is a little video coverage from 2010 when the dogs of his relatives 200 meters away and the dogs from the DENR office attacked us. There has still not changed a little bit except, the dogs of the DENR are almost quiet now.

I continued my walk. When I was having coffee at a store close to the Balate tree in Malasag a blue limousine passed by and out of the window looked an angry face I don’t even know. I was wondering why he turned at the Balate tree and went back. The meaning, I recognized when I passed by that house with the azkals again. There was sitting the houseowner on his habal-habal motor with a large stick waiting for me. When I passed by he didn’t say anything. When I had passed a few meters, I heard a crashing stone close to me. He had thrown a large stone to me or just on the cemented road I don’t know. After that he followed me with his motorbike and big stick, but just passed by without saying a word. By that time I didn’t know he was stone-drunk.

After I came home I told the story and my wife went down to confront him what the meaning of this stone throwing and stick wielding was all about. When she came back, she said, he was stone druck and couldn’t be talked to. I didn’t recognize it. But in the aftermath I’m wondering they let in Cugman the habal-habal driver drive drunk passengers. Anyway, I don’t use habal-habal because of unsafe, uninsured, illegal operations of transport of persons and now I know even drunk drivers.

According to him, his daughter told him, I let the dogs lose and they even came into their house what is absolutly not true. A man by the DENR office has witnessed the whole thing. Their house is about 20 meters from the road. I would have had hard time to catch my to dogs once they are in selfdefense mood. We are responsible dog owners, we walk our dogs on a leash. I would not let the dogs lose so long as I can see, they can handle the problem. If there would be another large dog, let say, a Rottweiler, I would let my dogs lose because they would have more leeway to fend for themselves if they owner of the other dog is not around.

My point now is, why the daughter is  telling a lie to the father? Or did he misunderstood her because he was drank? Why the people at the DENR office, when I passed by again, tell the houseowner: “There are the dogs who bite your dogs”? Why they didn’t say to the houseowner: “There are the dogs, your azkals attacked on the road?” What did the houseowner mean by throwing that big stone? Was it a declaration of war to me? Was it just the behavior like a primate because of drunkness?

They have all the right to keep dogs on their property, but I think,even in the Philippines, a public road belongs to the public and should kept safe for everyone or I’m wrong here?

Our dogs are big, yes. But the difference to most of the azkals is not only their size. It is training. Our dogs listen and respond to commands. Their azkals, they call them by name, but they don’t respond, so the owner throw stones at them, hahahaha very nice training indeed. We can walk our dogs in a crowd and nothing will happen. Do that with an azkal. Five or more children will touch and pet them, nothing will happen. Our dogs are protectors of the weak, they will even help them when attacked by instinct. The azkals only stay at their places because someone feed them leftovers or worse. Our dogs can sit beside a table full with food and they will not touch it. Do that with an azkal, they will be over the table in no time.

These people live there by the road for years, now they believe the road belongs to them. If they can’t argue anymore, they tell you they are poor. What has to be poor to be with this issue? It’s just irreal. I have plenty friends who are poor but they are decent people

What is the problem with the Filipino mentality? For all the twenty years I lived in the Philippines, nothing much has changed. In principle, Filipinos never make a mistake, Filipinos are never wrong, it’s always others.

Mabuhay – Neighbors. Have fun in the Philippines!

A few images of our dogs and their behaviour in crowded public places:

These people holding our dogs and sitting close to them actually all strangers to them.

Even to other high-breed dogs they are not agressive but curious at each other and their is a communiction between them, only with two large males someone should be careful.

Even to sit at a table in the night cafe, there is no problem with our dogs. They will have their water and otherwise they will wait for something extra we will give them.

Totally strange people hold the leash and can pet the dogs. The don’t accept them as their master but as equals.

These dogs love children and will even protect them from harm. Can be tricky if the parents will raise their hand to slap a child.

One more interessting thing to know about intelligent dogs, they will know by instinct a bad person and show their dislike mostly by growling at them.