I spotted Kiki (female, age about 4-5 years old) around April or May 2008 whenever I stopped by the Lok Kawi Township stalls. She was always sitting patiently facing one Malay lady selling fresh chicken parts without fail, rain or shine consistently between 4 pm - 8 pm. I instantly noticed she was so different from other strays. She was later looking very weak as she was nursing puppies. I was drawn by her patient and gentle manner and I began to get closer to her by offering her a stick of grilled chicken satay or hotdog. Not long after, she began to get friendly and every time she saw me she would come to ask for food and I would buy something for her. As the days passed, I began to give her leftover food and bones as she looked undernourished. Sometimes I did not see her for one or two days. I began to enquire about her and the chicken lady said she would always give Kiki a piece of fresh chicken bone as she would not leave the stall until she got one. In reality, the lady was fearful of losing her customers who were mostly muslims and thus, did not want to encourage Kiki to hang around her stall. She also told me that Kiki took refuge behind a sundry shop and true enough, when I went there, she was resting under the coconut tree together with a few other strays. So I began to lure her to a fixed spot where I fed her daily. From then on, all I had to do if she was not at the stall, was to drive past the shop and call her; she knew exactly where to go for her feeding. After a while the stall people knew I had taken a special interest in Kiki. She became quite a recognized stray there. I was told her previous owner moved out of Lok Kawi leaving her to fend for herself, which is probably why she has such a gentle nature. They also told me she was an intelligent dog who could easily recognize people .

I started feeding her with better food since 24 June 2008 so that she would no longer need to forage for food or beg from the stall. I never realized she was so friendly that she could be easily taken home on foot but as I had no previous experience in taking a stray dog home, I took her in my car instead. She did not resist and was surprisingly well-behaved in the car even though only a 2 minute drive to my house. That was 3rd November 2008.

At the time I was in the process of moving out of my house to a new apartment. Nevertheless, I wanted to find a good home for her. Probably not used to being left alone in a strange place, she escaped from the house the following day while I was at work. I found her again at her usual place which was the only home she knew since being abandoned. Once again, she willingly followed me home. After giving her a good bath, on 4 November 2008, I took her to Sabah Animal Medical Centre (SAMC) for vaccination, heartworm prevention and spaying. I took good care of her and after 3 days she was all right and wanted to go out for a walk. So I let her out of my house but funny enough she did not want to go out herself without me going with her.

Since then I got up at 5.30 am everyday to walk with her and she loved to run and exercise. After two weeks I took her back to SAMC to remove the stitches. What an active and happy dog she was! Little did she realize that life with me was meant to be short lived. I tried to find a suitable home for her and took her to visit potential owners but somehow I knew she did not want them till I took her to good, old friends, Dennis and Grace. They already had one male dog, a fierce, robust fellow but agreed to accept Kiki for my sake. I could sense Kiki, on her part, was accepting this new home and being the good natured dog that she was, avoided trouble from the jealous male dog simply by being submissive. Grace and Dennis treated her well and slowly gained her confidence. We discovered that certain actions such as Dennis holding a broom caused her to be fearful and wary. Kiki must have been previously abused by a man wielding a stick. In the meantime I visited Kiki everyday but slowly reduced the frequency. Still, whenever I visited her she would go wild as if she was telling me how she missed me. Now I visit her as and when I can, sometimes once in three weeks or once a month.

She now lives happily with her new master Uncle Dennis and companion. Though not much opportunity to run free as she used to, nevertheless, she has a condusive home where she can still run around the house compound. However, another problem was that she refused to do her business unless on a grassy ground! She had to be taken out of the compound for this, causing inconvenience to both Uncle Dennis and herself!

Personally, I feel this is a success story! For Kiki, it was a journey from having a home to being abandoned to become a stray and by a chance meeting, a stroke of luck enough to tug at the strings of my heart, to a home again, this time a loving home where the human factor -tender loving care (TLC) is easily and readily available.

For me, it was an opportunity to do my bit - that there be 1 less stray out there left to fend for itself. How many more are not so fortunate? Only time will tell.

Tan Sek Hue
21 January 2009

Posted by webmaster on 3 Jul 2009, Fri