EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY

By Bum D. Tenorio and Christine S. Dayrit

As published in the Manila Standard, Friday, October 8, 1999

A swimming pool shaped like a bone.  A well-manicured mini park replete with slides, swings, tires.  Mounds, among other playground facilities.  No kids play here.  The facilities have all gone to the dogs.

If George Orwell had pigs and horses in his novel Animal Farm, Filipino business woman Coh Salazar has dogs at the canine farm in Guiguinto, Bulacan.

The canines weave no allegorical tale.  They are just there enjoying what real good life is, while providing unconditional love to their master.

On a 5,000 square meter lot, some 100 glorious dogs imported from abroad (living comfortably in blue and saffron yellow kennels) bark at the smell and sight of new people on their territory.  Coh is one of the very few dog hobbyists in the country who has a wide, not to mention expensive, collection of top-of-the-line dogs.  In fact, she is currently the Philippine Canine Club, Inc.'s Top Breeder (1999).  Name a dog group and she would have or have owned at least one breed from it; from sporting to non-sporting, from herders to hounds, from working to toy dogs.  Coh have during the course of her lifetime owned or have been owned and lived with 32 purebreds excluding the mixed breeds and the native Filipino Askals.

Presently there are 13 breeds at the Cob Kennels.  Here's a quick overview:  Australian Shepherds, Belgian Groenendaels, Chinese Shar-Pei, Goldens and Labrador Retriever, Neapolitan Mastiff, Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Rough Collie, Schipperke, Shetland Sheepdogs, Pekingeses and Toy Poodles.

Majority of these dogs were flown in from North America.  A dog, regardless of breed, commands a higher price depending on its quality, Coh explains.  A dog which comes close to the breed's standard will automatically demand a lofty price.  "Of course, dogs, like human beings, also have imperfections.  But among dog breeders and show enthusiasts, it is always an honor to produce dogs which come close to the breed standard," she adds.  To raise good specimens, Coh says she pampers her dogs with all the amenities that will contribute to the development of their motor and mental skills.  Blame it on vanity, but as a breeder, Coh deems it necessary to provide her dogs with an environment conducive to their growth.  "I play with them inside the pool.  I give them tennis balls & other doggie toys to play with.  This is a form of physical and mental exercise for them.  Swimming in the water contributes a lot to their resistance," she says.

The doggie playground has been constructed in such a way that the canines, like little kids, get to play obstacle races with the use of tracks and mounds.  This is how Coh teaches her dogs to acquire confidence.  The playground is also maintained with both grass and gravel portions.  Why?  Coh explains:  "They play in the grass and gravel portions to familiarize themselves with soft and rough surfaces.  Mastery of the surface is very important when dogs compete in shows," she relates.  "Oftentimes, you see a nice specimen who refuse to move because his paws feel ticklish on grass."

When not playing, Coh's dogs stay in the Cob Kennels equipped with a mister, a water sprinkler device used in orchidarium's to protect them from heat strokes.  "I have lost a number of dogs from heat stroke.  You have to understand that some of the imported ones came from places where there are winters and not just summers and can not really adapt to the tropical climate we have in Manila.  It would be really foolish to have a St. Bernard from the Swiss Alps and just contain him inside a walk-in-chiller."  The puppies more or less have more chances of adapting. However, the Cob puppies together with the pregnant dams stay in spacious, fully air-conditioned nursery room.  No measure is too extreme for her charges.

"As a breeder, my primary objective is to breed dogs that will have stronger chances of winning in dog shows," she proudly says.  Talking of dog shows, Coh, modesty aside, has lost track of how many trophies, medals and sashes her dogs have brought her.  These memories of triumph adorn her rest house in the middle of the farm.

Coh says she is not a puppy miller and ASOCASA is definitely not your ordinary backyard.  She does not breed dogs for business,  She is more comfortable being called a hobby breeder or simply just a dog lover.  Of course, she also sells dogs but most of the time, she just tries to find them good homes.  Buyers undergo a thorough and rigid interview before the purchase of any dog is done.

She explains that there are 3 types of dog buyers:  those who want dogs as pets, those who buy dogs to breed, and those who want to join dog shows.  "Those who just wants a pet just wants a dog.  They are the dog lovers and do not care if their dog wins.  They just want a dog to love.  Those who want to show just wants a dog to win top awards.  When the poor dog does not live up to their expectations, they are sold or left unattended.  Those who want to breed is the most dangerous breed of buyers.  Their intentions are not usually well-defined.  Most of the time, they want to breed because they think that dog breeding is a lucrative business.  The only way to make it a business is if you start selling kennel supplies, dog accessories, dog food and be a puppy miller as a pet-shop supplier."  Dogs bought for pet purposes cost less simply because they are not suppose to be bred or have major disqualifications from the show ring.  "Honesty on the part of the buyer is very important.  They have to really say what they prefer and what they intend for their dogs.  It's embarrassing for the breeder to see his/her breeding evaluated as pet in the show ring and be disqualified by the judge.  And if one breeds these dogs known to have genetic defects that would most likely pass on the genes, the breeder's reputation too will suffer," Coh says.  Some buyers, she adds, buy dogs saying they will only take care of them as pets only because these buyers think that they would get it at a lower price and after awhile use them for breeding.  Selling the offspring, they end up running puppy mills or backyard breeding and ruining the breed down the road.  "Breeding and show stock are one and the same thing.  If it's good enough to breed, it's good enough to show but it does not guarantee top honors," Coh expounds.

" Matriculation is part of the game," she says.  For Coh, who had her first dog, an askal ("asong kalye" or mongrel) at an early age, nothing beats the happiness brought to her by her dogs.  As as only child, she treasured the mongrel's company while she was growing up.

"I have no plans of getting married.  So I find company in my dogs," says Coh at 40 years old.  She says that, at times, she finds dogs better than human beings-they don't hurt, they don't betray, and they don't ask much.  "When you buy a dog, you are actually buying love, " Coh ends.