Poypoy, my frisbee ‘aspin’ By Nice Rodriguez Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 22:05:00 06/09/2008
MANILA, Philippines—This is a loser’s story. My dog, an aspin (asong Pinoy) lost in the recent finals of the Alpo Frisbee Challenge in Baguio City. He was the lone native dog, competing with the Belgian Malinois, Labradors and German Shepherds.
Earlier, he won third place in the Manila elimination rounds.
Despite our losing, people still ask me how I trained my pet to play the game. If I told them, I sat him in a corner and told him to catch his frisbee and that was it, they wouldn’t believe me.
Poypoy came into my life unexpectedly. When I woke up to buy my breakfast one morning more than two years ago, he was there barely lifting his head, dying near my gate. When I asked whose puppy it was, the neighbors’ helpers said, the dog had been there for two days.
I brought the puppy home and gave him a drink, for I myself had not eaten yet. Then, I carried the dazed dog around and asked for his owners. We didn’t get far, for just about four houses away was a barbecue vendor who said she didn’t want him anymore. He vomited a lot and messed up her eatery.
Vague future
Well, I didn’t want him too. I was supposed to be just a transient from Canada, on an extended holiday in Manila but I didn’t like morning arguments and just asked for his name—Poypoy.
Not desiring to be involved, I retained his name. Having just lost my overseas job, my own future was vague and I was in no mood to worry about another species’ fate.
I slipped him into my backyard and cared for him from a distance, allowing him inside my cluttered home occasionally.
Then one early morning, when I let him pee, I found him all-bloodied with a big cut on his sprightly leg. There was also a lot of blood in the laundry area. He wanted to be with me and tried to open a sharp tin-edged back door and sliced himself good.
I panicked for I had never seen that much blood in my whole life. I knotted a plastic bag around his wound to catch the blood and carried him to a pedicab. I kept crying, “My dog’s hurt!”
We rode to two animal clinics but they were still closed. From the waist down, I was also covered up with blood.
Toddler
In desperation, we pedaled to Cartimar where we found Dr. Blanche Bolo and her veterinarian husband, who agreed to stitch him up even if their clinic was still closed. I paid P2,000 for his surgery and medicine, plus the vet gave me a lecture about the ticks she found lodged between his claws. I was embarrassed and wanted to tell them he was not my dog but I had already paid for their service and maybe, Poypoy was, by that time, already my dog.
When I lived in Toronto, I remember watching news on Canadian TV about a research showing that dogs had the IQ of a two-year-old toddler. So I raised Poypoy as a kid.
After he was housebroken, one of the first words he learned was “iwan” (Leave) because that was what I planned to do with him after I sorted out my own life. Of course, he knew what “sama” (come along) was. Besides “upo” (sit), we never did serious obedience training.
Like in pre-school, I taught him the names of places like “kusina,” “kots"e (our own) and Tramo (our market), and people like Grandma, Tita and Ninang. Things like “bola,” “tubig” and Vroom-Vroom (cars and motorcycles).
“Where’s your birdy?” I would ask him. He would raise one of his hind legs and showed what remained of his private parts. By then, I had also paid for his neutering (another P2,000) because I planned to leave him in a shelter where they asked that abandoned pets be fixed first. After his “where’s your birdy” trick, it was impossible to keep Poypoy to myself anymore. He was already amusing people. He could do Bless, and do “complex” commands like Kiss Grandma and Get Plato.
Obedience commands
It was also around this time that my neighbour slipped another emaciated dog inside my gate. His name was Karl (from Kalansay, the state I found him in). Because Karl was a bit of a mental case, Poypoy could also execute a Get Karl’s Plato for his companion. The obedience commands just happened— Upo, Dapa, Higa, Bitaw, Tahol, Kain, Akyat, Talon, Takbo, Uwi, Tawid, Tulog, and Una (when I wanted him to go before me on a leash).
Most of my commands were in Pilipino. He would even do a Pacquiao (stand like a boxer on his hind legs) and Knockout Patay (Play Dead) and then recover after ten counts like in the boxing ring. He’s also learned how to count (cheating of course). The longer we stuck together, the bigger his vocabulary grew, frisbee just being one addition.
Early on, I already bought him a frisbee. The label said it was a disc for dogs. It looked more like a giant top with an elevation in the middle so the dog could pick it up easily. Save for retrieving, Poypoy never paid attention to it, and after finding out it flew like a brick, we forgot about it.
Visibility
Then a friend from the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (Paws) said that they would like to take Poypoy to Baguio for a “parade,” and that there would be a frisbee competition.
They wanted visibility for native dogs like Poypoy, particularly in that summer capital where there was still rampant sale of dog meat. They lamented that aspins were most often absent in dog shows and that they wanted him to perform his tricks as Professor Poypoy in their pet therapy program Doctor Dog which they will hold in a Baguio hospital..
Personally, visibility had already been a big issue for me. Being gay, I was part of the Asian lesbians (later termed lesbians of colors) and the other gays who clamored for equal rights in Toronto from the late ’80s, successfully lobbied for ourselves same sex marriage in Canada, including privileges like spousal benefits and immigration sponsorships.
It was also for visibility that I penned one of the first Filipino lesbian books, “Throw It to the River,” published in Toronto in 1993 to show the hidden and fascinating lives of Filipino lesbians.
Then there were the other Filipino invisibles I met—undocumented aliens, she-males and sex trade workers who blended in with the rest. I did not need a lecture on the issue for I knew the pains and consequences of being unnoticed, which in these dogs’ cases were not only about outright abuse like being chained and caged all their lives, but a lot more brutal like the illegal dog meat trade.
Respect and awe
Although aspins had always been present in our streets and homes, it was so pretentious and snobbish not to see them in dog shows when they were just as intelligent, agile and beautiful. Like myself, they also demanded equal respect and awe.
PAW’s message in February was vague but around that time, I started looking for a frisbee for Poypoy. A medium-sized dog, he has a mouth that’s not as big as that of a Labrador’s, for instance.
I really didn’t know what to get for him. The good frisbees were pricey and he already wasted the first one I bought. I knew he’d catch but it had to be something that was not scary and of the right size.
Since many aspins had lived as strays in a dog-eat-dog world, they had already survived as catchers. It was just a matter of replacing the food with the frisbee.
Learn Frisbee
Also, I learned from the web, that to get a dog obsessed with frisbees, it’s best to get a minimum of five just to be able to rapidly throw discs in succession. That would be costly. Nevertheless, the first five ones I got were soft plastic rings that looked more like baby toys. They were the size of small plates and Poypoy liked them immediately.
If you want your dog to learn to catch frisbees, you needn’t go the same route and buy them. Dog behaviorist Jojo Isorena is training his three-month-old pup with paper plates.
Alpo finalist and former navy guy Jessie Abilla, who ferried his dog Zheal from Zamboanga to the Alpo fete in a wired crate he made himself, made rubber frisbee rings from floor mats. And when he had to buy around 30 discs to train Zheal, he used duct tape to reinforce the cheap discs he got.
I myself made my own rope frisbees to add to the red one Alpo gave us for free in their Luzon-wide clinics. I cut circles from empty rice sacks and encircled them with abaca rope.
The top prize winner Atty. Byron San Pedro ordered his Hyperflite discs for his dog Boger from the internet for $14.95 apiece.
Nevertheless, whatever round thing you throw at your dog, make sure it will not hurt him. The internet warns about cheap plastic ones which may crack inside your dog’s mouth.
Isorena, who facilitated the Alpo frisbee clinic at Philam in Quezon City, said that a dog must first get used to the frisbee. It could be introduced as a dish first or waved before its face.
At the clinic, they gave us peanut butter to smear on the discs. They also gave us cheese and dog treats as rewards for the dogs who got interested in the toys. The dogs must associate the frisbees with something good.
We were also taught the right way to throw frisbees at the dogs. For right-handed throwers, the right leg must be set forward and the discs must be released when the index finger is pointed at the dog.
It was at this clinic that I first saw that Poypoy could be a good candidate for the Alpo Frisbee Challenge. He attacked the discs like a magnet to iron. He caught them hard as if he was showing off.
Just for fun
For dogs with advanced obedience training, frisbee is not a difficult trick to teach. I learned that most of the Mondio Ring contenders in the Clark Alpo event just learned about the competition on the day itself and joined the event without practice— “just for fun.”
At the Mall of Asia where the first round of eliminations was held, Poypoy caught 13 frisbees in 2 minutes. He landed third. That was a breeze. Most of the Labradors didn’t take to the red rope frisbees Alpo provided, opening the chance for Poypoy who can catch any type of frisbee whether plastic, cloth or rubber.
The top two winners were a yellow Labrador and a Belgian Malinois, owned by Erick Kim and Lito Barrameda, respectively. Kim was already a two-time winner from Boracay (from previous Alpo contests). Barrameda was a canine security consultant who also trains drug and bomb sniffing dogs and K9 actors.
Intimidation
It was a different case at the Baguio finals. The Mondio Ring guys were there. They shouted their commands with solid authority. Their dogs were huge and the ground shook when they barked. These were the guys who ordered their Belgians in French and had helpers carrying their crates and dogs. These were the daredevils who wore protective clothings when they worked with them.
It was a sure show of intimidation both for their dogs and us, the other contenders. These dogs were intelligent but they were animals not like my Poypoy.
I was extremely nervous. Poypoy was already showing signs of boredom a few weeks before the fete. My house pet was fed up with frisbeeing until I found a way around it.
Whenever we practiced, I didn’t just bring his discs but his other toys as well, including a loop which he enjoys jumping in and a few sticks and balls. We were the ninth contestant among 10. The waiting felt like forever.
Because of the stress, I forgot to pep up Poypoy before our turn. I roused him from his sleep into the arena and as usual, he entered the ring and checked the environment. He ignored me and did this for about a minute. It was the most embarrassing time of my life. I was there standing helpless with an independent-minded dog and more than a thousand people watching our every move. We were finally visible but my beloved aspin was ignoring me!
The audience was requested to be quiet to undistract Poypoy. The crowd helped because everybody wanted to see how a Filipino dog would fare next to its expensive brothers. But Poypoy would rather befriend the marshals inside the ring rather than catch discs.
Not a chaser
Then finally his tail began to wag sideways. I knew that he was ready. We lost a precious minute there and then suddenly, he started catching. He had always been a short-distanced catcher and slowly we began to score. All in all, he garnered 14 points but he showed jumping forms that were not present at the MOA contest. He improved slightly and we landed eighth in the finals, with him still outscoring two police Belgians.
Poypoy could catch and retrieve, but he was not a chaser. He would crane his neck to bite the discs but this was not his fault. We trained in rather tight places like our inner Malate street, where we constantly got distracted by vehicles including pedicabs, motorcycles and karitons. Some early trauma made anything with wheels scary for him.
There is also the problem of streetkids, who had never owned frisbees in their lives and getting too curious about Poypoy’s flying discs. The few times I unleashed Poypoy at the greener CCP grounds, he looked like a graceful galloping horse, until the security guard ran after us.
A few days before the competition, I found an isolated spot at the CCP only to find out it was quietly inhabited by hungry bush people and so was not the best place to let my slightly obese dog loose. One single whack at my dog’s intelligent head could end everything in an instant and turn me into a nut case.
Unfriendly
Incidentally, it is a shame for such a spacious place like the CCP to be so unfriendly with dogs. The Harbor Square doesn’t even let pets around even if we used the drive-thru window outside to order food. And they had cleaned out the place of the more pet-friendly turo-turo vendors. Dog lovers and their companions need to eat in style too.
Yes, we lost, but it’s not Poypoy’s fault. Given a better trainer, Poypoy would excel further. I am too aware of the many dog obedience and training rules we break each day. For instance, my dog and I sleep together, a no-no in many training manuals. I allow Poypoy to whine because sometimes, he’s got something funny to say like the many excuses he could invent for not practicing frisbee.
I let him beg for food with his charming eyes and surely he would flunk all food refusal dog tests.
Rather than strain myself, I rarely use a loud, firm commanding voice on him. Then, I allow him to step all over me as my “poodle” when I am in bed or watching TV on the couch, giving him the impression that he’s the alpha dog.
I let other people touch and praise him, thus confusing my authority. Besides, he doesn’t just want to be petted, he demands massages even from strangers. And yes, I kiss and spoil him at the wrong times.
Timing
Training is all about timing that’s why a clicker-and-treat combo work successfully in training many animals like dolphins, whales, cats and more. But I am too stubborn to “undog” my dog. As far as I know, it’s not about winning but about having fun.
By the way, I was never able to give up Poypoy. Whenever it’s time to let him go, I hear a painful groan from my inner soul, or maybe more accurately my inner dog howling and crying an excruciating “No!” Lisa Umayam of Paws swears I am already a slave to my dog. I told her Shamrock’s hit song, “Alipin” was written for both of us—with him as my master.
I wish a lot more Filipinos would take up the challenge of training their aspins to improve their bonds and show them off. I used to be repulsed by the commercialism of dog events in the malls, but these were where Poypoy learned some of his most impressive stunts.
Poypoy’s agility skills like jumping on loops and hurdles, weaving through poles and going through tunnels were taught in such events. And then yes, the frisbee clinics. Next to being able to communicate with the person next to you, I can’t think of anything more satisfying for a human than being able to understand and talk with another creature. The mosquitoes may bite, the roaches may crawl, the bees may sting, the birds may shit, and the cats may scratch, but when you can get a dog not only to bark and bite, it truly is indeed a wonderful world.
Yes, even for us losers.
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