Feeding Strays

One of our members has gotten into the habit of feeding the local stray dogs in her neighborhood. That's rescue work too. We never knew about her doing this until one of her kids told on her in Facebook as she's very modest. This is her story:

"My name is Mshel. Where I live I hadn't noticed any stray dogs in our street from the time we moved there two years ago until March of 2010, when I noticed a black & white dog. He was more like a sheepdog. I thought he was lost. I told my husband that we will just bring that dog home but he said it's impossible that that dog has no owner since those kinds of dogs are expensive. It was on a July afternoon when I saw the dog again, but he had no more hair and was skin and bones. I thought to myself that this dog is really lost. I saw him a couple of times pass by our house, but I'm scared that if I go near him he might try to bite me, and I don't have my [rabies vaccination] shot yet.

"So, the following night at about 9PM after dinner I placed a container of clean water at the side of our gate with a plate of dog food, and another plate of rice and a little pork. I placed 2 choices of food because I know that strays don't usually eat dog food, especially if they are not used to it. After two hours I went out to check if the food I placed was still there. Everything was empty and I saw him sleeping by the gate. When morning came, I checked outside if he was there but I could not find him anywhere, but still I placed a new [bowl of] clean water just in case he passes by. Lunch came; still, he was a no show. The second night, again after dinner (9PM) I went out to put food and I found him waiting with a friend. Both of them ate. On the third day they were not outside the whole day again, but I found them both at dinner time, again waiting for supper. Funny thing is, there were already three of them. Maybe dogs call their fellow starving friends and tell them that that house is serving free dinner?

"These 3 dogs were permanently eating dinner near our gate until September of last year, when one dog that I named Wolfy (because he looks like a wolf) could not be found. I was worried coz he was the thinnest of the 3 dogs. I looked for him everywhere for two weeks but to no avail. I thought to myself that maybe he hid and died somewhere: strays usually die out of people's sight. Right now, I'm still feeding the same dogs: the sheepdog which I named August and his friend Duks plus a few of their friends, namely Mocha (because of the color), Scrappy and a few others which I didn't name. I get confused because strays usually have the same colors.

"Even thought most of them eat only at dinner time, still I place dog food and water during lunch coz they might pass by. They all sleep near our gate after a full stomach. I would really like to take them in but I'm hesitant that my Dobermans might not get along with them. As of the moment I think they are happy coz they can eat two times a day, and I can already scratch their ears."