Where to live near Cebu City or on Mactan with walking dog

[Mike J]

2 minutes ago, scott h said:

One source of all the strays is when a puppy litter is born, kids will sell them on the side of the road, once they get passed the "cute" stage they are normally just abandoned to fend for themselves. 

Isn't that the truth.  Seems like so many people love puppies, but not dogs.  

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, scott h said:

Dog and cats are rarely spayed or neutered here. If they are they are the inside type...cats almost never. You will see newborn kittens thrown out with the garbage on a regular basis...

We look after 4 "street" cats, 2 male and 2 female.  The 5th, the original one, passed away a month ago.  They have probably delivered around 35 or so kittens between them - in fact we have 5 now.  We have given around 3 or 4 away, 2 remain with us and the remaining 30+ simply disappeared for various known and unknown reasons.  In short, we have never had to dispose of any as yet luckily.  Ours are popular with the neighbours as they keep the mice/rat population down.  

[GeoffH]

On 8/1/2021 at 10:35 AM, Dave Hounddriver said:

They think dog fights are fun and the dogs think you are walking on their territory.

I had a large retreiver (well large by Philippines standards) which I used to walk up and down the street our house is in (exercise for both of us), sadly he died despite what the vet could do.

However there was a very large and very aggressive German Shepard dog which was kept chained near the gate of a house down the street from ours (like the small yapping door bell dogs)... it was... totally feral and territorial.  One day I was walking past and the owner, who had complimented me upon my 'big dog' (and he was serious) offered to let his dog out so we could find out which dog would win.  He wasn't being mean about it and he was a decent neighbour... but sometimes the societal differences are very obvious (as with cock fighting).

I politely declined and admitted that I believed his dog would easily win and I was content with my dog being the second biggest in the street, he looked a bit dissapointed but accepted my answer.

Edited August 4, 2021 by GeoffH

[Jollygoodfellow]

On 8/3/2021 at 8:13 AM, KenM said:

I have not been to the Philippines. In fact I have not been to Asia either. My fiancé has lived there recently and as a minor. She also has not been to Cebu. She has many relatives and friends who have lived near Manilla, live there now, or are planning to return. 

Are the street dogs generally friendly or are they aggressive towards other dogs? Have there been efforts to spay and neuter? That can help with the problem in the long run. 

OK

If I was you I would come for a 2 or 3 month vacation leaving the dog home with someone. Since you have never been here before you might get a shock, culture shock is common. This place is not for everyone and often people give up and go home so best to at least experience some time here before making the plunge.

Some dogs are friendly and others not. A few times here in IT park a few dogs were aggressive to me to a point I had to yell and try to scare them off. Incase you dont know the IT park is as close as you can get to a western lifestyle but still have issues such as dogs. Cats too, many stray. When the first lock downs came and all business closed I used to go out at night a feed the many cats and some dogs. Unfortunately for most of the cats once things opened up again they were captured and destroyed. Now as most things are open again more stray cats and dogs are roaming around looking for food and breeding.

There is generally no money for spaying or take care of stray dogs. If anything after enough complaints rounded up and destroyed. Many have mange or disease. The long run here is stray dogs are not priority, food and survival for most is priority.

Another reason why you need to come and see for yourself and get a better understanding of the country and life here. 

[KenM]

Found a report on some related issues. Sadly it seems the stray dogs are a rabies risk in the area.  

[Snowy79]

Other issues you may come across is many Condos don't allow dogs. Then depending on the breed how will it cope with high temperatures and humidity. I love dogs but couldn't subject one to city life.  The province is great for dogs but then you'll struggle to find a vet.

[GeoffH]

42 minutes ago, Snowy79 said:

I love dogs but couldn't subject one to city life.  The province is great for dogs but then you'll struggle to find a vet.

I think it depends upon where abouts in the city you live... our house is on the edge of what's effectively a detached satellite city in a subdivision that's surrounded on two sides by tree covered small mountains and on the other two sides by buildings.  And it was always easy enough to find a quiet street (well except for the local dogs) to take the dog for a walk.  The vet was a 30 minute drive if it was peak hour but it was easy enough to go during a quieter period.

I guess having grown up in the country, for me at least, that's 'city life'... for someone who grew up in the city it would probably be seen as 'outer suburban' (if the Philippines really has such a thing... which I'm not sure they do).

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, GeoffH said:

I guess having grown up in the country, for me at least, that's 'city life'... for someone who grew up in the city it would probably be seen as 'outer suburban' (if the Philippines really has such a thing... which I'm not sure they do).

Yep...Where I am we are classed as Province yet there is no stretch of open land between us and the city. That said, the fields begin just after our subdivision.  I'd probably classify it as the suburbs but here they don't seem to recognise the distinction between urban and suburban and rural.

[Mike J]

58 minutes ago, hk blues said:

Yep...Where I am we are classed as Province yet there is no stretch of open land between us and the city. That said, the fields begin just after our subdivision.  I'd probably classify it as the suburbs but here they don't seem to recognise the distinction between urban and suburban and rural.

In a few years those fields will probably be gone and you will most definitely be suburban. 

[hk blues]

2 hours ago, Mike J said:

In a few years those fields will probably be gone and you will most definitely be suburban. 

Optimistic - we have already lost a few fields since I moved here.