THK giveaway winner is a Taiwan dog

Tags

animal rescue, formosan mountain dog, giveaways, honest kitchen, meetups, sparcs2014, taiwan dogs, tugou

So busy lately! Finally here to announce the winners of our last Honest Kitchen giveaway!

Our runners up, receiving sample packets of Perfect Form, are as follows:

• J. in Nevada, with Leo the dog
• Joy H. in Kentucky, with Paisley, Drover, Sookie, Abby, and Cali the dogs
• Kelly M. in California, with Pud — our first feline prizewinner on the House of Two Bows!

Our main prize winner is Mio in California, who will be receiving a two pound trial box of Love, THK’s beef formula!

Mio was lucky number one, the first commenter to jump right on the giveaway. First is just as eligible as last, according to the whims of Random.org. I’m especially pleased to announce Mio as the winner because I know she’s a Taiwan dog, and despite what cranky critics of international street dog rescues might say, is quite fortunate to have the life that she does here in California.

We’ve never met Mio, though she’s apparently a local-ish tugou. We did, however, get a chance to meet several other Taiwan dogs at a meetup last month. Like I said, I’m waaay behind on my blogging… so I’m finally getting around to posting the pictures now.

The park had a very strange layout — relatively narrow in width, a long stretch of unshaded, woodchipped land with most people concentrated right at the gate, near the drinking fountains.

Knowing that this kind of setup gets claustrophobic for Bowdu in particular, I didn’t mingle as much as I would have liked. I was keeping an eye on my dogs to make sure they weren’t getting bored and acting out.

Not that many of the dogs were as thrilled to meet me as I was to meet them. That’s a cool and guarded Formosan dog attitude for ya. They just buzz by with minimal interaction, doing their own thing.

I was fascinated by their body language of hesitance, caution, curiosity, anticipation — some consistent expressions seen amongst the group.

Those are two different brindles similarly craning to get a careful sniff of Bowdu. Maybe it’s something about Bowdu that brings that out in other dogs, no matter the end of approach.

And then there was mighty Bella, petite tuffstuff.

Bella’s person is a reader of this blog, and tipped us off about this meetup which was hosted in honor of Mary, a prolific Taiwan dog rescuer whom I had a chance to meet when I was last there. Like her dogs, she sometimes travels across the Pacific, and was in town for ongoing dog training education. Mary’s commitments are exemplary, and part of why I continue to feel that international dog rescue for Taiwan dogs in particular is justified, critics be damned. Not only does she send her dogs abroad, she shares her knowledge and experience which flows in both directions.

Such international, transnational communities of dogs and their associated dogpeople were on my mind during the presentations at SPARCS 2014 this year. I doubt I’ll get around to a proper recap of the conference though it will continue to filter into future writing. But that’s the point of education — knowledge accumulates, changes, flows. Most importantly though, knowledge belongs to those who continue to feed themselves on steady diets of the new and fresh, whether it be food or information.

FILM: Legend of the T-Dog 命運狗不理

Tags

dog movies, formosan mountain dog, taiwan dogs, taiwan films, tugou

Film: Legend of the T-Dog [Mingyun gou bu li 命運狗不理]
Director: Li Tian-chueh 李天爵
Performers: Wang Po-chieh 王柏傑, Lin Ruoya 霖若亞, Blackberry 黑莓 (T-Dog)
Animal trainer: Chen Ying-jie 陳英傑
Breed featured: Taiwan tugou, Formosan Mountain Dog, Golden Retriever (brief), French Bulldog (brief)
Production information: Dilu Quan 的盧犬, 2012 (Taiwan)

Ah Dou is an aid at a hospital where several people are rushed in for bizarre, life-threatening emergencies. Each time, there is a mysterious black dog chasing the ambulance — the titular T-dog, named such because he bears a distinctive gold T emblazoned across his forehead, and also probably because is a classic Taiwan tugou.

As it turns out, the T-Dog is a modern day incarnation of an inauspicious “hellhorse” from ancient times. Anyone who assumes dominion over this creature enjoys short term success, but then inevitably befalls calamity upon the 49th day.

This is not a horror film, and for all its absurdity, it’s not quite comedy. Rather, it’s what new director Li Tian-chueh has characterized as some kind of avant-gardist science fantasy, in the Chinese literary tradition of zhiguai, “records of the strange,” with a decidedly contemporary, Taiwanese twist.

Folk religion, often pejoratively labeled “superstition,” is quite integrated into modern everyday practice in Taiwan. This is played out in the actions of Ah Dou, who cultivates a warm, altruistic personality to stave off the misfortune which has plagued his family for generations. Ah Dou’s concern for his ragtag, downtrodden neighbors manifests as a cheerful obsession. For as much good as he tries to do for others, Ah Dou often gets in trouble because he can’t keep his own act together.

One day, when Ah Dou is down on his luck, he witnesses the T-Dog struggling with a dog catcher, and decides to intervene. Against the admonitions of his colleagues, he takes the dog home and names him “Happy” (a pun on ‘black coat,’ heipi 黑皮) to signal the new directions he intends to pursue.

For a while, the canine charm seems to work. The kindness he showed to his neighbors is repaid when they set him up with an apartment after an unexpected eviction. He finds comfort and learns to make his home anew by living with a cool dog. After being fired from his hospital job, he even manages to get with Dr. Lai, the beautiful head doctor from his old ward.

Ah Dou’s allegiances and beliefs are put to one final test. A stranger contacts him, offering him a rare postage stamp to finish a set that Ah Dou has been trying to collect. His father died clinging to the belief that this complete postage set will break the family curse, so Ah Dou continued the search out of filial duty. However, the stranger wants to exchange the stamp for the T-Dog.

An interesting proposition. It seems like a clear decision to exchange the unlucky dog for a clean slate. However, in part because of his girlfriend’s urging, Ah Dou decides that he must commit to protect his “family members” in the present, no matter how his past may have determined is fate. With that, he passes the test and the curse is lifted… as it turns out the stranger is another incarnation of an ancient eccentric that Ah Dou had wronged in a previous life. That relationship had been the basis of the multi-generational curse all along, not the possession or lack or any lucky talismans.

As I was working through this summary, I realized how this film’s premise is really quite charming, but unfortunately, much of its potential was lost in execution. For the very first drama to feature a Taiwan dog as a lead character, I had high hopes. Blackberry 黑莓, the tugou recruited for the part, was actually scouted from her prominent cameo in the 2011 blockbuster Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale (on the list to be blogged).

However, Legend of the T-Dog was filmed under very different conditions. According to the ‘making of’ video above, there was definitely an acclimatization and socialization process to get Blackberry accustomed to working with her costars. Taiwan dogs make for recalcitrant movie stars, as they don’t easily open up to strangers and can be nervous and flighty on a busy set.

Blackberry, fortunately, was very food-motivated.

She was also extraordinarily tolerant of ridiculous costuming and lots of (wo)manhandling!

It is much to Blackberry’s credit that she performed and was filmed so well, despite the movie’s faults! That said, she’s also indicative of how poorly the characters were constructed. Sure, she was probably the most “experienced” Taiwan dog actor for the part, but if they were going to go through the trouble of dyeing additional markings on her, I don’t know why they didn’t just go ahead and give her four white paws and a white streak across her chest, to tap into the superstitions that continue to be deeply ingrained in the Taiwanese popular imagination of “unlucky” dogs.

My aunt’s Taiwan dog, Nyo-nyo

I also don’t know what’s up with Ah Dou’s goofy-looking mustache, the panoply of fantasy cultists who stand in as exaggerated quirks of local folk religion, and the obnoxious nurses whom Ah Dou works with at the hospital. Ah Dou himself is fairly nondescript as a generic “good guy” character, whom you end up rooting for only because everyone else is so utterly annoying. I would really have liked to see more examples of his developing relationship with the dog, rather than the doctor, to add some depth to both human and canine characters.

Legend of the T-Dog was a valiant attempt to experiment with dog movie conventions, moving beyond the typical tropes of cuddly, infantilized, domesticated creatures, and trying to invest the dog with some kind of historical or cultural significance. All the elements failed to alchemize in the end, leaving the audience with a little bit of black gold… and a whole lot of lead.

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The House of Two Bows keeps a running index of movies blurbed on the site, annotated by breed. If you’re interested in writing a guest blog for a dog film, contact for details.

PHOTOS: Taiwan dogs of the Japanese resistance, early 1900s

Tags

formosan mountain dog, hunting dogs, japanese colonialism, taiwan, taiwan aborigines, taiwan dogs, tugou

As I was mining the archives in Taiwan, I always kept my eyes open for canine sightings. The difficult and wondrous thing about dogs is how ubiquitous they are, yet unindexed. I found them chronicled in books that are not specifically about dogs, but on closely related topics — such as Taiwanese indigenous resistance to Japanese colonialism. What we now know of the Formosan Mountain Dog is closely aligned with the history of Taiwanese aborigines, or yuanzhumin 原住民.

Dogs were seldom depicted as isolated subjects of early photodocumentation. But the photographs where they are integrated into domestic, social, and military scenes are incredibly rich with anthrozoological detail to me. Here are a few of my favorites from GEN Zhiyou 根誌優, ed., Collection of Historical Photographs of Taiwan’s People’s Resistance Against Japanese Occupation 1874-1933 [Taiwan kangri shi tuji 台灣抗日史圖輯] (Taipei: Taiwan yuanzhumin chuban youxian gongsi 台灣原住民出版有限公司, 2010).

Vol. I, p. 305 (Year 1905): “日軍11月9日以步砲聯合作戰攻入北葉社，懲罰其頭目庇護抗日義軍，圖為1905年在頭目宅前合影的北葉社排灣族。” On November 9th, the Japanese military launched a coordinated infantry-artillery attack on the Beiye Society as punitive measures against a chieftain who was harboring Japanese resistance fighters. Pictured are members of the Beiye Society, assembled in front of the chieftain’s home.

A moment of relative peace, given the violence that would ensue, as described in the caption. Even the dog, a drop-eared specimen, looks docile in contrast to the prick-eared hunters that are usually depicted in aboriginal company — and which would clearly be favored in the Formosan Mountain Dog breed standard, a century later.

Vol. II, p. 195 (Year 1916-7): “在警察掌握部落行政，法律與教育的日據時代，部落駐警宛如太上皇，可是一旦原住民忍無可忍起義，平日宛如貴族的日警與眷屬往往要魂斷異邦。” During the Japanese colonial period, the [Japanese] police who assumed administrative, legal, and educational control were basically overlords of their stations, but they’d quickly push the aborigines to the limits of tolerance and cause them to revolt. Typically, the aristocratic Japanese police and their families would have to make efforts to dissolve cultural differences.

I absolutely love the forced togetherness and awkward poses of this shot, especially the contrast between the Japanese ladies seated carefully atop furniture, the aboriginal women squatted even lower than the standing Japanese boy, and of course, the dog splayed on the ground, front and center.

Vol II, p. 39 (Year 1913): “南投，臺中軍警討伐隊完成大甲，北港兩溪流域之屠殺掃蕩任務後，下山路過草屯，當地日警與眷屬列隊歡迎之鏡頭。” Japanese Expeditionary Force from Taichung marching through Nantou after mopping up a massacre at the Dajia and Beigang Rivers. As they descended from the mountains and passed through Caotun, the police administrators and their families lined up to welcome the troops.

And who stands in the middle of the pathway, in defiance of all this pomp and circumstance? A pair of naughty piebald tugou. I just hope they had the sense to move ahead, instead of getting kicked out of the way.

Vol I, p. 402 (Year 1906): “「外太魯閣蕃」當中的博落灣（今部落灣）社人”

This shot, depicting “Savages of Outer Taroko,” is one of my favorites, because it is so layered, perfectly composed, and evocatively personified. The background scenery situates this in majestic nature — the steep, lushly forested cliffs make Taroko Gorge one of Taiwan’s signature tourist sites even now. Meanwhile, the building presents stark geometry, its sharp lines indicative of its rigid construction. The men are probably the most immediately eye-catching characters, scattered across the foreground in various poses of defiance. One guy even seems to be waving his sword? This was the year of a major incident in Hualian, and the aborigines were in no mood to be “pacified.” From the intensity of their direct stares, I definitely get the sense that the cameraman is intruding.

Yet, what is most fascinating to me is the canine detail, carefully set between two of the human characters in the foreground and quietly lurking somewhere in mid-ground, on the front porch of the building.

The flexed muscles and antagonistic stance of the man on the right is subtly offset by the casual posture of the dog lying in front of the door (I can’t quite make out what the other dog is doing). Now, hanging back and not approaching the camera may very well be the dog’s manner of expressing his disapproval. What I think is interesting is how perfectly those dogs fit into the gap between the foregrounded figures, as if this was a deliberate compositional choice. Or the whole thing could have been a happy accident, shot quickly just moments before the cameraman was charged and chased off the site. I have no idea. But this picture stirs my imagination in so many ways, I wish I had a large, sharp print to frame and hang and stare at every day.

Vol II, p. 83 (Year 1914): “力里社頭目在宅前處理剛獵獲的山豬，排灣族和所有台灣原住民一樣都愛狩獵，收押其槍枝，必然引發極大的風暴。” The chief of the Lili Society carves up a freshly caught mountain hog in front of his house. The Paiwan tribe, like the rest of the Taiwanese aborigines, love to hunt. Forced disarmament [by Japanese decree] inevitably caused a commotion.

You get a good sense of the size of the boar compared to the dog. The dogs were hunting partners and part of the tribe, and so naturally expected a share of the meat (the look on the face of the dog watching the butchering is so familiar). But it was the gun that brought down the animal, not the dog.

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There’s more where these came from, but I’ll present them some other time. This is the fun part of research, after all — flipping through hundreds of pages of words and images, scanning for the traces of that which was deemed not important enough to index, but means the world to me. Sorry about the crooked frames and page glares. I had my choice of low resolution scans or higher resolution cell phone pictures, so this is what worked best for me at the time. Click on any of the pictures for a closeup.

Sightings: Taiwan dogs, north and south

Tags

formosan mountain dog, street dogs, taiwan dogs, tugou

Just a few photo remnants from the tail end of my Taiwan journey.

Two from Tainan, southern Taiwan:

And two from Taipei, where it drizzled continuously until the day I left, in Sanchong…

… and in Nangang.

Sightings: Black Taiwan dogs

Tags

formosan mountain dog, taiwan dogs, tugou

Black, medium sized Taiwan dogs supposedly don’t suffer the same degree of “black dog syndrome” as American shelter dogs. If they’re stigmatized, it’s not just because of their color, but more likely because they’re tugou, and they often come all in black. But if you like Formosan dogs, the black ones are rather classic models.

I find them rather dignified, bold, often downright elegant in appearance and movement. Plus, they match easily with any home decor.

Consider test driving one today!

Sightings: Fast, cautious stray dogs with missing limbs

Tags

animal cruelty, animal law, animal traps, formosan mountain dog, labrador mixes, stray dogs, taiwan dogs, three-legged dogs, tugou, two-legged dogs

Dogs with missing appendages are not an uncommon sight in the mountains of Taiwan…

… but they’re still faster than you’ll ever be.

This is what happens when you combine illegal gin traps* with population density and a profusion of abandoned pets and unaltered, free-roaming dogs. The lucky ones get saved by compassionate citizens who vet them and make the effort to find them a suitable home, if temperament allows. In the worst cases, the animal dies in excruciating pain (especially cats and smaller animals, whose whole bodies get caught).

Yet, some dogs manage to pull their mangled limbs out from the leg holds, heal up, and survive to run another day.

Inspiration? Tragedy? An abomination? A curse?

I wish I didn’t have to see them, yet when confronted, I can’t stop looking…

* Gin traps/leghold traps/捕獸夾 were officially declared illegal to manufacture, sell, set out, or import sometime in the last couple years with an amendment to Taiwan’s animal protection laws. However, there was relatively little publicity amongst the general population not already involved in the issue, as far as I can tell. To this day, there is virtually no enforcement of the law, as if the threatened fine of 15,000NT to 75,000NT (about $500 ~ $2500 USD) alone was supposed to deter offenders from doing what they’ve always done…

Sighting: Black & tan tugou

Tags

formosan mountain dog, nantou, rabies, taiwan, taiwan dogs, tugou

Didn’t get a chance to post this gorgeous tugou encountered on a walk when I went down to Puli, Nantou County — the only land-locked county in the center of the island where my dad’s side of the family mostly resides.

I don’t often see black and tans that retain such a sharp mask and distinctive form.

You see why they often end up getting dubbed “Basenji” mixes when they arrive Stateside?

Despite her towering presence atop the column, she wasn’t that big, about 40 pounds. I’d be able to brush the top of her head and certainly her ears without stooping if she was beside me. Not that she offered a chance to get close.

Given the current rabies situation in Taiwan, I made sure to note the number of free-roaming dogs that I still saw during my trip down south. While I didn’t encounter groups of strays, as I have before, it was mildly surprising that many pet dogs were still given free rein. Rabies “hysteria,” as it were, is not so easy to observe from a casual perspective. One probably has to go to shelters and vets to get a better sense of heightened anxieties.

About a week after my country excursion, the first case of rabies affecting a pet dog was confirmed in Taitung, on the Eastern coast.

Public notice posted at the library when I first arrived in August, warning that “This KISS could be deadly!”

I know not what this portends. Taipei often seems a world away from the rest of the island, let alone further points abroad.

Sighting: Cutest tugou I saw today

Tags

puppies, taiwan dogs, tugou

Spotted shopping at the new Guanghua Digital Plaza: a tugou puppy in a pouch.

S/he was so precious, I approached the guy and asked to take a picture instead of stealing a creeper shot. He obliged, though he was definitely giving off Make it quick, freaky lady vibes.

Sorry if this canine fixation does get a little weird. NO TIME TO ‘SPLAIN.

Tugou-ing around Taiwan

Tags

formosan mountain dog, puppies, shiba mixes, taiwan dogs, tugou

I have so much to process on so many fronts, it’s hard to keep updated here. Meanwhile, earlier this week, there was a trip down to central Taiwan to visit relatives when my mom detoured through the island. It was lovely catching up with the aunties, and of course, their latest foster dogs.

Always with the dogs.

The little one, who was just found as a freshly-weaned stray, is at the stage where he demands constant contact with everyone and anything. He’s got the neotenous STARESTARESTARE down pat, though I’d hardly call him vulnerable.

The pretty yellow one is more reserved with her affections, and her warmth becomes evident with observation. She was found a while back having birthed a litter of pups, and has since been spayed.

I guess they’ve got each other figured out.

Sightings: Dogs in Taiwan, week one

Tags

beagles, corgis, free ranging dogs, schnauzers, stray dogs, street dogs, taiwan dogs, tugou

It is far too hot still to schlep my fancy camera around, so I must content myself with cell phone, Instagrammed shots of local dogs.

There are a couple brindle tugou accompanied by old men who are fixtures on this strip of Zhonghua Rd. in Ximending, including a store dog at one of my favorite record stores. I never noticed that this one was quite so, well, swollen. The weather hasn’t been very conducive to exercise.

Three-month-old tugou puppy faces off with a Mini Schnauzer, a popular breed in Taiwan.

Another popular breed, the Night Owl — I mean, the Corgi, sighted at Cafe Junkies.

And another popular breed, the Beagle. Asians love their Snoopy dog. Maybe not this particular one though. The sign behind her warns, “[This] Dog will bite.”

Temples are generally good places for strays to hang out. Nobody wants to provoke the ire of the gods by abusing innocent creatures in their midst. They’re also highly trafficked, dense sites where scavenging yields rich rewards — especially when temple monks supplement the fare with regular handouts.

The yellow dog on the left was accompanied by the Pointer-esque mix on the right. They were hanging out at the large public square by Longshan Temple, as natural a part of the scene as the throngs of chainsmoking old men. They left as a unit and wound down a side alley, tempting me to follow… Maybe next time.

The two black tugou lingered and hung out like matched companions as well, though only one was collared. The uncollared bitch had a few bald patches on her elbows and her chest, but had a decent amount of weight on her body. No skinny dogs around here…