Animal Rescue Korea

New Doggie!!!

Today I picked up the newest addition to my family (family being me haha) from the Asan dog shelter. his name is Milky and he is the most adorable guy ever... I'd love to tell you his story, but I have no idea what it is. Because Milky is a rescue dog, one of thousands of unwanted pets in South Korea.

Pet Trade

The pet industry here is pretty big, and getting bigger. Most of the puppies come from puppy mills, the kind of places that turns my stomach and makes me want to cry. As many of these puppies are given as gifts, or bought on a whim, or bought by uneducated people (uneducated in looking after a pet I mean) many many pets end up being dropped at shelter, vets, pounds or just ditched somewhere. Most of the pounds are "kill pounds", which means they will hold a dog for a few weeks but if they are not claimed they are put down. 

Dogs that end up at the shelters still have miserable lives. Many of them have already been dumped and mistreated, only to end up in a cold, dank shelter with not much food. But at least the shelter dogs have a chance at being adopted. 

Asan shelter is run by 1 Korean guy, who I believe is doing his best... There are over 60 dogs at the shelter at the moment, as well as 20 something cats. He goes to the kill pounds and saves the ones he can by bringing them back to the shelter in hopes that they will be rehabilitated and rehomed. Because these dogs have been mistreated and abused, many of them have behavioural issues and health problems. But they still deserve a chance. Enter the volunteers!!!

The shed at Asan shelter

Milky in his pen when I first met him. They are in these pens 24/7, until the volunteers come to walk them and hang out with them on a weekend.

Every weekend a group of people from different parts of Korea come to the shelter to spend time with the dogs. They take them for walks, clean their pens, brush them, and just generally hang out with the dogs and cats. They need to be socialised, and the volunteers learn the different quirks and personalities of the dogs. They then 'sponsor' some dogs, make ads for them, and place them on the website Animal Rescue Korea.

Click here to go to the ARK site

This website is a portal to many of the dogs available for adoption all over Korea. There are a heap of different shelters, and you can narrow your search to size, age, and even colour!

So its like going to a pet shop and choosing a doggie, except you are saving one from a life of misery.

This was how I found Milky.

I went onto the website, as I have been super lonely here in my little cave by myself. I checked the site pretty regularly, so I noticed Milky within hours of his ad being posted. I contacted Jenn (one of the shelter volunteers) and she got back to me right away. I had also emailed another few people about some other dogs, but Jenn was the first to reply. It was a sign!!! We organised for me to come out to the shelter to meet him, and to see what I thought.

I fell in love with him at first sight. He looked like he was smiling, and he came up to the door of his cage right away... The dogs in the shed live in wire cages, like little cells. They stand on wire too, so that when they pee and poop it all just falls through the wire. The rain can't get in, but it is super cold and windy through the shed, so my heart was breaking for all these dogs which I knew would be stuck there over winter. I went home, filled out the adoption papers and got the ball rolling. There was a bit of drama in between sending the papers and bringing him home - I had to convince my landlady to let me have a pet. But today I went down to the shelter in the pouring rain with a dog carry bag and picked up my doggie. We caught a taxi, train and subway and he was good as gold. He has had a wash, some food and is currently snoozing in his new bed. 

He is in the bag - we were on the train :)

Milky tonight in his new bed

Making himself at home 

I am so glad I made the decision to adopt a rescue dog rather than get a puppy. It makes me feel good for starters, but I am also really looking forward to seeing how Milky changes from shelter dog to house pet. He loves other dogs and loves people. And he even seems to be kinda toilet trained which is a super bonus!!!

So stay tuned citizens, for there is a new man in my life, and I will be talking about him plenty I can guarantee it!

If you are in Korea and thinking of getting a pet, please consider a rescue dog. You will be saving their life, and enriching your own.

Till next time,

xoxo