I've been watching news updates about getting the Philippine forest dog (also called Philippine Witch Dog) recognized as the official national breed. From what I also read about it, the forest dog is believed to have been around for 36,000 years now (source: Esquire Philippines). From what I've seen on videos, they also come with very unique patterns and can jump very high. They are believed to have accompanied our ancestors when they hunted.
I got curious about the Philippine forest dog because I had this funny moment with my scout team back in 2006. We were talking about what kind of dogs we had back home. My teammates were all mentioning the breeds of their dogs. They finally asked me what kind of dog I had and if we had our own breed in the Philippines. I proudly declared I have an askal*.
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| Met this cutey in Bohol last year. He's probably an aspin :) |
Since it was the first time for them to hear the term "askal", they asked me a lot of questions about my dog. At that time we had a dog at home. I just let my teammates keep asking questions because I don't really know much about dog breeds. All the dogs I had were given to us and one followed us back home from church. The only dog I had with a breed was a Japanese spitz.
Eventually I nonchalantly told them what askal meant. They roared in laughter. It was 2006 and you couldn't really show and tell with photos because I just had a Nokia classic phone. We had a good laugh that day, but since then I wondered if we had our own dog breed. Apparently we do and they're truly a unique bunch. Here's the video about it -
They are beautiful. I wouldn't want to own one though since they require a huge space to run around and well I'm not allowed to have furry pets. I hope the Philippine forest dog becomes recognized as our national breed soon.
*Askal - asong kalye. This was way before we started calling them aspin or asong Pinoy
#BeKind #StaySafe
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