Meet Radio. He's an emaciated hunting dog we found wandering out of the woods yesterday on our walk with the poochies. We call him radio because he had a humongous collar on that had some sort of radio tracking device on it. The poor little guy looks like he's been on his own for awhile. He's pretty starved with quite a few cuts and abrasions and what seem to be very stiff and sore legs. It's not uncommon here for hunting dogs to get lost and disoriented, only to wander out of the forest weeks later. He's very sweet and trusting, so we've decided he probably wasn't abused. He's just been lost for a long time. So we'll contact the humane society tomorrow and take him in to see if he has a microchip. We've also been told that owners can be tracked by the number on the radio collar. He looks like he could have ringworm and who knows what else, so we've been advised not to allow him in to have too much contact with our brood. So we made up a comfy bed for him on the front lanai. We've been feeding him small meals and biscuits every 3-4 hours so we don't overwhelm his digestive system all at once. I've also doctored the little oozing cut under his eye with some antiseptic. H also has some abrasions on his legs and his feet. He's a very good patient; much better than my spoiled pups. They all look pretty chubby next to him. Poor guy.
We actually called a local no-kill shelter near hear called Rainbow Friends Sanctuary. They told us they have a waiting list of 75 dogs! That's 75 people out there who have found dogs and want to place them at the shelter. That's of course in addition to the hundreds or even thousands the humane society gets at three shelters on this island every year. Unbelievable. There's a cultural resistance here to spaying and neutering pets. They're slowly breaking that trend, but it's still the norm in many parts of the island and a tough nut to crack.
Radio here is what they call a poi dog here in hawaii. That's a mixed breed. But here, there are many dogs with very short hair like his. He could be pit bull/lab mix. I have to say, I have never seen such homely, goofy looking dogs as in Hawaii. Not that Radio's homely. In fact, I think he's kinda cute. I'm trying not to get too attached since the goal is to get him back to his own home. This dog is completely untrained, but he's so mellow and gentle he's been pretty easy to handle. We've now had him here for more than 24 hours and he has not barked or whined once! We put this harness on him after we took off the bulky radio collar just so we could walk him around on leash and not lose him. It's way too big 'cause he's so skinny.
By the way, the Hawaiian word for dog is ilio.
A hui hou! Aloha!
We're hopeful we can reunite Radio with his person or people soon.
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