There is never a scramble for sitting or sleeping places as all eight of them know where they are supposed to be.
It’s one house where you wake up early morning to the barking of eight dogs, each wanting to get out for another day, each excitedly waiting for breakfast which could be hotdogs, boiled turkey neck, chicken, beef spare ribs, pork meat, rice, or dog cereal.
Step into the living room and you’ll get a tongue-licking and leg-brushing from Freddie, Pooch, Shorty, Candy, brothers Dandan and Dindin, Ocho-Ocho, Flo, and Frankie.
The dogs do not come from the kennels of expensive dog breeders in the world. They are a mix of ordinary street dogs you will see everywhere in the island. Aside from Dandan and Dindin, the dogs are not related to each other but they all share a common denomination — they are all adopted by one resident who just could not resist seeing homeless dogs who come near his house.
Frank Cepeda, a war veteran, dedicated his small house in As Terlaje to be a shelter for the dogs he “adopted.”
“All the dogs in my house now just happened to roam outside the gate at one time or another. I couldn’t turn them away. I fed them, and they stayed,” Cepeda said.
Like human beings, each dog has a distinctive characteristic that makes him or her stand out. Cepeda said Pooch is the reserved one. Ocho-Ocho got his name from kids in the neighborhood who asked him to dance the ‘Ocho-Ocho’, a popular dance.
Cepeda said he rescued Dindin outside the gate in his house in As Matuis. Dandan, his brother, joined the rest of the adoptive dogs later.
And there is Flo, the most shy among the dogs. Flo is aloof and wary of strangers. When guests are around, she stays in the yard and observes from afar. Candy is the obedient one, always the first to follow orders. Frankie always wants attention. He is the mischievous one in the whole pack.
Cepeda’s favorite is Freddie, a huge white dog who follows him everywhere in the house. Cepeda said he loves all the other dogs but Freddie is the smartest and the most loyal.
“Freddie was the last one delivered from a brood of eight puppies. He was the ugliest, skinniest dog I ever saw, and my heart went out to him,” Cepeda said.
He said that his house in As Terlaje had become an abode of dogs.
Cepeda said that word must have spread in the dog community through dog language that strays can get free food at his house.
“Some dogs just peek at the gate and we feed them. If they decide to stay then they are welcome,” Cepeda said.
Cepeda believes on a ‘no-leash’ policy for his dogs.
“I want my dogs to feel free to roam around the house and the yard,” he said. But the dogs know that they are limited to the kitchen and the living room in the house in As Terlaje. Noel Fermoran, the person who lives in the As Terlaje house said that although the huge window and door of his bedroom is open, the dogs know it’s a restricted area for them.
Helping Fermoran take care of the dogs is Lita Vidad. Both of them see to it that the dogs get a regular bath and shampoo, and annual vaccination shots.
Cepeda said that he had always loved dogs.
“I was six years old when a local dog came to our house. We fed her, she stayed and became a member of our family,” Cepeda said.
He started adopting dogs in 2002. He said that he spends a lot for food, vaccine shots and in taking care of them but feels fulfilled. Cepeda has another three dogs in his house in As Matuis, and three more in Chalan Kiya.
Cepeda calls on the community to join him in his advocacy in taking care of the dogs and getting the strays off the streets.
“All dogs are equal. Treat them right and they will become your best friends for life,” Cepeda said.
