furtech: (Default)
furtech ([personal profile] furtech) wrote2011-04-23 10:41 am

Taiwanese Street Dogs and Playing A Commie

Boring update.

Spent the better part of this week helping a friend catch the dog she adopted from the PetExpo last weekend. The rescue group was big heart, little experience, apparently: they neglected to warn her that the dog was an expert "bolter". They were careful, but when the door was cracked, the dog shot out like a cannon-- into the streets of Van Nuys. Did I mention that this dog was from Taiwan? Not only that, but an experienced Taiwanese street dog that they only captured because her leg had been crushed by a car. And yes, the dog only understood Taiwanese (not even sure what Chinese dialect it was!). Oy.

Happy News: the rescue organization gets full marks for dedication, though: they are located in Claremont and still managed to come out almost every night for hours to help search. They -finally- found the dog (after over four days of sightings and misses) and the fosterer who it knew was able to calm the dog and get her to come to the fosterer. There was much happiness.

The rest of the week was organizing projects for work, getting the dogs enrichment and setting more tech up.

Today I get to play a Communist Chinese soldier and shoot a gun and, in turn, get shot. Good times.

(Hmmm...this post has an unintentional Chinese bent to it.)

Possibly later: Sucker Punch. Tomorrow: Easter and resisting the addictive lure of Easter candy.

On-going: reading posts about Norwescon and enjoying the convention vicariously through them.

PS: the dogs LOVE Easter Sunday walks-- they find all the eggs the kids missed. Yum.

EDIT: here's a picture of Din-Din, taken at the PetExpo

din-din

She's about Apache-sized, but skinnier.

[identity profile] lironess.livejournal.com 2011-04-23 06:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Is the escapee a tripod now?

My mom just lost her rescue dog like that. It took off and ended up on a busy street. And then the worse occurred. It was not a pleasant dog. It had been raised in abusive circumstances so it had really weird behaviors, but the running off is apparently a breed trait. So now it freaks me out to see dogs off the leash...

[identity profile] furtech.livejournal.com 2011-04-23 06:28 pm (UTC)(link)
No, but one of her front legs is a bit bum...not that this slows her down very much. Rescue dogs can be a lot more work-- very sorry to hear about your mom's experience. Sad.

[identity profile] okojosan.livejournal.com 2011-04-23 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Doggie egg breath, ugh!

I'm glad they found the dog. What a scary situation.

[identity profile] furtech.livejournal.com 2011-04-23 06:30 pm (UTC)(link)
It's not the egg-breath you need to worry about, it's later-- from the other end...

I'm still amazed they got her back. Did I mention the dog is also all-black? Fortunately, she's -very- smart, and hung around the area. My friend is an emotional wreck from the week. At least she's a happy wreck at this point.

[identity profile] didjiman.livejournal.com 2011-04-23 08:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Oooo boy. Taiwanese is sometimes known as Fukinese. Very different from Mandarin or Cantonese, for that matter.

Good luck!

[identity profile] furtech.livejournal.com 2011-04-24 06:02 am (UTC)(link)
I saw that name...and I saw a lot of references to "Hokkien", but I don't know if that is a dialect or ethnic group. I'm guessing that this is also distinct from what is generally spoken in Hong Kong? And I thought it was confusing just knowing about Manderin, Cantonese and Szechuan (forgive the misspellings...)

[identity profile] didjiman.livejournal.com 2011-04-24 06:22 am (UTC)(link)
Hokkien == Fukin, just different dialects :-)

Most Chinese are Han people, even if they speak different dialects. There are exceptions and some groups insist they are not quite the same - e.g. Hakka, of which I am one even though ethnically Hakka is probably Han also.

HK is next to Canton / Guangdong, they speak Cantonese / "Guangdonese?" Mandarin is the official language both in Taiwan and Mainland, I guess because the officials ("mandarins") speak it, but they call it Putonghua ("common/plain language").

I actually do not know if Szechuan people have their own dialect.

****
So to summarize: there is only one written language and the Mandarin is the closest spoken version of it. Different areas develop their own dialect and the difference is far greater than, lets say, Queen's speech to the Southern dialect. Mandarin and Cantonese is reasonably close (i.e. a chasm) but Fukinese may as well be Japanese to Mandarin or Cantonese speakers.

[identity profile] vulpesrex.livejournal.com 2011-04-23 08:23 pm (UTC)(link)
PLA?

Pre- or Post-revolution?

Korean Conflict, Vietnamese Border Skirmish, or Tibetian Invasion?

Something totally fictional? Are you allowed to disclose story details?

[identity profile] furtech.livejournal.com 2011-04-24 06:04 am (UTC)(link)
I'm guessing the period was something around the 60's or 70's, though historical accuracy was not a priority...

A friend is having fun making trailers and I'm the only asian he could corral today.

[identity profile] mognetcentral.livejournal.com 2011-04-23 08:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Aww, my grandparents always talk about their old Formosan Mountain Dog who was extremely loyal and affectionate. So glad the runaway was found. I would love a Taiwanese street dog... My Taiwanese is a lot better than my Mandarin, despite having played a Chinaman this week ;) Where are you playing a Commie?

[identity profile] furtech.livejournal.com 2011-04-24 06:40 am (UTC)(link)
From the reference in your post I looked that breed up. Wow-- very striking! Considering the personality of Asian dogs, I'll bet he (she?) was everything they remember.

I'll get the name of the rescue she got the dog from. From what I heard at the Expo, they airlifted a bunch of stray street dogs to the US. I don't think they have a site up yet, but you can always just "look"...

Fortunately, it was MOS, so I didn't need to do anything but look vexed in different ways. It's a personal project a friend is doing for fun. He likes to make fake trailers.

[identity profile] iisaw.livejournal.com 2011-04-24 05:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow... "A Taiwanese Street Dog in Hollywood"... would make a great animal novel! Maybe not on the level of Watership Down but still... hangin' with pampered poodles, dodging coyote gangs....

Okay, it's early and I haven't had my coffee yet.

[identity profile] vulpesrex.livejournal.com 2011-04-25 05:56 am (UTC)(link)
If _I_ were a stray from Taiwan, and someone had named _me_ "Din-Din", I would bolt first chance I got, too...

Jisaw's suggestion is a good one; Could someone draw Roz Gibson's attention to it? She could use the break, and probably do a credible prose story from it, with illustrations - and then sell the movie rights to The Mouse.