1. What happens when a new dog goes to an animal sanctuary?

"What happens when a newcomer is rehomed in the TAS, the animal sanctuary?" I asked Ms Swettenham whom I met one fine June 2008 evening outside the Toa Payoh NTUC supermarket. "How did Mr Smile fit in? Was he attacked by a dominant dog or groups of dogs protecting their turf? Just like warlords in Afghanistan?"

"I don't know how Mr Smile initially fits in," Ms Swettenham replied.

"Do you think there is a war zone in TAS?" I asked. "Where groups of dogs ally and protect their piece of ground, preventing other dogs from stepping into the land by barking or biting the newcomer?".

Ms Esther Seah who had rehomed Gatsby in TAS told me that the neutered dog would never step into another location inside TAS when she visited him. Gatsby would just not follow her into the new turf. It was as if there was a no-go zone, a de-militarised zone as between South and North Korea.

Ms Swettenham said: "Men behave worst than animals." I presume she meant that men behave worst than animals with so many genocides, suicide bombings and fighting for power and land still going on in this world.

But Ms Swettenham suddenly recalled: "XXX will have no restrictions going anywhere." XXX is quite prominent in TAS. He is a Rottweiler and he is bigger than the majority of the dogs. So, who dares to oppose him if he wants to go into any place inside TAS?

In the dog pack, there is a hierarchy. The strongest and bravest will be the alpha dog and the others just submit to him or her. But in TAS, most of the dogs are sterilised. Possible exceptions are the very old males and they have no strength or are they threats to the young ones.

A male adult monkey* can become the alpa male in a group if he is strong or has a male supporter. The supporter is in the background ready to back him up during the display of dominance and fights against the opposition.
*Jane Goodall - Dale Peterson

"Food is amply provide for," the caregiver told me one day. "So there is no need for the dogs to be aggressive and fight for food." I observed that the dogs were not rushing or fighting during feeding time when I visited TAS twice and saw the feeding being done.

If not for food, how about the dominance to breed? Yet the TAS dogs are sterilised. So, in theory, there should be peaceful living and all dogs can go from one place to another. In that case, Bobby should be able to wander anywhere when Ms Esther Seah visited him.

The over 1,000 TAS dogs are territorial as this is the natural behaviour of the canine pack.

Why? There is no need for a dominant male to fight for the females since all females are sterilised. We presume that there is no sexual hormone production since the dogs are sterilised. So there should be no out-of-bound markers inside the spacious land of TAS. However, the adrenal glands sited above the kidneys in the dog still produces some sexual hormones and these may explain the territorial behaviour of groups of dogs. Obviously the dogs ally themselves to protect their turf, in my opinion as no one male dog is strong enough as his testosterone level had been cut off during neuter.

Now, what is the distance between two groups of dogs before they will fight to protect their turf? How many turfs are there in a community of 1,000 dogs? How does a newcomer get integrated into the community? Does he get attacked by a group of dogs? Is it "every dog for himself or herself?" Do groups of dogs attack non-canine animals like racehorses when their territory is invaded? What about goats? What about geese wandering around? Do they get killed? How did Bobby fit in? Has Max free run of the land in TAS?What happens when a new dog goes to TAS?

More research needs to be done. Any new info will be much appreciated. Please e-mail to judy@toapayohvets.com