Filipino fur-parents can learn more about the cultural and historical encounters with dogs in the Philippines through a book that will be released this year.
The book called “Dogs in Philippine History” chronicles these key moments of dogs since the first domesticated dog was discovered in the country 4,000 years ago.
A sample cover of this book was shared by the author Ian Alfonso, also a senior researcher at the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), on his Facebook account on March 7.
“Sleepless nights will be over soon. Product of 10 years of labor,” he said in the post.
The cover showed watercolor artworks of different breeds of dogs either sitting beside or fighting along with Filipinos in different parts of Philippine history.
The summary reads, as follows:
“This book chronicles the Filipinos’ cultural and historical encounters with dogs since the earliest documented existence of a domesticated dog in the Philippines about 4,000 years ago. It hopes to be of help in understanding Filipino culture and in fostering responsible furrenthood. History attests to how our culture loves dogs.”
The National Book Development Board (NBDB) also promoted the upcoming book on its social media accounts. It also shared Alfonso’s post.
“For dog lovers and book lovers!” it said.
In his post, Alfonso expressed gratitude to the Philippine Historical Association Board and Project Saysay Executive Director Michael Anjielo Tabuyad for accepting and adopting the book, respectively.
Project Saysay is a non-government youth organization that aims to champion and propagate information in Philippine history.
Alfonso also said that the popular hero dog Kabang is included in the book. He also tagged the Facebook account of his caretaker Anton Lim.
“Kabang is here, Doc Anton Mari H. Lim!” he said.
The announcement of this book soon reached Lim. The doctor posted this sample cover on his Facebook account.
“QUICK! Find Kabang [on] this book [cover]. Excited [about] the launch of this book! Congratulations and thank you Ian for reaching out and including Kabang in the book!” he said.
Kabang died peacefully in her sleep on May 17, 2021.
She was remembered for saving two girls from a motorcycle crash in 2011, thus losing her snout in the accident.
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