Take a look at the photos. You'll quickly like this dog. His good nature and charm comes across quite easily even in pictures. What more in person? Although this dog's life is now the envy of other less fortunate dogs, his past experiences were grim and cruel. Nancy Cu Unjieng, President of Compassion and Respect for Animals (CARA) gracefully recounted Pogi's story to me, exemplifying a level of personal responsibility against animal cruelty that resulted in life-changing experiences for both animal and humans.Nancy and a colleague named Grace Mercado were at a women's correctional facility where they learned that a dog was given away to a garbage collector presumably for slaughter. The ladies raced after the garbage collector in a tricycle, and confronted him about the dog. At first, the collector denied having the dog. Obviously, he expected to received some cash, however little that may be, from the dog-eaters when he delivers the dog to them. All this commotion, however, led to the discovery of the dog in a sack underneath the garbage truck. Yes, someone back at the correctional put the dog in a sack and handed it over to the garbage collector for disposal. The inhumanity! So now, reacting to human voices, the dog started wriggling his way out of the sack and by sheer survival instinct managed to pop his head out of the sack for all to see. Denials were over. Nevertheless, the garbage man still refused to give up the dog. What to do?
Nancy decided to threaten the man with police action. Had she offered money, Nancy realized, she would be setting a bad example, a precedent for future bucks-for-your-dog ransom scheme. It must have been quite a forceful threat because the two ladies took possession of the dog, and headed back to the correctional facility to find the culprit. There, with the help of the garbage collector, they found Rose who took back the dog after some stiff lecturing and stern warnings of police intervention. In other words, that dog better be there when Nancy returns for her regular visits to the correctional. No dog = Police. The equation was easy enough to understand and fear. 
Time passed and Rose was ready to be released from the facility. She didn't plan to keep the dog, and offered Pogi to Nancy who readily accepted him into her home. Pogi lived with Nancy for a while until a Canadian couple decided to adopt him. They had just lost their older dog, and they couldn't help but fall in love with Pogi. The lady renamed him Skype, and he is headed for Canada to live with them in his forever home. Skype's story reminds us that we have a personal responsibility to reject animal cruelty whenever and wherever we come across it. It also reminds us that we need to take immediate personal action against animal abuse. Time is of the essence when it comes to cruelty. Skype, surely, would not be with us today if not for the timely and forceful intervention of individuals like Nancy and Grace who chose to stand up for their principles and take action.
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