TUXEDO

My name is Tuxedo.  I was rescued with my sister on an island in the Sultanate of Oman.  We bet that you’re wondering if we were always such an incredibly handsome brother-and-sister pair?  Well, of course!  But, we also bet that you would never believe that we were abandoned on a small island… to die.  Yup.  We were intentionally left to perish.

On February 20, some tourists were out on the water preparing for a diving adventure.  What an adventure they were about to have!  As they were enjoying their vacation, they spotted us on the rocks.  They slowed their boat, and they approached us carefully.  We were super scared as we watched them swim to our location!  In fact, we ran into a cave to hide from them.  When we saw they had gone, we came out into the sunlight and ate the food that they left for us.  How nice!  And, yummy!

Later, the kind people returned to check on us.  We were still afraid, but we were more curious to meet them.  They were able to catch us, and, you know, we were actually happy to be caught!  They hugged us and told us that everything would be okay.  We ate some delicious food, and one of the divers, Lea, brought us to the vet.  We were thin and dehydrated but otherwise in good health.  Later that week, Lea discovered that we had been alone on the island for two days.  We were extremely lucky that she spotted us!  She posted our story on the Omani Paws page on Facebook, and our good luck continued when the group offered to help us and foster us.

We remained scared from our traumatic experience on the island, so our awesome foster mom enrolled us in several terrific training programs.  We did super!  We received diplomas and wore graduation caps!  We now are socialized, healthy, smart, and loving pups.  We are well-behaved and know all the basic commands.  We know that good fortune smiled upon us that day that Lea went diving, and we can’t wait to return her compassion by loving and snuggling your family forever.

Oman is an Arab country in the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.  It has wonderful national treasures, vivid landscapes… and thousands of “wadi” – or street – dogs.  These wadi dogs can be seen virtually everywhere.  Unfortunately, they face the same plight as dogs in many Muslim countries where they are generally viewed as unclean and not fit to be
pets.  Dog ownership is rare, and when they are owned, dogs are usually not allowed in the house.  Pets are viewed more commonly as guard dogs who roam the outside vicinity of the property.  The government doesn’t have humane animal welfare laws, and, worse yet, police have open rights to shoot “any and all” street dogs.  There is no requirement that the dogs have to be a nuisance or sick; rather, they will be killed just for having the unfortunate luck of being born on the streets in Oman.  It is a common practice.  Many wadi dogs suffer a slow, painful death caused by festering gunshot wounds.  If a gunshot does not kill them, street dogs die of disease, starvation, abuse by people, vehicles, and extreme weather conditions.  In the summer, the temperature can easily soar to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.  Most Omani street dogs do not survive beyond the age of three.

Tuxedo & Daisy are siblings found together stranded on an Island outside of Oman.  They love each other a great deal.  Tuxedo loves his toys and enjoys sitting on the couch with his foster mom to chill and watch TV.  Tuxedo & Daisy have never been apart from each other.