Comments on: Doing Donsol: The Philippines’ Unlikely Beach Resort

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 02:33:03 +0000

Yeah, in the Philippines we found it particularly uncomfortable. Where I live in Koh Tao, Thailand, the dog population is well controlled – almost all dogs are fixed — and looked after or at least left to roam free, so I am shielded from it somewhat. I find it very hard to stomach when I do see mistreatment.

By: Bruno @ Geeky Explorer

Bruno @ Geeky Explorer — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 15:10:00 +0000

Lovely article, really made me remember about Siquijor, a remote island in the Visayas and the highlight of my trip to the Philippines.

Gutted to hear about the pets, it seems to be a constant theme in Asia! 🙁

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 05:51:38 +0000

In reply to malissa. Indeed -- it definitely affected our time in Donsol to see those dogs mistreated :-/

By: malissa

malissa — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 04:04:52 +0000

In reply to Alex.

I’m glad you’ve brought up the “pets” comment, as I often wonder how they are treated…as I’ve been to Grand Turks and they have pets at the place. They were well trained and good watch dogs as well- barking at the wandering folks that didn’t belong on the property. If pets/ dogs to were taught to interact or be in contact with humans as a normal everyday activity and not stay tied up all day, it would be a good practice and keep the barking down. I would not want to go to a place who mistreats their “pets” .

By: Alex

Alex — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 09:39:11 +0000

In reply to Rick Batista. Thanks for reading Rick!

By: Rick Batista

Rick Batista — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 20:26:50 +0000

Beautiful site.. I liked it…

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 16:48:28 +0000

In reply to Amer. Hey Amer, thanks for commenting. While I'm glad to hear that there is some love for the dogs there, we definitely didn't see any during our visit. In our days in Donsol we never once saw the dogs taken off the chains, and we spent a lot of time around the resort. What also upset us is that, as I wrote, they seemed either heartbreakingly desperate for attention or terrified of humans. I'm glad to hear your family loves dogs but I do encourage you to come up with a better system. Even if it is just for business purposes... a lot of Western travelers are not used to seeing dogs treated that way and it was very upsetting to us and the other guests. Thanks for commenting.

By: Amer

Amer — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 09:18:46 +0000

Hi, Alex! Thank you for your honest review of Donsol. I wonder if I was at our resort last year when you visited the town. I appreciate the kind words you have about the resort but I just want to clarify one thing about this post: how we treat our dogs. I am a dog-lover myself and the little-white-spotted-with-black dachshund dog is Tag, he is actually my dog. I would like to assure you that our family loves dogs and there’s no way that we maltreat them. There are times though, and you are right as this is a common practice in the Philippines, that some of our dogs are tied up in long chains to stop them from attacking strangers or guests in the resort as some of our dogs are not used to seeing other people. Also, some dogs in the Philippines are trained as “watch dogs” who guard the security of the place – they bark and make sound at the sight of unlikely people. We also have that in the resort as robbery has been rampant for a time in Donsol. Some of our dogs are unlike Tag, who grew so fond of being surrounded by guests early on. We make it a point that we give them enough time to roam around, mostly in the morning and evening, and when there aren’t too many people in the resort. During off-peak season, you can see all of them running around and swimming in the beach. I would like to assure you that we treat our pet dogs the best way we can. Thank you!

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 31 May 2013 17:05:41 +0000

In reply to Ashley.

I said to myself many times throughout this trip… “My readers are going to be so lucky to learn from all my mistakes!” 😀 They all do sound a bit annoying spelled out like this but overall I have happy memories of the Philippines 🙂

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 31 May 2013 17:03:48 +0000

In reply to Steph (@ 20 Years Hence). We only had the one problem with trike drivers, and that was over the whole firefly thing. Other than that we had pretty pleasant interactions! We had one other upsetting scammy moment, but that was with the boat to Malapascua. Though I would say you might have had the "look like a local" advantage over us two blondies :D