I sleep with my dogs –Dogfather

Dogfather

Hearing that someone sleeps with his dogs in his bed might shock you, depending on your sort of person. But Steve Idowu Omoarukhe sees nothing strange in it.

“I sleep with my dogs in my bed,” he revealed to OSEYIZA OOGBODO BLOG. “There’s no big deal in having them in my bed. I take care of them very well, bath them as necessary, feed them right, vaccinate them appropriately, so having them in my bed doesn’t pose a health challenge to me.

“Apart from that even, they protect me, so when they are with me in my room at night, they are not just there for fun, they are also doing the job of protecting me. And since they know that I cherish them so much to the extent of having them in my room, they also go the extra mile to secure me.”

He however denied having carnal interaction with his canine friends. “I am not a pervert,” he blasted. “That I sometimes sleep with my dogs in my bed does not mean I’m sodomising them or something like that. It’s just that I love not just my dogs but all animals in general. I have many animals and I campaign for animal rights. Mind you, I am happily married with children so it’s just sometimes when my wife and kids are not around that I allow my dogs into my room at night.”

Continuing, he said, “I treat animals right because when you do, they will reciprocate your good gesture. At my house, I have dogs, snakes, rabbits, parrots, monkeys, turtles, goats and others. And I can tell you it’s not only my dogs that warn me of danger. Like my monkeys for instance. They quickly alert me if a snake that is not mine joins my snakes. And even if a stranger is coming into my house, my monkeys too alert me.”

Such is his cordial relationship with dogs and other animals that he is known as Dogfather. “I am known as Dogfather and I’m proud of the name. If you come to my area, all you have to do is say you are going to Dogfather’s house and they will direct you.”

And on why he is known as Dogfather instead of the probably more appropriate Animal Father, he said, “Well, you know dogs are quite infamous because people are a bit afraid of them. So if you have dogs, people will really get to know about you. They will be afraid to come to your house or to even pass in front of it. And because I have several dogs, people started calling me Baba Alaja and when I asked what Baba Alaja meant, they said the father of dogs so I began calling myself Dogfather.”

Shedding light on how he came to be very close to animals, he said, “It was my father that made me know it’s good to treat animals right and care for them with love. Despite his busy schedule as the Accountant-General of the old Bendel State, my father, Frank Gascoigne Omoarukhe, still kept a livestock farm of chickens, rabbits, goats, etc. I was just three years old then and I would follow him to the farm and he was always so caring with them that I began to imbibe his behavior, moreso when he told me that animals give peace of mind and I felt it myself from relating with them.”

From that little boy who liked animals, Dogfather has become a man who has vowed to ensure that animals stop being treated cruelly in Nigeria.

“Animals are treated cruelly all over the world, but Nigeria is worst in their cruel treatment. They bring chickens and cows from the North in overloaded lorries without adequate feeding and care while on the road. People buy dogs and lock them in cages all year without walking them. The cruel treatment of animals is just so much in this country compared to the Western world that I am working on an Animal Rights Bill (ARB) that I will soon send to the National Assembly for passage into law to prevent the ongoing animal cruelty. I cannot stand it anymore.

“I know that people are cruel to animals because they don’t know better. But when the ARB is made law, people will stop being cruel to animals because it would be a crime then like in Europe and America.”

Dogfather just doesn’t talk, though. He acts. “I have stopped eating meat. I cannot stop others from eating but I only advice them to treat the animals right before consumption. Part of the reason I could stop eating meat was my knowledge of the gorilla. It is three times the size of human beings and it eats only leaves yet it has a high IQ and perfect physique. So I thought to myself that if the gorilla eats only leaves and it is both intelligent and physically perfect, we eat meat and yet we have health issues so I might as well stop eating meat.”