22/09/2025
Funny Story Time
As a dog trainer, I’ve had my fair share of chaotic moments. Especially when you have dogs of many different temperaments, and you’re trying to navigate past the many street dogs that are just a part of the landscape here. For the longest time, I would hear people from their houses yelling something at the stray dogs.
The tone was always so urgent, so… angry.
"Ali! Aaali!" they would shout, their voices strained and sharp.
Given the context—a human desperately trying to shoo away an approaching dog—I naturally assumed "Ali" was the Visayan equivalent of "Go away!" or "Scram!" My thought process was, "Okay, that's the local way to get a dog to leave."
So, I started using it myself. Any time a curious street dog got too close to dogs I’m walking, I would let out a firm, "Ali! Ali!"
This went on for years. I felt like I had a secret weapon, a local term to get the message across. Until one day, it all clicked into place. I was having my daughter take a video, and when dogs were approaching , I said “ALI!”My daughter giggled, “You know you’re telling them to come, right?” I said, “It means go home.”
She looked at me with distain, “Mom, it means come.” 😒
That's when I realized my mistake. The tone wasn't anger; it was just a forceful way of calling. The word, it turned out, means "come" in many Filipino languages, not "go away."
The joke was on me. All this time, I wasn't shooing the street dogs away. I was calling them. 😂
From a dog trainers perspective, always call your dog with a happy voice, welcoming and inviting. Otherwise, they may also believe you want them to go away. 😂 In retrospect, most of the time yelling “ALI!” worked and dogs moved away.
Perhaps they thought it meant the same thing as me. Go away! 😂
No dogs were harmed or had their feelings hurt in this video and they all got chicken heads after. 🫶🏼
