(Berkeley Animal Rights Center Newsletter)

by Priya Sawhney

Oliver was saved by Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) activists Wayne Hsiung, Julianne Perry, and Chris Van Breen from Yulin, China in an investigation covered on ABC’s Nightline.

In some ways, Oliver is just like a normal dog, and in other ways he’s so different. He loves peanut butter, and he’s loved peanut butter ever since the three activists who saved him from a dog meat farm in Yulin, China offered him peanut butter. There were three dogs rescued, and he was the first dog to come and take a bite of it from their hands. He is very brave.

I was the person who carried Oliver to our house when we first saw him in the U.S. so I bonded with him first. He was really small when we got him, and he would jump onto the sofa but couldn’t make it, so he would try to get up on the sofa and you would have to give his butt a little push. It’s just one of those things he’s always done, and it brings a little smile to my face.

Oliver loves toys and playing so much that he will just play by himself in an empty room or the backyard. He’ll pretend the toy is someone and will start playing with it, and as you’re in the other room you’ll start hearing these playing noises as if he’s playing with someone else.

Oliver is very curious - if there’s anything going on he checks it out. He definitely has the guard dog personality and does not let us sleep at night because if anything goes on, he will bark to protect us.