A chocolate-brown poodle in Pingtung named Chang Hsiao-wo who loves to sing has fallen in love with the garbage truck tune, The Maiden’s Prayer. As soon as she hears the melody, she’ll start singing with abandon and charming onlookers. She already has a group of loyal fans who will come to hear her sing.
Digital media student Chang Kai-juo has loved dogs since she was a kid, and three months ago her father brought home a three-month old poodle. Chang named it Hsiao-wo — little snail — in the hope that it would be as calm and quiet as a snail. Unexpectedly, Hsiao-wo was both considerate and understanding of the ways of humans. She only pees on the newspapers put out for her, and she’ll shake paws and sit when told to do so. She will go to sleep on the pillow together with her mistress, and then she’ll sleep with all four legs pointing to the ceiling and showing the whites of her eyes. When her mistress puts on her makeup, she knows she will soon be taken for a walk, and she’ll sit in a coffee shop for five hours without complaining.
Chang likes music, and her room is always filled with different genres of music from classical to blues, rock and modern music, so Hsiao-wo is growing up listening to music. About a month ago, when Chang was carrying Hsiao-wo on her bicycle, they happened upon the garbage truck and Hsiao-wo unexpectedly began to bark along with the music. Her barking, which was sometimes loud and sometimes more subdued, caused an embarrassed Chang to cover Hsiao-wo’s mouth and quickly sneak away. After her escape, she ran into another garbage truck, and Hsiao-wo once again started singing to her heart’s content.
To test whether or not Hsiao-wo really understood music, Chang played a mix of different kinds of music including the song Sorry, Sorry, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and a piano version of The Maiden’s Prayer. At first Hsiao-wo lay on the bed without moving, but as soon as she heard The Maiden’s Prayer, she started barking along and looked quite funny. Every time she repeated the test, the result was the same.
A jealous Chang said that these days many of her friends that come over are not looking for her but have been taken in by Hsiao-wo’s performance. She’ll put on a performance at least once a day and is winning an increasing number of fans. Chang’s friends now like to call Hsiao-wo the Singing Dog.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Perry Svensson)
屏東有隻褐紅色貴賓狗「張小蝸」愛唱歌，獨鍾情垃圾車播放的「少女的祈禱」，只要聽到音樂立刻開唱，忘我的表情引人愛憐，已有忠實粉絲專程去聽牠唱歌。
念數位媒體的張楷若從小就愛狗，三個多月前父親從朋友那裡抱回三個月大貴賓狗，張楷若替牠取名「小蝸」，希望牠像隻蝸牛般穩靜，沒想到小蝸不僅體貼又懂人性，如廁一定尿在鋪好的報紙，尿尿時會站三七步，還能聽指令握手或坐下；趁主人入睡後會躺到枕頭共枕眠，睡覺時四腳朝天還翻白眼；看到主人化妝就知道等會要出門，就連到咖啡廳用餐，待上五小時也不會吵鬧。
喜歡音樂的張楷若，房間無時無刻播放音樂，從古典到現代，從藍調到搖滾，小蝸從小聽著音樂長大，沒想到約近一個月前，張楷若騎單車帶小蝸逛街，正好遇上垃圾車，小蝸亢奮應和音樂狂叫，聲音有高有低，讓她窘得摀住狗嘴快閃，逃離現場後，沒想到又在另一個路口遇到垃圾車，小蝸依然興奮的唱個不停。
為測試小蝸是否真的懂音樂，張楷若節錄一段混搭sorry sorry、命運交響曲、鋼琴版「少女的祈禱」等各種不同樂風的樂曲，測試一下小蝸，原本趴在床上的小蝸聽到其他音樂動都不會動，唯獨聽到少女的祈禱時，立刻跟著吠唱，表情逗趣，而且屢試不爽。
張楷若吃味的說，許多朋友現在都不是來找她，而是迷上小蝸專程來看表演，每天至少表演一次，粉絲越來越多，被朋友們戲稱為「狗歌星」。
（自由時報記者侯千絹）
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