Anna the dog

[armstrong]

My dog had a brief period I think. Just over a year old. She doesn't have contact with other dogs so haven't noticed her being frisky. Not sure when it's safe to have her sorted out if she's not having regular periods

[Mendip]

^ A small dog would generally come into season every six months. Despite stopping the risk of puppies there are a lot of health benefits to speying a bitch as a lot develop cancers in their woman's bits.

Once she's over six months old I think it's safe to have her sorted out. Some say it's best to let a bitch have her first season... although that can go very wrong as I've discovered.


Since Yogi defiled Coco there has only really been one option... and today was the day. This had to be done as soon as possible, before any puppies started to develop.

I wish I could have been home for this, but Coco is in good hands with my daughter.



I'm not sure why it was necessary for me to have the expense of the vets picking up Coco for her op... but then again, knowing how the Thais can balls up the simplest of tasks this was probably the safest option.



And off poor Coco went for a two night stay at the Bung Talua Animal Hospital in Korat. She'll be returning minus her ovaries and uterus.

Poor thing... I hope she's OK.

[headhunter]

molly was spayed at 6months old,a very neat job with only an inch insertsion,in at 11am.out at 5pm.anasethic wore off in the morning after she threw up some water,since she has been fine.picked up and brought home,blood test[important]pain killers,total 2,500bht.
good luck coco,dont worry mate she will sleep well after the op.

[Mendip]

Thanks HH... she had the op yesterday and all is good. She'll be home tomorrow.

The cost is 3000 Baht, with two nights board and lodging plus limousine service there and back.

Only the best for my Coco... miss her already.

[Mendip]

Just to put everyone's mind at ease... Coco is back home and very happy to see everyone again!

Minus her lady bits.

[aging one]

Got the new boss blowing bubbles as well. Nice..

[headhunter]

poor yogi who got his coco 3times every week,that was till his rival tommy spoilt it.now coco might turn have to turn tom.

[Mendip]

Thanks to all the well wishers.

Coco had a check-up yesterday and she's doing fine. Stitches out next week!

[Mendip]

Dan is becoming a bit of a worry. She's acting a bit strangely and spends a lot of time on her own, but I guess at fourteen and a half she's allowed a bit of solitude. After being away fro so long I can see that she has aged a lot.

She usually sleeps on a blanket in the gardener's kitchen but disappeared last night. I found her sleeping in a hole in the mud by the frog pen. She seemed happy enough but I worried about her... even Yogi and Max were trying to get her to come back to the kitchen. She was still fine in the morning. Maybe the youngsters just disturb her sleep.




Since I returned home after neatly seven months away it's amazing how quickly the old routines come back.

Anna and Vigo are still doing well, and wait outside our back gate every morning to join us for the morning walk. I have to take our two girls separately since the three boys are too boisterous for Dan... she's just too old to get pulled around by them. Five dogs at a time is a bit difficult anyway, and besides, as everyone never seems to tire of telling me, two dog walks are double the steps of one dog walk.

Anna and Vigo weren't waiting this morning, which was strange.

But I soon found out why...



I don't know why Anna had to wait for me to return home to go into heat. I had her speyed a few years ago but surprisingly enough for Thailand the op was ballsed up. It seems that some ovarian tissue must have been left inside so she can still go into season, but thankfully cannot have puppies.

They broke up their tryst to join us. Already there was one white dog latched on and by tonight there will be a pack of 10 male dogs following Anna around and howling. Vigo will be fighting to defend her honour but he is just too small and usually gets injured. I'll have to bring them into the pond area for a few days until her season passes.



After the walk I usually spend an hour with one of our dogs to pluck off the ticks. Today I had Yogi on my lap... the procedure being to pluck off a tick and drop it into a glass with some oil in the bottom. This goes fine until your wife plonks down a cup of coffee next to the tick glass. The first lump in my coffee very nearly made me throw up.

[jabir]

Ticks are a problem, I feed Jimmy a 200bt chunk of what looks like chocolate from the vet each month. Must be a cheaper way to get rid of ticks, but that seems to do the trick.

Fwiw, the snip made no difference at all, I thought it would calm him down but a couple of months on and he's as excitable as ever and refuses to accept that cats and other dogs live on the other side of his fence.

[Mendip]

^ I inject our dogs with a heartworm/tick/parasite medicine every six weeks or so during the tick season and after a couple of days the ticks usually drop off dead. I still like to spend a bit of time grooming the dogs... it's good bonding time and sometimes you spot other stuff.

As for neutering, we've got three boys, one neutered and two intact. The neutered is the most boisterous and his character has changed and he's gone a bit needy and weird and I feel a bit sorry for him. A similar thing happened to a previous neutered male dog we had and I've decided not to neuter any more boys.


When I left for work last July the street dogs on my patch were pretty well sorted. It had taken a lot of hard work and a bit of cash but after finding homes for several litters of puppies last year and getting a few of the mums speyed, the local dog population had reduced drastically. The trouble is you can't let up. My gardener kindly continued the feeding but I'd left four unsterilised bitches that we couldn't catch and never expected to be away for nearly seven months. The dogs come into season every six months and gestation is six weeks... I came home to a disaster. It's all about sterilising the bitches.

There's five stations where we leave food and the local residents are only too happy to have a few dogs loitering outside... they make good free security. But with unsterilised bitches around a few small packs will quickly become a problem.

There's five regulars at the first feeding point, three boys and two girls. These dogs are friendly and no problem, and we'd caught the two girls last year and had them speyed. I wish the other packs were as well managed as this one.



This girl remembered me and let me stroke her. Two of the boys in this pack were puppies of Anna's sister.



A brand new family had moved into the area where I'd clambered through bushes last year to catch a litter of puppies. The family comprised a mum and dad and three puppies. The puppies eat at the second feeding point. These are around 12 weeks old I would say and are at the upper age limit for finding homes before they become too feral to catch. Catching them will be hard enough as it is and I need to try and make them tamer.



And the mum and dad eat separately. They make a handsome couple and are friendly but not tame enough to handle. I need to try and get the female (black) speyed.



At feeding point four two older puppies come every day. These guys are puppies of Anna's sister's daughter. I homed a litter from the same mum last year but she evaded capture for speying and gave birth to these puppies maybe two months after I left. The mum has since disappeared but her two remaining puppies are very friendly and would soon settle in to a new home with some space... if I can catch them. They have no aggression at all but are very timid.



The last of the food goes here. This is a disaster with two litters and their mums forming a pack of about eight. The puppies must be about 4 or 5 months old and will soon start breeding themselves. There's not much hope for this lot... I wish people would get their bitches neutered.

[Saint Willy]

Damn, that’s a lotta dogs

[elche]

I greatly admire those who care for dogs, cats and other pets, particularly those animals that are struggling to survive like they do in Thailand. It's a sign, at least to me, that they think beyond themselves and care for all life forms.

[strigils]

^ ditto.

[Mendip]

Every single morning Anna joins us on our dog walks... yes plural because Dan is so old she gets her own slow walk with Coco before I take the boys.

Every single morning Yogi greets Anna like this. If I was to greet our 7-Eleven shop worker girl neighbour like this every morning I'd probably get a slap, and then a second one from the wife. Yogi has a real way with the girls and gets away with it every time.

[tomcat]

If I was to greet our 7-Eleven shop worker girl neighbour like this every morning I'd probably get a slap,

...not if she's a bitch...

[Mendip]

^ Maybe, but I still won't risk it.

It's strange. I think it's fair to say that Yogi probably isn't the most handsome dog in the world, but all the girls love him. Dan is always close by, Coco never stops hassling him to play and as soon as we go for a walk Anna runs up to say hello, completely ignoring our other two boys.

I guess he's just got it.

[Mendip]

My moronic wife went out yesterday with a couple of her equally moronic friends, which I didn't mind at all as it granted me rare access to the telly.

Anyway, I was awoken from a deep sleep some time around midnight by something furry put on top of my face.

But sadly no, it wasn't that...

I discovered in the morning it was this...



It seems that one of her friend's 'labs' had puppies, all but one of which were found homes, and then the mother 'died'. I've learnt not to ask why the mother died... these things just seem to happen with alarming regularity in Thailand.

I'm pretty sure that the 'Labrador' mother's details won't be found on any Kennel Club database, but she's a cute little thing and this pisses me off. Once the daughter had seen her, that was it. I feel I'm being manipulated into giving a home for another dog... which I do willingly but I like it to be on my terms. I have to jump through hoops to get another dog into our pack and yet the wife just gets pissed up and thinks it's fine to bring a cute puppy home. On the plus side is that she can no longer say, 'your bloody dogs'... because now they are, 'our bloody dogs'... because of course she has been given a home.

My daughter came up with a list of names and it's looking like 'Maya' is favourite. No problem for me as this was also the name of a Dutch girlfriend of mine from the mid 90s whom I still have very fond memories of. Very fond.

Maya may have some Labrador blood (what do you think JPPR?) and the first thing she did today was jump in the pool... but she also has a lovely ridge running down her spine.



Introducing another dog to the pack was an unexpected job, but is extremely rewarding. Maya is the first 'normal' dog we've had for a while and it was strange to have a dog following me around wagging her tail. We usually end up with misfits and miscreants.

I brought her outside and surprise surprise, Yogi was first to investigate. Yogi is a shagger and has doubtless started grooming Maya, waiting for her first season. I reckon she's around 10 weeks old, so should be safe for another 3 or 4 months. Yogi really is a shocking dog.



A little later Yogi has manipulated his past conquest Coco, and Maya into a siesta. He has no shame.



I was working on the waterfall all morning and Maya wouldn't stay out of the pond. She was under my feet or in the water the whole time. Which was lovely of course.



Maya's biggest problem is Dan, who even at over 14 years old is our matriarch and undisputed pack leader. Dan doesn't like other bitches and last year Coco was the only girl I have ever seen Dan accept.

Dan is not happy... so slowly slowly.



and Max no problem. Hes as daft as a brush and quite possibly a bit inbred, but he means well. He's also not 'intact' so doesn't really appreciate the whole girl-boy thing. He'll be no problem.



Here's Max and Coco together... just cos it's a nice pic. Maya turned her back on the camera.



Tommy is a lovely dog and a bit bullied by Max and Yogi... but he still tried to sidle on up during the afternoon snooze time.



But the undisputed grooming champion in our family is Yogi... he's despicable.

You can just read his mind...



So welcome Maya!

I guess once you have five dogs you may as well have six. It'll be some extra work for a couple of weeks to integrate her smoothly, but once accepted she'll be part of the pack and I'll watch each dog's relationships develop with fascination.

[strigils]

Well Mendip at least Maya has landed on her feet in finding you as a family. Looks like she'll be a good looking dog.

[Mendip]

^ I think she will be a good looking dog. I have no idea how big she'll end up but if her mother was a Labrador then she'll be bigger than the others.

I have no idea about her father... but then this is Thailand after all!

I think she's been a bit pampered... so the first step will be for our motley lot to bring her down a peg or two!

At night she's sleeping inside our house for a few days until I think she'll be safe sleeping with the others.

[strigils]

Just put a pair of Dan's knickers on her, a hat and a set of sunnies and she'll get accepted quick enough. I did notice she's got a really loooooong tail.

[Saint Willy]

First thing I noticed was how long her tail is

[Mendip]

^^ I think it would be a bit weird dressing up a puppy in the wife's underwear to be honest mate. I'll leave that for the adult dogs!


It seems that Maya is staying... I said she could have a day's probation and then we'd make a decision. Yeah right... what 9 year-old kid would vote against keeping a cute puppy...

To be honest it wasn't 2 votes against 1... I also have a weakness for dogs so Maya has been accepted unanimously!



Her apprenticeship into the Mendip household started immediately.



After chicken cleaning out and feeding it's time for a short break... the dogs know this and rest outside the kitchen waiting for their breakfast. Being new, Maya took Dan's favourite position on the door step...



But as is usual in Thailand, any problems disappear with time as everyone just falls asleep anyway. It's like a bladdy 7-Eleven shop.



I must admit that, as probably with any Westerner living in Isaan, I quite often think, 'how the fuk did I end up living here...?'

Now I'm also thinking. 'how the fuk did I end up with six dogs...?

Each individual dog has his or her own story... and to my mind each was unavoidable.... so how come everyone else doesn't have six dogs?

But anyway, I've done it now.

Maya can't stay out of the water. JP... you know labs... does she look like a half lab puppy to you? I'm also starting to think she's younger than I first thought... maybe only 8 or 9 weeks, which means she's gonna be a big dog.





I'm trying to balance letting her mix with our dogs un-restrictedly and managing any potential flash points. I think that often it's best to let these guys sort out everything themselves but don't want her injured. She disappeared this afternoon so I went looking...

It was just Yogi working his magic... guaranteed, he's just waiting for her first season and he'll be on her like one of Joe 90's car bonnets. No morals at all.

[hallelujah]

You should get Maya dressed up like Pamela Anderson coming out of the water in her Baywatch costume. I wouldn't put it past you either!

[strigils]

^^ I think it would be a bit weird dressing up a puppy in the wife's underwear to be honest mate. I'll leave that for the adult dogs!

Well i wasn't going to suggest you went that route, rather a set of Dan's cast offs.

Now I'm also thinking. 'how the fuk did I end up with six dogs...?

Just think, you can afford it in Thailand, some of the stories i hear about vets bills and costs for 1 or 2 dogs in the UK is horrendous. A woman at work a few years back racked up vets bills of over £3K in one year.

which means she's gonna be a big dog.

Looking at the length of her tail and she's quite broad i think you are right, she'll be bigger than your other dogs.