Anna the dog

[Mendip]

Imagine how easy life would be and how well off the dogs would be if everyone contributed 5% of what Mendip does

I'm no saint mate, I still disappear down Sukhumvit when I get the chance!

To be honest I get great reward from doing this. I spent 20 years as a gypsy in the oil industry when I couldn't even keep a cactus. I remember one year I had a call over Christmas for work, and ended up back 'home' in June cleaning the pine needles off the floor from the Christmas tree. It's a joy for me to be something like settled and being able to have pets again.

[Mendip]

I'm in Norway just now having picked up a few weeks onshore work and it's brought back memories of this time last year.

Last September I had all the dogs on my patch sorted out and went away for eight weeks work to the same office in Norway I'm working in just now. I got back home early last November and the first thing I found was this...



A brand new dog just up the road from our house with a litter of pups. After asking around it seemed that someone had dumped the poor dog while she was pregnant and the general feeling was it was because they'd heard there was some daft farang in the area who took care of dogs. Sometimes things can backfire.

The family was living in the deep undergrowth just off this lane, but close to the same fast road where we had previously found Max. I had to get busy and start feeding them and find some homes. Almost straight way one of our neighbours took the light brown and white male puppy facing the camera in the picture above. A year later he is still doing well and found a good home. Meanwhile I was feeding the family and gradually getting accepted, but all of a sudden they all disappeared.

Well, we thought they had, but on a dog walk I heard some whimpering and my dogs sniffed out a little brown boy and a black girl huddled up together and all on their own. What to do...

Of course, there was only one thing to do! I had to bring them home.



I found a home for the black girl almost straight away from a guy I knew who lived 40km away in Non Thai, so that was a result. So, just the brown boy to sort out.

My daughter of course had fallen in love with the new puppy and had already named him Tommy. To my mind, once they've got a name, that's it. But as with Max, it was a matter of getting it passed with the missus and Dan.

My daughter was certainly my ally in this...



And Max was more than happy to get a new playmate...



Although was a bit surprised when Tommy tried to get some milk.



The chickens were happy...



And I had a new drinking buddy!



A couple of months previously our old dog Den had died and we were down to two dogs, Dan (his sister and the matriarch) and Max. Tommy was just a replacement really, not an addition and my wife, completely outnumbered, accepted defeat and capitulated. So, a new member of the family. Welcome Tommy!

Dan wasn't so sure, but Tommy was settling in and bonding with the family. We kept them separate to let Dan gradually get used to the idea. Here she is looking on at Tommy and his black sister before she went off to Non Thai.



Tommy slept at night on his own in a Hong Thong box in the workshop toilet. You have to be sure before you leave a new puppy alone with established adult dogs.



If you notice that Tommy's fur looks all patchy, I've seen this with a lot of new street puppies. They seem to moult and lose their puppy fur, and are also probably out of condition at first. But don't let it put you off as I've never known it not to clear up after a week or so of good food and a good wash or two. They all come good with a bit of tlc.

[Mendip]

In the meantime the mum dog had re-appeared with five puppies. She hadn't gone far but had just retreated into the undergrowth for a few days and taken her family with her. This must have been a litter of eight but one of the puppies was very shy and impossible to get close to.

Five homes to find, and a new poster to make for my daughter's school. My advertising had got a bit more desperate by this time. I think that a bit of truth bending is perfectly acceptable if it gets a puppy a home... I could only get pictures of four of the puppies and didn't even know if the fifth was a boy or girl. But I thought it important to get the puppies pictures out there, so went with the four we could catch. This was a good looking litter and I was optimistic.





Almost straight way the white and brown boys were offered a home together so I brought them in and cleaned them up. Tommy was reunited with two of his brothers for a night and loved it. Here he is playing with them - Tommy is the brown pup with no tail (his brother had a proper tail).



A few days later we found a home for the white girl with a black head. She was beautiful and I would have liked to keep this one. She came in for a night to be cleaned up and Tommy was again briefly reunited with one of his siblings.



That left two brown girls. One (in the advert) was very friendly but her sister was very difficult to get close to. I had to spend a lot of time lying in the undergrowth to get her confidence. The mum had accepted me by this point so that helped reassure the puppy. I was getting concerned as the puppies were getting older and getting increasingly mobile. This is the most dangerous time for them and it was only a matter of time until they ended up on the road.

Then success! Someone offered them both a home together. I brought them in and cleaned them up. Tommy was made up to meet his two sisters again!



But the Hong Thong box wasn't big enough for the three of them... so after a night all crammed together in the box, off they had to go to their new home.



I was chuffed to bits, another litter of eight with homes!

[Mendip]

All Tommy had to do now was get accepted by Dan. He knew what he had to do and worked hard at it...



And eventually she relented and accepted him into the pack. Well almost... she let him sleep with them in the workshop but he still wasn't allowed on her bed.



We went off to the UK for a few weeks last Christmas and came back in early January.

Tommy had grown, and so had his relationship with Dan. They were now inseparable and played together constantly. Dan was like a young girl again - she likes her playmates young! (but that doesn't make her a bad person!)



And Tommy was still friends with the chickens, although stole their food from time to time. If you keep chickens, get a new puppy used to them as soon as possible - it saves a lifetime of problems.



The only problem now was for Max. Three's a crowd and he was getting left out. He needed his own playmate, but that's another story...

In the meantime, while Dan and Tommy were off in the garden playing, Max kept me company for my evening tipple!



There is nothing wrong with these street dogs and if all this makes just one person think about giving a dog a home, it's worth it!

[tomcat]

...daughter is going to be a heart breaker when she grows up...oh, nice dogs, too...

[thaiguzzi]

Wonderful story again Mendip, thank you.

[Mendip]

Early this year, while Dan and Tommy were forming their relationship, there was one more problem area on my patch. A pack of around eight dogs were living up by an isolated house on the edge of my dog walking route.

I'd got to know the people in the house, an ex-policeman and his wife and family. They had dogs themselves and also tried to feed this pack, but there were just too many to cope with. One bitch had already had one litter that had all died through starvation. That's the problem with the wild bitches - they won't allow you close enough to feed the pups and any food you leave out will get eaten by the adult dogs. I occasionally left a sack of dog biscuits with the policeman, but something had to be done.

I went away for a short work trip and when I got back found that two more bitches had had litters. Eight dogs would soon be over twenty with no intervention so it was time to get serious. The two bitches with litters were very different. One was tame and would let you feed her and handle the pups. She was named 'Buddy' by my daughter - one of the worst names she has come up with. Initially her litter was large but all but two disappeared one night and the policeman said that a big python in the area had taken them. The only good result of this was that the two remaining pups thrived with no competition for the mum's milk.



With sod's law, Buddy's two remaining pups were both girls which are always difficult to home. These puppies followed their mum's lead and were comfortable around people and were very placid. Luckily both were also beautiful, and plump with all the food. You could just tell how well they would brush up...





Didn't even have to advertise these. A few photos shared around and both went together to a good home! A few days later the mum went off to the vet and had the snip. Today Buddy is still doing well living behind the policeman's house with her brother. She can relax now without her ovaries - the policeman is happy to keep her around knowing there will be no more puppies and a lot of the roving male dogs have disappeared once they realised they couldn't spread their genes.

The other litter was a different story. The mum was very nervous around people and got agitated if you went close. Her puppies all learned this behaviour and also kept their distance. Instead of keeping them safe, this meant that mother and puppies were really struggling, under-nourished, out of condition and way too small for their age. This litter was going to be a problem... they were a bunch of scrawny wild rats and needed help before they became too wild and beyond hope.

[Norton]

off to the vet and had the snip

That's the ticket. Much more of this would go a long way to fixing Thailand's dismal soi dig situation.

[headhunter]

i have got to make a trip down your place when i get the chance,one thing that concerns the wife is the ticks she can see on some of their bodies,yet she cant get near them.
i dont beleive in giving them medication as its no different to PESTICIDES that not only destroy's their immune system,it makes them very depressed,and they then have to have liver support and blood support,and it doesn't treat the disease only the symptoms,i once tried to take DOXY to protect against malaria,made me feel like a zombie. the meds that all vets give to dogs with a parasite problem along with prednisalone,the only thing that keeps them going is,soi dogs are tough cookies,as living in the wild makes them so gratefull to everyone that feeds them.yesterday I went for a walk with the wife and encountered one of the dogs she feeds,the look he gave me went through me,although he is very nervous the wife spoke to him and he relaxed and stopped his evil look.do you mendip have a problem with ticks.?all my studies on the subject say's there is no cure other than to prolong the ending,HEARTBREAKING.
HH.

[thaiguzzi]

Ivermec or Iver 12.5 or similar named, different brand solution.
Available from country farm animal supplies, used on cattle etc.
10 ml for a medium Heinz 57 type Thai soi dog, 15ml for a big dog like our Rotty/Husky.
Injected into the back of the neck every 8-10 weeks. Forever. No need to go the vets if your wife is not shy of using syringes.
Keeps ticks away, and if the odd one has got on in tick season, the things soon fall off brown bread and shrivelled.
Dogs 10-12 y/o, still alive and healthy, injected them all their lives.

[headhunter]

Ivermec or Iver 12.5 or similar named, different brand solution.
Available from country farm animal supplies, used on cattle etc.
10 ml for a medium Heinz 57 type Thai soi dog, 15ml for a big dog like our Rotty/Husky.
Injected into the back of the neck every 8-10 weeks. Forever. No need to go the vets if your wife is not shy of using syringes.
Keeps ticks away, and if the odd one has got on in tick season, the things soon fall off brown bread and shrivelled.
Dogs 10-12 y/o, still alive and healthy, injected them all their lives.

your lucky that you have enough experience of the dosage amount you can give,as its [ivermectin]is mostly used for CATTLE as is another [endex] you have to be VERY carefull of the dosage as dogs can suffer from adverse reactions that can be fatal.as I said soi dogs are very tough and can live without medication as long as their immune system is strong.anyone thinking about getting a dog has to weigh up the does and donts,as there is tooooooooooooooo much cross breeding that is NOT suitable for Thailand.i am sure mendip will agree with some of my posts,and although I wouldn't own another, GET A SOI DOG.i have lived near a bangkaew who now must be over 12yrs.of age,yet his owner tells me the only injections he gets are for rabies and has never given any concern.

[OhOh]

When these poor bitches come into heat they are shagged mercilessly for a few days by every dog in the neighbourhood, one after another.

Your "poor bitches" will run towards any male dog given a chance, wafting her scent and peeing to attract a good sized pack. She will stand awaiting service, until every pack member has been exhausted and returned for seconds/thirds, after a brief rest.

The next day, the same repeated coupling if the bitch has a chance.

Some people encourage this explosive increase in infected, mangy, soi dog density. The pack will turn on anything unusual, including children.

Keep up your illusion of happy, contented Thai soi dogs.

[Mendip]

^ You're right, these bitches can't escape the innate instinct of species survival. That's inbuilt, they have no choice. Still not nice to see them worn out and dead within a few years though.

Everyone's experience is different. In my experience I have found that well fed soi dogs are calm and friendly. Of course they will turn on another dog coming into their patch, that'ssurvival and they're protecting their territory. I've never seen them turning on kids, but again, everyone's experience is different.

My efforts of feeding, finding homes for puppies and neutering females has reversed the 'explosion in infected, mangy, soi dog density' round our way. Where previously there were several big packs, now there are a few individuals with no chance of breeding. But maybe it would be better to do nothing, but I can't see how that helps the problem.

I appreciate of course there is an argument to let nature take it's course and not help these dogs, but to my mind it's the current inaction that has caused the population explosion, not the individuals who provide help. A concerted effort of neutering could humanely solve the problem in a few years, they don't live long. But is that ever going to happen?

I would like to think the few dogs I've helped and brought in are contented - certainly more so than they were previously, when like all the other uncared for dogs on the street. The uncared for dogs, who then get infected and mangy are anything but contented. But how can you possibly blame them for that?

[Mendip]

Ivermec or Iver 12.5 or similar named, different brand solution.
Available from country farm animal supplies, used on cattle etc.
10 ml for a medium Heinz 57 type Thai soi dog, 15ml for a big dog like our Rotty/Husky.
Injected into the back of the neck every 8-10 weeks. Forever. No need to go the vets if your wife is not shy of using syringes.
Keeps ticks away, and if the odd one has got on in tick season, the things soon fall off brown bread and shrivelled.
Dogs 10-12 y/o, still alive and healthy, injected them all their lives.

That's interesting. Our vet sends a veterinary nurse on rounds every day and he visits us about every three months and gives the dogs injections for ticks (and I think heart worm). The home visits cost 200 Baht on top of the injections, which is good value and a hell of a lot easier than taking four dogs to the vet.

I've vaccinated a lot of the street dogs round our way for rabies and parvo, so maybe I could try your recommendation for the ticks as well. These dogs all take off if the vet turns up so I have to do it myself. How does it come - in a bottle? And what is the shelf life? Would it please be possible to post up a photo of it as I find it so much easier to get hold of this sort of thing with a picture to show.

[thaiguzzi]

I'll see what i can do re photo.
Yeah comes in a usual small brown medicinal bottle in blue/white box, tad smaller than your thumb.
Shelf life never a problem. Comes out of a fridge in the shop, and until we run out, stays in the fridge this end.
Prolly get near a bottle pa for 3 dogs worth.

[beerlaodrinker]

In the meantime the mum dog had re-appeared with five puppies. She hadn't gone far but had just retreated into the undergrowth for a few days and taken her family with her. This must have been a litter of eight but one of the puppies was very shy and impossible to get close to.

Five homes to find, and a new poster to make for my daughter's school. My advertising had got a bit more desperate by this time. I think that a bit of truth bending is perfectly acceptable if it gets a puppy a home... I could only get pictures of four of the puppies and didn't even know if the fifth was a boy or girl. But I thought it important to get the puppies pictures out there, so went with the four we could catch. This was a good looking litter and I was optimistic.





Almost straight way the white and brown boys were offered a home together so I brought them in and cleaned them up. Tommy was reunited with two of his brothers for a night and loved it. Here he is playing with them - Tommy is the brown pup with no tail (his brother had a proper tail).



A few days later we found a home for the white girl with a black head. She was beautiful and I would have liked to keep this one. She came in for a night to be cleaned up and Tommy was again briefly reunited with one of his siblings.



That left two brown girls. One (in the advert) was very friendly but her sister was very difficult to get close to. I had to spend a lot of time lying in the undergrowth to get her confidence. The mum had accepted me by this point so that helped reassure the puppy. I was getting concerned as the puppies were getting older and getting increasingly mobile. This is the most dangerous time for them and it was only a matter of time until they ended up on the road.

Then success! Someone offered them both a home together. I brought them in and cleaned them up. Tommy was made up to meet his two sisters again!



But the Hong Thong box wasn't big enough for the three of them... so after a night all crammed together in the box, off they had to go to their new home.



I was chuffed to bits, another litter of eight with homes!

This calls for another box of hong thong

[Mendip]

That litter in the last pic of post 83 was obviously going to be a problem. They were a motley looking bunch, in poor condition and with a very nervous mother. If anyone came close she would start barking and take off - probably abused at some point in the past. Their home was in a load of dry grass in a ditch up against a wall. Once the mum had taken off I went in to take a look. The puppies were nervous, following their mother, but still young enough not to be too mobile and so didn't run off.



We managed to get a pic of each pup to start trying to find homes. It wasn't going to be easy. I had never been so pessimistic about finding homes for a litter before. They all needed a couple of weeks of tlc to get them in good condition, but that was impossible.

[Mendip]

There was something about the top left boy I liked immediately. He was calm and just stared. He also looked very different from the rest, but let's face it, he wasn't the prettiest of puppies. He needed some luck.

It's all about looks, and the boy, bottom left, was offered the first home. A family in Khon Buri were interested, so I quickly picked him up and took him home for a clean up.



He brushed up nicely, and made the most of the first decent food he'd ever had. This pup looks way too young to leave his mum, but he looked a lot younger than his actual age. I reckon he was about nine weeks here, but so undernourished that he only looked about six weeks old. Even nine weeks is too young really, but a home's a home. To be honest he was so small I could probably have marketed him as a hamster and maybe Luigi would have given him a home?

We had to keep him for a few days until he could be picked up at the weekend. The trusty Hong Thong box had long gone, so he had to make do with a Leo box for home.

He was around long enough for residents Max and Tommy to make friends.



And he liked to join me for my evening tipple...



But off he had to go. Today, about eight months later, he's still doing well in Khon Buri.

[Mendip]

After this I had to go away for a couple of weeks, and it was a busy time so I had no time to think about the puppies. I went down to Bangkok for an offshore medical for work, and had a skin check-up at the same time. Then down to Samut Prakan for the offshore survival course, then straight off to Singapore to sort visa stuff out. I remember that while waiting for the Singapore flight I had a text from Bumrungrad saying I had a bit of skin cancer that needed cutting out - 20 years of living in the tropics coming home to roost... so anyway, after Singapore it was back to Bangkok to sort that out. I forgot all about the puppies.

But in the meantime my wife and gardener continued to feed the mum and carried on looking for homes.

When I eventually got back home three more puppies had been homed! These of course included the lovely chocolate brown girl and the boy with brown patches. It's all about looks...

So there were two boys and two girls left who needed homes. They were starting to get nervous and agitated, same as the mum, so it was crucial to find them homes as soon as possible, before it was too late and they had become too wild.

Ya know, I get sick of my darling wife spending so much time on Facebook and LINE, but it has it's uses. Credit where credit's due, she found two homes. One home wanted two girls, and the other home wanted two boys! Result!!! Job done.

I quickly picked up the remaining four pups to clean them up and feed them up for a few days before going off to their respective homes. I always fee sorry for the mother when I take the last puppies, but it has to be done. Once the pups are weened, the mums' soon lose interest, so losing their pups a little bit early is a necessary evil to give the guys a chance.

Just to give some idea of the state of these puppies, here is a 'before' pic...



Yes, those are fleas. These puppies were absolutely infested and took an hour each to wash and pick the fleas off. I don't know how anyone can fail to feel sorry for these guys. After a tormented puppy-hood of being parasite ridden, all they have to look forward to is starving to death.

But not when I'm around!

I eventually cleaned the four pups up, bathing and then dusting with flea powder, and then had to find a new box for a home. The Hong Thong and Leo boxes can't handle four puppies!

I just want to mention something here. If you've spent a day plucking fleas off puppies, and then later, when in bed with the wife, if you see a flea on her forehead then just don't say a word. Not a thing, not even in passing. It's just not worth it.



Tommy is never far away when new puppies are stopping over...



And Max doesn't want to be left out...



But they had to go... and then disaster!

The people offering the boys a home stopped answering their phone. In typical Thai fashion, rather than call and say they'd changed their minds, they just cut contact. We were stuck with the two boys and what to do?

No way I could put them back in the wild after they had been given a bit of hope.

So, some quick negotiations and one boy went with the two girls. The other boy, the one I had had my eye on from the start, was going to stay with us! It cost me mind...

Here he is, still staring, before being separated from his siblings.

[Mendip]

He was soon named Yogi - by me this time. My daughter wanted to name him after some wanky youtuber, and modern as I am, I can't have that.

Here is the gang with Yogi trying to settle in...



As with Max and Tommy before him, Yogi had to get accepted by Dan, the matriarch. He was well aware of this and worked hard...



No problem with the boys, they were friends from the get go...



And gradually they formed a pack. Dan the boss, then Max, then Tommy, and last but not least, Yogi. Once the order is established, all is calm. And it's rare the dogs are far apart...



But Tommy and Yogi, the two youngest, developed a special bond...

[Mendip]

As Yogi grew up he became more relaxed, and dare I say it, contented...



I know you can't give human emotions to animals, but I'm convinced that the dogs who've spent time on the street are grateful for being given a chance. Or maybe that's just a romantic emotion...

But tell me Yogi isn't smiling here while the boys take their 'after walk' morning dip...



Strange, they love to go in the pond, yet hate their swimming lessons...



And here is the gang today... I am greeted by this every morning and wouldn't swap it for the world!

[Loy Toy]

I have 4 dogs with 3 being adopted and they bring me joy everyday.

[Mendip]

Just a bit of a footnote.

Here is Yogi on a walk. He is looking back at his dad - a crippled but lovely 'street' dog who never had a chance. We keep him going but he is way to scared of humans to let us get close. Incidentally, that is Elsa, from previous posts, photo-bombing the picture,.She always comes to say hello on our dog walks.



Yogi is the most peculiar dog. He constantly stares at us with what only looks like love in his eyes, but he doesn't like to be touched. If I sit outside, he comes and sits 3 feet away and stares at me. I go to pet him, and he jumps up and sits down again just out of reach. He's gradually getting more affectionate but clearly doesn't like to be touched. He's never shown the slightest bit of aggression, and to me that's what matters and the rest is up to him. I put this down to learned behaviour from his extremely nervous mother, but would love to understand animal behaviour better. I think that sometimes these guys make better outside dogs than house dogs, as that would put them under stress. Some of them need space.

On the other hand, maybe he's just not 'touchy'. I can sympathise - I'm not a touchy person and don't like hugs. After a work trip these 'man hugs' leave me cold, and even with the girls I'm only keen with the young, pretty trainees. To be honest I don't even want a hug off the missus unless it's leading somewhere.

But anyway, I digress. I just want to show two final pictures.

Here is Yogi, at about six weeks old and with no hope. Starvation, mange and disease were his only future... (you can see the fleas in this pic)



And here is Yogi today. A healthy, content and loved dog.



That is why I do this, and write all this nonsense. The only difference between a mangy, diseased street dog and a house dog... is a home and a bit of loving care and attention.

They will give it back in spades.

Give 'em a chance.

[Mendip]

And a very final footnote about this litter.

After the pups were homed we finally managed to catch the mum. She was darted at the same time as Elsa, mentioned earlier in this thread and who you can see in a cage in the background. Yogi's mum went to the vet for spaying.



Sadly she escaped after the op, when being transferred from the vet to a car for transport back home. As usual in Thailand, if you want something done properly, do it yourself.

She of course disappeared and it was at the other side of Korat, so no chance of finding her way home. I still feel very guilty about this, as she asked for none of it.

I like to think she found a new home and someone who will feed her, but you have to be realistic.

She escaped up Headhunter's end of town, so my hope is that she is now one of his waifs and strays. Makes me feel better to think she's still out there, somewhere...

[headhunter]

PRECIOUS MEMOURIES that live with you FOREVER.heartbreaking memouries TOO that you also never forget.please let me know when she went missing,the wife feeds 2 white dogs but both are male.there is new ones I see almost every day at the rubbish bins about 200metre's from our boundry wall so unless I get a close up look I cant tell if they are male or female.but with so many homeless dogs around at the back of our property its impossible to keep track of them.some of them I have proberly seen for more than 6-8yrs,i always picked out the ones that were afraid to feed with the pack and wait for them to go,then I would shake a plastic bag to get them to come to me.over the years I grey fond of many,but not ONE wagged their tails and even before they ate the food I gave them,[chicken,liver,hearts and rice or biscuit I had to keep hidden.then use a pole to retrieve the empties.but as there are so many around the back with others feeding them I still look for the ones that I recognize but hope they don't look for me as it still leave's a BIG hole in my heart.
HH.DOG LOVER.