Weekly feed at Wat Doi Kam

Not a good day.

First of all I went to the car park to feed the residents, had a big bucket of food along with bowls, water and chews for a crunchy desert.

Along came Oscar looking forlorn and Mare came too. Butch stood back and the 3 of them ate a few bowls each. After quite some time Taylor turned up.

I walked to the temple and when I greeted the Pepsi stall holder, she just lowered her eyes. I went inside the temple square and looked at the bag of food I brought 4 weeks ago. It had only just been opened. I asked the women, that are now appearing to be regularly cooking up something in the kitchen area but I not sure for who, if they had seen any other dogs around? I was greeted with an emotional outburst that I finally understood to say that 2 dogs had died. I asked which ones & how she knew and she said they had not eaten and starved to death. She said that Sandy and another Black & White dog had died. So that tells me that either Lady, Pat or Gina have died.

I asked if she fed them during the week? She said she cooked them rice and vegetables. I asked her if she mixed the dry dog food I brought to their kitchen a month ago. She said she thought her cooking was better than that food. I bit my tongue a little and tried to explain about vitamins and protein. I also attempted to explain about dominant & submissive behaviour ( in dogs!!) but I fear it was all wasted. I just cannot get the Thai words that I know to actually say what I want to communicate.

I returned to the car park and found Sonja & Dam chasing chickens (protein) and after another half hour of waiting for other dogs to come out into the open, I packed up and drove away feeling very sad and wanting to scream so loud but not sure at who.

Here are just a few suggestions -

• people that dumped the dogs here in the first place


• folks that come and go, not thinking twice about these poor souls


• the staff at the temple


• the powers that be, for failing to establish an acceptable level of animal welfare


• myself for not finding time every day to come to this temple


• the majority of the population of Chiang Mai for not helping dogs here at the temple, or for that matter throughout Chiang Mai


• the majority of the population of Thailand for not helping dogs throughout Thailand


• me, for ........ there must be something I could have done

I will finish this days diary entry with a few pics of the car park at Wat Doi Kam, some, just some ( 1% of the visible total) of the rubbish, the remains of fires that are just adding to the smog and a very disturbing sight.

This rubbish bin must have contained something in the way of food for the dogs to have clawed it so much. Do they raid this bin in a hope that their next and maybe last meal will be inside ? I make no apologies for writing such sadness.

10 hour day - Fe's gets sterilised - Its official !

At 8:30 this morning I went to the shelter to pick up the dogs that were due to go to the vet today. There was Fe, previously sterilised last July and then pregnant & gave birth last December. There was Aunty, who was affected by Distemper when she was younger and as a consequence, nods her head 24 hours a day. And then there was Molly, who is currently on heat. So all 3 needing a little bit of special treatment during the operation.

The vet advised me afterwards, that Fe had definitely not been previously sterilised as there were no signs of scar tissue and she had both her ovaries & fallopian tubes intact. Molly's op was successful without complication and Aunty was sedated with a different anaesthetic to deal with her condition appropriately.

Also along today is Daeng Gwaa, the dog from the village. The owner of the dogs' father is still threatening to kill Daeng Gwaa.

From the shelter, Naiomi & Luca who are both suffering from a persistent cough. The vet said their lungs are ok and that was a relief. He suggested we change their meds slightly.

And finally this morning, I took along a village dog called Aidut, a Jack Russell / Beagle cross. He is suffering with blood parasites and last week his blood platelets were so low that blood poored from his nose. Today he received an injection to boost his blood condition. Cute little guy.

Left the 4 for sterilisation with the vet & took the other 3 back to the shelter / home.

Met up with Kh Yu at the NakornPayap International School to drop off some sales & information stuff for a forthcoming Movie Night they are holding to raise money for our shelter.

For lunch I met a friend at his home and his sister who is visiting from Holland. Renate joined me in the afternoon, when I went back to the shelter & collected Sandy & Diane to return them to their previous homes, now having recovered from their operations.

While we were at the shelter I could see Renate falling in love for so many of the dogs at the shelter and she found it very difficult to hide the tears.

We took Sandy back to Wat Doi Kam and met up with the usual crowd there and it was great to see so many of the pack. She was now sterilised and looking fatter than when she came to the shelter a month ago.








We then went to Big C and returned Diane to her mate, Valentino. He looked very happy to see her, standing back and chilling out as she polished off the remnants of a pile of chicken bones. Her small operation to remove her rear dew claws was a sucess and she no longer limped or showed signs of discomfort from her legs.







Learning how to drive away from Big C now, Valentino always wants to follow me and I inevitably turn back and stop him running. This hurts every time. Today though I did a bit of a detour and snaked through traffic till he lost sight of me.











At about 16:30 we drove to Kachow market to meet up with a coffee stall vendor who cares for dogs in the area. She had been looking after a little Labrador type pup who dragged his legs behind him. We picked him up and he will stay the night at the shelter before seeing the Orthopedic specialist at the small animal hospital tomorrow morning.




Dropped Renate off at her home in a flood of tears and promised we would do this again. She is a great animal lover and I look forward to seeing her again soon.

Picked up the 4 sterilisations from the vets and took them back to the shelter and their homes.

Arrived home at 19:00.

Weekly Feed at Wat Doi Kam

Tried to catch the TvT bitch on the way to the temple this morning but the other male dogs kept getting between me & her and I could not get near her. Keep trying ......

Felt bad when I got to the temple. Only saw Sonja and Dam. But after a lot of calling and whistling, a few more turned up for a decent meal.

Today I managed to see

1. Sonja - Feet much better for the rest at the shelter 2 weeks ago.


2. Dam - Bully boy


3. Oscar - Gentle old boy but definatly the boss


4. Gina


5. Pat


6. Taylor - Mange getting worse


7. Blackie - Limping on her front left paw (can't get near her)


8. Butch - So sad ( I just want to give him a big hug)

Where have the others gone? There were 15 here a month ago. Kam & Sandy are at the shelter right now but that still means that another 5 are out there somewhere.

Sterilisation Run

Took Sandy from Doi Kam, a village dog called Caesar and a cat from the same house for sterilisation today.

Also returned Sonja to Doi Kam after spending a week at the shelter with her feet bandaged and getting daily treatment. She is usch a loving dog. Whenever I go to the temple, she is always the first to greet me and lift her paws up and bowing her head to play with me. She gets a nice cuddle every time too!

Dropped off a new bag of dog food for the monks at Doi Kam while I was there.