Big hearted people & very wise dogs

These scenes are typical from my experience when around Karin & Amandine who as you can see pour their hearts out to the dogs they meet and give them so much care.

I know there are many folks like this in the world like these but currently I am blown away with how totally focused & dedicated they are towards the improvement of health of homeless dogs on the streets and in temples here in Chiang Mai.

Well done girls and I am so proud to know you and witness the differences you make to these beautiful creatures.

I have just discovered an interesting observation that will now stay with me for a long time. Photo's like these are precious and whenever you see a photo of a dog that is homeless, there is a story behind that photo that would take a page or more to write.

Sometimes we don't know all the story, there is no way we can but when we know dogs over a long period the history builds up. Not every doggy comes into this world with a healthy mother, soft warm bed and plenty of food to give them a good start. And when they are up on their feet, the dangers they face from everyday life, although making them very wise for their young shoulders, marks them for their life. They find homes(shelters) where they can and move from one food source to another in a hope that this place will be more safe & secure than the last. Maybe they are remembering the car than dropped them off at the temple and constantly listen for that similar car or see the headlights in the night & hope the car will come back for them. Maybe they just turn their backs on the world that deserted them and pledged to fight the rest of their lives to survive.

Whatever their story, its a long battled and embittered one that few humans could possibly relate to.

Thursday Vet Run

Once again we took along the TvT cases currently with us and all are doing fine. Also coming with us on the morning trip for sterilisation, are 3 girls Fai, Nak & BoonRod. They will spend the day there and after their afternoon nap we will pick them up again & return to the shelter for a week of TLC.

I was asked by friend recently, who I thought was fairly street savvy "what does TLC in your blog mean?" Silly me, I assume too much. Anyway, for those others I have wrongfully assumed knew the meaning, its Tender Loving Care.

A couple of youngsters came to the vet today for checks. One was Cindy, a puppy brought in from a temple for check as she was acting very strangely. She just seemed to cower in corners and stay away from others, and not eating or otherwise acting like a typical puppy would. After a few visits now, it seems there is nothing the vets can find wrong, apart from the fact she is extremely scared and needs to relax & accept food from strangers.

Cheeky, this cute bundle of fun, is one of 8 pups born to a dog named Dok. She is a very antisocial thing but her pups are well fed, appearing quite healthy and getting the early safe & secure environment they need in life to get a good start by way of food, water, de-worming & vaccination.


Cheeky it turns out has an outbreak of fungal infection on her foot and a couple of the others have got it too on their bodies. Cheeky is the guinea pig today and we shall give the same treatment to the others, pink anti-biotic syrup and seborectic showers.

In the waiting room, I met Sua who was very keen to see our pups but was not going to get too near! No thats not a hair band, its actually a (paid for) hair cut style. The owner of this dog wanted to practice his English with me and reminded me of some of the awful experiences I witness when holiday makers ( and some long stay folks ) talk to Thai people. Why is it that people assume that people that cannot speak their language are also deaf?

Later in the day I met up with another Cindy, who is far less shy and accepts food from anyone!

Some other dogs we met today

First of all today's photogenic dog award goes to Wan. She just needed to cool down!

Today I had the pleasure of meeting up with Amandine who has just flown from the USA for a 2 month holiday to work hands on with Care for Dogs.

Amandine founded Care for Dogs with Karin a year ago and is currently working & studying veterinary practice in America whilst at the same time trying to raise funds and awareness of our efforts to help the dogs here in Thailand.

We visited a temple in the city where we have been helping the health of the dogs there, vaccinating, feeding and dealing with some TvT cases. Amandine set about taking ticks off as many dogs that would allow her, much to the amazement of the school children who were fascinated that foreigners would get down on their hands and knees and de-tick so many dogs.

We saw the deteriorating state of some pups that were born about a month ago. More worrying, are that 4 more pups have been born there this week. This is so sad. A month ago we rescued a pregnant dog from here back to the shelter & she too has now had her litter at the shelter. This temple has been in need of help for so long. Lets hope we can now make a difference and sterilise all the females as soon as possible.

Our next stop was to check on a couple of dogs Amandine had helped when she was last here. We called in at Big C & met Valentino ( along with his friend Diane). Unfortunately his condition has deteriorated and the mange that plagued him before has returned. Amandine gave him some mackerel & Ivomec and made a deal with him, that if he took the medicine, she would visit him regularly to give him the mackerel.

Next we visited a temple near to Big C, Wat Don Chan. This was the site of an awful massacre of many dogs about 2 years ago, when the labourers killed, bar-b-q'd the dogs and left their heads for all to see. Apparently the number killed was thought to be well over 20. Today we found a few dogs there. A couple in a bad condition with Mange and a monk who wanted his pet Tshizoo vaccinated.

After giving appropriate medication and making another promise to return regularly, we made our way to Wat Doi Kam. I haven't mention the situation here recently, mainly because I have become so upset by the treatment the dogs were receiving by the monks and staff there but also because the numbers of dogs had dwindled away from 15 in February this year to 3 last month. Then out of the blue, some of the dogs that I feared killed or otherwise missing returned. The Doi Kam Pack has now reduced to 11 but this is made up of 4 new faces. Nik & Nak are 2 little cuties dumped about 4 weeks ago. They are obviously from a family environment and are quite affectionate. They have short legs, smooth brown coats and very kissable heads. 1 is female, so we shall sterilise her but today we took both of them to the shelter in a hope that someone might like to adopt them.

Whilst at the temple, we tried ( & failed !!) to blow dart a female that had now finished nursing her single remaining pup. Never did know how many she had, she hid them in the forest and only recently has the scrawny female pup ventured out for food along with her mum. Hopefully we can catch them both soon.