Today I returned to Rama IX public Park, where 2 weeks ago I last visited to meet up with Nudee, a longterm friend and doggy in need.

I wrote about my recent encounter with him and that I had found a food vendor (Kh Toy) working in the park, who had made a point of telling me he wanted to help Nudee.

The conversation had gone a little like this:

Toy: Yes hello, how are you? (Holding out his hand to invite me to shake it)
Ally: Fine thanks, you speak very good English, where did you learn that?
Toy: Yes thank you, I was in the USA for many years but now I am retired
Ally: Can you help me to feed Nudee some medicine every day to help him recover?
Toy: Yes I can, my wife brings food here for the dogs anyway
Ally: These are some tins of sardines, here is a plastic bowl and here is a bottle of Ivomectin
Toy: Yes
Ally: I need for you to give Nudee .5ml of this liquid in some sardines in this bowl every day
Toy: Yes
Ally: Don’t give him the whole can at once, just a little with the Ivomectin first and then the remainder as a reward
Toy: Yes, can I give him some chicken too?
Ally: Sure but just make sure he gets the Ivomec.

No prizes for guessing what Toy’s next word was!

So after a 2 week period and me being away from Chiang Mai, today I expected to see some improvement in Nudee and hear from Toy that he had managed to make Nudee’s life a little easier.

Wrong Assumption!

Ally: Hi Kh Toy, where is Nudee?
Toy: Yes he is probably with the soldiers, they eat at this time
Ally: Are you managing to give him the medicine every day?
Toy: No
This word threw me a little!
Toy: It’s not easy on your own, I think I need your help to hold him
Ally: Hold him? You mean he runs away when you give him sardines or chicken?
Toy: Yes he is difficult to hold and struggles and gets away
Ally: Why do you need to hold him to feed him?
Toy: Feed?

So there we have it, a classic case of assuming that because someone speaks a language, it dosn’t mean they understand it!

Well after a brief session of forced laughter from me and genuine embarrassment from Toy, I agreed I would go along tomorrow and demonstrate the details of opening a can of sardines and mixing a small quantity of liquid medicine with the juices and tempting the taste buds of one hungry dog.

The mind boggles.