I had the good fortune to meet this wonderful dog while living in a temporary house near to Wua Lai in the Old City of Chiang Mai for a couple of months not so long ago. My friend and I would walk our dogs the length of our soi and mid way down always see a gorgeous face, albeit with one blind eye, gazing out at us from the shade of a car or shop awning.

I very quickly established enough of a rapport with Dodo to be able to stroke and talk to him or be ignored as it quickly became apparent that my dogs and I were no threat to his territory. It was obvious to me from early on that he was very sick, I had no idea how sick, however. As with so many soi dogs he had no owner although all the other soi dogs around this area were well-fed looking – not so Dodo. He was very thin and according to the locals not really eating – I could see for myself that he was lethargic and fading fast. His only source of water was the drips from the ice of the shop fridge. Despite this seeming neglect he was and is very much loved but by people without the resources to care for a dog in the way I understand it and certainly not foot hefty vet bills.

After 10 days or so of living in this area and seeing Dodo daily, I approached the 2 families with whom Dodo seemed most in contact and together we organised a vehicle to take us all to the vet (after rather a scuffle with new collar, lead and eventually muzzle!).

The prognosis was not good. Dodo was not simply unwell – he was dying and would have been dead within a month if action was not taken. I later learned that his brother and mother had died in this same soi of similar illnesses. I immediately called Ally at Care for Dogs who acted with her usual efficiency and agreed that Dodo should be brought to the shelter for treatment.

After a seemingly good start, Dodo’s 6 week sojourn in the shelter was not a very happy one. He made enemies pretty quickly and I was not able to go near him for fear of his being attacked, this also made it difficult to get extra food to him. Even so, his course of medication for blood parasites was completed in the last week and I began agonising over ways to get him out of the shelter as he still needed to put on weight and thoroughly deserved a break. I was convinced that he would be the perfect dog if adopted and decided to lobby friends in Chiang Mai to foster him with the hope that they would quickly fall in love and want to keep him. What a lesson I learned!

Ann, Care for Dogs Thai translator, and her boyfriend Sam stepped forward and offered to have him temporarily. I took him there a few days ago. While I was there he was sweet, affectionate and seemed to settle in. The moment I left and the gate shut him into their yard he became very agitated and snapped at them when they approached him. He simply was not used to being behind a gate and didn’t like it one bit! Poor Ann! She called me that evening extremely worried as he had escaped and refused to come back in! Despite the distress that this caused us, we could both see that he was showing us something with his behaviour: he wanted his freedom…

I called Karin, Care for Dogs co-founder, and we both quickly agreed that an attempt should be made to return him to his home…this had seemed such an alien thing for me to do – Dodo’s ‘home’ is, well, a street! No bed, no bowl, no toys, no lead and daily walk…I could not have done this with a clear conscience had I not seen how unhappy he was while being ‘owned’, even temporarily.

Ann and I went together to talk to the families on his old soi. When we pulled up he quickly recognised where he was and fought to get out of the car. The first English word I had heard from Pi Yong, who had always done her best to care for Dodo while he lived on her street, was when she saw him from inside the car. She called out, ‘Dodo? Beautiful!’ I immediately let him go free and he ran over to her and then around and around his old territory before coming to rest in his old haunt; lying in the shade beside the fridge outside the shop.

The families were clearly delighted to see Dodo and he them. I wish I had been there to see the reaction of Dodo’s favourite – a little boy with autism who used to sit grooming and stroking him for hours on end – sadly I couldn’t stay until the end of the school day. All who Ann talked to were adamant that they would use the food we gave them for now and that there was no need for a continuing supply – there would always be enough for him there. They were happy to learn that I would be visiting frequently with continuing medication for heart worm and flea/tick treatments as well as a jolly good cuddle with Dodo who I have become very fond of. The feeling, I know, is mutual as he chased my car as far as he could before returning to his old, new home. It is my belief that he will need monitoring for his lifetime, but we have returned a dog to his street much healthier, fully vaccinated, sterilised and shown his carers an alternative way to deal with sick soi dogs. I for one am very proud of all of our efforts at Care for Dogs – surely this is what it is all about?

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