The little fluffy dog stood in the middle of the highway that leads from Mae Joe to Chiang Mai. While driving past, I noted her with one eye, and suddenly had a strange feeling - something was wrong. You see a lot dogs along the highways, in bustling streets, even sleeping on the road, and I sometimes wonder how they manage to survive - well, not all do. But this dog was clearly a dog who didn’t have any experience with traffic. Furthermore she didn’t look like a Thai dog, more than a pedigree mix, which also made it more likely that she was an owner dog. I took the next U-Turn and returned, she was still in the middle of the road, bewildered, frightened. I stopped, crossed the highway and tried to get closer to her, but she was scared and ran away. I hold my breath, when she was almost hit by a car while passing the street, and then she ran back to the middle of the highway again! I managed to chase her to the other side again in the hope of bringing her out of this dangerous zone.

I saw a man who lived nearby and asked him if he knew anything about this poor little thing. He told me that he had seen her since this morning, and he was also sure that she had to be an owner dog who wasn’t used to traffic at all – probably she has been dumped. He had tried to feed her, but she was too scared and didn’t dare to come closer.

In the meantime Fluffy who I called her had disappeared. The man asked for my number and offered to call if he would see her again. I left, took two more U-turns and tried to find her again, but in vain, she had vanished. It was late, I had four dogs in my car, and was tired. So I drove back home at the other side of town.

The next evening the man called. He told me that he had seen Fluffy again. She had been hit by a car on the highway, and had died.

I had seen her only briefly, but somehow she had touched my heart, and it made me sad to hear how she had to go. Feelings of self guilt, shouldn’t I have searched for her longer? And I kept wondering why she was there, desperately drawn to the dangerous traffic, as if she was looking for a certain car. Was she looking for the car of her previous owner who had dumped her there, and therefore didn’t leave this dangerous traffic area? I don’t know her background, but as a lot of dogs get dumped here, this wouldn’t be too far beyond possibility. Was he aware how desperate his dog felt in the last days of her life, hungry, frightened, lost?

I was thinking of other dogs that had been dumped and that we had taken to our shelter. What makes me chill is the way, that many dog owners seem to get rid of their dogs so easily, as if it’s there’s nothing to feel guilty about, as if the dog would have a future out there on the road. Also dumping dogs in temples isn’t an alternative, often there is not enough food for all dogs, there’s hardly someone who brings them to the vet when they get sick or injured, or they might even get poisoned or killed.

Fluffy is gone. How many “Fluffies” are still out there on the road?