Dog bite Big Buddha hike Phuket (BEWARE)

[topgun1]

Hey all, 

I've been hiking the Big Buddha hill every day for the last week with no trouble. Always being mindful of the many dogs along the 4.5km walk, walking on the opposite side of the road to them. This morning on the way back down from the top, a dog came from behind and grabbed my leg, out of nowhere. I immediately washed the wound with a bottle of water and wrapped my sock around to stop the bleeding, not the most hygienic thing to do, but I didn't think I would need a first aid kit with me. 

I went to Chalong Hospital where I was seen to immediately. They washed the wound, stitched it, gave me a Tetanus injection, a rabies injection, an injection to check for any allergies, and then injected another large rabies shot around the wound area.

I was sent away with a course of antibiotics to take for 5 X days;

painkillers to take in necessary;

fever and pain relief tablets to take if necessary;

and with instruction to return every day for the next 7 days to have my wound cleaned and dressing changed; and

I am required to have another 4 rabies injections over the course of a month.

 

The total cost will be 8800Bhat

 

Be careful walking around stray dogs, always be mindful that they do not need provoking to attack. I was got from behind, never even seen it..

 

[cornishcarlos]

That's a fair old bite !! At least you got it treated immediately.. Hope you don't let it put you off hiking. 

[Badrabbit]

Hey all, 
I've been hiking the Big Buddha hill every day for the last week with no trouble. Always being mindful of the many dogs along the 4.5km walk, walking on the opposite side of the road to them. This morning on the way back down from the top, a dog came from behind and grabbed my leg, out of nowhere. I immediately washed the wound with a bottle of water and wrapped my sock around to stop the bleeding, not the most hygienic thing to do, but I didn't think I would need a first aid kit with me. 
I went to Chalong Hospital where I was seen to immediately. They washed the wound, stitched it, gave me a Tetanus injection, a rabies injection, an injection to check for any allergies, and then injected another large rabies shot around the wound area.
I was sent away with a course of antibiotics to take for 5 X days;
painkillers to take in necessary;
fever and pain relief tablets to take if necessary;
and with instruction to return every day for the next 7 days to have my wound cleaned and dressing changed; and
I am required to have another 4 rabies injections over the course of a month.
 
The total cost will be 8800Bhat
 
Be careful walking around stray dogs, always be mindful that they do not need provoking to attack. I was got from behind, never even seen it..
 

That's bad, think you were lucky that it was just one dog!

Sent from my SM-G610F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[LivinginKata]

Always carry a very big stick ...

[trd]

Always carry a very big stick ...

Or dog food!

[topgun1]

1 minute ago, cornishcarlos said:

That's a fair old bite !! At least you got it treated immediately.. Hope you don't let it put you off hiking. 

Nope, will be back on it after the stitches are out. They said don't do any exercise as you will sweat, which will get the wound moist and increase the chance of infection. 

[topgun1]

1 minute ago, trd said:

4 minutes ago, LivinginKata said:

Always carry a very big stick ...

 

Or dog food!

I will go for a stick, the dog food will attract them... 

 

[trd]

I will go for a stick, the dog food will attract them... 

 

Maybe a loud whistle to scare them away. My wife carries some stones on her motorbike because there's one soi she goes down where there's always a pack of dogs so she chucks the stones at them if they come anywhere near her. I hope your wound heals quickly. It's very unlikely the dog has rabies but best to be safe. The tetanus jab is just as important.

 

[topgun1]

12 minutes ago, Badrabbit said:

That's bad, think you were lucky that it was just one dog!

Sent from my SM-G610F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Yep. You often see them in packs on Big Buddha hill.  

[LivinginKata]

9 minutes ago, topgun1 said:

I will go for a stick, the dog food will attract them... 

 

 

But you don't need to use the stick. Just the threat usually works.

[topgun1]

1 minute ago, trd said:

Maybe a loud whistle to scare them away. My wife carries some stones on her motorbike because there's one soi she goes down where there's always a pack of dogs so she chucks the stones at them if they come anywhere near her. I hope your wound heals quickly. It's very unlikely the dog has rabies but best to be safe. The tetanus jab is just as important.

 

I am 100% careful around these dogs and am aware that they can bite, hence walking on the other side of the road. This dog came from nowhere and struck from behind. I could not believe it. Someone as careful as me and is always on the lookout for them gets bitten. Maybe I had some eye contact with it a few days prior, giving it enough time to plan its attack.

[topgun1]

4 minutes ago, LivinginKata said:

 

But you don't need to use the stick. Just the threat usually works.

LOL, I am not going to walk around lashing out at random dogs. But yes, you are right, the stick should put them off.

[shadowofacloud]

Always walk with a bamboo stick. I am a runner and often encounter packs of beach dogs, when running in Southern TH. Most of the packs are just bored and teasing, but I've got no time to play with every dog on the beach.

 

Waving a stick towards them does magic - I've never been approached by a dog, which has seen the stick, it's a prefect deterrent. 

[donim]

Carry your amulets and feed the straydogs a few times a day and you will be a-okay. ????

 

Anyway, it could help learn their language (body) and learn how to 'speak' their language.

This mean, as you said; try no eye contact, don't walk/run away. Don't show fear, actually they still can smell it so really have to work on that, trust them.

And if one run at you, just call 'BOO' and they will stop. It is not a pitbull.

Sticks would trig them as threath, and all you not want is to trigger their natural protective instinct.

Don't come near very little puppies, unless the mom knows you.

 

Most of the treaterous dogs here, are 'owned dogs', they bite to protect their territoria, straydogs roam and have other reasons for biting. I know one he bite cars and motorbikes too, the owners do nothing.

 

For Phuket I know, straydogs at Prom Thep Cape sees their hills/roads to the cape as their territoria when it is dark. But on the cape itself they are calm, they will see you as a part of the cape itself. But -entering-  and -leaving-  they get in action.

Big Budha hills/roads are the same.

 

I am around dogs, and just as Caesar patience, selfcontrol and knowledge. It helps a lot.

 

Rgds

[Lacessit]

Another example of how many problems religion can deliberately or inadvertently cause.

[LosLobo]

2 hours ago, trd said:

It's very unlikely the dog has rabies but best to be safe. The tetanus jab is just as important.

 

Wasn't Chalong recently declared a rabies outbreak zone.

Fatality rate from contracting rabies is 100% vs 13% for contracting tetanus.

Not withstanding that most people would still have some immunity from having previous tetanus vaccinations.

[trd]

Wasn't Chalong recently declared a rabies outbreak zone.

Fatality rate from contracting rabies is 100% vs 13% for contracting tetanus.

Hardly what you would call an "outbreak". That would really be a gross exaggeration. I think it was one case, maybe two. Do you know many dogs are here? There was the usual media frenzy of course but that's to be expected. I'm not saying don't have the rabies injections. I would if I was bitten. What I meant was it's much easier to contract tetanus from normal cuts and bruises. When I fell off my bike and cut myself the first thing I did was get a tetanus jab.

 

[madmitch]

Did this happen on the hike up from Karon or on the regular road?

[justin case]

and again...land of lazy and don't give a S.  country where dogs bite people and nobody does nothing and if you dare to do something yourself, you might get jailed

[stevenl]

14 hours ago, LivinginKata said:

Always carry a very big stick ...

Totally disagree.

 

I walk early mornings very often, and whenever a dog approaches I shoo it away. They are much more afraid of you than you need to be of them.

 

Still, something like what happened to the OP can happen, but with an unseen attack from behind a stick would not have helped anyway.

[Formaleins]

When will this problem really be taken seriously? Seems to it's never going to be sorted. If rabies isn't a big enough scare to get some action then it appears nothing is. These bastard animals should be culled once and for all, wipe the lot of them out and sell the meat to Vietnam, start afresh with a proper licensing system and some hefty fines for unregistered dogs. The only way these sods will sit up and take notice is when it hits them financially, everything else is like water off a duck's back.

[soistalker]

In Vietnam, I had a dog walk up behind me and try to savage my leg. I turned around, and it was muzzled. The owners must know the dog likes to bite, so they muzzled him and let him run around attacking people. Third world thinking is a neverending source of fun. 

[Kaopad999]

I hope you gave that dog a swift kick to the head! 
When i am approached by dogs here i tend to chase them away waving my arms and shouting, i know i prob look like a madman, but they tend to know that i am not to be messed with and that i will not take any crap from them. I think you gotta show them who's boss and they will tend to leave you alone. 

[Vacuum]

1 hour ago, stevenl said:

but with an unseen attack from behind a stick would not have helped anyway

Right, but a couple of whacks on the snout, should make the dog remember you the next time.

[Jaxxper]

Looks bad. Hope you recover quickly.

I've stopped walking at night to the bar/restaurant that is a couple of hundred metres from our village. Too many stray dogs on the prowl. Also two or three that are collared but let loose by the owners.

Something needs to be done about the dog problem here in Chonburi. 

[woofwoof]

Just went through Big  T what your going through. a total of 14 shots when i'm done . I 'm done all of them except the last tetnus shot  Aug 26 . GOOD LUCK

[AgMech Cowboy]

16 hours ago, LivinginKata said:

Always carry a very big stick ...

I'm partial to a 7 iron.

[Lee4Life]

15 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Another example of how many problems religion can deliberately or inadvertently cause.

And your comment is another example of how far some people will stretch things to knock religions

[gunderhill]

And  MORONS including foreigners  feed these  vermin, how sick is  that!

[GarryP]

7 minutes ago, Lee4Life said:

And your comment is another example of how far some people will stretch things to knock religions

Off topic but to answer your comment, they are unable to control stray dog populations here because they are unwilling to euthanize and that is because of their religious or superstitious beliefs.