Sattahip Dog Shelter

[toolonginexile]

hi all, most or probably all stray dogs have been removed from soi welcome jomtien today in the morning hours, some people might be happy about this, unfortunately not me though. amongst them were namely two great dogs which have lived near our place there for several years and that i would like to find again now. i wasn't there myself in the morning but i got the phone number of the guy who collected them. rang him and he said they had been delivered to a dog shelter in "phu ta luang" or so in sattahip district, sukhumvit soi 40. does anyone know that place and could give me a more precise hint on where exactly to find it??? ok, i could just jump on my bike and drive down sukhumvit in sattahip direction but i might be looking for hours? want to visit "my dogs" as soon as possible, furthermore that dog shelter might be looking for volunteers to support their work? cheers.

[Nienke]

Way to go, toolonginexile!

Can't help you with your question. Can only send you many encouraging thoughts, hoping that you'll find your dogs as soon as possible.

Nienke

[November Rain]

"Dog Shelters" are often the nice way of saying dog pounds. If you find the place (sorry, again, can't help with that), you might find an awful lot of dogs there & they might not be in the condition that you would expect from a shelter. I am not talking about the particular shelter that you are, I have no knowledge of that one, I'm just speaking generally.

They may want help or they may not like foreigners being around. You may also find that a little 'fine' will allow you to get your favourites back out. If you do that, though, I would recommend you neuter & vaccinate them & take full responsibility for them. Good luck with your quest

BTW, volunteers need WP's

[tuffy]

I asked my wife and there seems to be quite a few shelters around here. You might want to try to call again and get better directions. Driving there on the chance that you will find it is more likely you will get directions from 1/2 a dozen different Thais leading you around in circles all day. We will ask around and see if we can find out for you.

[toolonginexile]

looks pretty much like no-one's ever heard of that place so i'll try to find it on my own. probably doesn't make sense to call the same guy again, "sattahip/ phlu ta luang, sukhumvit soi 40" is probably the best info you can get off a thai?

provided they've found an "acceptable" home there (which i doubt) it might be best for the dogs to stay there anyway, unfortunately i don't have a big garden, just a shophouse, so the dogs were living and sleeping on the soi most of the time anyway but hang around our place for so many years that they became pretty much attached to us, especially the 6 yo bitch which stayed with us since she was a puppy and loves me jealously. at least i want to find out where they are and how they're going on there? and, if possible, visit them regularly?

see whether i'll find that place and keep you up to date.

by the way: that tony-disco guy is running a dog shelter, too, isn't he? that's what i understand from his TV advertising?

[toolonginexile]

for those who are interested: i finally found that "phlu ta luang" dog shelter (including both "my" dogs) which happens to be the same one that is run and sponsored by disco-tony! it is not actually located on sukhumvit soi 40 but on phlu ta luang soi 40, bit hard too find as sois are numbered with thai numbers only. there is a signboard on the main road, however, and two more as you drive along soi 40.

well, what was it like? after "november rain"'s reply i expected the worst and thus was pretty surprised as the place on the first view is not too bad actually. the dogs (several hundreds of them) are kept in enclosures all big enough for the dogs to move around, obviously plenty of food available. especially my bitch was crying when she saw me and it pretty much broke my heart, didn't even ask whether i was allowed to take her with me as whoever ordered city hall to collect the stray dogs from our soi would probably do it again and i've just got no other proper place, garden or so where i could keep them so at the moment i don't really have another solution. obviously it broke lady's heart (that's her name) as well, especially when i had to leave her finally, she actually tried to bite her way through the cage and got angry at the other dogs who tried to come near me. guess it's hard for her to get used to that situation and to living with all these other bitches in an enclosure.

my girlfriend and me spoke to a military guy from the neighboorhood who is not employed there but comes to the animal shelter every day to take care for the dogs.

he says tony reportedly sponsors that place with 5 to 600,000 baht every month but he's got no idea where that money is going. tony himself is obviously too busy to visit his dog shelter more than once a month or so. food was enough for the dogs, the military volunteer said, water as well but wasn't changed often enough so that the water in one tank had already turned green. furthermore, he said, about half a million baht a month should be enough to pay for a resident vet who could permanently take care for the dogs, a vet turned up only about once a week, however, and he himself (who is there every day) has actually met him only once!? so he's bringing his own medicine and powder there every day! what to do? i asked. speak to tony, he said, as tony might not be informed well enough about the situation at his dog shelter. ok, i said, i'll talk to tony as soon as i meet him, haha! (anyone an idea how to contact tony??)

as said above, the first impression was pretty good but there are obviously a few things that could be improved. the workers there are burmese by the way with a thai "manager". the best i can do at the moment is to give "lady" a couple of days time to get used to her new situation before i will visit her again. as i said she's pretty jealous and i don't want her to start "protecting" me against "rivals", that is, fighting with the other dogs who are happy to see a human being, too. i will then visit that dog shelter regularly and see what i can do more for the doggies.

i've taken a few pics that i will try to post tomorrow. take care.

[elfe]

well it's heartbreaking what you describe and dog pounds are just a horror for me.

although there is no alternative as no one is willing to take care properly of all these unwanted animals and give them a home. they have still a very tiny chance that someone comes along and takes them... but almost zero i'm afraid.

my feelings are for your lady too, can't you take her and chain her at your place, walk her twice a day or something like that? seems you have bonds with her and vice versa i mean, there is always a way if you really want.........

[toolonginexile]

sorry, elfe, but to chain her might be even worse for her, she's 6 and a halfs years old now and could no way get used to that. in that enclosure she can walk around freely at least. i know, that's not a perfect solution. then again, if i'd get her fully registered i might end up in financial problems one day, you know that stray dog mentality, defend their territory, bark at motorbikes and slurfing thais a.s.o., that's in their nature; for the same reason i wouldn't chain her. in recent years several dogs got poisoned on our soi, i mean, someone has obviously ordered city hall to deport the dogs, if i'd get her back, know what i mean?

[elfe]

i understand your concerns, but then i think there is always a way and dog can get used to new circumstances (but better ones than in a pound).

i got one dog here since 4 years who is quite difficult as well. he was living outside in my street for about a year and then became very sick, couldn't walk anymore, all fur gone etc. i treated and fed him at his 'place' and after some weeks he got better and followed me home. so he joined the pack, no problem. but after a while, every other week or so, he jumped over the more than 2m wall and went for walks outside (he is neutered). nothing wrong with that, only that then he defends our house out there, chases motorbikes, kills chicken and scares passersby. people threatened to kill him already. i tried to watch him every time when he went out of the house in the garden but still he managed to escape once in a while and outside he is so crazy and doesn't want to come to me anymore only run with me next or after my car until he's tired which is very dangerous.

so, as i don't want to bring him to the shelter (where he would jump over the walls as well, him superdog ) i have him in the house constantly esp in the bedroom as i like to have the doors open for the other dogs. when he wants to peepoo i let him out strictly supervised only for this reason. in the evenings and at other times i close the doors and let him roam in the house, but he acutally loves the bedroom and he has never destroyed anything or peed in there. as often as i have time i take him to the beach where he can run, sometimes even there after hours he does not want to go back in the car, it is still not enough for him.

so this is a problem dog but he does not have another option for keeping. outside he would get in trouble soon (and me too) and inside he is fine and happy too, as being close to me. i could not give him to other people (if anyone ever wanted him...) because the problem still persists. so i have to do some effort but like that the dog can live a happy life as much possible for him.

even older strays can become house dogs and couch potatoes, i experienced this with my dogs as well...

hope your lady is ok in the pound. in big pounds there are all kinds of diseases and dogs more prone to get sick anyway due to lack of human contact, stress with the other dogs, fighting injuries, low quality food and illnesses not noticed or too late. it will be hard to bring her some goodies with all the others around, but put a tick and flea collar on her to protect of parasites and hence diseases.

maybe one day things look up for lady and you and you'll find a way to take her out of there... i wish good luck.

this is lucky, my wonderdog

[toolonginexile]

as promised a few pics from tony's animal/ dog shelter in sattahip/ phlu ta luang sub-district soi 40. lady's the black/ white one in the center of some pics, the brown one in the center is her "boyfriend". hope the attachments are ok, otherwise i'll try again. (...) mmh, files are uploading but i think i'll have to learn how to reduce images?!!!

ooh, lucky.

[November Rain]

It looks clean & the dogs look healthy, which is a vast improvement on some of the shelters I've seen. You said there's plenty of food & water, too? Do they have space to exercise? Looks like there might be runs in the last few pics, but I don't want to view them full size, as I'm on dial-up & it'll take forever.

Apologies for my earlier remarks - I didn't realise it was a privately run shelter, I thought from your OP that it was a local authority one.

[toolonginexile]

well, november rain, from what i've been TOLD there's enough of food available, the problem with the water, however, seems to be that it doesn't get changed regularly enough? and of course the vet who turns up once a week or so only? can't really be healthy. the enclosures aren't superbig but all dogs have enough space, just seems to be frustrating for them? it's not a FREE life after all! been there only once so far but will check the place regularly from now on. my impression somehow was that the resident burmese workers and that thai manager were less interested in the dogs actually than that volunteer i spoke to. disco-tony is a busy man of course who might not always be up to date about the situation in his shelter??!

[toolonginexile]

just a short update. been back to the dog shelter today and met the vet, good to see there are medical services indeed even if not on a daily basis. we gave one of the guys who works there a hundred baht so that he let both "my" dogs out of their enclosures (plus a few cigaretes to the burmese guys there who don't even speak thai). hey! lady and tony (the dogs) were SO happy to roam around that place freely for an hour and play with me! looks as if lady got a bit used to life there, no fighting with other bitches today but of course some crying when i had to leave. the hardest part was to take them back to their enclosures.

now that i know they can come out and play with me for a while without interference of other dogs i'll take some sausages and bones along later this week! thankx god its just a 45 minutes motorbike ride from jomtien.

so far it seems as if the dogs are taken good care of. by turning up there once or twice a week and showing responsibility for my dogs i hope it will stay like that!

[elfe]

well that gives some hope then!!

thank you for making such an effort in visiting your two friends there and trying to make sure they are ok there!! looking forward to more updates and good luck!

[November Rain]

Well done toolonginexile! Lady & Tony will really appreciate your intervention on their behalf.

[Jet Gorgon]

Yes, surprised that it looks clean and way better than the SPCA shelters I've seen here, where all the dogs are in small kennels.

Hey, Elfe, in your first snap of Wonderdog, that looks like the grass and corner at Sunset Restaurant in Nathon...

[elfe]

Hey, Elfe, in your first snap of Wonderdog, that looks like the grass and corner at Sunset Restaurant in Nathon...

well done, jet

[Bagwain]

I have problem dog and jumps 5/6 foot over my fence even with the Barb wire I put there to discourage her. It is a Thai pup I was given. At 1 st I though she would be an german Shepard but she turned out looking like a miniture one. She even jumps through a hole for the key and lock 5 ft up on our steal gate. I put barb wire on this too but she just pushed through it. I got another pup (Labrador cross) to keep her company but this hasn't stopped her getting out. She is trying to attack people as they walk past and she is quite savage when out. It is pissing me of big time. I have thought about dumping her or to take to Tony's pound. The other option is to have her put down!! Dillema anyone with some land want a spaded Thai bitch?

[elfe]

i'm sorry for the trouble you got with your dog bagwain. i can feel for you as i got two dogs like that, too

not really biting people but getting out and about over and through everything and causing trouble, following my car etc. barbwire doesn't help, it just gets them pierced and having to rescue them from there then and risk of bad injuries.'

all i can do is to keep them locked indoors when i cannot watch them. i admit it is some work and extra trouble these dogs give me, but nowhere to rehome them without putting them in danger there as well, also no one wants them anyway. they are beautiful, healthy and fit, clever dogs and kind of 'free spirits'. putting them in a cage or spacious kennel does not solve the problem either as they would be extremely unhappy, screaming, destroying everything and finally manage to come out of there. i put up with it and no big thing really, but i can understand if other people don't have the time and nerve etc for that.

i hope you find a good solution, for both you and the dog.

[Bagwain]

Thanks Elfe,

my TG found a box cutter outside our gate last night and the blade was out. I suspect that some one would have try to cut her. In a way I hope that was what happened as she wasn't home last night or this morning. But alas I just came home and she was in the yard. As it was pointed out in this thread I would be the one responsible if she happens to bite someone, so I have to get ride of her somehow! I have enough stress dealing with my TG as well as running a business here. The dog has to go I just can't make my mind up which way. I have never had a dog put down in my life, but this might have to be the 1st time!! :D

By the way I tried to find the shelter with no luck.

Can you give me directions to the Soi?