A 17-year-old girl was seriously injured after a large pack of stray dogs chased her motorcycle in Nakhon Ratchasima, causing her to crash. She needed about 40 stitches and treatment costs have approached 50,000 baht, her father said on 8 September 2026.

The crash happened at about 11pm on 5 September on the road behind Baan Ua-Athorn housing estate, heading towards Methapattana School in Nong Bua Sala subdistrict, Mueang Nakhon Ratchasima district.

The girl's father has appealed for authorities to tackle what residents say is a stray-dog population of several hundred animals in the area.

Motorcycle crash after late-night chase

The teenager, identified only as Pompaem, had been riding home after taking a mobile phone to a friend at Baan Ua-Athorn.

Her father, Wutthiphon, 53, said a large group of dogs ran after her motorcycle. She accelerated in an attempt to get away, but the dogs continued following her and she lost control.

She suffered injuries to her face, eyebrow, shoulder and legs. She was taken to hospital, where she stayed overnight before being discharged on the evening of 6 September.

"She has wounds in several places and required around 40 stitches in total," Wutthiphon said. He said she still had pain in her right eyebrow, face, legs and shoulder, as well as general bruising.

Medical costs were about 48,000 baht, with a further 1,300 baht expected for wound dressing, bringing the total to nearly 50,000 baht.

Residents call for a lasting response

Wutthiphon said dogs regularly chase people using the route and urged relevant agencies to act quickly before somebody suffers a more serious accident. "People need to use this road and should not have to live in fear of being chased by dogs," he said.

Pictures courtesy of ThaiRath

For foreigners living in or travelling through Thailand, the case is a reminder that stray dogs can present a road-safety risk, particularly to motorcyclists using quieter local streets after dark. The main danger in this case was the crash caused by the chase, rather than a dog bite.

Thammakorn, 59, a resident of Hua Thale subdistrict, said the problem had existed for a long time in both Nong Bua Sala and Hua Thale, but numbers had increased steadily. Some dogs were aggressive and regularly chased motorcycles, she said.

She stressed that the matter should not become a conflict between residents, dogs and people who feed them. Instead, she called for a systematic solution focused on reducing the stray population.

Proposed sterilisation and vaccination programme

Residents want livestock officials, local authorities and other agencies to deploy teams to catch dogs that local people cannot handle. They proposed health checks, sterilisation, rabies vaccinations, flea and tick treatment, and proper recovery care before dogs are returned to the same area or rehomed.

They also called for efforts to find homes for puppies and control breeding, particularly by sterilising female dogs when they reach a suitable age.

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9 September 2026

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Well that is one incident, how many more before something gets done?

Several hundred is quite a pack......

Huge problem in Thailand of which zero is done to address it. Not all the dogs are strays either. See it so often that dogs go after people with the owners just sitting there whilst it happens.

All of my wife's immediate family bear motorcycle scars, mainly on their legs.......everyone of them caused by dogs I was told......not attacking necessarily, but running out into the road.

The Thais just accept it as normal.

It puzzles me why rural Thais have dogs......and so many of them......none of them are look after, treated well or cared for as far as I can see.

I have 10 on my small Soi on Pratumnak hill. They tried to take them and fix most of them years ago but others have joined and the babies are back. They chase people and motorcycles. Why do they think just fix them and throw them back on the streets will stop their behavior. It’s high time they start to really Fix the problem for good. Make adoption shelters or other places to keep them out of the streets. You know the other option is difficult here. Maybe if the government started to pay all of the bills due to the Soi dogs then they would do a bit more.

I personally witnessed a Thai man on a motorbike killed because of one of these beasts. When he tried driving around this particular scourge while it slept in the middle of the street, it became startled, jumped up in front of the motorbike, causing the man to fall and break his neck.

I always carry an air pistol with me when I ride my bicycle. Just yesterday, a dog I had ridden past for years without issue suddenly got it in his head to charge. It didn't this morning though I could see in its eyes it wanted to. Warning heeded, no permanent damage done.

59 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Huge problem in Thailand of which zero is done to address it. Not all the dogs are strays either. See it so often that dogs go after people with the owners just sitting there whilst it happens.

Major problem here where I live o

I written to the Mayor I mentioned to a solicitor they still there one night it came at me with devils eyes it want to maul me but I stood my ground may be it was wrong didn’t stare at it let me go frightened me

2 minutes ago, Tony Hatzi said:

Major problem here where I live o

Yes.....I'm out in the sticks and used to run on a morning.......but I'm no longer prepared to take the risk.

I know 99/100 a stick or a stone scares individual dogs away, but if a pack turned on you.......!!!

6 minutes ago, Tony Hatzi said:

I written to the Mayor I mentioned to a solicitor they still there one night it came at me with devils eyes it want to maul me but I stood my ground may be it was wrong didn’t stare at it let me go frightened me

And if they really did turn on you, you wouldn't stand a chance..........even a single dog would take you down unless you have a knife or a gun.

Kill these agressive Soi dogs before another child suffers !

She accelerated in an attempt to get away, but the dogs continued following her and she lost control.

Wrong.

You slow down and stop on the side of the road.

Get off the bike.

Turn around facing the dogs.

Then kick the <deleted> out of any dog that comes within one meter of your foot.

They won't mess with you again.

You're welcome. 👍

Japanese authorities tell people not to run away from bears. Same applies to dogs. Dogs are hunters who chase down there prey: so running is what they crave.

Stop turn and face them.

Also if you hit them with a stick once they won't forget. So don't do that either unless you want to always carry the same stick.

Stray dogs are pests and should be dealt with as such; Lazada sells the products for this purpose.

So I guess no chance of killing stray dogs?

Reincarnation is the reason?

I'm asking I don't know.

I've recently come back from Pak Thong Chai Korat. I was there for 3 months whilst my wifes mothers house was being rebuilt. My wifes mother died 25 years ago and the house was empty all that time and beyond refurbishing. I soon realised I couldn't even walk to the front gate and dogs were trying to attack me. Stray dogs are a major problem all over Thailand, the main reason is Thais keep on feeding them. All the local councils should enforce dogs to be registered and wear a collar and a disc to prove their identity. Any dog that hasn't got a collar and disc should be taken away and put down humanely. Another thing there should be a heavy fine for people leaving food outside of their front gate. Will this ever happen. yeah.

1 hour ago, HappyExpat57 said:

I always carry an air pistol with me when I ride my bicycle

A very risky thing to do if you present it and somebody sees it.

4 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Well that is one incident, how many more before something gets done?

Several hundred is quite a pack......

In this country, dogs are held in higher regard than foreigners.

1 hour ago, SiSePuede419 said:

She accelerated in an attempt to get away, but the dogs continued following her and she lost control.

Wrong.

You slow down and stop on the side of the road.

Get off the bike.

Turn around facing the dogs.

Then kick the <deleted> out of any dog that comes within one meter of your foot.

They won't mess with you again.

You're welcome. 👍

Good luck with that.

I ride with a 30" stick secured with elastic hairbands which loop over the brake reservoirs and sits just in front of the brake levers, can be removed easily with either hand if needed.

3 hours ago, dinsdale said:

Huge problem in Thailand of which zero is done to address it. Not all the dogs are strays either. See it so often that dogs go after people with the owners just sitting there whilst it happens.

There is a spay/neuter program in some areas but it should be countrywide, and paid for by the government, if they want to protect their citizens. Pet owners here love puppies and kittens but largely forget about them when they get to be dogs and cats. They let them run free, not fixed, to make millions of unwanted animals that are the cause of these problems. There should also be a government funded directive to veterinarians to lower their prices so the pet owners can bring in their pets to be fixed.

Pointing a stick at dogs is usually more effective than hitting them with that stick! If you point the stick at the most aggressive dog it won't know how to approach you and the rest will just bark if the leader cannot attack.

2 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

She accelerated in an attempt to get away, but the dogs continued following her and she lost control.

Wrong.

You slow down and stop on the side of the road.

Get off the bike.

Turn around facing the dogs.

Then kick the <deleted> out of any dog that comes within one meter of your foot.

They won't mess with you again.

You're welcome. 👍

Try that "kicking the crap out of" with a Pitbull , Rottweiler, Shepherd or other large dog and see how much the hospital bill is, if you get away, as the other dogs might also join in. You don't run if you're walking but stop and face them, no eye contact, slightly moving towards them. if you don't have a weapon, you then walk away slowly, still facing them indirectly.

. They proposed health checks, sterilisation, rabies vaccinations, flea and tick treatment, and proper recovery care before dogs are returned to the same area or rehomed.

So No change then hey,

Time that this Government get their Act Together and destroy all the Soi dogs.

Yea Right , no such luck .

Animals are More important than People so it seems.

30 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

There should also be a government funded directive to veterinarians to lower their prices so the pet owners can bring in their pets to be fixed.

Thais for some reason are not fans of desexing their dogs and cats. Apart from that the only price that many would find reasonable is free and again many would still not do it.

60 plus years of visiting, living and working in Thailand, and travelling all over the country, north, south, east and west, and I never once had a problem with dogs.

6 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

60 plus years of visiting, living and working in Thailand, and travelling all over the country, north, south, east and west, and I never once had a problem with dogs.

It's true, much the same with me working and visiting NYC, Houston, San Antonio, Miami and many other large cities at night and never seeing trouble, but it happens and maybe only a block away, so it's still a matter of wrong place, wrong time, wrong animal or person.

10 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

tackle what residents say is a stray-dog population of several hundred animals in the area.

Bring in the Vietnamese, these dogs will soon end up in these -

5 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

She accelerated in an attempt to get away, but the dogs continued following her and she lost control.

Wrong.

You slow down and stop on the side of the road.

Get off the bike.

Turn around facing the dogs.

Then kick the <deleted> out of any dog that comes within one meter of your foot.

They won't mess with you again.

You're welcome. 👍

Yes, of course, a young girl alone at night, surrounded by aggressive dogs. Solution? Stop, and offer them your feet / legs to nip at. BRILLIANT!!! (And once the pack smells blood, what do you think happens next?)

45 minutes ago, Thingamabob said:

60 plus years of visiting, living and working in Thailand, and travelling all over the country, north, south, east and west, and I never once had a problem with dogs.

Questions: Do you ride motorbikes? Do you ride bicycles? Do you walk alone at night in RURAL Thailand? Do you walk / ride outside areas with sidewalks, as in, from A to B off the beaten path? How do you get around? (A) in vehicles (B) Walking. Bottom Line: If you have "never" encountered a problem dog in Thailand, you are literally one in 66 million.