The Soi Dog

Time for another creature feature! The pictures above are a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailands greatest foe. This is the soi dog...soi meaning street in Thai. These are perfect stereotypical examples of what a soi dog looks like. Sometimes they are bigger, smaller, a different color, have longer or shorter hair....but they are always mangy, always filthy dirty, and are almost always stray. Thailand is infested with dogs! Most of these dogs are homeless and the ones that arnt are allowed to run around free. Thai people almost never fix their animals. Thus, they are always breeding with each other increasing the ever growing population of dogs. I often times see dogs mating with each other, dogs locked together( which is really sad because no one helps them), and mama dogs with saggy teats. The reason they are especially a nuisence is because they are usually very mean. Unless an animal is a lap dog, dogs in Thailand are treated as nothing more than a guard for homes. At night they are especially vicious and will often times form packs. I have more than once been chased down by a pack of dogs, one time half of my sandal got bitten off. Its also not uncommon to see dogs wandering around with muzzles if they are known to have bitten someone. Kicking and hitting dogs is not something to be ashamed of or thought of as mean here...its often times a matter of survival!