Mirkwood

Bollocks. Just seen this. I would have loved to have come to that.

I've been seeing a lot of ex pats asking doggy questions lately. The wife and I have been on a massive learning curve regarding our canine friends and if I could share something with you that will save somebody cash or heartache I'd like to help. Of course nobody knows it all but things are different in LOS. Like I said before, buying a puppy here is a dodgy business. In a previous post I said the chances of a puppy surviving are 50/50. I would like to revise that figure. It's too high. I think in actual fact the chances of a pedigree puppy surviving the first year are more like 90/10. A lot will depend on: Number 1.... Where you live. Most important. When you first get your puppy you have a 3-4 month nightmare window. Your dog will not be vaccinated. You have to get first jab after month or so followed by shots 2 and 3 which will normally in 2 week blocks after first one. If you can get through this period you are in business. However, it's so difficult. Say you live in a high class area. Nice falang style houses etc and no soi dogs. Yes, good chance of your puppy making it easily. Normal house in soi with dogs wandering up and down. Bad news. Parvo is such a terrible virus. It will kill most puppies that get it and a lot do here. The virus can survive outside the body for months. All it takes is a sick dog to go near your gate. You walk over where it's been and the virus is in your home. That's why so many dogs at Chatuchak get it. If somebody strokes a sick dog then goes next door and strokes another BINGO. It's near impossible to keep your puppy indoors for 3 months and virus free. It's sad to say but a lot of the dogs you see out and about have had Parvo or Distemper. They are the strong survivors. If your puppy gets Parvo the Thai vet will have this nasty happy look on his face. It's going to cost you a lot of money. Blood transfusions and 24 hour care. I promise you a Thai vet will make a hardcore bar girl seem like an angel when it comes to taking your money. Even though puppies are lovely I wouldn't really fancy getting one. There are so many dogs needing a home in LOS. Not just mixed Thai style dogs either. Saying that you are probably best off with a Thai mixed dog. Their immune system is second to none. We have one mixed dog who had Distemper and shook it off in a week. Perfect now. I have a number for a dog shelter in BKK if anybody needs it. They have puppies and adult dogs. Lovely falang lady doing a great job. The Mystery of the Thai Bangkeaw dog. So many people post on various boards asking about ' How are Thai Bangkeaws?' Yes, they are part Jackal. You can read the history about them in my other doggy post on here. What are they like as pets though? Well, trust me on this one. We have a Bangkeaw. Bangkeaws get a lot of bad press and one could be fooled into thinking they are some kind of devil dog. Thai men are naturally shit scared of Bangkeaws which isn't a bad thing. They naturally deter Thai thieves. As a dog they are ok. Granted they are a bit snappy. Bit like an oversized Jack Russell. They are very jealous and will growl or nip anything that gets near the owner they choose as the Alfa dog. They are great guard dogs and don't miss a chance to bark at somebody coming up to your gate. Funny things though and great to have around. The bad points are they love water, getting covered in shite, digging and killing things smaller than themselves. Rabbits or birds watch out. Don't be scared of having one they are fun. I would take any adult on. Not scary and will love you in no time. I've approached loads in the street and made friends. Just bad press what you read about them. Not best dog to have with young kids though. Probably bite them sooner or later. As I said before I know a great breeder in BKK. His dogs are from Phitsanalok with the tattoo in ear. The best IMHO. Next post on this thread and I will show you our guard dog. Get ready for a big shock. I warn you.

Shit. I didn't see this post Frosty. Mate, I would love to help you with this. We have become well known animal lovers here. I know a lady (falang) in Chonburi that has a Thai Bangkeaw that needs a home. He's nice. If you are after a puppy I could save you a lot of heartache. What type of dog are you after?

Hey great news. We always liked eating here. See you in the next week or so fella.

I can't say I'm a massive fan but I did like him in the 70's. I'll deffo come to see him if he's playing at yours.

I'll pop down and have a beer mate for sure.

It takes a lot before I would post anything negative about a business. However, the Cottage Hotel opposite Big C second road is my worst ever Pattaya experience. I spent a few days there last week. I had packed my bag and was checking out. Decided to have some breakfast in the lobby area first. As I left the room the maid came out of next door and asked if she could start cleaning my room? I said yes and went to eat. Came back an hour later, picked my bag up and checked out. When I got home I was shocked to find most of my clothes missing. I thought I must be going ting tong and recounted packing. I definitely remembered putting my shirts in and took care not to catch my clothes in the zipper. Most of my stuff had been laundered and was in a sealed plastic bag. Every brand name item was gone only leaving some copy crap t shirts. I rang the hotel straight away. The bitch in reception was waiting for me for sure. All I said was ' Hello, did I leave any clothes in room xxx? Reply? ' No sorry maid tell me you not leave any clothes in room' Was she psychic? I told her I would be back next day to get my clothes. My missus rang her as well. She got the hint that maybe a 500 baht tip would get my stuff back. I walked in next day and the manageress (who I had never seen before) looked at me and said 'Sorry we can't find your clothes' It was such an obvious set up. To be honest it's not about how much I lost moneywise. The staff in the hotel are thieves. It's a simple as that.

Thanks mate.

To the guy looking for a German Shepherd dog. I saw this today. Doesn't look like a bad bet to me. http://classifieds.thaivisa.com/hobbies/pe...sale-75305.html

Couple of questions. I'd like to start a webpage for a small business in LOS. Nothing to do with bars or Pattaya. Question 1. Can I just go to somebody and get them to design a page for me? Question 2. How much will it cost to have it up and running and to link it to Google etc? Thanks in advance.

It's near Chatuchak. I'll meet you and take you first time if you like.

Made me laugh that. I think we both know we are dog people. I forgot to include a massive big of information. Now this ain't nice either. Right, say you decide of a puppy and the poor thing does have distemper. Your life is going to be bad. A vet I know reckons 90% of puppies for sale at Chatuchak or similar will possibly have distemper even before you buy them. He told me 50% of them get diagnosed as kennel cough and shake the disease off and nobody knew their dog was even seriously ill. However, the other 50% will develop full blown symptoms. If your dog develops full blown distemper it will break your heart.Your poor dog will die a horrific death before your eyes. It can take up to a month. Now the killer blow. In UK or anywhere else you would have your dog put to sleep. Here in LOS it's not that easy. Most of the vets won't euthanize animals due to Buddest beliefs. Think about that. It means you will get to see your little dog suffer.

I'd like to answer some of these replies. Mate I promise you it's a fantastic hobby. I lived in a condo for 9 months. You can get it set up easily and own a bird of prey. We made Odin a shelter on the balcony including old tree for him to perch on. Now we have the house he's in paradise. We've made him a tree house and he's well happy. There is a Hawking club in Bangkok. The people there are fantastic. Honestly they are so happy when a falang joins. If you click with them they will really help you. They have a club meeting every Friday night. You can buy cracking birds of prey from them supplied with correct legal paperwork. Most of the untrained birds sell for around 5000 baht. The best one IMHO to start with would be a Brahminy Kite. They are quite large and look great. Quite user friendly to train but mainly for just flying not hunting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahminy_Kite They often have them for around 5000 baht. I've seen them for sale at Chatuchak for around 3500 baht but not in good condition. Have a think about it. Great hobby but little bit demanding. Plenty of cleaning up to do. I'm not sure about Pattaya. What I can tell you is it's possible to get a half decent GSD in Bangkok. I've got a number if you want to go down the Bangkok route. A fairly decent one will cost you around 8000 baht. You can get better looking long haired etc but they normally set you back up to 18,000 baht. This is only IMHO but here is a little guide to some pedigree dogs in LOS. Things are different here for sure. If I've learned anything that is useful to anyone I'll be happy. Dogs can break your heart here and your bank. OK, here's a little guide. I'm not a mega expert just a fella who's spent most of the last year looking and learning. German Shepherd Dog. Very desirable dog to own in LOS. Next to Siberian Husky maybe the most desirable. Now GSD have two problems. 1. The breed has been messed about with. 2. Temperament can be dodgy. Granted there are a few decent breeders about but they will want up to 40,000 baht. As you don't want to pay that you can choose. Go to Chatuchak and take a chance with a 5-6000 baht dog or find somebody who will tell you their dogs safer, better etc and pay more. Either way it's risky. Dogs get labeled as GSD's here but they can be anything. Belgian Shepherd, Malinois,Belgian Tervuren or mix of any. GSD's are bad news for health problems if you get the wrong one. Be ready to open account at the Vets. The army camp at Korat is supposed to sell decent GSD's. If I was serious about another one I'd find out more and go there to get one. Siberian Husky. Now I love Husky dogs and want one. Trouble is 3 of my mates own Huskys. Good points. They look like wolves. They are friendly. Your Thai wife will get massive face. Bad points. They howl at night. They are escape artists. They run off and don't come back. They dig up the garden. Finally the worst one. When you take a Husky to a Thai vet you are going to get financially raped. Some of the bills my friends have had would ruin anyone. 20,000 baht plus lots of times. Lets be honest. Husky dog = Snow. Possibly the worst place to own one. The heat makes them sleep a lot. Not a good bet but cracking looking dog. Sell for around 12,000 baht. Alaskan Malamute http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaskan_Malamute Look like Husky dog but much bigger. Top dog but wow look at the hair. Be aware that coat will fall out at least once a year over your furniture. Not a good dog to have around another pet. If you have a female dog never buy a female Malamute and same with male. Can't be same sex. When they fight watch out. Friendly dogs but can be nasty bits of work. Akita These are not easy to get hold of in LOS but it can be done. I know a decent breeder of Akita dogs. They sell for around 13,000 baht. They look awesome and wow what a fantastic guard dog. Now the bad points. I'm begging you if you are thinking of getting one. NEVER have an Akita around a child. I know the do gooders will say they are fine etc but we have been taking care of one for the last 5 weeks. I love them to bits but what a bastard they can be. Without doubt the most scary dogs I have ever seen in my life. This one comes up to you, licks your hand then bites you. He's only playing but Jesus what a brute if he wanted to be. I read two Akita's could kill a bear. Not a shadow of doubt in my mind. If you have no kids and want a guard dog style pet this is the one for you. I have seen the odd one at Chatuchak for 6000 baht. I wouldn't buy one from there though. All the lovely looking dogs get touched a lot. Probably got Distemper and will die. That's the guard dog breeds I know about covered.

It's not often that I big myself up but this post is useful and could really save somebody money and heart ache. I wanted to post this in the open section so anyone doing a search can find it. Ex pats. When people move to LOS full time and set up home. Due to boredom, lack of entertainment other than drinking, whoring, golf etc people get into having pets. It will normally start with a home aquarium. As there are no standards here for glass thickness or anything else a tank costs next to nothing. In UK this hobby might sent you back hundreds of ££££'s but here you can get massive tanks with all the air pumps,filters,gravel and plants for a couple of thousand baht. Fish tanks are normally a 5 minute wonder and you see loads of them for sale 2nd hand on the Villa Mart classifieds section. As you know Chatuchak market sells every kind of animal under the Sun. I'd always loved birds of prey. I did have more than a basic knowledge of how to keep one before I came here. For me it's turned into a fantastic hobby. I'm a member of a falconry school in Bangkok and still go every week. Porno loves it and we still have Odin our white kite who is fully trained. BUT....... It is a very bad idea to buy birds from Chatuchak. Most of them are dead. OK, they still look alive but they were wild. Most are in a stage of shock at being caught and handled and will die within a week. Having any type of bird is hard work. Owls look lovely and are always on sale. They are the most difficult to keep. Only people who know what they are doing and really understand what they are taking on should even think about it. A bird of prey is easier to look after but again if you have no plans on joining a falconry club don't even think about it. Odin looking lovely. Dogs. Now this next information should read like the gospel to anyone buying a dog in LOS. I know if I posted this on other boards I would get experts disagreeing with me and quoting facts and figures etc. Well bollocks to them. They don't know what they are talking about. I grew up with dogs. My family always had at least one and I have personally owned 2 German Shepherds and a Black Lab. Dogs in LOS is big business. It is really easy for people to get parted from their hard earned. Falang man comes to Thailand and he decides he wants a dog. A normal Thai dog won't be good enough. Oh no he'll want something special. Myself included. We moved into a house a few months ago. The first thing the lady renting it told us is that we would need a dog for security. Of course that was music to my ears. I didn't need any more encouraging. Porno is the same. We are big animal lovers. Small penis, bullied at school? I don't know the reason why but I love fierce animals. Porno's Thai. Shes from Khon Kaen. I've found out this area of Issan is famous for producing violent people. Most of the red shirts causing the grief were from Khon Kaen. If we have a dog or bird it must be a vicious bastard anyway. I decided I wanted a German Shepherd. I've got the time and the money so set about finding a good un. Internet searches came up with quite a few breeders in Bangkok. We visited them all. They all try parting you from your money with the usual dog seller patter. To anyone who doesn't know a pedigree dog must come with papers/certificate. In UK it's the kennel club and the certificate will list the parents names and history. The papers are white colored. Now a very special dog will have pink papers. To get pink papers the dogs parents must have been show champions and the dog will cost mega dough. It's always a good idea to buy the best dog you can especially with German Shepherds as health problems are common and will cost you dearly in the future. Anyway, we managed to find lots of pink papered champion dog here. Funny that. We settled on one breeder in Bangkok. Her dogs were breed in Chang Mai and had pink papers. Puppies were 40,000 baht each. All sounded good. We had visited all the other breeders and I didn't like what I saw or heard. The usual LOS shit. Everyone tells you to never buy a dog from Chatuchak as they are sick. Well let me tell you that all the shops and dealers buy from the same puppy farms no matter what breed of dog it is. If it makes you feel better paying 30,000 baht for the same dog you can buy at Chatuchak for 5000 baht then fill your boots. I'd say the dogs at the market are more likely to have something wrong for sure but whatever you buy will need taking straight to the vets anyway. Not much in it. The biggest problem you have in LOS is Canine Distemper. Even if you buy a really good puppy from a decent breeder you still have to contend with other dogs coming up to your gate, touching you etc. The vets here are not careful either. The waiting rooms are like leper colonies. Realistically I'd give the chances of any puppy surviving more than 6 months 50/50 at best. Back to our dog lady. So we are all set for the 40,000 baht pink paper champion. The big day arrived and we headed off with the money. Dog looked really good. Had all the things you look for in a GSD. The Thai woman selling it started looking and speaking a load of bollocks like they do when they are about to rip you off. I think we all know the signs. I waited for it. Something was wrong. ' I'm sorry I lose pink paper. If you buy dog now I send away and give you next week' Fucking knew it. So the champion dog has just turned into a 5000 baht Chatuchak dog that shes bought and trying to flog to some mug. She knew it was game over. I said no thanks and walked. As we got to the bottom of the drive she said 'Wait, what can you give me?' I didn't look back. We still didn't have a dog and Porno was all pissed off because she had waited weeks. I decided the whole pedigree dog thing in LOS is bullshit. Yes, there are a few Europeans who have imported good dogs and charge for them. What you have to ask yourself is why do you want a special dog like that? You can't take the bastard out for walks. You try. You get about 10 yards up the road then some manky Thai dog attacks. Think about that. How many dogs are on the soi's? They do have dog shows here but again the standards are nothing like in UK. 6 people will turn up in a field, bung a few police cones out and have a competition. Certificates and cups will be handed out. Hey presto champion dog. Knowing what I know now I can say there is really only one dog to have in LOS. Thai Bangkaew. Bangkaew is a village located in the Bang Rakam District, Phitsanulok Province in the central region of Thailand. In this district, near the Yom River, there is a monastery called Wat Bangkaew where it is believed that Thai Bangkaew Dogs originated. Legend has it that the third abbot of Wat Bangkaew Temple, the respected Luang Puh Maak Metharee, was known for mercy and care given to all living things. An old Bangkaew villager named Tah Nim gave the abbot a native bitch. Because she was pregnant without any dog in the area, her mating was though to be either a jackal or a dhole lived in the surrounding forest. A chromosome study of Thai Bangkaew dog confirmed that the breed is the result of domestic dog and jackal interbreed. The resulting litter produced longhaired puppies of black and dark brown coloration. Luang Puh Maak Metharee raised the resulting puppies, four females. Bangkaews are vicious bastards to strangers but love the family they live with. Eat anything, short haired and don't need taking for walks. If I could wind the clock back I would have bought 2 of these but it was too late. Porno wanted a GSD. We went to look at Chatuchak. Saw some manky Thai bloke who had a GSD in bad shape. Heart ruled my head and we ended up buying her. Porno kicked him up the nuts and said the dog was sick and needed vets. Turned out to be true. Anyway we only gave him 1500 baht. Took poor thing straight to vets. Had to spend out quite a bit. She had worms and a virus. Would have died 100% so felt good. Did the right thing there. Called her Lucky. Had to laugh. Our new GSD turned out to be a rip off. She's not a true GSD. I think I knew that anyway She's turned into a great dog though. I'm always down Chatuchak and know all the dealers by name. As we had been making noises about buying a special dog it wasn't long before we got the phone call I'd been expecting from a lady dealer. 'Please come we have Shepherd dog you want' I wasn't bothered about another dog but went to have a look anyway. I was amazed when this woman takes me out the back of her shop and produces a Belgian Malinios. Same sort of thing as a GSD but this dog was a cracker. Big puppy and looked in perfect health. Where she came from? Don't go there. You don't ask. Anyway the lady only wanted 6000 baht. Porno knocked her down to 5800 and we walked away with the Malinois who we named Honey. Our new wolf. The lady had asked for our address and said the pedigree papers would be following. I nearly fainted when they actually arrived????? So, there you have it. The guide to buying a dog in LOS. I'll help any of you if you ever want one. Just ask. To be honest though steel yourself for heartache if buying a puppy.

If you don't press the # button after the number you will get kicked up the bollocks. Som nom na. Buddah pay you back for hit druggie lady

I'm on about Lek hotel in Naklua not at the end of soi 7. I've heard the evening buffets in Lek (Naklua) are really nice as well.

No disrespect meant here but that looks shocking. Eggs overdone, bacon manky, mushrooms boiled,bread tiny and beans not Heinz. Please trust me on this. Go to Barracuda in Naklua. The 100 baht breakfast is better than that and the 150 free flow tea and coffee a winner. If you don't fancy that try the Lek Hotel Buffet breakfast at 110 baht next door to Barracuda. I'll be your mate once you've eaten there. You'll love it.

I cant see what diffence it makes if somebody shags ladyboys. Doesnt offend me at all. Live and let live.

Sounds good to me. I'll see you there.

I'll tell you what Dave. Next time I'm in town I'll pop in on a Tuesday night with a few mates. Deal is you have to sit outside and watch the jamming as well. ALL NIGHT. What you reckon then? No sitting in theback office.

Oh my god. If there is a hell this night would be it for me. I can see it now. Some old fat fukka with his shirt undone singing 'My Way'. Bring back Rockin Jerry. All is forgiven.

2 weeks and I'll be in to see you. You got any big nommed girls at the moment?

Gotta hand it to you. Place looks very impressive.

At last. Somebody with the sense to do something constructive. Pity it wasn't after midnight but it's a move in the right direction. I think you'll do well out of this move. Good luck with it.

Nice looking house. Good luck living in it.