Would you take your dog to Bangkok?

Why we decided to leave the Crazy Poodle in Melbourne.

It’s not easy leaving a family member behind when you move overseas.

No, not the kids, they are either well set up living the London dream, or are very happy for Mum and Dad to walk out and toss them the keys to the family house! Our Crazy Poodle was less impressed.

Our Cavoodle:

is a designer mutt. A cross between a King Charles Cavalier and a Poodle, known to be the most loving, adoring, crazy stress heads on the planet – well in my opinion. Every second dog in Melbourne has some poodle in them and they are generally a ball of fun.

The moment we left the country, he turned into a moping ball of misery.

We paid a fortune in vets fees last year which could have been put down to a dog virus, or the woes of abandonment.

Why did we decide not to take him to Bangkok?

We could have taken him to Bangkok and plenty of people do choose to have their pets in Thailand. But we felt the travel would have been traumatic for him.

My Thai life is sadly one where I try to avoid being outside it’s a steamy hot, polluted, and humid city. Walking a dog, something that I adore in Melbourne would have had him a hot, panting mess and been an unpleasurable chore, in Bangkok. Finding a tree for a pee, an equal challenge!

Finding pet-friendly accommodation in Bangkok:

You can find apartments that are pet-friendly, but this limits your choice. Looking for a house with a garden either means a huge cost or living more on the outskirts of the city.

Traffic is an issue, Bangkok is one of the most congested cities in the world. Ideally, you need to be close to work and friends, it is not an easy commute from the suburbs.

Doggy daycare is easy if you want a live-in maid:

He could have become an indoor apartment dog and I’m sure he would have adapted to that idea, but we would have needed a live-in maid just for the dog! Something after years in Hong Kong, I was happy to avoid.

Our extensive travel means we are out of town more than we are here, and my day to day life when I am in Bangkok generally leads me to be out of our apartment all day long… A Thai expat is a busy life! A dog does not easily or happily fit and it breaks my heart.

How well has he coped?

It just was not a good option to take him to Thailand and so instead he has lived a life slightly bored at home, becoming more and more determined to enjoy life with whatever he can get away with.

My recent return saw has seen the need to reinforce previous training. We had to remind him that once he’d been awarded a junior manners certificate from the RSPCA! He has been happy to recreate the rule book and was sneaking off to find a nice bed for relaxing, and had no intention of spending the night in his own bed in the laundry.

He was a fast learner and soon he was obliging, although it wasn’t without its sleepless nights for me.

All in all, whilst I miss the dog dreadfully. I know he is better off being slightly bored at home in Australia, rather than trying to adapt to a life indoors, largely looked after by a maid.

We are very fortunate to have some lovely Melbourne friends who are helping out with walks and at the moment we are muddling through!

More on our Crazy Poodle is found at:

Toodle-loo to the Crazy Poodle

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