Parade of Soi Dogs

It's the moment you've all been waiting for! Live, coming to you straight from Thailand... the parade of soi dogs!

In case you aren't up on your backpacker slang, a soi dog is a street dog here in Thailand. The small streets branching off of larger main roads here are called sois, hence where the soi dogs got their name. These animals can be found sleeping on the freeway, cuddled up under a table in the school courtyard, hanging out behind restaurants and practically anywhere there are people (and therefore food). Some are friendly, some are not but overall they are a great source of amusement for us here in Thailand. We have nicknamed many of the soi dogs that we see regularly, and here they are for your viewing pleasure.

 This is Goiter Dog, so named because he has an unfortunate tumor on his right hind foot. In this picture it looks a bit like an oversized toe.

This is one of the many dogs that we call "Ugly Dog". We distinguish them by their colour and how much hair they have left... so for instance if we were to talk about this dog we might call her "ugly black dog with a little bit of hair on her back".

 One of the dogs in the monks' posse. We don't see this guy too often but took his picture because he looked healthy.

 Fat Dawg. This dog lives near a bunch of restaurants and is clearly the recipient of ALL the scraps...

 Sad Dog. This dog has droopy eyes, giving him a sad appearance.

Sleepy Dog. We ALWAYS see this dog lying down or sleeping, except on very rare occasions.

Puppies at the elementary school! This litter has been running around for the last couple of weeks. I am told that their mother is very fierce but the kids seem quite taken with them and bring them their lunch scraps daily.

 Soi dogs in a rare moment of play... They often choose their moment during the national anthem in the morning.

 Swim Dog. One of the healthier dogs at school, she is named swim dog because we always see her wet, after she has been swimming.

Tongue Dog. We think maybe this little fellow had a stroke, or the dog equivalent... One side of his face looks a little droopy and he can't put his tongue in all the way. He is one of our favourites!

Sneak Dog. This dog got her name because she is always sneaking into the area where the elementary school kids have lunch, trying to clean up scraps of food dropped by careless kindergarteners.

We really miss pet dogs back home, but at least all of these characters are good for a laugh!!!