If you spend more than $100 a week on your dog, allow it to sleep in your bed, or otherwise treat your dog better than you would a child, stop reading now, before you realize that all of that money you’re spending, extra cleaning you’re doing or ridiculous care you’re giving is more for your benefit than the dog’s. Do you really think the dog cares that he’s eating ‘premium’ dog food? Do you think the dog wouldn’t sleep just as well outside, or in the living room? Garage?
Where did I learn this? Thailand. Go see for yourself.
See, Thailand is full of stray dogs. It’s also heaven. For dogs.
First of all, forget grooming. It doesn’t matter what you look like. What dog likes a bath?
No baths.
Next, forget dog food. What dog would prefer dog food to table scraps?
Only table scraps.
One of the first things you notice in Thailand is the abundance of street food. Throughout most of Thailand, you literally can’t walk a few meters without passing some kind of grilled meat, squid, sliced pineapple, mango, fruit juice, watermelon, nut or pancake.
One of the next things you notice in Thailand is the abundance of stray dogs. Everywhere.
I’ve always been afraid of stray dogs, probably dating back to a memory I have clear as yesterday of being chased from the grocery store all the way back to my grandmother’s doorstep in sleepy Spencer, Massachusetts, when I was, oh, six years old. It’s probably no wonder why stray dogs in America are cold and violent, because we’re all afraid of them, and judge them for lack of grooming. In Thailand, though…it almost feels as though every dog on the street is the community’s dog, and they’re all treated as such.
Street food in abundance, stray dogs in abundance…you do the math:
So you tell me where dogs are happier…here in the States (or any number of other ‘advanced’ societies) with our extra premium crap cooked up by a ‘chef’ who calls himself “Woofgang,” or the land of opportunity where dogs eat food fit for kings. You choose…”Eatables” or papaya salad!!
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