The first photos I took of them seem to have been taken on March 17th. I don’t think it was the first time I saw them. Maybe the second or the third.
Not a great pic, but the clearer I have from that day. It was 6 am, still a bit dark, and I already knew the mother. I had seen her around. She was even in my garden one morning a few months ago, On November 21st, 2025, at 6:30 am.
I wish I had been able to approach her then. Maybe I’d have noticed she wasn’t sterilised and could have had her picked up by Soi Dog.
A few months later, probably in February, she gave birth to a few puppies. I never met all of them, but as I was looking for her one morning back in April, I went at the end of a field where I knew she sometimes went, and realised there was a family who lived there. I was worried because on April 8th, there was a huge bloody mark on the road near where they used to stay, and I thought a puppy probably got run over. I showed a picture of the mother to a man. He turned around and pointed at her. She was walking toward us. And there were a couple of puppies playing nearby.
The man told me she gave birth to 9 puppies, but one was dead, thus confirming what I thought about the blood on the road a few days earlier.
Maybe it was this one, as I never saw it again.
Some puppies had apparently been taken by various people (including someone who works with my husband, I found out later), one stayed around their home all the time, and two lived mostly in the field near the big road, where something was being built. The man asked me if I wanted to take them, as they couldn’t afford to feed all the dogs that hang out around their place. I gave him all the dog food I had left in my bag, and told him I would bring more soon. I ordered a big bag straight away and delivered it as soon as it arrived.
After that, I made sure to stop by the field every morning to feed the puppies and their mother. They were very wary at first, but got used to seeing me and came closer and closer. They were also a bit scared of the bigger dogs who came with me. Mama dog always let her puppies eat first.
I saw them every day, either in the field or in front of the 7/11, where they seemed to be spending more and more time.
On April 21st, I went for a quick run early in the morning, and on my way back I stopped at the field. It was 7am and I could see them playing in the back. The thing that was being built was apparently some kind of café. Some dude walked toward me with an angry face and told me very aggressively to go away. I had seen him before, and he had never said anything. He might be the owner of the café, and he seems to have a problem with dogs. Maybe also with foreigners, as some people do. I tried to talk to the woman as I wanted to explain that I was feeding the dogs to build a relationship with them so I could help them, but google translate can be slow and inefficient, and she was busy working and didn’t seem to care. She said I couldn’t feed the dogs. So I turned away, but the dogs were nowhere near the place where they had customers, they were in the back, in the grass, so I went and dropped some food for them. The angry man was apparently watching me and he walked very fast toward me threatening to hit me. Just because I fed puppies. What kind of an asshole is that?
The woman came to calm him down and held his arm. He threatened to call the police. I told him to do it. He told her to take a picture of me. I posed and smiled for it. WTF is wrong with these people? I hope their business fails. He then picked up some stones to throw at me, and again, the woman held him. I don’t think she cared about me, but she might have thought it wouldn’t be good for business to assault a foreign woman (who had done nothing else than feed puppies) in an area full of foreigners.
I got really worried after that. What if they hated dogs so much that they would hurt them, or even poison them? So I posted online in an animal lovers group to explain what had happened and to ask if anyone could adopt the puppies. The post got lots of reactions and shares, but nobody showed any real interest.
On April 24th, I was meeting up with Soi Dog to pick up some dogs for sterilisation. I was hoping we could get Joker, a small dog with big balls, that I see very often, but the owner didn’t want him to get neutered. I don’t quite get it, as they have many dogs and all the other ones seem to be sterilised. So then, I told the driver I knew of other dogs who might be good candidates for sterilisation. We went to Grumpy Man’s house, where I knew the two puppies were not sterilised, and the family said yes right away. So we left with two puppies.
I then tried to explain the story of the puppies in the field. I had noticed that the white one was already sterilised. So I thought we could get the mother and the brown puppy. I called the person in charge of sterilisation, as the driver’s English and my Thai are both quite limited, and google translate can be such a drag. She said ok, let’s pick them up. So we went to the field with the new café with the violent owner. I’m sure he recognised me, but as I was with Soi Dog, he said nothing, didn’t threaten to call the police on me, and had no choice but to let me be there. The Soi Dog person was fantastic. He decided to use darts to get the dogs because they were scared and hiding under the portacabin. He then crawled under to get the sleepy puppy. The mother did not like the dart. She decided to make her way to the other field. We followed her. She got to the field and was struggling to walk but she’s a tough cookie because she kept getting back up and trying to run away from us. Until she fell asleep.
There are kids there, including a little boy who must be 5 or 6. He was worried about her – I think he believed she was dying – so I explained what was happening. There was another puppy there, so she got picked up too. The car went back to the Soi Dog hospital with 5 dogs to be neutered. I was quite pleased about that!
The white puppy was left all alone in the café field, under the portacabin, so I asked the little girl who lives at the end of the field with her family if she could come with me to get the puppy and bring her back to their place, so she would be safer. I thought she might have been freaked out to be left on her own. She was 2/3 months old only! The girl came with me on my scooter, we got the dog and I drove them back.
The next morning, I went on a walk with Happy. Alien didn’t always join at that time, and no other friends came with us. I wasn’t in the mood for my usual loop, so we went around the lake. When we got to the main road, I saw a small dog in the distance, so decided to go check if it was a lost dog. It was white pup!!
I picked her up and carried her back to my scooter. I couldn’t possible drive with her on the bike, so had to call my husband to pick us up. Luckily, it was a Saturday and he was home.
It was too early to bring her back to the family, so we took her home.
Both Happy and Alien were fine with her. They kind of knew her already, and I think they like puppies.
We drove her back to the family later, before we headed out for lunch.
For a while, only two puppies followed mama dog around. The other one stayed with the family.
On May 9th, something new happened. Mama dog decided to follow us on our walk. And obviously, the puppies followed her. I was a bit worried because they are not super careful near the road. I couldn’t possibly do the whole loop with them, so I thought I’d turn around before we got to a place with too many dogs.
They were walking really fast and seemed really excited to be on an adventure. Mama dog checked every now and then if I was still following. Happy, Kwai and Milo were excitezd about the company. At some point, they all went into the cow field that I cannot access. As they were about to come back to the main path, we met someone who was walking his dogs and mama dog decided that wasn’t for her and turned around. The puppies followed her. But I couldn’t. I could only hope she could take them back safely to their usual spot.
I saw them the next morning, all good.
A few days later, it was raining and I found them like that :
And on May 15th, the three puppies were there, with their mother. And they all decided to follow us!
On the way back, mama dog decided to go back on her own! They got to the bridge before me, and it was flooded. The puppies were scared. They needed help to cross. Mama dog had crossed it and didn’t wait for us. It was noisy and the water was flowing quite fast. I had to carry them all to the other side, and their mother was nowhere to be seen. I wasn’t too pleased, as there was quite some traffic at that time, and the puppies were not more streetwise than the week before. I ended up carrying one of them because she was too scared with all the noise. The other two managed and Happy and Milo were never too far.
May 19th was the last time I saw them all.
On May 20th, when I got there, one of the puppies was on the side of the road, dead. All her insides were out, it was horrible. Whoever hit her must have been driving incredibly fast. It was pissing rain. I started crying and I couldn’t stop for the rest of the day. I had to cancel my classes because I just knew I wouldn’t be able to hold it together. I’m still pretty upset thinking about it. I wish I could have protected her. Or that someone had adopted her.
After that, I didn’t see mama dog and the other puppies for a few days. I wasn’t too worried, as I assumed they were staying with the family. I wonder how mama dog feels when her puppies die.
On May 25th, I saw them, but they were not near the main road. I think they avoided it for a little while.
I try my best to take them back to the back field whenever I can. And I keep bringing food to the family, so they can feed the dogs, so they don’t need to go elsewhere to eat. But puppies are cute, and many people give them attention and food in front of the 7/11… Which is nice, but also not great if we want to keep them away from the road. And one of the 7/11 employees really doesn’t like dogs. I saw her shooing them away angrily a few times. Employees are nicer in the shops in front of our place. They seem to let the dogs be. Softie like to sleep at the entrance of one of the shops, and they just let him. I don’t like it when people chase dogs away because I’m scared they’ll end up on the road and get hit.
I see the puppies most days. I give them some food and some love. They’re usually with their mother, and often with two friends. One female who is now my friend and knows I’ve got delicious snacks, and a scaredy unneutered male who always looks a bit rough and could be the puppies’ father. He recognises me and comes close if there are no other dogs too close to me. It’s hard to approach them sometimes because they live very close to Kwai, Milo and Soda, and these three often act as if they own the place. They don’t mean to hurt the other dogs (most of the time), but they are pushy and intrusive. When I want some quality time with the puppies’ pack, I have to take Milo and Soda back to their place and put them on their chains. Kwai doesn’t have a chain so she follows me if she knows I’m around. Unless I order her to stay home, which has started to work since the time I rescued her when she found herself miles away, all alone and scared, but that’s a story for another time.
A neighbour has suggested I could put posters up near the 7/11 to let people know the puppies are adoptable. I think it’s a good idea. I also feel bad at the idea of separating them from their mother, as they are only about 4 months old and they do follow her everywhere. And I wonder if she’d be sad without them. But for their safety, getting them off the streets would be best. If someone could adopt the three of them, that would be the best possible scenario.
Until then, I’ll keep checking on them, feeding them, and giving them some love. I’m also thinking I’ll get some Bravecto for them next time I go to the animal hospital.