This is likely something that every dog owner thinks to themselves at one point or another, particularly if they have a busy life or live in an urban environment. I can honestly say that Da Nang or really any other part of Vietnam is not a great place to have a dog and I am just fortunate that my dog is small and rather lazy, and therefore I don't have to feel bad about not taking her on long as hell walks every day.
This isn't entirely possible even if you want to make it happen because unfortunately Vietnam bans animals from being in most nice areas like parks or even at the beach. In the picture above we are both breaking the beach rules and we frequently get approached by busybody beach security who desperately wish they were real police officers. I intentionally take her to the boardwalk during times of day that there aren't going to be many people around and she is NEVER off the leash. I don't really see what the problem is but if there is one thing I have learned about authority figures in Vietnam it is that they don't often deviate from the rules regardless of whether or not the rule actually makes any sense. I suppose it isn't their job to interpret the rules, only to enforce them. Half of the time we just ignore the security people who are kind of afraid to approach me anyway because they don't speak the same language as I do. It probably doesn't hurt that most of the time I am 6-8 inches taller than they are and outweigh them by 60 pounds or so. I'm not saying I am going to attack a security guard, but if you threaten my dog with physical harm, all laws or sensibilities immediately go out the window.
Anyway, potential assault on an overactive rent-a-cop aside, I sometimes don't really feel like I am doing enough to make her life as good as it could be.
I live in a pretty small apartment for starters. While Nadi is really small there really isn't anything to do in here. The total space in my 1-bedroom is about 50 square meters and while it is comfortable and completely adequate in my mind, we can't even throw a toy across the room and have her bring it back to me, it is really small especially since my multi-monitor desk occupies so much of the space in the living room, which is the only room other than the bathroom and bedroom.
For the most part Nadi just moves from place to place and chooses yet another place to lie down until eventually we end up going on a walk, which is normally cut short because of the crazy traffic here. We almost never leave the neighborhood because there are so many dangers on the road and virtually nowhere has any footpaths. This is a big downside to Vietnam and even though it was years ago, Thailand as well. If a place does have a footpath it is almost always used as a parking lot or in worse situations, someone just takes over the sidewalk and makes it part of their own property even though it is definitely not. I don't know why the government doesn't do anything to stop this but they certainly don't.
Because of this we spend a lot of our time just sitting in the room and I wonder if she is just terribly bored because of this.
I placate her with treats and chewy things, but this only lasts for a little while and then she heads right back to lying down and either staring at me or sleeping.
In the past I've lived in places where we had a garden or yard and she could go out there and at least sniff around a bit. These days we rarely even get to touch grass.
Any time I leave the condo she has this look of excitement in her eyes and she is probably really disappointed when I don't take her with me. I would just like to take her everywhere that I go and many places I visit are very welcoming of anyone wanting to bring a dog with them. The problem is that the streets to get there are just a nightmare.
Another thing that I rarely talk about is the dog meat trade that exists in this country and how if you ever do let your dog out of your sight, or if it gets out of your yard should you be fortunate or rich enough to have one, there is always a chance that a roaming dog thief could pick up your dog and sell it into the horrible trade of cooking dogs for food. I think this would be the worst possible thing to have happen because it would keep me up at night for the rest of my life thinking about how she was in a cramp cage, scared, wondering where I was and why I am not coming to get her. Ok, I think it is just best for me to not even think about this scenario but it does actually happen to a lot of dog owners here. This is why I will never even let Nadi out of my sight.
I really don't think this is the right place for us and when I look at her in her mad scramble around the small apartment I think that I am not doing enough to make her life good. I think that our time here will soon be coming to a close and we will move somewhere that there is more public space for us to use.
Perhaps this is not something that other pet owners out there even consider but unfortunately Vietnam is not a very pet-friendly country. I've known this for a while and it is a primary motivator for me to seriously consider getting out of here before too long.
Really @gooddream I couldn't be with my dog Cookie there, which in Venezuela I take everywhere, like; parks, green areas, I have even gone with her to squares, museums and beaches, my dog is very adorable. I'm sorry that you feel shy about being with your puppy, because a dog is a faithful friend. Success in your publication.
Cookie is a cutie and that is a wonderful name for a dog. I think that he has lots of nice places to lie down!
Certainly my dog Cookie is family, and she enjoys her stay at home. Thank you for your visit, from Venezuela I wish you success
This is BOSS Dog
I didn't realize when we picked our dog that there are high energy and low energy breeds. Ours is definitely high energy and I sometimes feel we are doing her a disservice by both working full time jobs and leaving her home alone all day. The fact that we don't crate her helps a little. I think next time we get a dog we will get a low energy breed. Just to be fair. We do have a yard she can sniff around, but she usually just wants to be where we are. My only other regret is that we had her fixed. It was the right choice, but she is so sweet and gentle, I think she would have made a great mom.
I am pretty sure that Nadi would have been a great Mom as well but there are already way too many dogs over here and traveling is difficult enough with just one of them. In the past I have always had high energy breeds before now and it was by sheer luck that I ended up with a low energy one since I didn't pick her out of a pet store, she was a rescue. I would feel really bad living in this concrete jungle if she were high energy because there just isn't anywhere for a dog to go except hit by a car.
Our dog was a rescue as well. She seemed quite low energy when she was a puppy. Then we got her home 😃! We made sure when we moved we got a house with a fenced yard so she can roam free. Now that she is 13 I think I can finally catch her if she tried to run!
The environment one is in can be a strong factor of how their pets can be taken care of , if changing the environment would make your pet get a better treatment, then such decision is worth it...by the way your dog looks so cute.
She is a cutie, that is for sure but don't let that sweet face fool you, she will nip your fingers off for a treatie-pie. When I was looking at moving here I came over here for just a few weeks in order to make sure that I could find a condo and also have some sort of outside area. Back in those days dogs were allowed on the beach so it looked like it was the perfect area just two blocks from the beach where she could run to her hearts content. It was just really unfortunate that shortly after I finally moved both of us here that they changed that rule and now dogs aren't allowed at all.... you can still get away with it but only if security doesn't see you!
Check out the Hive Pets community btw :)
sure thing. I will do that pal. :)
We used to have Lucky the doggie. There's several occasions he broke out from our house. There's one time he broke the gate whilst no one at home, we couldn't find him for 3 hours, and he finally came back with a broken ear and several other injuries. We used to have dog eaters, but haven't heard of any since the 2000s after the government enforce the law tighter. That however, all pet dogs needs an ID tag even within residential compound. If they saw one at your yard without tag, they're gonna fire and "protect" you from intruder K9 😅
I guess, it's pretty darn normal for house dog to lying down do nothing, either stare at owner or sleep. We tried to train the dog to be a cat, but we can't. He rather chase his own tail then chasing a fake mice.
Many years later, I found myself often getting chased by stray dog 😂 and started wondering where are the law enforcers.
I'm kind of surprised to hear that Malaysia has a dog ID system in place. I guess that is a good thing. There is nothing of the sort here or in Thailand.
The owner of my building has a dog named "Lucky" :)
If there's a will to Syphon money from the tax payer, there's a way. First, a large scale armed forces are hired to do the dirty work. And then, a new department to register dogs for a fee(even there's a ton of human alien who willing to pay but still doesn't)
It is also my believe that people tend to NOT keeping house pet anymore since not many are paying for the ID. My neighbourhood, those "stray dogs" actually have their own rice bowl somewhere beside on of those house gate. I guess they just don't wanna own the dog but still wanna see a dog around.
We all know dogs just want to be with their owners and she wont care what she is doing as long as you are there. I know mine are happy to stay at home and just lie around the pool with the occasional swim involved.
I guess so. Also I think that by default dogs look sad even when they are not. If they didn't wag their tails we would have no choice but to just presume they are always unhappy.
It seems pretty clear to me that you have a lot of love for your little pooch. I'm sure she knows it.
Where do you think you might want to move to next? Are you ever coming back to the states, or do you think you'll be staying in Asia for good?
I'll be staying out of the USA for the rest of my life unless something unforeseen happens but even then I don't know where I would go or what I would do back there so let's just hope that doesn't happen.
I'll likely move back to Thailand in the next 6 months or so since I spent all that time learning their super-secret-impossible-language.
Hehe, I feel ya man. I keep thinking I am going to move to another country myself. But not quite as exotic. More likely the home of @afturner, England.