I freaking HATE stray dogs. Anyone who was with me in Oaxaca, Mexico can attest to this. Despite nearly wiping my face with a towel that had a gecko on it, getting attacked by two birds that were trapped in my office, and being eaten alive by copious amounts of mosquitoes, it’s dogs that I am truly frightened by.
Stray dogs are everywhere. The street I live on has about roughly a dozen stray dogs lying around. That’s really all they do in the day because it’s so bleeping hot. At night they come alive and bark at anything that comes there way. I have never liked dogs, especially stray dogs. It took me months of boycotting my sister’s dog before finally giving in to the furry little creature. I have had several encounters with dogs here. They may not seem traumatic for some of my readers; to me they were down right frightening.
The walk from my friend’s house here to my place is approximately 15 minutes. Perhaps that scariest 15 minutes of my life. You have to walk through a place called “Ghost Town”. Which is where developers started to make homes, then ran out of money, and abandoned the half built homes. Some of these have been claimed by poor families as their own, but for the most part it looks like a deserted area… with many dogs. These dogs are smart too; they circle you, waiting for you to show signs of fear. Some will distract you in the front while others try to sneak up behind you. To combat this you need to bend over (ironically giving them a nice target) and pretend to pick up a stone or stick and throw the imaginary object at them. This works because so many Thai people have abused them this way; they are scared of this motion. I literally was walking tip toed on the street, in hopes of not waking up the lying dogs. Alas, they could hear a pin drop. It starts with one dog, and then you hear all the dogs on the street ahead of you wake up and bark. My fists are clenched as I enter the realm of angry, awoken, stray dogs. Perhaps it’s my imagination that is what really making me scared. I am terrified that if one dog attacks me (which is not out of the question, as you will learn) there will be a collective movement amongst the dogs and they all attack me. I can see myself lying on the ground, whimpering for help as I am being eaten alive by stray rabid dogs!
While I have never been attached on this walk (I’ve only made it twice) I have been attacked. Don’t think my fears are unjustified and are a product of a childhood phobia. One night I took a school bike to the corner store for a beverage. The driveway at school is slightly sloped, and these bikes do not have breaks. The decline down the driveway sped up the bike, and since I had no breaks I had to take a wide right hand turn. This turn went right through a pack of sleeping dogs! They certainly did not like this. They woke up and started to bark and chase me. I peddled faster, but something was wrong with the bike! A piece had dislodged and was stuck in the chain. I could not peddle anymore! The dogs were gaining ground. HOLY SHIT! My nightmare is becoming a reality! I jump off the bike and abandon it, and start running like a child after the ice cream truck. I can’t believe this is happening; I head towards the school to jump over the fence to safety. I realize now, that no dogs are after me. I look back and see the two little neighbor kids smiling at me and the dogs walking the other way. These two little kids (who bow in respect to me every time they see me) had just saved me from this vicious pack of wild beasts. Winded, I go back and try to thank them in my broken Thai. I am now bowing to them, so relieved that I am in one piece. I no longer ride a bike to the shop. I wish I had my brass knuckles, I bet those dogs would think twice about attacking me.
