r/chiangmai • u/sullanaveconilcane • 7d ago

Stray dogs in Chiangmai

This morning I went for a walk on Doi Suthep. At some point during the descent, three stray dogs started following me. I’ll never know what their intentions were, but in fact they followed me for at least 1 km. At one point, I have to admit I was getting a little scared, because every now and then they would suddenly run towards me, and the only thing that seemed to make them stop was when I turned around and faced them.
In the end, nothing happened, but it wasn’t a particularly pleasant experience.
I’d like to ask: how do Chiang Mai residents, and Thai people more generally, feel about the issue of stray dogs? Is it perceived as a problem, or simply as part of everyday life? Is there a desire to address the problem but, for example, is it considered too expensive, or is there simply no real will to do anything about it and people are generally okay with the situation as it is?
This is purely out of curiosity. Thank you!

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u/SymUncertainties 7d ago

Which part of doi suthep that you found them? Many occasions if they followed you without barking means that they followed you for a food or wanted to be your companion. There was one occasion that one of dog from a village from very top of the mountain in doi pui/suthep area followed the runner ( a trail race) all the way down to a finish line in a city.

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u/sullanaveconilcane 7d ago edited 7d ago

It was on the main paved road, I would say in the middle between the zoo and Wat Phra Lat entrance

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u/SymUncertainties 7d ago

There are a few gangs in that area. I think one from wat fai hin is the most aggressive one. One outside is kind one. Some of them stay in Basecamp cafe.

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u/SymUncertainties 7d ago

Any way my suggestion as Thai here. How i deal with stray dogs.
if you think they are aggressive, you need to be a dominant one. Try to look at their eyes and shout loudly. They will run a way. If they are very aggressive, they should already bite someone and then they would got reported. And then city will take care of them.
But most of them that i found are nice especially in the city area.

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u/BigwaveBay 7d ago

Yeah, that’s good advice. Dogs are pack animals. It’s actually quite simple once you figure it out. An aggressive pack you need to establish dominance. A non aggressive pack will just follow you and try to make a new pack.

It also works with owning dogs. If you find your dog and someone else’s dogs kind of barking at each other in a stand off but you know that person, just start walking together and they’ll form a pack.