Do not collar a dog if you aren't going to look after it

What I am mean by this is don't put a collar or necklace or whatever you want to call it if that dog is not yours and you do not look after it. In some countries like this one people will collar the dogs and this is meant to mean that the dog is claimed and that no one should take it. That's fair enough even though it is very strange to see your dog wandering around in such a dangerous country. It doesn't make me think that you take very good care of it when this happens.

In Thailand people will also use collars as a sort of notice to the unofficial culling groups that serve as Thailand's only "animal control" and I guess the hope is that they will spare any dogs with collars because that dog is meant to be "claimed." I just think that if you aren't really looking after the dog, such as the neck decorations doesn't contain contact details, then there is no reason for it to be on the dog at all. In really bad situations such as the one that I am about to show you, it can result in severe injury to the dog.

Khao, which just means rice or white in Thai, is a sweet dog, but at first was very timid when we were trying to approach him. Khao wasn't so trusting of people that he would just allow anyone to approach him. The story goes that a monk liked Khao and was taking care of him and therefore put a collar on Khao. However, when the monk left he couldn't find Khao (or at least that is the story, I doubt he ever looked for the dog) and while the collar was a nice gesture at first, it became a death sentence later because Khao continued to grow but the collar couldn't of course.

Khao became almost impossible to approach because whenever she moved she felt pain and difficulty breathing and while we do love dogs, they aren't the best at putting together the pieces as far as what ails them is concerned. Khao just knew that whenever she had to move to get away from these "people" her neck really hurt not realizing that we were there to help get rid of the neck pain.

We had to trap her, but didn't have to use any tranq darts thank goodness.

Once we got her to the clinic and we were able to calm her with food, she allowed us near her and we removed it from her neck. It wasn't easy and took several people to coax her while one person tried to get it off of her. It was so tight that we couldn't possibly undo the latch and we were forced to cut it off. We have special tools for this so it wasn't dangerous or loud. Once it was off Khao looked a bit surprised kind of like she was unaware that breathing was always supposed to be a lot easier than it was for her all that time.

I think that most people understand this but collars on a dog, especially a puppy, have to be adjusted as the dog grows because if you do not do this, the dog will eventually suffocate not to mention the fact that these collars just become homes for ticks and other parasites where the dog cannot possibly get at them. It's just cruel. So if you or someone you know has no ability or intention of looking after an animal properly do not put a collar on them unless it is needed to do something like take the dog for a walk.

Khao was lucky because we found her, if we hadn't she would have simply suffocated slowly, not understanding why she has someone or something constantly choking her.

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if you would like to see how you can help out or simply spread the word, please visit our website at

http://krabianimalwelfare.org

_{Krabi Animal Welfare is a charity run entirely by volunteers and are a registered non-profit organization in Thailand and the U.K.. We aim to relieve the pain and suffering of dogs and cats within Krabi Province.}

เป็นผู้สนับสนุนรายเดือนหรือบริจาคครั้งเดียวได้ที่:

http://krabianimalwelfare.org

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