UPDATE!!
Lamyai, now known as Gypsy, found her forever home with AJ Wilton and Max Iniguez of Chicago IL in December 2014!
Mom AJ had this to say the other day:
“Happy 1 year adoptiversary to literally the cutest dog I’ve ever seen! A little over a year ago, Gypsy aka Bypsy left a life of chaos and fear in Thailand (save for a brief stay with Soot, the best person on the planet) for a new life in the US. For those who don’t know, she was a street dog who avoided capture for the meat trade and eventually lived in a kennel in a hanging cage, kept away from the other dogs who picked on her. I stumbled across her photo on ISDF’s website one day and was in love. A few weeks later, she made it home…her hair was coarse and she didn’t know how to walk on leash and didn’t understand toys very well, if at all. I remember I had to carry her outside at first because she seemed to have no idea what the leash was for. She was also very timid with people and new dogs but opened up to us very quickly. She’s the best thing in the world and I couldn’t have asked for a better WITTLE BYPSY BOO!”
ISDF and Lamyai’s rescuer, Soot Liang Woo, are overjoyed at the turn this gal’s life took one year ago!
Thank you so much to her amazing pet parents who opened their home and hearts to Gypsy and gave her a life few dogs like her can only dream of.
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My name is Lamyai.
It’s a mysterious name, the Chinese word for “dragon eyes” – and mine certainly are two of the deepest liquid amber pools you will ever lose yourself in. But it’s also the name of a popular fruit in Asia. And like the fruit, I too am sweet to my core. One taste and you will be hooked. Or so I dream…
My story began alongside my beloved sister, Linchi (Chinese for lychee) when we were born in the streets on the outskirts of Bangkok. Our area attracts many drifting immigrants looking for work. Unfortunately, a large number of these people hail from neighboring nations where eating dogs is commonplace. We were trusting of strangers and would approach anyone who called out to us. While this earned us many pats and tossed tidbits, it also brought us to the attention of a local kind-hearted animal lover. She knew that our location was one of several hotspots for dog meat trade smugglers who seek out easy prey for the capture, to be transported and sold across the border for slaughter and consumption. It broke her heart to imagine Linchi and me trussed, bound, and moments from being prepared for someone’s dinner plate, so she collected us both and began looking for a safe place to shelter us.
Concerned for our safety and with few options, she brought us here to the Wat Suan Keaw (WSK)’s so-called Dog Condo, approximately one hour outside of Bangkok. Though WSK’s two dedicated animal-loving caretakers do their best to shelter over 1500 of us who have been brought here over the years, it is a gargantuan task. As a result, many of us unintentionally dwindle in miserable, perpetual confinement, often for our whole lives.
I was one of those dogs.
For my entire life – I am approximately one and a half years old – I have been confined to a small cage with bent bars that is partially suspended off the ground. I am gentle, sweet, meek and submissive – and hence, often in the crosshairs of stronger, more dominant dogs. Here, kibble is sometimes scattered haphazardly on the soiled concrete ground so dogs with food aggression issues targeted me. Linchi and I were too young and small (at first) and too gentle (as we aged) to properly defend ourselves. Adding to that, we were not yet spayed at the time, and no one wanted more puppies underfoot.
The WSK caretakers thought it safer and healthier for us to stay in a cage, as so many of us do. And because there are hundreds and hundreds of us and never enough time for us all, this cage became our tiny, cramped jail.
We lived in this cage 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Except on the very rare occasion when one of the handful of WSK volunteers had a spare second free to take one of us out for a momentary cuddle…
…but then we had to return to our “prison” when it was time for them to go home again. As if life wasn’t sad enough, my sister Linchi – always weaker than I in body – contracted a high fever. She fought valiantly, but in the end, she crossed the Rainbow Bridge. And my broken heart had to tolerate the additional sorrow of enduring my prison alone without her. I am in this same cage still. Even during the infrequent times when I am given a chance to exercise in the “safe” area for puppies in the upstairs portion of the shelter, I am behind bars. And that area, while a vast improvement over my cage, is sadly not much bigger than my everyday space. So there again, I can’t do much but be by myself and watch the second floor world go by through chain link, for the brief and rare moments I am there.
Is a lonely life in a cage all that lies ahead of me until the end of my days? The volunteers here love me and hope someone will find it in their hearts to take me home. Can one of you show me what a real life is like, with comfort, love, and a security I have never known? Thank you for reading my story.
Love, Lamyai
For more information about adopting Lamyai – or any of our available dogs – please contact Dawn Trimmel at (414) 426-4148.
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UPDATE!!
Lamyai left the WSK dog condo this week. She is currently in foster care in Bangkok with Soot Liang Woo where she is enjoying life as a ‘house dog’ for the first time ever. Soot reports that Lamyai is as lovely as ever with a superb character. She does very well with Soot’s other dogs despite her long confinement. She is a quiet dog and still a bit shy, but very gentle and trusting with people. And she has a silly streak! Soot sent us this video of Lamyai being playful for possibly the first time ever in her life, now that she is finally in a safe and calm environment – it will touch your heart to see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmSgB-uVZ88&feature=youtu.be
Lamyai has been spayed and vetted and is ready for adoption. She will board a plane bound for Chicago very soon where she will be fostered with ISDF until placement. She is patiently awaiting the perfect people to claim her as their very own. We cannot wait to meet this precious little one. We are so very grateful to Soot for all she has done to change the life of this lucky girl!
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I live at the the WSK Dog Condo.
Located in south-central Thailand, Wat Suan Kaew (WSK) translates into the Glass Garden Temple. The thing is, nobody calls it that anymore – they just call it “Thailand’s dog condo”. And the temple is no longer renowned for its good works, as it once was – but instead is regarded as a place to dump unwanted dogs and cats. For us Westerners, the word ‘condo’ conjures up images of a condominium: a beautiful, high-end building resembling an apartment – except units are owned, not rented, and lovingly tended to. However, the only resemblance the dog condo bears to the real thing is the way its residents live stacked in vertical columns. The ‘condo units’ are just the small, and often rusty, cages in which many of WSK’s inhabitants tragically live their whole lives. Luckily many concerned and compassionate folks have stepped up to the plate recently to try to help the two elderly, kind-hearted caretakers who shoulder this entire burden, and to try to improve this situation as much as possible. Our dear ISDF friend and doggie hero Soot Liang Woo has tirelessly dedicated herself to improving the living conditions for WSK’s residents.
Soot has also been working diligently to try to find homes for the neediest of the dogs at WSK. Already, she has placed several of these lovely little friends with forever families around the world, and she hopes to find even more homes for them in future. For information on how to adopt a pet from the WSK “dog condo” of Thailand, please have a look at this informational post here or contact the appropriate representative by region. They can answer any questions you have and help you begin the process of adding a very grateful dog or cat to your home!