A wandering boy catches a lady's eye
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Luckie the chihuahua takes a fancy to Wan-Wan but she just wants to be friends
MY POODLE-PUP Wan-Wan waits patiently as I feed the cats their morning meal. Suddenly she sits up and begins shaking with excitement. She runs to the gate, her tail wagging happily.
There’s a dog in the soi. She’s heard his yaps, and now she’s touching noses with him joyously through the gate.
Yes, Wan has a boyfriend, a pretty little chihuahua named “Luckie”, who drops by occasionally to see her.
Luckie lives a few sois away. We first met him on our walks, and the two dogs became friends immediately. Luckie, though, is slightly larger than Wan, and after a few romps, he becomes a bit rougher than Wan feels comfortable with.
He’s not neutered, and perhaps he’s getting ready for some fun, but Wan is neutered, and she’s not interested.
The more she tries to back away from him, the more energetic he becomes. Their play-time usually ends when I pick Wan up to get her away from Luckie.
Luckie’s owners don’t seem so happy to see Wan, I suppose because their little dog is rather stubborn. He goes where he likes. He’s all right as long as he stays in his own little soi, but he’s followed us home a few times, too.
That first time, I don’t realise he’s behind us until I reach our gate, and since I’m not sure if he can find his way back through all the twists and turns of the sois, I walk him back home.
His owners are so relieved to see him that they don’t thank me. They yell at him a bit and order him into their home, a small shophouse open at the front and the back.
A few days later, he returns to our gate, much to the mutual happiness of the two dogs. He disappears before I can get dressed and walk him back to his own home. He seems okay, though, because a few days later, he’s back at our gate for a little nose-to-nose with Wan.
I still worry about the boy. He’s such a small dog that someone on a bicycle could run over him and not notice. He knows most of the dogs on the sois, but it would take only one doggie stranger to hurt him.
I don’t even want to think of all the vehicles on the soi.
The owners could improve the situation if they thought about it. It’s true that their little house may not be the best place for confining a dog, even a chihuahua, but having him neutered would reduce some of his interest in wandering the sois.
I don’t suppose that his owners have thought about taking him for a walk on a leash. Perhaps they don’t have the time; the boy, after all, has become used to long, long walks.
Some readers may think that another solution is “crating” or keeping Luckie in a cage large enough for him to stand up and walk around, with space for a bowl of water and some bedding too.
From what I’ve seen of their home, though, it looks as if there isn’t enough space, unless they put some of their own belongings on another floor.
This crating might seem ideal, but the dog shouldn’t be kept in the cage all the time. He needs to be released for play time and for a bit more freedom.
At any rate, it doesn’t seem as if the owners have considered any solution. Instead, they blame their problems with Luckie on any other dog that walks down the soi, including Wan.
They can’t blame her anymore, though. I no longer walk her down Luckie’s little soi, unless it’s necessary. Besides, the two dogs can meet when Luckie drops by in the morning.
