Introducing Gentle Joe

This is Gentle Joe, a 4 year old scraggly sheepdog-type of dog who hangs out mostly near Siam Square. He is normally found lounging on the cool stone walkways outside the area's many shopping malls, where the occasional breeze from within the shopping emporiums will blow out some welcome frosty air.

As a matter of fact, this may be why Gentle Joe is such a calm, cool character. Unlike other Bangkok street dogs, who will fight over the slightest trangression (perceived or real), Joe doesn't get involved in the snarling sidewalk brawls that greatly tarnish the reputation of street dogs due to their noise and general viciousness. Instead, Joe takes in the world at a very leisurely pace, and is usually content to sit gaze as the world passes by.

"My view is, why should I get involved in these silly dog street fights?" Joe once told me. "It's already way too hot out here during the day and also at night. Energy is in limited supply, and I prefer to use mine in more, shall we say, productive ways."