Introducing High-Jumping Harry

There are some Bangkok street dogs who gaze wistfully at food opportunities on the other side of a metal fence, and others, like my buddy Harry, who actually do something about it.

Harry, a two year old brown mutt of mixed Greyhound, Alsatian, and Bull Mastiff ancestry, is pictured here contemplating how to scale a fence outside a seafood restaurant in the city's Asoke district. This muscular hound has the ability to leap even higher than my friend Stretch, which means he can get over many of the barriers humans put up to keep us street dogs out of places where food is stored and tasty garbage is collected.

About 30 seconds after this photo was taken, Harry had jumped over the fence, grabbed a plastic bag full of crab and prawn remnants, and jumped back over, before anyone except a few amazed pedestrians had even realized what was going on. The best part about Harry is, he loves to share the spoils of his raids -- as long as you listen to his war stories about previous "missions", as he calls them.

Hey, I don't mind listening to a few self-aggrandizing tales if it means getting to dive into a smelly bag of seafood scraps!

Introducing Lai Fu

This is my friend Lai Fu in her usual posture: Laying around moping and worrying about the future and the fate of the world.

In this photo, Lai Fu, a six year old black poodle who lives in the Sukhumvit Soi 101 area, is wondering -- and worrying -- about who will prevail in Thailand's upcoming election to be held April 2. For the next few hours after this photo was taken, Lai Fu nervously pondered the effects the outcome that the snap election called last week by the Thai Prime Minister might have on the future of press freedom in her country.

But Lai Fu doesn't just worry about complicated matters: She worries about the small stuff as well. For example, the other day Lai Fu spent 45 minutes worrying if her paws were dirty after walking through the grimy local market in search of food scraps. Later, after finding a fresh pile of garbage and feasting on it, Lai Fu worried about developing high cholesterol from eating too many fatty foods.

Lai Fu's friends have tried to get her to relax and enjoy life more, but when we tell her not to worry so much, Lai Fu asks "Oh my, perhaps I have been worrying too much and will soon have a heart attack!"