Bangkok Street Dogs

A place to learn about the lives of street dogs in Bangkok, Thailand, with emphasis on the individual characters of the Bangkok street dog community and their stories of hardship and humor.

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Sunday, December 09, 2007

"Yea, I Miss You Guys Too"



This is Barley, a 4 year old brownish dog who used to drift around the alleys and streets of Bangkok, but now lives in America. Barley was (and still is) one of the most popular individuals in the Bangkok street dog community, and still has a huge group of friends. Barley is not only a friendly dog, he's also an athletic one. And like my friends High Jumping Harry and Stretch, Barley used to apply his athleticism to help obtain food for his friends.

Barley's most legendary exploit was the time when he somehow managed to knock over the cart of a roasted chicken seller in a Chinatown market who wasn't paying attention. I don't know how Barley did it, he kind of just threw himself at the cart, and the thing toppled over, spilling several delectable roast chickens into the street, where they were summarily devoured by me and several other street dogs. Damn, that was a great day.

Barley, like Ricardo, another good friend of mine, was adopted by tourists when he was a pup, an event that whisked him away from the near-certainty of a hardscrabble life in the Thai capital. Now Barley lives with his family in San Francisco, California.

But Barley still misses his buddies back in Bangkok. And he's pictured here during one of his weekly marathon phone calls to his friends there. He just calls a pay phone down in the Silom district of Bangkok and a bunch of us dogs go down and pass the phone around and reminisce about the good old days.

Don't get me wrong -- Barley loves San Francisco -- but there is undeniably a piece of his heart that never really left Bangkok.

17 Comments:

Blogger Matron said...

What a sweetie! I hope Barley gets lots of phonecards from Santa! Cute photo!

11:44 AM  
Blogger wmichi said...

like your blog, it expresses just the feeling i get dealing with dogs. They are not just dogs or animals, each one has it's own individual personality.

1:55 AM  
Blogger Joviel said...

Hii Cass.. been a while since you updated your blog.. Hope your canine friends and you are doing well :) Pls write soon!!

8:58 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

woooooof wooof wooooooof! woof. pant. pant. hey you there in the street. woof woof. it's ladies night, woof, tonight, pant pant, at the phi gamma...

woof.

12:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

super cute dog !

12:22 PM  
Blogger La Louve said...

new blog plz

6:47 AM  
Blogger Matron said...

Casanova..where are you?

12:22 PM  
Blogger La Louve said...

hi?

its been a while. how are things at your end? do give us a call...

10:43 AM  
Blogger Lungi Man said...

Good stuff mate!! Makes a really interesting and fun read :)

3:30 AM  
Blogger Scott McLean said...

I like to see all the cute dogs on your blog. I'm glad people care about those dogs. Dolly, our cute black lab, says Hi to all the dogs there. haha

11:05 AM  
Blogger Mush said...

Where have you been? Missing your blog

6:17 PM  
Blogger Dog Days said...

I keep checking back and see you haven't been here in a while. We miss your dogs and stories.

6:23 PM  
Blogger thomaskellerman said...

Haven't seen any updates in a while. Hope all is good. I love your dog stories. Keep up the good work.

Thomas Kellerman

http://www.mymastiffsecrets.com/

11:30 PM  
Blogger Polysemous said...

missing your blog so much...

i hope you're okay.

5:25 AM  
Blogger Bigideaguy said...

Whant to read more. You'll be back?Great pics

6:13 PM  
Blogger Joviel said...

Hey
You havent posted in a loong time. I Hope things are fine.. Plllease post soon. Miss your posts

11:23 PM  
Blogger Melinda said...

Barley! I just love that face. And look at all your fans, you should definitely start posting again when you have the time.

11:29 AM  

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