13 dogs and a cat

 

I thought I would give you a little highlight of some of the dogs (and a cat) that I met on my recent trip to Vietnam.

Eezapet was loaded in to my bag in case we met anyone in need - it’s always one of my fears when travelling to different countries is seeing cruelty to dogs, injured dogs, sick dogs, starving dogs.

It’s quite interesting travelling to different countries and seeing the different types of cross breeds in each country. Clearly there were certain breeds left in certain areas to ‘do their thing’. Most of the dogs I saw belonged to someone, a shop, workshop or café. The dogs would sit outside basking in the hot sun, lounging on their driveway, entrance way, they’d patrol their ‘perimeter’ and no more.

In Hanoi city there were many small dogs – Chihuahua and Pinscher type crosses.  These two guys spent most of their days lying in their shop - until some food was dropped on the ground outside of course!

When we explored out of the city the breeds changed to a corgi type crossed with perhaps a shepherd? Very long, very short and very hairy dogs.   Didn’t seem quite right in a country that gets quite hot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we drove to the coast from Hanoi the dogs got bigger, taller, still hairy but I don’t think the corgi travelled that far out as the dogs now seemed to be shepherds crossed with husky/malamute types… 

 I spent some time in the mountain region and met the Hmong people from Sapa. We were lucky enough to spend time with a family in their village. Sa had 3 dogs – two were off trekking with the tourists for the day - and this girl, now too old, spent her time taking in the views and greeting travellers that came to Sa’s house. She was an old, arthritic dog but was very happy with her life.

I now know why there were not any skinny dogs…without fridges there isn’t any food stored and everything is cooked fresh. What is not eaten for lunch etc. is given to the dogs…making for some very happy dogs

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Back to another mountain town and a guy arrived on his motorbike with a dog standing between his legs – front paws on the handlebars.

 

 

 

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Here I met ‘Lo san’ – another short, long dog – he was very much loved with the owner getting him to pose for photos. 

Heading south meant the dog breeds changed again – there was a sharpei that had been left to their own devices  as there were a few sharpie cross breeds.

Staying at a homestay we met Thom, an amazing lady doing amazing things.

This is her dog that loves to sit in the garden relaxing; she looked the saddest thing when she got herself locked out accidentally.

  

 

 

 

I came across dogs more suited to winter than the heat of Vietnam and this Samoyed was being a great guard dog,

Guard dogs come in all shapes and sizes and this pug also did a good job -although I'm thinking being a shop dog this was not his actual job!

I was always surprised to see the little poodle type crosses – they usually darted out of somewhere and back again

 

And then there was a cat in a cupboard, which I managed to photograph before she darted over to me.  She had a little cut on her face so I put a dab of Eezapet on it. She rubbed all over me making my black pants white and went off on her merry way. Now that’s what I call cat love!

I spoke to many people about the dogs and their dogs.

For the purpose of this blog I wanted to showcase the breeds to raise awareness for how amazing these dogs are and that they do need protection if not by loving owners, then by the rescues working to re-educate the people and highlight their plight. There are some great things happening in Vietnam.

Do you have a dog that looks like any of these cross-breeds? We'd LOVE to see yours.

Share a photo to our Facebook page or Instagram page using #eezapetdogs and #mycrossbreeddog so we can see yours!