Thinglish Pets and Wild Animals - Dogs, Chickens, Guinea Pigs and Fish

Why We Keep Sheep in Thailand

September 5, 2023/10 Comments/in Pets/by Perry Stevens

Thailand, a country known for its stunning landscapes, vibrant culture, and delicious cuisine, may not be the first place that comes to mind when you think of sheep farming. However, the practice of keeping sheep in Thailand has been gaining popularity in recent years (We would say that wouldn’t we?) with approximately 136,000 heads. Up from 42 thousand in 2012.

In this blog post, we will explore the reasons behind keeping sheep in Thailand and delve into the benefits and challenges of sheep farming in the Land of Smiles as we see it.

One Man and His Dog [Thai Bangkaew]

September 4, 2019/0 Comments/in Pets/by Perry Stevens

One mad moment, everything changes, and life will never be the same again.

I’m still finding it hard to process what actually happened. I can only assume Taxi our Thai Bangkaew dog’s demon gene took possession of my loyal, loving and beautiful dog. Read more

Hello Taxi – Our Thai Bangkaew Dog

January 9, 2017/0 Comments/in Pets/by Perry Stevens

As an English kid there are a few things you are repeatedly told and you hang on to for the rest of your life.

•   Before you cross the road, do the green cross code
•   Don’t talk to strangers
•   A dog is for life, not just for Christmas!

Well guess what… no, I haven’t been run over, I spoke to strangers and became friends and we got a dog for Christmas!

As our house is now just about completed it was about time to get a dog. We looked at a number of dogs locally but a breeder of Thai Bangkaew dogs near Leam Sing in Chantaburi province was recommended to us by one of our local nurseries. They have a beautiful dog so off we went in search of our potential new pet.

We fell in love with a little ball of fluff called Oishi who’s Mother had died and so had been hand reared since birth. We met the puppy’s Father, looked around the premises and checked out her pedigree. In the end we decided to take her home.

She was only two months old and loved to be fed goats milk from a bottle. Our only fear was she would have trouble adapting to her new home but she settled in with no problems right from the start. She seems to even gets along with our chickens and Dale the guineapig.

We changed her name to ‘Taxi” as I thought it would be funny calling out ‘Taxi” in public. Besides, she kinds of suits the name and will not pick up anyone south of the river after midnight.

As a boy in England I had a boarder collie called Prince and have always been a big fan of dogs although I wasn’t aware of the Thai Bangkaew dog breed.

What is a Thai Bangkaew Dog?

Legend has it the dog originated from a temple called Wat Bangkaew in Phitsanulok Province. A local gave a monk a native bitch because she was pregnant but as there were no other dogs in the area, the father is thought to be a golden jackal from the forest.

Subsequent flooding around the area left the dogs isolated and inbreeding took place. Since then they have been successfully bred and is a favored breed of dog in Thailand.

Bangkaew are a medium sized dog and are known to be very loyal to their owners. Mention you have a Bangkaew dog to a Thai however and the look of fear shows on their faces!

This breed has a double coat that consist of a short undercoat and longer top coat (must be warm in Thailand!). The also have a lion like main or ruff of hair around their neck and upper chest. Bangkaew are generally white in colour with shades of red, grey, black and brown.

Taxi seems to be true to form of a typical Thai Bangkaew dog. She shows signs of intelligence, is alert and very loving.

We have introduced her to lots of new experiences in a short space of time so she becomes very social and a good pet around our other animals, friends and neighbors yet still remain a great guardian and watchdog.

She particularly likes rides in the car or on a motorbike, sitting in water and eating fruit.

Did you enjoy this post or have first hand experience with Thai Bangkaew dogs? We would love to hear your comments and stories below.

Please remember to join us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or support us here.

Hello Taxi – Our Thai Bangkaew Dog

Save

พี่ Dale the Guinea Pig

November 30, 2015/0 Comments/in Pets/by Pattarathida Perry

ความเป็นมาของ Dale
พี่เดล คือ หนูแกสบี้
ซึ่งต้นกำเนิดของแกสบี้ เกิดขึ้นทางตอนใต้ของอเมริกา ที่รู้ๆกันก็คือทางเปรูและโบลิเวีย ซึ่งบางคนก็นำแกสบี้มาทำเป็นอาหาร คล้ายๆกับหมูและคอนเฟิร์นโดยสามี เมื่อตอนที่เขาไปเที่ยวประเทศเปรูคนที่นั้นก็ยังมีบางส่วนที่ยังคงกินแกสบี้ แต่บางคนก็นำมาเป็นสัตว์เลี้ยง แล้วต่อมาแกสบี้ก็ได้มารับความนิยมทางยุโรป

สายพันธุ์ของเดล คือ โคโรเนท (Coronet)
โดยมีลักษณะพิเศษที่มีขวัญอยู่บริเวณหน้าผากและมีทรงผมแสกกลางสามารถรัดผม หรือ ถักเปียได้(ถ้าเขายอมอยู่เฉยๆให้ถักนะค่ะ)

ลักษณะอุปนิสัยของพี่เดล
1. กินตลอดเวลา ฮ่าๆๆ
2. ร้องกรี๊ดเสียงดังเวลาได้ยินเสียงเปิดประตูบ้านในตอนเช้าและตอนเย็น เพราะทุกครั้งสามีจะนำหญ้าสดมาให้พี่เดลกิน
3. ขี้อ้อนมากๆๆๆ เวลาอุ้มหรือลูบหลัง
4.เวลาถ่ายรูปพี่เดลจะแอ็คโพสหล่อๆรอ

การเลี้ยงดู
ไม่ยุ่งยากอะไรมากนะค่ะ แต่ต้องคอยรักษาความสะอาด อาบน้ำบ่อยๆ ตัดเล็บถ้าเล็บเขายาว พาไปเดินเล่นสนามหญ้าหน้าบ้าน แต่ต้องคอยดูเขาอยู่ใกล้ๆเพื่อบนพื้นดินที่เราวางเขาลงไปนั้นมีมด เราจะได้ช่วยเขาทัน

สัตว์ทุกชนิดมีชีวิตและจิตใจ ดูแลเขาให้ดีเหมือนตอนแรกๆที่เราอยากได้เขามาเลี้ยง เพราะเขาจะได้อยู่กับเราไปนานๆ

Let us know what pets you love in the comments below. Also remember to like and share this post and use hashtag #thinglishlifestye on Instagram.

Dale the Guinea Pig

A Hedgehog in the House

November 14, 2015/0 Comments/in Pets/by Perry Stevens

It all started on a trip to Trat city. We visited the small pet shop near the market to buy some guinea-pig food for Dale when we spotted a cage with 4 or five hedgehogs sleeping in it.

One of these few month old four-toed hedgehogs (Atelerix albiventris) was an albino and didn’t look in the best of health. We debated for sometime whether the ethical thing was to leave him in the shop and not support the owners further or buy the little guy and give him a good home.

We took the hedgehog home and named him Walter White after the lead protagonist from the popular Breaking Bad TV series. OK, his name is a poor joke for an albino but he’s never seen the show so hasn’t took offense.

On the first night we left him downstairs in his cage with the door open. The next morning we couldn’t find him anywhere. After searching high and low we discovered him behind the washing machine. We wasn’t prepared for just how fast hedgehogs can run and the distance they like to cover.

The next day we decided to convert the balcony to be hedgehog friendly and plant it out to resemble a more natural setting for Walter. To date this has proved to have been a great idea. Along with a lot of ground covering plants, I also planted plum tomatoes and cucumber and for the first time the fruit is growing successfully.

Hedgehogs are omnivorous mammals who love to eat insects and snails so are great for keeping the garden pests at bay, which in turn, I’m sure contributes to our abundance of fresh fruit on the vine. They also like mushrooms, grass roots, berries and melons in their diet in addition to the cat food he gets daily.

Hedgehogs are a very low maintenance pets who are mostly nocturnal so they are not for everyone. However, they are fascinating creatures and Walter is certainly proving to be a happy chappy and an enjoyable character to have around the house.

Did you know…

Hedgehogs can be found in Europe, Asia, Africa and New Zealand (by introduction)
The are distant ancestors of the shrew
The average hedgehog has over 5000 quills
Pet hedgehogs can live between 8-10 years
A group of hedgehogs is called an array or prickle

A Hedgehog in the House

Keeping Chickens

July 16, 2015/0 Comments/in Home & Garden, Pets/by Perry Stevens

One of the reasons we decided to move to our new, larger house was so we could grow more food and start keeping chickens for fresh eggs.

We built a chicken run in the region of 10×6 meters in size so our chickens had plenty of space to scratch around in. We also built a teepee style chicken coop for the hens to sleep and lay their eggs in. The whole project came in under $25 about 1000THB and consisted of the following:

6 wooden posts
8 cinder blocks
12 2×1 lengths of wood (for the floor)
1 roll of wire
1 roll of chicken wire
1 roll of shade cloth
20 straw sections for the roof

After a grueling half-day working under the blistering sun (with blistering hands) the chicken run and coop was ready for our new chickens.

Keeping Chickens – The Good Life and the Dark Side

Four birds arrived from Trat province the next day and took to their new home like ducks to water. We were all living the good life for a couple of weeks. Then disaster struck.

We were awoken at dawn to the terrible sound of armageddon as a pack of local soi dogs got into the chicken run to wreak death and destruction amongst our small flock.

Our two remaining traumatized hens that survived found a temporary home on our balcony while we rebuilt and fortified their home. Part of the modernization was ironically a large dog cage. The chickens sleep in it and as it was designed to transport dogs so they can’t get out, they can’t get in it either. So far so good!

So now every evening our chooks go to bed and we lock the cage behind them. In the morning we let them out to roam free and feed while we take their tasty free range eggs to eat or give to friends. The next step will be to automate the opening and closing of the coop doors so I get a longer lay in bed.

Both our birds have developed characters of their own and we often let them out to clean the garden of bugs and snails, enjoy a dirt bath in the hugelkultur bed or just follow me around when I’m attending to the garden.

We have since added a ‘self-service greens feeder’ in the chicken run and planted it out with micro greens and corn. Now the girls get their greens every day.

We refer to the chickens collectively as ‘the girls‘ but still haven’t named them individually. Got a good name for our chickens? Let us know your suggestions in the comments below.

What is a Thai Bangkaew Dog?

Did you know…

Keeping Chickens – The Good Life and the Dark Side

We now accept payment in cryptocurrencies