Dogs in the countryside--Do you just not wander after dark?

[FawnsGhost]

I live in BKK. There are some dogs roaming but always humans around.

 

When I travel outside the city, it is always a hassle at night. Never know when a dog is going to jump out of the bushes barking, chasing, call its friends to help menace us.

 

I love the Thai countryside but I am a small woman. I didn't grow up with wild dogs and don't have good instincts. Last holiday to Bangkrachao, it was so nice to walk around but once the dogs came out I just wanted to sit in a bar near my homestay because I can only deal with being surrounded by growling dogs once before it's not fun to take a walk.

 

Maybe there's nothing I can do and a bunch of men will tell me, "Go back to your country if you can't handle it." 

 

Or maybe I'll get some ideas for how to approach this sensibly instead of staying inside after 7:30 pm.

[CharlieH]

Carry a bottle of water, anything appears squirt water at it, it will in most cases retreat. 

[Lamkyong]

no body around /dark ?   Mace ETC  IS YOUR FRIEND

[lust]

A small foreign woman shouldn’t be walking around alone in the dark especially in desolate areas, sorry.

[BritManToo]

I always bend down and pick up a rock or stick, dogs are gone before I straighten up.

[Nyezhov]

One of the worst I ever did was at like 11pm in Lopburi from near the station to my hotel about 600m away, but through no light railroad tracks shackdog country....two things are handy..

 

A monopod....or more commonly

 

A bottle sling with a bottle of water. Knock one of those fleabitten toothsters right out......

[JWRC]

Dogs don't change their habits just because it's nighttime, they will still jump out of bushes during the day. The fear is in you, the only thing to fear,  is fear itself.

Take to carrying a stick, it might help you beat off human attackers as well.

[pikao]

Walking around the countryside after dark in Thailand isn't a good idea anyway, I think. Regardless if you're a woman or a man. Apart from the dogs you have the snakes, the centipedes and..... you name it. I don't see too many Thais wandering around after dark. My wife doesn't. The ones that do might be people you don't want to encounter

Regarding the dogs a big gun would probably be best. Jokes apart, I would carry a large and solid stick, not to hit the dogs in first place, but to hit the ground in case they approach. Usually scares them off. An aerosol filled with water boiled with a lot of chili and then filtered through a coffe or tea filter (paper ones, so nothing gets stuck in the nozzle)

should work like a pepper spray. Could also work on people

Personally, I don't walk around at night

 

 

[shadowofacloud]

My experience is mostly limited to beach dogs, but these seem to be deterred by a bamboo stick well enough, even when in a pack.

 

Usually the sight of the stick is enough, but if not, just hit your palm with it a few times or hit the ground.

 

Never had any issues. But then I am a dog person and not easily frightened by canines.

[androokery]

I usually take off my backpack and show the dogs I might just swing it at them, just need eyes in the back of my head because there's almost always one dog that tries to circle round and bite my heels...

Thailand would improve immensely if they just got rid of all these free-roaming dogs. 

[pikao]

6 minutes ago, JWRC said:

Dogs don't change their habits just because it's nighttime,

Have to disagree. Where I live there's a road where dogs ( about 10 ) lay down peacefully (lazy) during the day, but that changes dramatically at night. When you drive by on your bike they chase and try to bite you

[androokery]

And to answer your question: there are roads and areas I avoid after dark, exclusively because of the dogs. 

[Nyezhov]

Buncha dogs on a street corner in Surin, saw the Thai guy in front of me cross the street and so did I. If he would have kept going past the dogs I would have crossed the street anyway ????

 

 

[Solinvictus]

35 minutes ago, ratcatcher said:

Go to one of the Thai markets and pick up one of these boys. Colt M1911 BB gun.

Scares the dogs but no harm done. But, as others have advised, don't be wandering the neighborhood alone at night. 

BTW, wild dogs live in Africa, what you experience is soi dogs gone bad.

I think this may be more effective in terms of both "fixing the problem" along with the TM30. Might be able to just pick it up too at a local market. ????????????

 

Edited November 18, 2019 by Solinvictus

[CGW]

Your correct to be concerned about dogs here, one of the truly sad aspects in Thailand, they have rejected animals that were domesticated and put them back on the street, poor animals have long forgotten how to take care of themselves! They become extremely territorial as a result!

I never go for a walk without at least carrying a stick, stones/rocks work as well.

There are more dogs than people where I live, most are a very sad sight! ???? 

Edited November 18, 2019 by CGW

[Peter Denis]

I live in a small rural village in the middle of nowhere, where everybody has dogs and there are of course also stray dogs.  As suggested by other posters, when I go for a walk I always take my big bamboo stick with me.  Just the sound of the stick tapping on the street is enough for the dogs to know they should not mess with you.

And it's actually nice to walk with a walking stick.

[gimo]

Yes , it's certainly a problem outside BKK . No one seems to to take responsibility and do something about it , like a lot of other things .

[Just Weird]

31 minutes ago, ratcatcher said:

Go to one of the Thai markets and pick up one of these boys. Colt M1911 BB gun.

Scares the dogs but no harm done. But, as others have advised, don't be wandering the neighborhood alone at night. 

BTW, wild dogs live in Africa, what you experience is soi dogs gone bad.

"Scares the dogs but no harm done".

No harm done until someone mistakes it for the real thing in the dark or the police see her waving it about in public or someone reports a farang woman with a gun!

[Just Weird]

27 minutes ago, Solinvictus said:

I think this may be more effective in terms of both "fixing the problem" along with the TM30. Might be able to just pick it up too at a local market. ????????????

 

Not only Illegal to own but also illegal to have in public. 

[J Town]

Never at night nor early morning. ESPECIALLY morning. I believe the heat takes the bite out of them, early morning they've been up, barking for a few hours and gladly attack.

[Tayaout]

44 minutes ago, pikao said:

Have to disagree. Where I live there's a road where dogs ( about 10 ) lay down peacefully (lazy) during the day, but that changes dramatically at night. When you drive by on your bike they chase and try to bite you

No issue with the dog in my village. However they recognize the noise of some bike driven by people who tried to hit them before and they try to bite these guy anytime. 

[evadgib]

A Jiff lemon, kids water pistol or similar squeezy bottle full of lemon juice or vinegar ensures they keep their distance if taken by surprize & not already carrying a stout bamboo pole.

Edited November 18, 2019 by evadgib

[pikao]

6 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

However they recognize the noise of some bike driven by people who tried to hit them before and they try to bite these guy anytime. 

I know that and I'm not the guy who hits the dogs. Normally if dogs come after me (rarely happens) I slow down and talk to them. Works. On this road they attack me (have been only one time at night) and friends who live in this area that also don't hit them. The dogs just like it

 

[shy coconut]

1 hour ago, Nyezhov said:

One of the worst I ever did was at like 11pm in Lopburi from near the station to my hotel about 600m away, but through no light railroad tracks shackdog country....two things are handy..

 

A monopod....or more commonly

 

A bottle sling with a bottle of water. Knock one of those fleabitten toothsters right out......

Monopod?

Is that the unheralded forerunner of the more commercially successful iPod?

 

 

[Nyezhov]

30 minutes ago, shy coconut said:

Monopod?

Is that the unheralded forerunner of the more commercially successful iPod?

 

 

Nice one dude.

[Liverpudlian]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I always bend down and pick up a rock or stick, dogs are gone before I straighten up.

Maybe they noticed you had no dongas to chomp at ey !

[pikao]

A bit off topic... not too much

Being on Phuket in 1981 we stayed at Kata Noi Beach which by then had two accomodations. One on each extreme of the beach. First one consisted of two bamboo huts and an unfinished restaurant and the second one of about five huts.

In between was only beach and bush

The off topic : one day asking for a dish with chicken, the answer was : "Sorry, no chicken accident today". Still like it

Back to topic : walking the beach between the two resorts (day time, no people around...so nice, apart from this situation) out of the bush came this pack of savaged dogs.(Thais at this time would literally kick out dogs of restaurants and other places.) About 15 of them. In front there was the leader and they approached in plan of attack, obviousely.

So this piece of driftwood (solid branch) lying close came in very handy. Beating the ground hard with it in front of the leader did the job. They backed off

[madmen]

What was wrong with searching the other 27000 threads on the same topic?

[billd766]

5 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Carry a bottle of water, anything appears squirt water at it, it will in most cases retreat. 

Either a bottle of water with some chili in it or perhaps a small % of ammonia. 

 

I live in rural Khampaeng Phet and I don't go out at night that often. If I do it is in the truck or on the scooter. If dogs chase the scooter I turn round as though I am going to attack them and they always scatter.

 

There was one dog who used to lie in wait for me and I used to shout at it and chase it but after a couple of weeks it left me alone, and seemed to recognise the sound of the scooter and it ignored me after that.

[mlkik]

The dogs in our village and surrounding villages are a real problem after dusk. These are not stray dogs and have owners,however Thais in villages seem to let their dogs roam about on the road in front of their property.

After dusk they will chase and bark and cause no end of problems to pedestrians and mortorbikes.

The owners do not seem to care about this.

One thing I miss about the UK is being able to go for pleasant walks in the countryside at anytime of the day.

Here you take a real risk especially at night. I used to go for walks during the day and carry a stick.However that will only scare the dogs that bark ,it will not be of much use to the dogs that do not bark but snarl and bare their teeth in preparation for biting.